Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To feel absolutely desperate re our housing situation

208 replies

AwfulMaureen · 01/02/2014 20:47

Some may remember my thread worrying about the fact that our Landlord is selling...we got our official notice today...2 months. Fine. I have no hope that the local authority will house us though I will try.

We have some savings...which we can double in the next two months if we save every penny and eat nothing but porridge...which will amount then to 20,000.

I don't want to try for a mortgage as A: We are both 41 and don't want one at this point ...the stress and worry of being chained to a bank is not for me...my sister is always in constant fear of her mortgage provider...and B: I doubt we'd get one anyway as we're both self employed and so not a good bet.

I did look into part ownership but around here the only properties available are flats...upper level flats with no gardens. So our 20 grand would go on owning 25% of a flat in an area we'd never choose.

What can I DO! It's SO frustrating....if we could find a little wreck of a barn with planning permission, we have the skills and patience to do it up...I've even found myself looking at frigging barges and Park Houses...you know...those little trailer park things! Most of those are for retired people with no children.

Why the arse should we continue to rent privately? I just don't want to!

The savings we have have come to us through freakishly good timing so we can't really replicate this amount of money over the next few years and I'm afraid it will all leech away on rent etc...I just want somewhere to call my own.

I think about all those English Heritage wrecks....rotting away...when we could improve and protect them...and other listed buildings which are going to waste. We're willing to be a bit quirky in our lifestyle but have to consider the children which is why a barge isn't really ideal!

OP posts:
ATruthUniversallyAcknowledged · 01/02/2014 21:50

I'm not sure I understand the problem.

£20K deposit means you can get a mortgage for home worth up to £200k.

According to a quick calculation you'd be paying around £1000 a month back to the bank.

Now, that's a lot of money, but if you can afford to save £10k in two months you can afford £1k a month.

I did that calculation on a 19 year mortgage so you'd be finished paying it by 60. It would be cheaper on a 24 year one.

ATruthUniversallyAcknowledged · 01/02/2014 21:51

If you want something different though, you mentioned English Heritage properties. How about becoming a National Trust tenant

BehindLockNumberNine · 01/02/2014 21:51

If you continue to rent, you will need to pay rent even in retirement.

If you take a modest mortgage, on a modest home, you can clear it in 20 years and own the house outright, making for a more comfortable retirement.

Makes sense to me!

ATruthUniversallyAcknowledged · 01/02/2014 21:55

Or, move to Accrington and own your property outright.

TheNewSchmoo · 01/02/2014 22:01

So you have £20k available, but you don't want to rent, you don't want a mortgage and you don't want a shared ownership property.

YABVU to even consider your housing situation to be desperate. You have a number of options available to you, but you don't WANT to take them.

BehindLockNumberNine · 01/02/2014 22:02

I missed the 'being able to save £5k a month if we eat porridge' bit.

Shock

If we ate nothing bur porridge for a month we would be able to save £400 max!!
And we have a mortgage [gasp!]

You do not have a desperate situation, you have a dilemma and plenty of means to solve it to your satisfaction!

scottishmummy · 01/02/2014 22:04

You're tying yourself up in knots don't want to rent,won't take a mortgage
Look into short mortgage,shop about see what's going.what you may be offered
Can't have it all ways either get shorter mortgage.or you rent.no ones going to give you a quirky do-upper

ThoughtsPlease · 01/02/2014 22:06

Like others I am confused.

How are you different to the majority of the population who choose between or have to take one of the options of renting or buying?

You are clearly different to those who have no choice but to apply for council housing, as you can raise a further £10k in 2 months to add to the £10k you already have saved.

scottishmummy · 01/02/2014 22:08

Hang on,if you can raise £10,000 in two months by being frugal you're not skint
On those figures you can afford a mortgage

Oriunda · 01/02/2014 22:09

I took out my first mortgage when I was 22. Back in the days when mortgage rates shop up to 15% or so. Mortgage/savings rates are so low these days that your money is better off invested in property with a low mortgage rate and hopefully earning equity in your house, than earning a pittance in a savings account. If you have sound financial advice then no mortgage provider should be scary.

HaroldLloyd · 01/02/2014 22:10

But are you emigrating anyway, in which case it would make sense to private rent over the short term?

expatinscotland · 01/02/2014 22:10

I agree with scottishmummy. Sorry, but you're not desperate. Damn, I won't even go into our situation but we are well and truly fucked compared to yours. Confused

candycoatedwaterdrops · 01/02/2014 22:12

YABU to say you are desperate.

VelvetSpoon · 01/02/2014 22:15

I missed the being able to save £5k a month...at best I could just about save that in a YEAR, if we lived on scraps and spent money on nothing other than basic utility bills, didn't buy any clothes for me or the children, and were lucky to avoid any unforeseen emergency expenses. I can't conceive of anyone being able to save £5k in a month, or considering althought they can, that they are somehow hard done by!

scottishmummy · 01/02/2014 22:15

Jesus,many families live in poverty.every £ counts,they cut back cause they gave to
You cut back and can save £10,000?you need some kind of reality check.youre not desperate
Desperate is inability to change dire situation.your desperate is can save £10k in 2month

pinkdelight · 01/02/2014 22:18

It can't be right about the doubling their savings. Must be a typo of some kind or else they'd be minted and propertied. But still, they're fairly minted and could be propertied if they bit the bullet.

scottishmummy · 01/02/2014 22:19

Recent research is many low income parents skip meals to feed kids
Now that is desperate
Worrying about the daily grind is desperate.no room for manoeuvre is desperate

You're not desperate in any way

squoosh · 01/02/2014 22:20

The OP said 'The savings we have have come to us through freakishly good timing so we can't really replicate this amount of money over the next few years'

I presumed by this she meant the money was coming to from sources other than earnings.

Permanentlyexhausted · 01/02/2014 22:20

Sorry, but it sounds to me as though you're just pissed off that you can't buy a house outright for 20K.

squoosh · 01/02/2014 22:20

But I agree it isn't a 'desperate' situation.

DoJo · 01/02/2014 22:24

I agree that there is no reason not to get a mortgage - you would have paid it off by the time you retire and there is NO reason to live in fear of your mortgage provider. My husband and I are both self employed and have never had any trouble getting mortgages and no 'stress and worry' associated with it - it sounds like you are putting up obstacles when actually you have plenty more options than most people in your situation.

ShitOnAStick · 01/02/2014 22:36

Sorry op, I don't get the issue. You sound like you have a decent income and have a lot in savings so you should be able to rent another place easily or even buy if you want. Where's the issue?

VelvetSpoon · 01/02/2014 22:45

Does anyone else think the OP was expecting rather more of a sympathetic response, and hence won't be coming back to this thread?!

Peekingduck · 01/02/2014 23:00

Nothing desperate about this is there? Get a grip Op, and sort yourself somewhere to live. Rent, buy, your choice.

joanofarchitrave · 01/02/2014 23:10

OP, is it possible that your sister has exaggerated her feelings about her mortgage provider to you because she feels uncomfortable that she is buying while you are renting? Is she perhaps younger than you?

Get a credit union mortgage if you don't like banks, or a small building society, or Nationwide is still mutualised.

If the mortgagee wants to foreclose, well, you can sell the house. Nothing like as stressful as what's happening to you right now.