to never buy a home?

[rosesareredvioletsarepurple]

Some new flats are going on sale soon near (ish) where we live that are eligible for the help to buy scheme. They start at £350,000 for a one bedroom. Even with help to buy that's £18,000 for the deposit and then about ten grand for stamp duty (I think I've got that right?)

I'm in my early 30s and would like children so it seems silly to get a one bed when a two bed would be more suitable long term. But maybe I'm being spoilt thinking we need two bedrooms.

Either way, £30,000 is still not going to happen. Even if we can scrimp and save for years, we couldn't save if we had children (I've looked and nursery fees here are £1200+ per month)

All my friends are on the ladder but not one has done it alone. They've all been given or have inherited money. Even those who think they've done it alone have in reality lived rent and bill free for years saving them thousands per year. Never been an option for us.

My parents think we're wrong for renting but don't understand how difficult it is (my parents bought a four bed detached home in a lovely area in their 20s and did it entirely alone).

AIBU to never own a home and to feel a bit sad about it?

[rosesareredvioletsarepurple]

And apols for my narky response

I have looked at Amersham in the past. Would be a totally different life, much longer commutes. Worth bearing in mind again, thanks

[rosesareredvioletsarepurple]

Ah I assumed you would tube it from amersham. Didn't realise there was a fast train in. Will properly investigate

There's a bit of me that worries moving further from London will decrease chances of career progression.

[slightlyconfused85]

Just a suggestion, what about Brighton? It is expensive, but not London expensive and there are certainly cheaper parts. If it's city life you like then you still have it, and the train is 50mins to Victoria running all the time. 2 bed flats are probably around the 200 mark in a lot of the city.

[Weegiemum]

I don't think I'd realised London prices until now. We have a 4-bed 3-bath detached newbuild house with nice garden that cost £165k in Glasgow.

Thank goodness we live here!!

[rosesareredvioletsarepurple]

slightly - we both like Brighton but both know people who had to leave to move back to London because in reality their commutes were awful. Homes within walking distance of the station are extortionate so you walk for half hour first, then 50 min train then 15 min tube then another walk

I just had a look at amersham. For DP it would be able 90 mins to get to where he works, if a flat was approx 0.8 m from station (have just looked at a few). Tube about the same. Is 3 hours a day commuting normal for you guys? I would like us to share nursery drop offs and pick ups when the time comes.

[AngryFeet]

Well looking at Wembley on Rightmove you can easily buy a 3 bed house for £350k so presumably a flat is much cheaper. Or are you in a special bit of Wembley?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-42278324.html

I live on the outskirts of zone 6 and can do door to door from home to Victoria in 45 mins. Why is your commute so long?

[needtobediscreet]

roses - I'm with you on Brighton, lovely as it is.

3hrs commuting isn't normal for me. I did a commute of an hour (on average) each way from zone 3 to zone 1 for ten years. Before moving away from London completely we considered moving various non-London commuter areas in cheaper parts of the south east but felt the longer commute wasn't what we wanted. We also didn't want to live in a small town, albeit nearish to a world city. A smaller city suits us better we now know.

Why do you feel a longer commute will be career limiting btw?

[rosesareredvioletsarepurple]

I don't know Angryfeet, whereabouts in zone six are you? Totally depends on the direction of travel and what tube line you are near etc

And if we got a mortgage based on just a 5% deposit we couldn't afford repayments on a 95% mortgage which is why I was looking at help to buy because we then would have a 75% deposit to begin with

And no we don't live in a special bit of wembley, we live near it but I'd rather not give out all identifying details.

[rosesareredvioletsarepurple]

Needto- I feel a longer commute would life limiting. We could of course spend many hours a day travelling but it's not ideal for a happy and healthy life

[AngryFeet]

I am near the end of the East Grinstead line.

Anyway YANBU to never buy a home if you don't want to. If you do want to you need to make compromises.

[needtobediscreet]

roses - I understand.

In terms of moving further out and commuting I think you need to minimise interchanges on the journey as much as possible. If you manage to do the journey on just one overground or tube or bus then you're likely to have smoother and quicker journeys. I was never fortunate to live near a tube line and never worked near a mainline terminus station so my commutes from various parts of zone 3 to various parts of zone 1 always took a lot longer than anyone might have thought due to the interchanges - and even if the trains ran on time there'd be a problem with the tube or bus that day etc!

[JassyRadlett]

Roses, I know where you're coming from. However where we are (zone 6, London Surrey borders) 350K will get you a really wide range of properties from 1/2 bed newbuild flats to two bed terraces. I think Help to Buy is no longer restricted to new build? Depending on where you are I do think you could get more for your money. New builds are often overpriced in my view.

We were tossing up between a one and a two bed flat 6 years ago. We eventually went for the 2 bed and compromised on other things (we were on a busy road, no garden/storage etc) and I'm so glad we did. DS came along 2.5 years ago and we lived in the flat until he was 18 months old. In that time, the flat had appreciated in value enough to enable us to buy a house just around the corner (so still in same community). I would definitely look at the long game and recognise that even in the property crash of 2008, most London postcodes flattened but didn't drop. Since we bought our house last year prices had skyrocketed again. I wish we had a more European property model but as we don't I'd rather be on the ladder with equity in my house than paying increasing rents based on other people's increasing BTL mortgages.

We could have got a lot more for our money further out but we, like you, valued our jobs (my field at my level doesn't really exist outside of London) and our community.

[velvetspoon]

I think commutes around London are often over an hour each way - mine has always been 1-1.5 hours, despite working in different places its always been about that - same for my Ex (when we were still together) travelling from Zone 5 - if either of us had worked in the City it would have been about 45 mins, as our train goes straight into London Bridge. Typically neither of us did.

I only work 6 miles from home currently, it still takes me over an hour due to useless public transport!

[whois]

So you don't want to move further out of london, to a worse part of london, or totally out of london? And you can't afford to buy where you live now. Yup, sounds like you're not able to buy then!

Loads of decent exLA flats in East london wth good transport links. You could have a 2 bed for £300kish as long as you don't mind the exterior.

[rosesareredvioletsarepurple]

I haven't said any of that whois

A £300k place in East London would be great if we had a 20-25% deposit (£60-75k) and then the ten grand stamp duty

But we couldn't afford repayments on a 95% mortgage

I think I said that up thread too.

It's not a reasonable mortgage that's the problem - it's the deposit needed up front

[rosesareredvioletsarepurple]

And I am looking at the options here, so thank you to those of you who have helpful suggestions.

[brettgirl2]

yanbu to never buy but it's your choice. If you compromise you can buy in a different area. If the location is number 1 then that's your choice.

FWIW new build flats are rarely the best in terms of investment anyway.

[brettgirl2]

also if you say you want dc in the future then maybe wait to buy for now. Your priorities may change on what you want.

[Bearbehind]

I'm not sure HTB is a great option either. You would still need 5% deposit plus stamp duty and fees upfront and then interest would become payable on the 20% in 5 years, just when your childcare costs could potentially be at their highest or when you are on maternity leave.

It's a pretty scary long term option IMO, people are going to over stretch themselves now and be screwed in 5 years time.

[rosesareredvioletsarepurple]

I think I agree Bear. I don't think we'll go for it

I've just seen a stat put out by Pricedout.org.uk

Since help to buy was introduced, prices rose 8 percent pricing out 6x the amount of people it has benefitted.

(40,000 used htb, 245,000 renters priced out)

Assume that's on top of everyone who was already priced out anyway