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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be totally fucked off that we just cannot afford to buy ANYWHERE

247 replies

TheLowestFormOfWit · 15/05/2014 20:44

I earn £50k, DP earns £45k. We have savings of £26k.

We live in a two bed flat and have two DCs (our DD and DSD) so need to move to a three bed place.

Can we afford anywhere remotely close to the area we need to live in? Can we bollocks.

Every house sale goes to a bidding war with people paying up to £70k over the asking price.

House prices in our area are going up by about £5k a week.

It's insane. I feel like we're going to be stuck in this flat forever.

Who the hell can afford to buy houses these days? Seriously, who are these people that an afford £600k for a three bed in East London? What do they do??

OP posts:
MmeLindor · 16/05/2014 13:25

We've not saved money, but we were able to buy with lower deposit, and we have the house exactly as we want it, so I don't mind. If we were to sell today, we would just about break even.

mrsbucketxx · 16/05/2014 13:26

is my dh not a father he works away, what a stupid thing to say.

MmeLindor · 16/05/2014 13:29

MrsBucket
No need to be rude. OP has said several times that it is not an option for them, and fucking only pointed that out to you.

My DH worked in a different country for over a year, and we only saw him every 3 weeks. It is doable, but not what I'd prefer.

mrsbucketxx · 16/05/2014 13:31

its a choice isnt it. find a perfect home they can afford not in London

or be a typical London centric nob and think there's nothing further than the m25

flouncing bye

YeGodsAndLittleFishes · 16/05/2014 13:34

MrsBuckets my DH works away as well, but he couldn't afford somewhere to rent or buy Mon-Friday in Walthamstow (even one bed rented) as well as mortgage on family home (on that kind of money).

threedeer · 16/05/2014 13:37

OP - you have every right to foam at the mouth that it is impossible for normal people who live and work in London to be able to afford a family home. It's not like you are demanding to live in zone 1.

I came on to suggest Walthamstow/Leytonstone as an area you could afford but seems it's jumped up in price since my friend bought there.

What's your budget?

threedeer · 16/05/2014 13:39

On Rightmove there appear to be loads of terraced houses for 400k in Walthamstow. Is this more than you can pay?

mrsbucketxx · 16/05/2014 13:40

my dh if he works in London will more often than not get somewhere further out and still travel in.

drives me mad that people think London is the bee all and end all of life

helensburgh · 16/05/2014 13:44

so anywhere is London?

can you get work out of London?

mrsbucketxx · 16/05/2014 13:46

of course op or her dh can.

but there's a black hole outside London isn't there

threedeer · 16/05/2014 13:47

There are lots of 3 bed Victorian houses for 375k within a mile of Walthamstow. Do they all have loads of people vying for them? Have you seen the bright pink one? Apart from its colour it is good inside and in a quiet street near Bruce Street station.

I feel for you. It's crazy. Homes should be affordable, wherever you live.

threedeer · 16/05/2014 13:48

I don't think it's kind or helpful to sneer at OP for wanting to find a home where she works and where her DC go to school, near her DSC so DH can have access. It's totally understandable. She's made her life there.

MmeLindor · 16/05/2014 13:49

MrsB
I don't think London is the be all and end all - I live in Scotland, partly because we just couldn't afford to move to London.

I still feel sympathy for those who have jobs and lives in an area of the country where they can't afford to buy a house. The disparity between incomes and house prices is simply huge in certain areas of the country, and everyone has to find a way of dealing with that. You have found one way, the OP is looking for a different way.

The OP is having a bit of a rant, and looking for advice, which is what MN is here for, I thought.

badtime · 16/05/2014 13:54

OP, I think YABU.

Everyone has to compromise a bit, and in your case it will have to be either a smaller place than you want, a less nice area than you want or a slightly further away place than you want.

There are still some places in Chingford or Woodford or Leytonstone for the price you want.

My house (4-bed in North Chingford) would probably squeak in at around your budget at the moment. North Chingford is 10 minutes by train from Walthamstow Central.

Your problem is that if you keep wringing your hands about wanting the right house in the right area, prices will keep on rising, putting more and more houses over your budget. You need to work out what you are prepared to compromise on, and get a move on with the buying.

Artandco · 16/05/2014 13:54

Mrs b- both my and dhs jobs are very limited to London ( or another major country city ie New York/ Paris/ Berlin etc) basically any option which is expensive unfortunately.
If we moved to say Yorkshire, I would have no work at all, and dh would have no work or would have to commute a few hours to Manchester and fly to diff country ie Paris, or 5/6 hr commute x2 daily to London. Not workable

We both lived elsewhere first and had to move to London to find work in the first place. I know if we moved to Cornwall to family we could buy a house. But what's the point if we can't afford to run it/ eat/ etc as no work. And 5 hr train to London isn't possible daily

mrsbucketxx · 16/05/2014 13:55

op said Anywhere didn't she?

Deverethemuzzler · 16/05/2014 14:10

Its not about London being the be all and end all.

Its our home.

Its not easy for people to pack up and leave their home. Its horrible that people cannot afford to live in the city. It shouldn't be the domain of the very rich.

iamusuallybeingunreasonable · 16/05/2014 14:24

London is home for some of us, imagine it being your home and being priced out of it

We both work in London but had to buy a small two bed in a commuter town to make things work financially, we warn roughly 100k between us, how can it be that earning 100k doesn't allow you to have a house that serves your needs

Essentially our house is a new build two up two down, where I'm from you could buy it for 80k, however it's an area of the country where I would be paid around 10k a year as opposed to 60k, I'm not so stupid as to know I'm better in London

However we have equity, a massive deposit saved and we are now priced out of not only London, but also the commuter town we own in, we need an extra bedroom as we have a boy and a girl, they share now but the rooms like a match box, oh and we can't extend as the development we are on won't allow it

Catch 22, it makes you think you should never have bought doesn't it

firstchoice · 16/05/2014 14:26

NO, London shouldn't be the home of the very rich. I will never afford to live in my home county of Kent again, let alone London where I spent many years. It is just a fact of life.

It is incredibly short sighted of the Govt not to enable affordable housing for essential workers like HCP, teachers, firemen, bus/tube drivers, cleaners, retails workers, childcare providers etc. The 'very rich' need all these people and they cant all bus in from neighbouring counties.

I am hoping (if I can shift my Scottish house) to rent the home of someone in Northumberland. The owner got a 2 bed council flat in the early 1980's in Central London. Bought under right to buy mid 80's. God knows what it is worth now. She presumably was lucky - in the right place at the right time.

Most of us aren't though and the housing / jobs to pay for it / nearness to family / good schools thing is really difficult for most people. I suppose it helps to remember it is not a modern thing. People have had to move to be near jobs since the Industrial Revolution.

Not all jobs outside London are minimum wage, but where I live the ave wages are about £16.5K, so even with cheap housing there is poverty and lack of choice.

TillyTellTale · 16/05/2014 14:28

mrsbucket

She said anywhere in a title to an opening post.

Ignoring the content of an actual post in favour of the title is not the moral high ground you think it is.

Owllady · 16/05/2014 14:38

The thing that worries me is that London is continually pushing up prices in surrounding counties too where people on local wages (not city) really cannot compete. London is pushing up prices because people start to move out. It's now 250-275 for an ex authority house here. I think that's mad tbh for here

fifi669 · 16/05/2014 14:38

Just to rub it in.... I've just looked at my area in Cornwall, your budget would get a 6 bed detached house with large garden, garage and all the trimmings.

London is crazy.

iamusuallybeingunreasonable · 16/05/2014 14:49

Yes but fifi, the budget might buy a mansion but you can't pay the mortgage on Cornish wages can you?!

The average Cornish person, and I don't mean a london interloper living in Rock can't afford to buy, mainly because there are no jobs

Owllady · 16/05/2014 14:51

And they have been priced out by second homers in many places

JassyRadlett · 16/05/2014 14:54

mrsbucket, taking the wording of the thread title as the sole content and ignoring the OP itself, let alone the explaining she's done since doesn't make you a clever clogs, it makes you look quite the opposite.

OP's DH has a child who is settled in their current community, for whom he has 50/50 responsibility. Moving away would be reneging on that responsibility which OP and her family rightly see as overriding their desire/need for a larger property.

OP isn't saying that there's no life outside the M25. She sounds as if she'd quite like to, and that she doesn't particularly like where she lives. Stop twisting her story to make it fit your narrative.

For those who seem to be struggling with this - there are some jobs that barely exist outside London or other large cities, which makes the 'why don't you move somewhere completely different' arguments particularly frustrating.

Devere, spot on about it being home. Some folks let their irrational hatred and resentment of London obscure their vision of the fact that people have their community, support structures, and lives here.