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AIBU?

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Original poster

The reason young people can't afford to buy houses

1002 replies

GrabtharsHammer · 27/11/2016 21:42

Is because they all have iPhones and Sky telly.

So sayeth my mother.

Nothing at all to do with the ridiculous house prices then? They are baby boomers and bought their first house for a few thousand quid on my dads modest salary.

Apparently the youth of today just need to get rid of their gadgets and telly subscriptions and then they will easily afford a deposit and mortgage.

Are everyone's parents this judgemental and out of touch or am I just particularly lucky?

(Fairly lighthearted) AIBU?

OP posts:
Bee182814 · 28/11/2016 18:15

In my personal experience, people of my age (late 20's) who can't afford to buy its a combination of things but largely they don't want to buy a starter home. They want the 500k house to fall in to their laps even though they simply can't afford it, they believe they deserve it. They seem to think they can fast track this like everything else in their lives. Like how they believe its their absolute birth right to walk out of an average university with an average degree and get the 100k per annum job in 'media.' No working long hours or doing shitty jobs and working their way up the ladder Hmm

And house prices are very expensive.

Dozer · 28/11/2016 18:16

What bollocks.

Gwenhwyfar · 28/11/2016 18:19

"In my personal experience, people of my age (late 20's) who can't afford to buy its a combination of things but largely they don't want to buy a starter home. They want the 500k house"

I don't think your friends represent ordinary people. The average young person working for 15k in a call centre isn't going on about not being able to afford a 500k house, they're fed up of being stuck at their parents because they can't afford to live on their own even if renting.

VioletRoar · 28/11/2016 18:20

bee
I'm late 20s& don't know anyone like your friends.

Bee182814 · 28/11/2016 18:21

Gwen I don't know anyone who fits that description. That's why i said in my personal experience.

Bee182814 · 28/11/2016 18:23

My friends must just be a right bunch of dicks then Grin but seriously, I fo think a lot of people my age believe they deserve something for nothing all the time..

Badders123 · 28/11/2016 18:23

Peace - I've always thought that a possible help to those lonely and isolated older people would be to rent out rooms to younger people (esp in places like London)
But they don't seem keen....

VioletRoar · 28/11/2016 18:24

Bullshit.

VioletRoar · 28/11/2016 18:24

Sorry, that was in response to bee

TalkinPeace · 28/11/2016 18:28

Badders
Help the Aged started a scheme but then the tabloids went on a "stranger danger" spree and kiboshed it.
Such a shame as young couples could have half a house to live in and old people would have company - all over the country

Bee
The median income is under £20,000 a year.
A three bed semi in a shitty catchment in Hampshire is £250,000
go figure

Bee182814 · 28/11/2016 18:30

Hence why I said 'and house prices are expensive'

29redshoes · 28/11/2016 18:31

figure have you been to a mortgage broker? That decision is completely illogical and sounds a bit "computer says no" to me. Worth trying again I would say.

29redshoes · 28/11/2016 18:33

TBF I can see why no government would get behind a "rent out your spare room to a young stranger" scheme. All it would take is one unfortunate incident and the press would be all over it and it would be a massive scandal.

VioletRoar · 28/11/2016 18:33

Why are people so determined to blame people that can't get on the property ladder?

An earlier poster has talked about "saving £2.24 minimum wage for £2k house deposit". As if that's a valid solution.

olderthanyouthink · 28/11/2016 18:34

Figureitout1 My parents who I guess are the tail end of the baby boomers LIED to the bank to get their mortgage, because they knew they could afford it but the knew the bank wouldn't believe so. You simply couldn't do that now

Gwenhwyfar · 28/11/2016 18:35

"In a lot of cities a lot of people do have takeaway coffee every working day, sometimes more than once."

How do you know? Are you taking photos? Are you sure they just don't do it once or twice a week.
I go out for hot drinks on the weekend. It's more or less my only pleasure during the weekend days and gets me out of the house and with people (even if I'm sitting there alone). Am I supposed to sit at home drinking tap water, even though that 10 pound a week saving is never going to get me a house deposit?

Gwenhwyfar · 28/11/2016 18:38

"Peace - I've always thought that a possible help to those lonely and isolated older people would be to rent out rooms to younger people (esp in places like London)
But they don't seem keen...."

I'd rather live in a bedsit than be a lodger to be honest. No matter how nice the landlord is you're always inferior really.
I think we need more flats for single people and raise taxes on those living alone in massive properties to incentivise them to move somewhere more appropriate.

olderthanyouthink · 28/11/2016 18:41

Gwenhwyfar I do get the feeling it would very much be this is my house and you should be grateful I let you live here and then you could be kicked out in less than a month.

I would be nice if there were more proper studios and 1 bed flats built seeing as loads more people live alone now.

TalkinPeace · 28/11/2016 18:42

TBF I can see why no government would get behind a "rent out your spare room to a young stranger" scheme.
But the current government IS behind it - hence why you can earn £9k tax free from having a lodger

I was a lodger and I loved it - company with space
I've also had lodgers - and its a good way to make use of a house

if you have a little old lady in a 4 bed 2 bath house its crazy not to rent out two of the bedrooms and a bathroom to a couple as a studio flat

Gwenhwyfar
I've been arguing for land taxes for years and years.

interstellarcloudofdust · 28/11/2016 18:52

It does seem crazy for that little old lady not to rent out a couple of rooms but realistically a lot of older folk just won't want to do this. I have an elderly aunt who lives alone in a big 5 bed/3 reception house. Rattles round in it. I don't think she goes in some of the rooms from one week to the next. No way she'd take in a lodger. A family member maybe, but not a stranger no matter what the tax incentives were.

TinselTwins · 28/11/2016 18:56

I've been a lodger, it was actually far more civilised than a house share. My land lady got tax free rent cash so long as my rent was under a certain threshold - was a great deal for both of us!

She wasn't over 65 though. The incentives are there..

DinosaursRoar · 28/11/2016 18:57

The whole 'not wanting a starter home' is more because it takes so long to save for a deposit, by the time they are in a position to buy, they are beyond the starter home stage.

We did this, we went straight from renting to a 3 bed semi in a nice area near decent schools and a train station - because I was 30 and DH 33, we'd been renting for so long we'd already had those years of when a small starter home /flat would have been suitable for our life stages, but we couldn't afford to buy then. We had to miss the flat owning stage. It meant we needed to save a lot more.

Sixisthemagicnumber · 28/11/2016 19:01

and raise taxes on those living alone in massive properties to incentivise them to move somewhere more appropriate.

I don't agree with that at all. Effectively it would be a bedroom tax for homeowners and I don't even agree with the current bedroom tax. And older people are exempt from the current bedroom
Tax so why would you impose such a thing on older homeowners? Lots of older people end up selling their homes to fund their care anyway.

Not everybody wants to live with lodgers. Some people are fearful of strangers and don't want to live in fear. If somebody has worked hard and paid for their home I don't see why they should be forced to either take in a lodger or be hit with a bedroom tax (and it would actually be a bedroom tax in this case rather than a reduction in benefits).

TheWoodlander · 28/11/2016 19:04

relatives who used to pride themselves in being a liberal progressive generation who got involved in causes in the 60s are now so right wing I can't bear talking to them!

Yes, I have found this. Including my mother, who I was v politically aligned with in my youth - she was always a left-leaning liberal type - yet my mother was sounding like Nigel Farage's mouthpiece in the lead-up to the Referendum. I was shocked, as were my siblings. She doesn't read the Daily Mail, she listens to R4 ffs. I don't know what's happening to people.

frikadela01 · 28/11/2016 19:04

We did this, we went straight from renting to a 3 bed semi in a nice area near decent schools and a train station - because I was 30 and DH 33, we'd been renting for so long we'd already had those years of when a small starter home /flat would have been suitable for our life stages, but we couldn't afford to buy then. We had to miss the flat owning stage. It meant we needed to save a lot more.

Totally agree with this?

Thing is how many of the older generation had starter homes? Because every single one of them I know lived at home until they got married, moved into a nice semi and started having children. Yet the expectation is that you should have the one bed flat for a few years then move up the ladder when you're ready for children. Except as you say it takes so long to save that time just isn't on your side.

Out of curiosity how long has the concept of the housing ladder being around?

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