To think it IS possible to get on the housing ladder?

[SleepyHeadThisTime]

I'm not talking about people living in London - god I would not like to be a first time buyer there!

However, I live in one of the most expensive areas for housing in the country and DH and I have spent the last 10 years scrimping and saving to make it to our 'forever home'. Our first house was an ex council house and an absolute dive but we ploughed all our savings into it, did it up, sold it and did the same again twice more. We have never earned more than 40k per year between us.

AIBU to think there is an element of choice about getting on the housing ladder? I have friends who say we're so lucky to be in the position we're in, however when we were spending every weekend sanding, painting, tiling and the rest, they were having holidays abroad, meals and nights out and new cars?

I don't begrudge them this (we're now enjoying all these perks) but I am a bit irked that it's put down to 'luck' and not bloody hard work and very frugal money management?

Surely if you're earning there is the potential to get on the property ladder? I know some who weren't willing to go down our route but still managed it through the government help to buy and shared ownership schemes.

I understand circumstances such as buying on your own and being on a low salary etc make this much more difficult but when I read about 'millenials' earning 30k plus per year and living at home with parents because they can afford to buy it makes me a bit

Btw DH and I bought our first house in 2010 so not in the golden era when houses were only about 3 times yearly salary!

I dunno we did it last year in the south east but it was bloody hard work and we did go without a lot. I do get where the bad blood comes from, we haven't had the holidays others have, bought a lot of our bits second and and from charity shops, cheaper mobile contracts etc etc.

But I'm also very lucky that I work in an NHS speciality where the basic pay is pretty standard but overtime is fairly well paid. This allowed us to save large amounts and upped my income as well. But i obviously had to actually work the shifts, and missed out on a lot of life and spent way to much time at work. I have mentioned to other people about getting a second job but most are reluctant.

when we did buy it was nowhere near where we wanted to, we're miles from a train station and pretty much anything (think large rural village) but it's become our home and we're very happy now.

the whole process has been about hard work sacrifice and compromise (and of course some luck), and not many are willing/able to do it. So i can see both sides of it. Basically I do think it is hard, but not impossible for most if you really want it.

Sorry but you are lucky. You are lucky you haven't had a dysfunctional family and put in a position where you had to care for the children when still a child yourself basically and getting into debt over it.

You're lucky you didn't have a partner who said they have paid x & y, they move out and you find out they haven't paid x & y for over 6 months.

You're lucky that you've found a good partner pretty quickly by the sounds of it after some people have very trying life hardships and you find out you can't have your own children naturally and get into major debt doing IVF.

You're lucky that you don't have the decision of own a house or attempt further cycles of IVF.

I don't think that 'there's an element of choice', I think there's an element of smarts and privilege about it. For many people it takes greater compromise to get there than they're willing to make. For others if they really wanted they could start in a bad area in a total dive and work up but they're not willing to stoop that low short term even to get started. And many people have not ever learned how to manage money on a daily basis. It's not their fault. Then there's people who simply can't because they choose to have kids etc. first which makes it impossible in some cases to cut back on things. And finally there's people simply in poverty, they've no choices at all to make or no means to make choices.

It's easy from the side of a privileged and supportive upbringing to know how the world works and know how to get money when you need it. I know that if by strange circumstance I found myself suddenly in poverty I have the internal (even if you eliminated the external ones like parental support) resources to fix it. Confidence, education and an ability to play the game. Gives me the means to make decision so to fix almost anything.

It's about priorities isn't it? If your priority is to own a house no matter what then some areas are very affordable. If your priority is to own a house in the area where you have friends and family or where you grew up, or to spend a lot of money on other things, it may well not be affordable. Some people prioritise the former; others the latter. Eg my before I met him, my DP worked in London. prices there were out of reach so he found somewhere down on the coast with a do-able commute. Lots of his workmates preferred to be more central, so they didn't buy.

My stb SIL was saying how lucky we were, but she works in the city earning more than our combined wage, that got me a bit !

I live in the south, and I got onto the housing ladder on a slightly below average wage, while supporting a SAHM and two children, while living in a housing association flat, with no assistance from parents or anyone else.

Had to make a lot of sacrifices to save up the deposit, and had to buy a house that needed a LOT of work doing to it, but I managed it by the age of 30 so it can be done.

This was in 2013.

Also, don't forget that when Universal Credit comes in, just-about- managing families who have to claim it won't be able to save for a deposit. You will become ineligible for UC if you have savings of over £16,000, where you may have been able to claim tax credits.

It all just depends doesn't it.

I bought my first house at 20. It's always been important to me to own property and it was equally important to buy a house, get married and enjoy some years together before having children.

If you don't follow the more traditional way of living then I'm sure it's much more difficult to save up.

How much would that mid terrace cost today jaxhog and what's the local median salary? If you don't know yourself, tell us the area and MN will do the rest, no doubt.

Because this is information we need in order to ascertain whether your anecdote supports or goes against the OPs.

OP your posts are all about ' how we saved' , ' that's what we did'so savings x 2 then

It's harder again when you are single like my DS.

For the PP who said anyone who buys is lucky not to be from a dysfunctional family - I am from a very dysfunctional family and moved out at 15.

Yes I'm lucky not to have come from worse, to have reasonable health and intelligence but most of the friends who moan to me have had equal opportunity, if not better.

It does annoy me!

You are lucky to be able to work.

You were also lucky to be buying at the cheapest time in almost 20 years.

YABVU in looking down on others without acknowledging that you are indeed very lucky, and it's not just down to choice.

I am a single parent to my ds. Currently in education but am likely to get a job in my chosen field after university fairly easily (job is in demand) and I will get a good wage of 30-35k.
However, a tiny two bedroom house without a garden or parking space is 290k where I live. I wouldn’t want to move as I have very supportive family.

For some people, it’s not easy. It’s highly unlikely I’ll be able to buy. Especially if houses keep rising in price.

Oh and 10 years ago, I was 10...so house buying was unfeasible.

RacingRaccoons you had a child very young. I don't know if that was choice or not, but if I'd had a child at your age, I wouldn't have been able to afford to buy a house.

There are lots of things that make buying a house harder - having children, being single, being unwell - but there are also lots of people who have very financially fortunate, uncomplicated circumstances who don't choose to prioritise buying a house. It's the latter group that are the unreasonable ones when saying it's impossible to get onto the housing ladder.

*See I don't agree that young people should have to live like paupers to get on the ladder. By all means save & don't be out brunching weekly but surely they should have some fun?

Plenty of time for frugality once children arrive!*

The problem with that approach is that when "children arrive", money gets tighter, so harder to save the deposit, and the one-bed flat that would have been ok for just a couple is now a 2-bed flat or house.

Having kids also narrows your choices somewhat, as you need to be near schools/childcare and close enough to work to get back in time to pick them up. The option of buying a house in a cheaper area and having a long commute is no longer feasible.

It's a question of priorities, really.

at avocado!

I am a 'millennial' so have been a part of the economic challenges mentioned earlier.

Just to clarify - our first house was already an ex council house when we bought it - we weren't Council tenants when we bought it. It was in a less desirable area but this was one of our many compromises.

I suppose I have a particular friend in mind. She's by no means he only person in similar circumstances but earnings have been around equal to if not more than mine and dh's but in the last 10 years has been to Japan, Australia, New Zealand, America, Europe several times, Peru etc. Goes out every Friday and saturday, bought a nearly 10 k car... the list goes on. When she tells me I'm lucky to own a house where we do I can't think how much of the money spent on holidays etc could have gone on a deposit??

I don't know about other people, but I know for us, it's mostly been a matter of luck. We both do have good salaries (in the 30-40K range), but we didn't have those in our 20s when we might have been saving more. We're in our mid-30s now and rent.

It would have been difficult to save up money for a deposit, but I had a small amount of money left to me from when my dad died (when I was 18) that I've invested over the years. My dh also got a small amount of money from his grandfather when he died. We're not talking loads here. Probably 20K total between the two of us (20K wouldn't get us much in the area we live in with our salaries for what we need for the 4 of us, though would be different if we were 25 and looking for a flat). We've managed to invest this money very wisely in some high risk shares that are so far doing quite well. We'll be in a position to have a sizeable deposit, 20-40% of total property cost and potentially even mortgage free, by the time we are ready to buy next year (we're waiting until after I go back to work after maternity leave as we'll need to move for my work and we don't yet know where).

We have been smart, waiting to buy until we could save (like I said, we're mid-30s), living within our means, no debt, no credit cards, and we have good salaries. But being a secure as we are has also just been lucky. We got a bit of money from two family members who died (not everyone has that) and with a bit of research, we've made some wise investing decisions that we've largely just gotten lucky with. If not for that, it would be a lot harder. We'd be able to get something, but our overall expenses would make it hard to afford. With what we will hopefully he able to buy, we'll have a home office and commercial space on site for the business. If we were paying separate commercial rents, it would be a lot harder to afford much or probably even to qualify for a mortgage.

Lakielady I have kids so fully aware of the cost. I still believe that people in their 20s should be able to live a little & let their hair down. City breaks, nights out etc. are not much of an option once kids arrive.

Re this friend; maybe she is trying to pay you a compliment in a roundabout way? Like “oh lucky you, you have a house”, when actually she’s thinking she’d rather spend her time and money on holidays, nights out etc and not on a mortgage and sanding floorboards! I think you’ve taken the more sensible route, but maybe this friend prefers her way.

*A 1 bed flat in this town (not London) is £250k.

My much younger brother is in his mid twenties and earns thirty grand, which is a decent wage. That would get him a 90k mortgage. So he needs to find £160k just to get on the housing ladder*

But he could buy somewhere in a cheaper town, if he saved hard. I live in a town where you can't get a flat for under £200k, but go 7 miles south and you can get one for £150k.

It's easy to get on the housing ladder where I live. You can get a two bed flat for £35k and if you're willing to move to a shit area, you can get a terraced house for £40k.

I believe anyone could get on the ladder here and those that say they can't, just can't be arsed to save up!

Turn the question round - why should buying a house be a big sacrifice? Shelter is a basic need - only just behind food. We are a rich society - it’s madness that we accept that people can only have safe shelter (renting when landlords can kick you out in two months on a whim isn’t safe) if they are lucky and fight hard for it.

*A 1 bed flat in this town (not London) is £250k.

My much younger brother is in his mid twenties and earns thirty grand, which is a decent wage. That would get him a 90k mortgage. So he needs to find £160k just to get on the housing ladder

But he could buy somewhere in a cheaper town, if he saved hard. I live in a town where you can't get a flat for under £200k, but go 7 miles south and you can get one for £150k.*

I got a mortgage of 150k on a salary of 30k. If he went outside of town, as Lakie says, and had a healthy deposit, he could get a mortgage.

Oh YAWN at this shite. Again.