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!

Well, the national average wage is £26K. That means that banks will lend approx £120,000 mortgage. I don't know many places in the SE where you can buy (as a single person) houses OR flats for £120k.

Yep. I love that illustration. Says it all perfectly.

I do agree that it's never been easy to buy after having children, with either childcare costs or part time wage.

However where I live houses in poor condition are bought by builders for cash and refurbished.

I bought a house in "tired"
Condition as a FTB 2 years ago- not bad enough for the builders to be interested.

I had no problem getting a mortgage with average credit rating but did have a £40k deposit on a £280k house, and I did earn just over £50k.

Since then I have:

New kitchen/ flat roof £45k
New bathroom £8k
Removal of walls £2k
Plastering and redecoration £5k
Carpets and doors £4K
Garden £8k
Drive £6k

You reckon many people have that in cash? Is far easier and more cost effective to borrow it, on a mortgage, for a house that doesn't need it.

Oh and we couldn't do it ourselves. Don't know how

There are no 5x salary mortgages now.

And to get a cheaper property he’d have to move a lot lot further than seven miles away. In fact I’ve just done a very quick RightMove search and within twenty miles the cheapest flat is 95k and that’s for a studio. One room.

Oh susannah, you wasted your time. My BIL has just bought his first house. He earns £200k a year. Why didn't you just get a better job and do what he did rather than pissing around living with your parents?

It’s definitely a massive amount of luck involved. I lived in the UK for ten years, paid higher rent lived so frugally I may have purchase two items of clothing whilst I lived there - I got hand me downs from colleagues. I was in retail management and worked 15 hours a day in an extremely stressful environment. I worked so hard but got absolutely nowhere except a break down.

I then moved back to my home country, bagged an amazingly good job with good bonuses, managed to hit my criteria three times in a year due to pure luck, got paid my three bonuses and bought my first house, this was within a year of moving here.

Firstly I find the credit ratings required in the UK are hectic, here you only need a fair rating to get a mortgage. Also you don’t need a 20% Deposit to put down. If I wasn’t lucky enough to get my bonus and my job, I’d still be struggling in private rental. So luck and where you live definitely has something to do with it.

Smug stealth boasts are so tedious. Why not tell your friends exactly what you wrote on here. See how many you have left afterwards. No one likes an insufferable bore.

There are 5x mortgages now, I just got one! (Not saying it's a good idea, but still...)

And Lifeof there's plenty of places in the SE where you can buy a flat for under 143k (26k x 5 + 10% deposit). A quick look on Gumtree found 1000 within 40 miles of my home.

There are still plenty of 95% mortgages around too, we're in the process of buying a house with one.

Luckily we're in the North West, and have bought a lovely 3 bed semi for £135k - I really feel for those people in and around London, we'd never be able to afford to buy if we lived down there.

There are still £50k houses up here, but if you buy a house with any major issues you'll be lucky to get a mortgage on it - so they're snapped up by landlords. Any house under £100k we even struggled to view as Estate Agents wanted cash buyers / investors. Some even refused us viewings as FTBs

Dual incomes of say £25K - £30K each, no children. Late 20's/early 30's and buying somewhere under £150K. This is what we did back in 1999. Just checked rightmove - still doable in the Thames Valley where our jobs were back then. You can still buy a one/two bed flat for under £150K within walking distance to the station (to commute into London for instance). Back then, we bought a 2 bed mid terrace for £98K but it's still an affordable, commutable area. Lower expectations to get on the housing ladder - you've got to start somewhere.

@RavingRoo

Say what you want, but for people who actually do get on the property ladder, returns are good.

Depends where you are. We bought just before the crash in the south Wales valleys, 10% deposit. We have negative equity. Houses there are dirt cheap, you can get a nicer house for £10-15,000 less than we paid.

Where in the Thames Valley are there 2 bed houses for 150k?!

We are in the NW and ours have managed it alright.
It was important to them and they saved every penny they could.
They have spend nothing on entertainment, eating out, expensive cars, expensive phones and gadgets, and bought cheap clothes.
People don't think owning all these things doesn't make a difference but it does if you add it up over the course of a few years.
One of mine bought his first home as a cash buyer, then did it up and started to move up a bit.
At 26 he is completely mortgage free in the home they will live in for about 5 years.
They are saving enough to buy the next one outright and have a small rental property they own out right.
All in one min wage ft and one min wage pt, for some of the savings.

It absolutely was NOT down to luck that we managed to buy, it was purely down to our own efforts.

It took about two years to save that first deposit, and we didn't have a holiday in that time, and cut right down on going out. We also didn't set our sights too high regarding the first property and ended up with a little mid terraced house with a tiny back garden, but it was all we could afford at that time.

It actually ended up being a lovely first home.
It was on a new housing estate and we were all young married couples having our babies at around the same time.

It seems to me that the problem today is that too many people want it all, the latest phones, electronic gadgets, new cars, meals out holidays etc.

Like I said, it's all about getting your priorities right.

gilly exactly all these little expenses add up over time. Well done to your ds

Tell us the year you bought then susannah.

It absolutely was NOT down to luck that we managed to buy, it was purely down to our own efforts.

Yeah, it was your efforts that made your parents alive, healthy, and financially comfortable enough to bank roll your life while you saved for a mortgage.

Ofcourse it was Bollocks.

You’ve already said you were able to live with your parents and save as was your partner. This means you were able to find a job locally and not have to relocate for work.

This alone is an enormous advantage over most people.

I’m also laughing at “only a 2 bed terrace” some would love o be able to afford that.

Susannah we have never had a holiday, don't go out, don't have reliable cars, work 2 jobs each and have NOTHING left to save after rent. We're both graduates. You're living on cloud cuckoo land.

In all seriousness it pains me greatly that people think like Susannah and cannot accept that many many people struggle in life throughnp daily of their own.

Through no fault of their own*

susannah

I totally agree, we spent years living in crap houses doing them up, making a profit, selling them on and moving.
We ended up with 2 properties we own.
Our children are doing the same and we are all low income workers.
None of us earn enough to barely pay tax.
But people comment on how lucky we have been.

My dh got a lot of DIY books and manuals from charity shops, no internet back then.
He learned how to do everything and over the years did up some shells.
Nobody taught him, he didn't just say, I can't do this.
He saw it as his job, to help us move up.
A lot of young people today want a new house, which costs more.
They aren't prepared to put in the time to maintain their property.

Susannah how can you not see that it was luck that you both had family willing to house you? Clearly me having abusive parents and DH having poor parents who didn't have the space to house us is entirely our fault if it isn't luck?

Btw what gilly has left out is her son being able to do things like shower at relatives homes, and get help doing it up from friends with skills. She's told this story before.