To think these baby boomers are missing the point?

[Hundredacrewoods]

I grew up in an area where house prices have quadrupled since 2000. I consider this an intergenerational equity issue. Whenever the topic of house prices and 'millennials' comes up with my parents' generation, all I hear is how hard they worked and how much they sacrificed to get on the property ladder. AIBU to think that they're missing the point? No one is denying that they worked hard and sacrificed. The point is that if they worked just as hard today, and made the same sacrifices, it wouldn't be anywhere near enough.

The crappy studio made into a nice 1 bedder is a stepping stone to a 2 bedder. It is cheaper than paying rent.

Its really not. Studios tend to be in buildings with other studios. So the fire risk from the banks POV isnt mitigated by just putting up a partition in yours! Youre still gonna need a cash buyer.

But I am showing you 1 bedders for less than that in the SE.

The studio in question I was pointing out to the poster who's friend was saying they couldn't find anything even though they had, £80,000 in the bank . This particular one is going to be turned into a 1 bedder will probably go up in the summer for over £100,000.

I have pointed out there are possibilities if you look but the dismissal of, It probably has a short lease (they don't) or its a fire risk because of the other studio flats (it was one of 2 flats in the building). Give up it isn't a stepping stone. Or don't bother because you might want to move.

These flats are not being left on the shelf people are buying these flats and making money out of them.

I know people are still making money out of property, but to get back to the point of the thread, they're not first time buyers with mortgages.

And it's not because they won't pick up a paintbrush or only want detached mansions either.

Whether you have £80,000 and are a ftb or someone who is already a home owner there is no difference.

I am trying to point out that for some ftbs they have so much saved up they could actually buy without a mortgage. But still say they say they haven't enough.
It does come across as they are wanting the forever home from the start and are coming up with all sorts of reasons not to buy just anything.

It's a bit hard of thinking to say that the issue is that milleniums are too fussy for scruffy flats, when it's milleniums mostly that are LIVING in said scruffy flats as renters....

So if they haven't a problem with grotty flats that can be made good and they have the cash then why aren't they buying?

So if they haven't a problem with grotty flats that can be made good and they have the cash then why aren't they buying?

I think this one person with £80k in the bank is not representative of most people's situations.

I get the problem is real. I really, really do.
But WHO is buying in London? The market in this part of East London has calmed down a bit but its still pretty fast moving.
It used to be buy to let when it was cheap. Quick turnaround and rented out to multiple occupants. So it was developers.
But now the houses are being sold to families. Going by the changing caseload in my last job and by looking round the highstreet it IS young people who are buying.
You will not get anything for less than 500k round here and they are not the popular properties. The ones they are snapping up are 600-750k

I think those who are blaming ordinary middle aged people are perhaps focussing on the wrong issue.
Looking at you Ben Goldacre.

All this anger at 'baby boomers' reminds me of the anger at single mothers, benefit claimants, disabled people etc.

Its just another way of dividing people and making them easier to manipulate.

But nothesoap Preston doesn't have a train to London that takes an hour. Northampton does.

In terms of increasing equity for 'the ladder' the best way is to pay off the mortgage and the cheaper your place is the easier that is to do.

I looked for a definition of Babyboomers and Wikipedia says there is no hard and fast rule but that those born " from the early-to-mid 1940s and ending birth years ranging from 1960 to 19642" roughly fall into the catagory.

My DH and I were born in 1956 and so could be classed as BBs. However, we have noticed that there has been a sharp division between us and those born ten years before us, those who are in their seventies now. We know quite a few middle class people who retired at 50, not only were they on final salary pensions but these were enhanced as well. They collected their state pensions at 60 while we will have to wait six more years (£42,000 foregone at today's prices) for ours. They have also benefited from free travel and other pension related benefits. They also profited greatly from investements paying out at much higher ratyes than could be obtained after the 1980's.

Nevertheless, it never occured to us to wish them anything but well even though we are castigated for being selfish BBs when we missed the upside.

If you want to buy a property try some of the following:-

-move somewhere cheaper (my DH and I moved 200 miles north to afford our first house and my DD moved out from London Zone 2 to the burbs to buy hers)
-club together with family/friends to buy
-move in with your folks and save every penny you earn
-give up subscriptions and lifestyle
-do without holidays, breaks and buying presents for a while
-crowdfund your own birthday & Christmas presents into a deposit fund
-get a second job
-give up eating out (even a coffee) and save the money
-save every payrise and bonus
-buy from charity shops and sales. Never pay full price for anything
-eBay your unwanted clutter

Some families from other cultures save together and buy one person a house, share it and save the rent and then buy the next person a house and so on. It's risky but could be done if you could trust the partners.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

I know @Shimmershimmerandshine. House prices up here are cheap compared to the south but they are still out of reach for many FTB due to stagnant wages plus increased cost of living. I'm just merely demonstrating a point that the south is ridiculously expensive to live in when you compare what that kind of money would get you in the north.

House prices are over inflated wherever you go I suppose. The Tories always used to go on about 'the Northern Powerhouse' and I genuinely had no idea what they meant as the north seems to get nothing compared to London. You can see where the wealth stays.

Nevertheless, it never occured to us to wish them anything but well even though we are castigated for being selfish BBs when we missed the upside.

Yes but that's easy to say when you are near the top of the pyramid, although not right at the top and will still have most of the benefits.

Your advice is to live with parents, never spend money and get a second job. You do know that's been said countless times just on this thread alone.

Tell young people to never spend any money, work two jobs and live at home until 40 then you may just be able to afford a shitty one bed council flat if you keep it up for many years.

Well unfortunately the nation is divided, and one group of people voted to make the country substantially poorer. baby-boomers form a large part of that group. Thats not going to go away.

Forgive my naivety but I honestly don't believe not buying the odd take out coffee here and there is going to fix the problems created by current and successive governments

I think wages need to be kept in line with the cost of living first and foremost. These days you've to send your cat out to work to get through the affordability checks (that's if you're lucky enough to own a cat.)

Sorry, that should read previous governments. Point still stands though.

Also would like to point out that the state heavily subsidises shit wages. If companies paid a living wage to employees it would help massively and would mean that people wouldn't need their wages subsidised by tax credits. It would maybe mean that people have more disposable income to pump into the economy. People shouldn't have to strike for fair pay nor use food banks in this at and age. It's fucking backwards at best.

I've wandered off topic.

I totally disagree with lots of these comments.
In fact if many people today lived as we did when younger they could afford to get on property ladder.
I do admit though it depends on where you live, but there are more areas where housing is affordable than not.
We have 3 dc, the youngest is 14 and the older grown up 2 have found no problem at all.
Believe it or not they have/are doing it without Costa's, netflix and all the other things that only cost £20 per month. If you don't subscribe to these things you can save a fortune.
No takeaways or nights out, they prefer a quiet night with gf and occasional bottle of wine. No holidays, expensive presents, they save every penny.

Having a takeaway once in a blue moon is a fairly standard thing for most people so I doubt foregoing the odd one made a huge difference to the finances. Many people cut their cloth according to their means but still struggle to get on the housing ladder. The affordability is fairly stringent these days (not a bad thing after the last credit crunch). But it beggars belief that people are trapped in high rents so can't save a deposit and a bank won't lend them the money for a mortgage which would cost less.

For my home my mortgage is very cheap. If I was to rent the same place I would probably pay between £550 and £600 per month. Renting is dead money and ultimately you are subsiding an LL's mortgage and income.

teacher.
Your post is exactly what this whole thread is about. You are a B.B. who is talking about how people could afford it if only they stopped buying coffee.

I’m not saying you are wrong, but you have just proved the point of the thread.

My grandparents were a blue collar single income household, they went out for cups of tea now and again and had now what is worth over a million in Clapham borders.

This isn't a new thing but it's easier to just shift the blame to the person for daring to use anything modern.

No netflix? As cost saving 😂 That's 5.99 a month and 3 people can use the account. Far cheaper than TV licence and great if you are never supposed to go out and spend your life at home counting the pennies.

As I pointed out on an earlier thread, plenty of poor people in my parents' and grandparents' day thought nothing of going to the cinema once a week: it was such a normal thing to do that you wouldn't count it as an extravagance. Likewise for a working man to pop into the pub for a beer after work. Somehow we don't count that as the extravagance of the older generation, but if a young person goes for a coffee at Costa's, suddenly it's "oh, these young people don't know about how to save".

I am one of the generation who were able to actually get somewhere by saving, because it didn't take that much to get onto the property ladder. I don't envy the young people of today.