To wonder why the older generation can't admit that things are harder for millennials?

[ExtraPineappleExtraHam]

So we just had our meeting with a mortgage advisor. They will lend my dp £45,000 (not even enough for a bedsit in this town) and so I'm not even bothering to do mine as I earn less. We work very hard (44 hours and 27 hours) we just have low paid jobs and pay childcare for two under 5's!
I talked to my stepdad who compared it to when he had to borrow £36,000 to buy his first house in the early eighties. That was 3 times his salary and his wife stayed at home. He paid it off in six years. It's not the same. He was given a mortgage which was enough to buy a nice house in an area close to family and where he worked. He didn't have to have a bank manager saying 'well if you move to Wales or up north?' He didn't have to rent forever and have nothing to pass down to his children. It's not the same!

Clyd that’s lovely. Me and dh will do the same for ds. DH’s parents did nothing to help us get started even though they had the means to so we’re making sure ds has the help when he’s older we could have done with. I’ve set him up a savings account and we’re keep adding to it until he’s older enough.

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Two things would help the housing crisis - one to encourage elderly/empty nesters to sell up and buy cheaper (and more appropriate) houses or flats, leaving bigger eg 4 bed houses for families. I'm not convinced that this would help, particularly in my area. We are awash with developers building 4 and 5 bed houses on greenfield sites. If an elderly person downsizes, unless they go into a sheltered purpose built flat (which will cost them nearly the same as the house they're downsizing from and be more expensive to run), then they'll be competing with first-time buyers for the smaller properties (which the developers aren't building) and adding another house to the pool of 4-5 bed houses which aren't selling as fast as the developers would like.

I think its interesting that its the post war generation who keep telling millenials theyre doing it all wrong. The survivers of the actual war generation dont seem to share their distain for Millenials

Ive also notice that a lot of BBs use US (gen Xers) as examples of "millenials" whi did okay so it must be possible....a lot of us got in there just in time and didnt face half the hurdles that todays young people face.

I think even the pressure of education has increased since I was at school.
I would hate all of the tests upon tests they have now. I feel sorry for the kids as it’s so much pressure at a young age.

PasstheStarmix it seems the necessary way forward doesn’t it, it’s only going to get harder unless there are some big reforms.
My parents were the same, I love them to bits but they moved abroad years ago, quite happily tell us not to expect any inheritance as they’re spending it all (fair enough) and certainly no help with babysitting as apparently they’ve done their bit - they sound a bit mean lol but they’re lovely, just don’t think they should help because they never had help...because they didn’t need it, because even though there were struggles no doubt, actually getting a job and House was no big deal - easily achieved with a bit of normal hard work.
At this rate we’ll have our elderly parents living with us to care for them and our adult children who can’t afford to move out...

I think the changes in education are trying to take us back to how education used to be with lots of tests. Whether this is a good idea, I don't know. But it is true that british kids i general do perform lower in science and maths than some countries.

Haha I agreed clyd it’ll be like the Waltons! We’ll never get rid of them... It’s certainly heading that way and me and dh are contemplating whether to have a second child because if we’re not in the position to help and set a second savings account up than we would feel like we were doing a disservice. There’s so much to factor in now what having a family. Everything is a massive decision with lots of weighing up to do.
As for mean parents DH’s are so mean and I’ll say it because they’re not good people. Poor ds doesn’t have a single grandparent who wants he role. I guess we ask to be parents but they don’t ask to be GP’s (wish it made it easier through.)

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This is a slight digression but i think that Government should legislate in this country so that all homes should have a minimum footprint and that all family homes of three beds or more should be three storey. This would ensure that we get a decent amount of space and dont live in over priced shoe boxes, but also it would promote more efficient land use and promote greater health since the exercise navigating a 3 storey home would be most beneficial.

Raspberry
Yeh that would deffo work for me if lifts were compulsory in these 3 storeys. But thanks for reminding me that I’m not exercising enough. I’ll just get my 10,000 steps in tomorrow if I manage to stand up for long enough. 🙄

Clyd We have a 4 bed house which we will own outright in a couple of years. Ds is doing his MA, and has no student debt whatsoever. When we bought the house it was pre ds and we stretched ourselves to do it. I don't want to sell it and move. Why should we? We are no less a family because ds is at uni, and why on earth should we make do with less space when it is space we have bought and paid for? I expect to have house ds til he finds a job, and perhaps my mother as well.

We're the opposite, rattling around in a 4 bed, paying far too much to heat it and I'm spending far more time than I want just keeping unused rooms clean. We're about to downsize and put some money in the bank. How our selling up will help younger people is beyond me, though.

I don’t think many young people would afford a 4 bedroom. It’s people who have a house to sell that climb the housing ladder. Maybe parents on late thirties/early forties with young dc who have sold their 3 bedroom house to upgrade would be your buyer.

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