To think I'll never own a house?

[HotSun]

I'm 29, I have a DH and 2 lovely DD's who are 4 and 1. We have some debts, probably around £5,000, due to a family issue a number of years back. We are now paying this off. We have no savings.

We have £1200 a month after our bills, this is for food, fuel, any things we might need and then spending money.

I'm not working just now but will be in the next year or so but realistically, I won't be a high earner. I really expected that by the time I reached this age, I'd own a house or at least be a lot closer to it. I'm feeling rather deflated about it all to be honest and I just want a good future for our family but it feels like we'll never get there. Anyone been where I am and ended up getting to where they wanted to be? Hoping for some success stories to make me feel a little more positive.

@glintandglide it wasn't help to buy. Some providers run 5% for ftbs without the help to buy scheme. However, the interest is higher. It was worth it though. I don't know when you bought, but I did about 2 years ago if it makes any difference.

@crisscrosscranky and imagine some banks are offering 100% again! Fgs...

I disagree to an extent. It's a good idea when you are smart about it and buy a house where you can add value or in the "up and coming" area. Where I am market hasn't really slowed down.
But. It is a bad idea if you go for a fully done up, top of the price ceiling for the area, house.

So you had not one but two kids in your twenties, you don't work so live on one wage, you have massively discounted rent for the better part of a decade or more, more disposable income than a vast amount of society and you're grousing that you can't get what you want? Grow up! You chose to prioritise having kids young and staying at home. Make a budget, save up and buy what you can afford like everyone else instead of expecting the world to hand you what you want on a plate.

Sounds like you are in much better situation than a lot of people. I fail to see the problem unless you plan not to return to work. You don't need to be high earner to pay the bills, you get some free hours when the youngest is 3.

People, the fact that someone has it better than someone else, doesn't mean they can't be unhappy about something regarding their own situation...

Average first time buyer is I think age 31. I imagine that most couples have two full time jobs in order to buy and most don't have kids until mid 30's.
OP it sounds to me like you are doing really well to have so much disposable income on one salary at this young age. If you go back to work it seems to me that home ownership would definitely be possible in a few years time if it's important to you.

You have a massive amount left over each month, like others have said! Be realistic and budget and you'll save a deposit in no time. Though you have it cushy where you are and if I were you I'd stay there for a good few years and get a nice nest egg!

We stayed with parents paying the same rent as you do for 9 months with around the same disposable income and one child and managed to save £8k in that time, we didn't buy anything but food and essentials. It's doable but you have to be realistic about your spending and budget budget budget.

tbh, seeing the absolute shit a couple of my friends have been through latey trying to sell houses and buy others, Ive really apprecited the benefits to renting

So as you are on discounted rent effectively you can save that every month. So £500 for three years gives you a 10% deposit, and prices are not rising anywhere fast at the moment. In three years youngest will be at school so childcare costs less and you get a job.

Own first house for five to ten years both progress in career and earn more, then if you want to upsize.

Again like others I am struggling to see the problem.

I know very few people who bought in their twenties so you will be about average for a first time buyer

Oh ok I bought 4 ish years ago and nothing less than 15% was available, although maybe that was due to the price of the property

@glintandglide That's possible. Mine was quite under 100k. So even if market crashed, I would be affected too much if at all. Plus I already added value.

It sounds like your DH is in the military. If that is the case then he can use the military help to buy scheme which is excellent. If he isn't ignore this 😂

1200 after bills is £40 per day, day after day, month after month.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself and take some ownership of your position. You're more than capable of putting a lot away.

OP, yanbu. There are ways you can make it happen, but it's hard to make the leap to home ownership.

£1200 after bills... That's a fortune to me.. £970 a month to cover everything in this house.. I will never own a place.

On the flip side.. I've owned houses and I hated it. Never want to own another one again.

Why would anybody hate owning a house? I feel I need to do so much work to mine but the relief is beautiful.

N0bodysM0t

I could list all the reasons, like all the costs you have to footnif things go wrong, roof, boiler, windows, damp etc etc, but I won't.
I will say that the biggest reason was the feeling of being trapped. £200k of debt weighing down my soul. Fuck that.
If i get shit neighbours, I can leave.
If the town turns to shit, I'm off.
If this house loses value, couldn't give a fuck, its not mine.
So on and so on.
Couldn't have the anchor for the next 60years...

Renting is not good it's crap.
No security not allowed to do anything to the property then having to put up with constant rent increases despite paying silly money in the first place.
I'm talking about southeast btw maybe better in other areas but here renting is a joke unless you can get council housing which are like gold dust round here anyway.

And it's not easy to up and leave even when renting,finding something else in your budget then moving costs deposit etc everything you move is an upheaval and costly.

Sorry OP but with that sort of disposable I would be saving £500/600 a month. DH and I saved £600/month when we had a joint disposable of £1k and tbh we could have saved more. Took us a couple of years and then moved into shared ownership. This was at least 7 years ago and things have changed but we now own with a full mortgage. Why aren't you saving?

You did things the wrong way around . If you want to get on the housing ladder now you need to get an education or training , work fulltime for a few years , save like mad , get your house then have kids . The couples I know who did it this way have not struggled to buy a house . Of course you can’t change your situation now so best to start saving as much as you can as soon as you can .

I’m in the same boat. 😬 earn too much for help but not enough to be able to afford 😐

I really appreciate all of your comments. I'm not claiming to be skint or hard done by, as I said we've been paying off debts and still have more to do on that front but you've given me the belief now that it will happen. I think it's just the uncertainty that's bothering me and just the fact I hoped to own a home before now but I suppose there's still plenty of time

The thing you need to remember is how young you are. You will not be taking a pension until you are 70 at the earliest. So you have at least forty years of working life ahead of you. No need to be in such a rush

Yeh i didnt own my own house til i was 43. Id been saving and saving forever and there was a boom in ireland and house prices inflated way beyond their worth. At times i thouhht whst is the point of all of this never ending belt tightening. I thought 'is it foolish to keep saving amd never having spending money when my goal is so out of reach?". But the bottom fell out of the economy. Houses stopped selling at srupod prices. Asking prices plummetted. Eventually i could afford it. But at 29 i had not even taken my maternity leave so if you go back to work you are ahead of me and with a partner.
So keep saving.