' A chicken would cost £50'

[stopitandtidyupp]

Leisurely watching ' The big questions'
discussing is London only for the rich?

One woman said if house prices were a chicken then a chicken would now cost £50. Now she meant in London but I wonder about the rest of the country.

I live in the NE and I am struggling to get on the ladder.

I guess my AIBU to be annoyed at house prices and is there an answer?

Oliversmumsarmy where do you put your stuff / child in a one bed flat

Same place as friends with children who live in studios and 1 bed flats.

It is not that unusual.

Ok so someone else is saying their regular part time job was taken into consideration and so in 2013, before the stricter regulations came in, age 22, you cannot outright say it was bullshit that they lent her 5 x salary when they lent me 4.5 x salary at same age without even checking my salary, in a job I'd only had for 12 months. Yes, I was pre-crash so things were VERY lax but I don't think you can outright declare it as bullshit.

My Auntie lives in a one bed with her teenage daughter. Cousin has the bedroom and her mum sleeps in the living room on the sofa bed.

Not ideal but a lot better than many people have.

If you will only settle for a three bedroom detached house with garden, you are more likely to be disappointed.

DH and I live in a two bed, no garden flat with our toddler and everyone is we don't have a house. We couldn't afford a house. We bought what we could afford, end of story. We were extremely lucky to have the ability to buy anything at all.

People are shocked you live in a 2-bed property with one child???

People are shocked you live in a 2-bed property with one child???

It's not so much the fact it's a 2 bedroom but the fact it's a) a flat and not a house and b) the fact it has no garden.

That's still so crazy... do they really not know people living in flats with no garden?? I have friends living in both enormous - particularly in Scotland - and tiny flats in this situation... they take their child(ren) to the park.

mirialis I don't think it's too shocking, I don't know anyone who owns a flat. We rented one as students, but that's it. There really aren't that many of them here.

Loads and loads of flats in Scotland, totally normal to have a family in a tenement.
Probably more unusual to have a house in many cities.

You don't think it's crazy that some people are "shocked" that someone with a child lives in a flat?

It's because we live in London. I'm forever dealing with friends who are up north saying "oh but you could buy a 7 bedroom mansion with a fountain and its own butler" here for the amount you paid for that (or whatever).

I'm like yes - but funnily enough I like living in London where I grew up and where all my family and friends still live. Plus I grew up in a council flat where I shared a room with three siblings. I'm used to making small spaces work.

At least you don't moan about it. You have chosen to stay where your family and friends are, in the country's most expensive city, but I'm shocked that there are people in the UK who think it's bad that a child is growing up without a private garden!! I understand why people would move away from a city in order to get a garden but it's pretty weird to think that's what people should do.

No I don't mind at all. We've chosen to stay here. We could have moved outside London but then we would have been very far away from extended family. My son lives within walking distance of his grandparents, aunties and cousins. More valuable than a garden and a spare bedroom IMO, particularly as we have parks coming out of our ears round here.

My point is that a lot of people expect to be able to purchase a three bed semi, and think if they can only afford less, then they "can't afford" to buy.

Obviously you have to be privileged to be able to afford to buy at all. I am talking about people I know who have deposits saved up of 30k or so, and decent salaries between them, but can "only" afford flats, so they don't buy. Mad, IMO.

"Yes, I was pre-crash so things were VERY lax but I don't think you can outright declare it as bullshit."

That's the difference, after the crash there is no way she got a part time salary from an extra job taken into consideration.

The other person posting said they worked part time and were excepted, not that they worked part time as an additional job. Something such as working as a delivery driver would never be considered as regular nor steady income as part of a mortgage application.

Also to have raised 30k by 21 with no family help? Living at home with no bills is still family help.

Again on MN this is another tale of something that never happened.

Out of interest why do you keep insisting she was 21 when she said she was 22, and yes another year of earning and saving is significant? Things were easier in 2013 than they were in 2014 onwards and she said that she was privately renting a room in a flat share in the midlands not just living at home with no bills. Did you oversee every mortgage decision in 2013? Otherwise, I don't see how you can call it bullshit.

can "only" afford flats, so they don't buy. Mad, IMO

I quite agree!

I live in Wales and 80% of it is really cheap, it's just not for everyone though.

We live in a 2 bed ex council maisonette.

This is what we saved a house deposit for 7 years for.

We have 2 DDs.

We have a big private garden, own access and 2 car parking spaces off road.

We live in a fantastic - but verily expensive - area, about 200 metres from the girls' school. I work locally. It is amazing and I love it.

We could not buy a house where we want to live.

Kitted it would be simple if there was a cap on the amount of houses people could own
How many houses should people be allowed to own, Snout?

I don't think it's too shocking, I don't know anyone who owns a flat. We rented one as students, but that's it. There really aren't that many of them here

Same here. It isn't common for families to live in a flat at all, AFAIK the few high rises in my town do not permit children over 3, they will be considered priority for a transfer. This isn't London obviously!

mizu - it sounds great!

I did grow up in a house but my DH has never lived in a house, only flats, and since we have been together we have only ever rented and owned flats and have NEVER felt hard done by. Unfortunately we have struggled to have DC but if it does work out for us then needing to have a house has never been on the radar and the vast majority of our neighbours have DC. I really don't get it.

We could afford to buy a house somewhere we don't want to live, but that does not appeal. Equally, if your priority is to have a house, then - like the poster who put everyone's backs up said - work out a way to MOVE. And that poster did say that if you are disabled or have local elderly/disabled etc. dependents you can't, but many people are not in that position and still moan that they can't afford to buy what they want, where they want because they need a "support network". I can see why people say it was easier for poorer people in the old days to buy but poorer people also moved to where the work was and didn't even have the luxury of cars and free phone/video calls to keep in touch with their support network. There are lots of people with real reasons as to why this can't work for them, but there will be some people reading this post getting pissed off who actually could move and afford to buy if they stopped making excuses.

@evaperonspoodle so do you really also think it's completely normal to be shocked that people have a child whilst living in a flat?

No I wouldn't be as I was pregnant with my first when we lived in a flat. I would however think it was very strange for someone in my city to purchase a one bed flat with several children, or buy a flat with the intention of it being a 'forever' home. I don't know why though.

Ilovewhippets There should be rules on renting out properties though. I’ve said it before on here; rent out one home for any price you want. More than that and it has to be the same “ fair rent” as Housing Assications have to use (80% of what a private rent would be). Anything over five properties and you have to take people off the housing register.

It can be done. My husband and I bought our house when we were 23. We saved up for years and were both in average jobs - I was a minimum wage (£12k back then) nursery nurse and he was an engineer on about £19k. We managed to get a 18 year mortgage on our house. We sacrificed going on holiday that year, taking our time and money to spend on the house. We worked and didn’t play and it benefited us. We are now in a better position financially, much better, and looking to move into a much bigger house. You just need to get a starter home to enable you to find your forever home.

people who are already living in the area do not want more people moving in because it threatens their lifestyle so they object to new estates being built near them

Some of the ‘lifestyle’ complaints are basics like being able to actually get to work and school when every single road in an area has been dug up and has multiple sets of lights, none of which are in sync. Or get a doctor’s appointment or places at schools because of sudden population increases. And then there are the broken promises about new sports centres in the town. Or new and more exciting shops that never seem to appear.

Yes, we do sometimes wonder whether our county is somehow being punished.

That’s before you even start wondering why Brexit Britain is tearing up productive arable fields instead of trying to grow more food for the growing population.