To wonder how you came to live in a big character house

[Summerofloaf]

As in how did you afford it? What job do you do that enables you to live in a lovely big character house with big gardens?
Did you inherit? Work from scratch?

How? (Doesn’t anyone else wonder this?)

My island? I went the cheapest way which was about £600 return plus a bit more for the boat. I didn't like changing flights in Miami so ended up usually flying from Heathrow (near where I live) to New York and then connecting to Panama. Then a night in Panama and next day had a boatman take me out. The first time I went the island agent arranged a small plane to land us out in the island group and then a boat from there but it was really just as easy to have an hour boat from the mainland straight to my island... and we are talking about survival skills here by the way not luxury Necker type stuff.

I had no family help, rubbish A levels and a 2:2 from a mediocre university, from memory it's main claim to fame was the longest student bar in Europe. I did get a decent job after uni and worked part time on top of that (probably 60 hours a week across the two) and both were mentally and physically demanding. I lived frugally, I sofa surfed for months and used to run to work. That allowed me to buy my first house a 2 bed terrace in East London. I then married someone with a 2 bed terrace and we bought a 3 bed semi which we did loads of work to make it a 4 bed.

That house we got a let to buy mortgage so rented it out and used the money to as the deposit for large 5 bed detached which is the character property we live in now. It was a repossession and had been empty a while. It was very much a doer upper, we have gorgeous stained glass windows that had a hole the size of a golf ball that he wind howled through for the first 3 years we lived here. The garden was so over grown that once we hacked everything back we found an ornamental pond and a ride on lawn mower we didn't know about.

We waited until this house for children. Each house has been in a nicer area (the East End house I had a prostitute throw a brick threw my window to try and break in but thankfully she was too wasted to steal anything). Now we live in a lovely village with a real community spirit and great access amenities. Sometimes living here feels like being on holiday.

In short, earn well, save hard and make sacrifices, marry someone who can also contribute financially and buy somewhere that needs work.

Just had to say that £3 million lodge you linked to is SO horribly decorated. Someone's bought a beautiful historic property and put in a neon disco suburban nightclub room and a room full of Union Jack cushions. I'd guess that one isn't inherited money.

It is garish PetraRabbit but the garden is wonderful.

Can't contribute at all in terms of owning a character house but while an inheritance and/or a well paid job clearly help, I am struck (and impressed By the number of people doing up houses or determinedly overpaying mortgages.

Yes over paying was something we did. Even with the two buy to lose (I call them) flats in the 1980s which reduced about 50% in value and on which I had a 13% uinterest rate fix for 10 years (not much use when interest rates went right down to 8%) we paid the entirety of the loan off and then the mortgage on our third property - our last family house so when we came to buy in 1997 we had no mortgage at all and sold all 3 properties albeit for losses. As we were in a property slump/crash we were able to get this current house a bit cheaper £850k provided we exchanged in 7 days - I paid our solicitor about 5x the normal price and she was able to do it that quickly. Our mortgage was £500k (and we had the £350k saved from the 3 properties by then unmortgaged which we sold in 1996/7). By the way we put in at least 100 hours of work on the flats every year - I spent hours painting walls and the like - which actually with 3 very small children at weekends was the easy side of things compared to your weekend shift with the baby, toddler and 4 year old!

Then we moved here 1997 with a 10 year mortgage only albeit later that changed as we divorced etc. Also even on this house we bought in 1997 I have never made a single change to it and we used the children's savings (now paid back) and every last penny including all savings to be able to buy it. Actually I did buy an office to be fitted in it - the desk etc but other than that it is as we bought it in 1997 as no money for that kind of thing - same carpets etc BUT I like it and would rather spend my money on other things rather than a new kitchen or bathroom.