Just can't get on the property ladder

[NoFrills01]

We have a DS at school, I've just got a PT job and he works FT our income is just over 50K we can scrape together a deposit of 25K if we beg parents for help.

Still we are struggling to get a mortage and struggling to find anything worth having, we have been stuck renting for years. We need to stay in the area as DS goes to a wonderful school and because of our jobs.

We are both over 30 and it feels so embarrassing to not have a home we can call our own, we have no family support (pre covid) to help with DS so we do everything ourselves.

I feel left behind, my friends all have lovely homes, and lives and we are always worrying about money and going without trying to save as much as we can so we can have a home that's ours, and a better future for us all.

Worried to get a new build and still don't think we could afford it.

Has anyone any advise? It's all I think about!

You say you just started work, so now you'll be able to add to the savings pot for the deposit.
Your rent is low and you like the area, so why not stay, keep saving and enjoy the chance to save?
Is there something else going on? Your embarrassment at not owning, and the strange comment about having a school age child, working part-time, but having to do everything yourselves. Who else do you think should be doing things for your small family?

Nothing wrong with renting. You have a nice home and happy child at school. I would stick with that. And your rent is a "steal." All sounds good to me.

All you would achieve by buying is a lesser house, a lot of travelling and an asset to leave to your children. You would probably finish up spending that asset on care when you are old. Just not worth the hassle.

Thatcher convinced us all that home ownership was the only thing to which to aspire. In the rest of Europe renting is the norm.

I would stay put and count your blessings!

I’m so fed up of whiny millennials claiming how hard it is for them and we had it so easy. Anyone old enough to remember interest rates of 15% and the horror of bridging loans? I bought my first 1 bedroom flat in 1988 at the height of the property over priced ‘boom’ in a crap area and went through two recessions. However, I didn’t whinge and made the best of - I scraped money to buy a futon and gratefully accepted any other furniture. Also, prioritised making mortgage payments over anything else. It was shit at times; cold because ineffective economy 7 storage heating but luckily coincided when 3rd hand fridge broke down so just put dairy products on outside sill!

Effing ‘ell - I sound like a Monty Python sketch (millennials won’t understand anyway)!!!

I was talking to a friend this week about the day interest rates went up to 15% - we both recalled nearly being sick on our shoes when that happened.

@VinylDetective yup, it was definitely squeaky bum time re 15% yet somehow, most of us prioritised our biggest debt (mortgage) and didn’t incur more.

Have you looked at applying for for a Help to Buy equity loan? In the South East you could (apparently) get up to 20% of the cost of a home, with the maximum price being £437,600.
www.helptobuyagent3.org.uk/help-to-buy-schemes/equity-loan/

Yeah - the 15% was when property prices were much lower and the differential between wages was much smaller. It’s a false equivalency and you know it.

I was talk to MIL about this just today. In 1995 they bought a beautiful house for £195k with their joint income of about £50k.

That house is now worth £1.2m but the equivalent jobs now don’t command a commensurate increase in salary.

When I bought 10 years ago my job paid £35k. Jobs like it are still advertised for the same cost. The flat I bought cost £230k. It sold last year for £415k.

I’m not a millennial but don’t be a douche - things are different and you know it.

It sounds like it might be a choice of you choosing between working full time and buying "somewhere worth having" or staying as you are?

Neither is "wrong" but you do have options

What’s your budget?

Aim for small two bed ex council doer upper in your desired area. At least it will be yours fully and will have scope to extend, improve, personalise

I’m so fed up of whiny millennials claiming how hard it is for them and we had it so easy. Anyone old enough to remember interest rates of 15% and the horror of bridging loans? I bought my first 1 bedroom flat in 1988 at the height of the property over priced ‘boom’ in a crap area and went through two recessions

🙄

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/73401225

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/84666745

There are some nice houses in Thanet you just have to be a bit less fussy about where you go. These are in Birchington but there are nice options in margate and ramsgate too.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/77133909

I see so much of this these days, with people saying it is so much harder to get on the property ladder than our parents/grandparents generation. It isn't, our lifestyle has just changed.

For previous generations it was save for a deposit, buy a 1 bed flat, wait 5+ years to get some equity in it, sell it and move to a 2/3 bed house (psiibly then another move to a better house/location) then have children.

Now the lifestyle seems to be have children, try and buy a 3 bed in a good school catchment area on one salary and complain its impossible to get on the property ladder.

I'm mid 30s and did it the first way round and it still works.

Yeah - the 15% was when property prices were much lower and the differential between wages was much smaller. It’s a false equivalency and you know it.

Yeah my property cost under 100k in the 80s now costs around 800k. I'd take the cheaper price & higher interest pls.

For previous generations it was save for a deposit, buy a 1 bed flat, wait 5+ years to get some equity in it, sell it and move to a 2/3 bed house (psiibly then another move to a better house/location) then have children.

Now the lifestyle seems to be have children, try and buy a 3 bed in a good school catchment area on one salary and complain its impossible to get on the property ladder.

That's not strictly true. After the 08 crash lending criteria became much tighter plus the concept of the property ladder is quite different these days to how it was in the past. It's harder to gain equity because people are buying later & the bottom rung is now so high plus we had 10 yrs of wage stagnation & stamp duty. As the average age of the FTB has increased so too has the average age of mothers so it's understandable that FTBs look different to how they used to. I'm sure many people would like to get on the ladder earlier but high deposits & rent costs & awful saving rates make is difficult. I couldn't have done it without parental help.

When you say you're struggling to get a mortgage what exactly do you mean? Have you had a mortgage offer or have you been turned down?

I also don’t really understand this. You can easily get a mortgage and a property. Yes it might not be the same standard as your rental. But that’s normal. If you don’t want to downgrade then you’ll never get on the property ladder.

Hello OP. I live in Yorkshire and find it shocking to hear how much houses are in other areas of our tiny country. Are there any cheaper (so maybe smaller) properties you could purchase to get you on the ladder? Or, like any person suggested, but a flat to rent out for a few years. If a new build offers help to buy and you can afford it, then that’s a good option. Just be careful as when I looked into this some years ago the rental part we would have had to pay was ridiculous and it ended up being a rip off. Owning your own home is lovely but also comes with the costs of maintaining it. Remember you are only in your 30s and lots of people are older now when they buy their first house.

I think properties as just too expensive, people are using them as a financial asset class rather than somewhere to live.

I cannot believe some people on hear are saying, no big deal, it is only £280,000 for a starter home in Thanet. The average salary to house price ratio was much better in the 1990s for example. It is amazing what British people will accept.

I’m going to guess you’re renting a nicer house than you can afford to buy and you don’t feel like downgrading?

Depends entirely on your definition of "worth having". We got on the property ladder in 2008, have about 40% equity and still can't afford a detached house with a big garden in a village (this costs c. £350k here). This is because I too now work PT around our toddler.

@Merryoldgoat
Not always. We bought a house with a mortgage costing 180 a month in 1990. Then interest rates hit 15%. We were faced with a new monthly payment of 580 pounds or so. Our weekly income was 250 pounds usually but husband was put on 3 days a week thanks to the recession. So he was then bringing in under 200 pounds a week ! It was bloody hard ! It wasn't the easy ride people seem to think . We had second hand furniture for years and holidays were a last minute deal for a hundred pounds or soon teletext ( those of my era will know what I am talking about ). We didn't expect to have a lot which was good because we didn't!

Personally I would steer clear of help to buy. It’s supposed to help people get on the ladder but it feels like more of a trap to me. The stair casing out has to be done in %chunks of £0000s rather than little bits here and there as you can afford it meaning so many people struggle to ever pay off this part of the loan/mortgage. It’s a pain remortgaging and it’s a pain if you want to sell...

See if there is something on the open market that may not tick all your boxes but something you can live with for a few years. The property will grow in value and in 2 - 4 years you will have more equity to play with and then look for something you really like. If you search on Zoopla you can look at at ‘listing history’ and see what the property last sold for and what it is up for now. You will see with your own eyes that even the most basic properties go up in value in a year or two, it doesn’t have to be a ‘doer upper’ if that’s not your cup of tea.
We did 4 years in our first house and it was ‘fine’ we are now in a house that ticks a lot more of our boxes and it was made possible by the equity that we gained in the first house.
Good luck!

@gigty - you may not have wanted to at the time

Nope I defo take that & I would also take the huge equity gains alas I was a baby.