To think there is a serious problem with the housing market in this country

[Kitchendisco21]

I was just about to buy my first home having spent 10 years saving a deposit. Thanks to the stupid help to buy intervention, the houses I was able to buy are now 50k more expensive so I am completely priced out. I am so utterly sick of it.

And no, I can’t move elsewhere/ get somewhere smaller/eat fewer avocados! I have been saving for a decade.

Aibu to be so fed up. I read last week that 98% of keyworkers couldn’t buy a home in the uk now. When will people actually wake up & see what a major problem there is? I am so angry.

@TulisaIsBrill Couldn't have said it better myself! They've held their monopoly for so long, it's ultimatley down to us to make the changes and I'm happy to take the risk at a chance for a better, more fair future.

At the end of the day their 'money' is worthless (sorry its worth the paper - or should I say plastic stuff they use now that they print it with). They just print more and more, and I don't want part in it much longer lol. Biggest shambles ever.

[quote lettinggoagain]@TulisaIsBrill Couldn't have said it better myself! They've held their monopoly for so long, it's ultimatley down to us to make the changes and I'm happy to take the risk at a chance for a better, more fair future.

At the end of the day their 'money' is worthless (sorry its worth the paper - or should I say plastic stuff they use now that they print it with). They just print more and more, and I don't want part in it much longer lol. Biggest shambles ever.[/quote]
It genuinely makes my heart melt to read things like this! I’m so glad others are increasing seeing it too. I’ve felt this way since before the financial crisis, it’s been horrible. It was obvious before that it was coming. Shania Twain predicted it ffs in 2003! (Read the lyrics to ka-ching).

In 2007/08 there was a genuine opportunity to have a reset, and let debtors take the pain. Instead they decided to double down on the fraud and here we are 13 years later in an even worse position.

Fortunately there’s a bunch of folks who are taking no shit now. Good you’re on board.

In 2007/08 there was a genuine opportunity to have a reset, and let debtors take the pain. Instead they decided to double down on the fraud and here we are 13 years later in an even worse position.

I never understood why they didn't allow at least some reset, now it's fucked

The salient bits of that song:

We live in a greedy little world,
That teaches every little boy and girl
To earn as much as they can possibly,
Then turn around and spend it foolishly
We've created us a credit card mess
We spend the money that we don't possess
Our religion is to go and blow it all
So it's shopping every Sunday at the mall
All we ever want is more
A lot more than we had before
So take me to the nearest store

.... and the piece de resistance

When you're broke, go and get a loan
Take out another mortgage on your home
Consolidate so you can afford
To go and spend some more when you get bored

Every time I see an equity release advert I laugh and think of Shania.

@terribleg

In 2007/08 there was a genuine opportunity to have a reset, and let debtors take the pain. Instead they decided to double down on the fraud and here we are 13 years later in an even worse position.

I never understood why they didn't allow at least some reset, now it's fucked

Their actions have made me pretty rich and I’m disgusted by it

There is no way any boomer who had a half decent job shouldn't be minted. If you didn't have a decent job, or you didn't know how to invest, then yeah, you might not be sorted. But the opportunities that generation had are just phenomenal when it came to housing and pensions if you had as I said - a half decent job. Today, a half decent job gets you nowhere. You need a fking brilliant one

Dh had a brilliant job, savings and a good pension. We weren’t loaded as I could never work. Only just found out I might have adhd so am in the middle of being tested. Maybe if I had been born much later it would have been noticed and not have it wreck my life

Dh was diagnosed with cancer. If we had left it up to the wonderful NHS he would be dead now. I think we lived in the wrong postcode to qualify for the life extending/saving operation. I think we fucked it up because we decided to use all our savings to pay for it ourselves.
Coupled with no income for nearly 2 years for his recovery then him losing his job and not working for nearly 2 years it has all gone.
Just because you have a half decent job doesn’t stop life throwing you some curved balls.

Does it not cross your mind that life doesn’t run in a straight line. That one day, for all your cleverness at investing and working in your brilliant jobs that something could come along and wipe you out financially.

People my age might have bought a house in the 80s but a lot lost them in the 90s and were still paying the negative equity off for years after. Most people had their savings wiped out paying their 18% mortgages just to hold onto their home.

It wasn’t just buy a house and see it rise in value and pay off the mortgage when the mortgage payments end up being more than you earn

@Bythemillpond

There is no way any boomer who had a half decent job shouldn't be minted. If you didn't have a decent job, or you didn't know how to invest, then yeah, you might not be sorted. But the opportunities that generation had are just phenomenal when it came to housing and pensions if you had as I said - a half decent job. Today, a half decent job gets you nowhere. You need a fking brilliant one

Dh had a brilliant job, savings and a good pension. We weren’t loaded as I could never work. Only just found out I might have adhd so am in the middle of being tested. Maybe if I had been born much later it would have been noticed and not have it wreck my life

Dh was diagnosed with cancer. If we had left it up to the wonderful NHS he would be dead now. I think we lived in the wrong postcode to qualify for the life extending/saving operation. I think we fucked it up because we decided to use all our savings to pay for it ourselves.
Coupled with no income for nearly 2 years for his recovery then him losing his job and not working for nearly 2 years it has all gone.
Just because you have a half decent job doesn’t stop life throwing you some curved balls.

Does it not cross your mind that life doesn’t run in a straight line. That one day, for all your cleverness at investing and working in your brilliant jobs that something could come along and wipe you out financially.

People my age might have bought a house in the 80s but a lot lost them in the 90s and were still paying the negative equity off for years after. Most people had their savings wiped out paying their 18% mortgages just to hold onto their home.

It wasn’t just buy a house and see it rise in value and pay off the mortgage when the mortgage payments end up being more than you earn

I had a tingly feeling there would be an anecdotal response coming detailing life circumstances that create an exception.

Yes, absolutely - I’m sorry that life took those turns for you, and yes - it’s absolutely possible that death/illness etc can throw a spanner in the works for anyone. This much should be obvious, but I should have added that caveat to be explicit and pre-empt this sort of response.

But, in the main, the opportunities to have a house, pension and kids for that generation were massively more than for then for the current ones.

Please don’t throw the interest rate argument around. Everyone knows that masses of people saw their debt inflated away. A few tough years and boom - a mortgage of peanuts compared to your new inflation adjusted salary and normalised interest rates. Was to pay off. It’s way more difficult to pay off a large capital sum in an environment where wages are stagnant, no matter how low the interest rates are.

Plus it’s hard to wipe someone out financially who has zero debt.

But frankly, I’d swap every last thing I own for my kids, their friends and my friends to have a decent crack at life without being forced to be a slave to debt, which most are these days one way or another.

There are so many factors contributing to the housing crisis in the UK from all ends of the age spectrum.

If you look at say 40 years ago more people go to university thus delaying getting into employment and then the onto the housing ladder, people getting married later in life and not in a couple to purchase as would have been the case, divorce rates which see more people living alone, ageing population with few care home options so people living in homes longer, very few people willingly staying with their parents as the spinster type who nurses them through old age whilst also not living separately.

All of these factors affect things and that is before personal choice of not saddling yourself with huge debt from a very you g age and that the norm was never people buying houses alone. Of course a key worker can't afford to buy a property on their own, they never could. People bought property together when they got married in their early 20's.

@TulisaIsBrill

Plus it’s hard to wipe someone out financially who has zero debt.

But frankly, I’d swap every last thing I own for my kids, their friends and my friends to have a decent crack at life without being forced to be a slave to debt, which most are these days one way or another.

Wow! You really don’t consider yourself to have any vulnerabilities do you? Let’s hope life is kind to you and your children because you don’t have half the cushion you seem to think you have. I really hope for your sake that you don’t have to find that out the hard way.

Worked abroad for five years to earn enough to get our house. Managed to buy it outright ( property was a lot cheaper 20 years ago ) but couldn’t possibly afford it now. Very worried about how our kids are going to put a roof over their heads.

But frankly, I’d swap every last thing I own for my kids, their friends and my friends to have a decent crack at life without being forced to be a slave to debt, which most are these days one way or another

Will you then be encouraging them to go out to work instead of going to university.

800k. Zero debt. 150k job. It’s a decent cushion, yeah.

But like I say - I’d swap the assets and the job for a reset that made things a level playing field for the under 40s and operated as a meritocracy. Good luck finding a person with a house who would say the same.

@Bythemillpond

But frankly, I’d swap every last thing I own for my kids, their friends and my friends to have a decent crack at life without being forced to be a slave to debt, which most are these days one way or another

Will you then be encouraging them to go out to work instead of going to university.

100% yes. If they have even the slightest inclination towards entrepreneurship for sure. University is pointless unless you want to be a doctor or something that requires specialist training. Otherwise - It’s a piece of paper - and a very costly one these days. At least when I went it was relatively inexpensive.

@TulisaIsBrill

800k. Zero debt. 150k job. It’s a decent cushion, yeah.

But like I say - I’d swap the assets and the job for a reset that made things a level playing field for the under 40s and operated as a meritocracy. Good luck finding a person with a house who would say the same.

800k in assets and a career that I assume could be ended like any other through ill health or disability. Like I said it’s not a great cushion in the big scheme of things. You don’t seem to want to believe in the current monetary system but that’s exactly how you are measuring your assets, it seems a curious position to take.

But then again your username suggests you may be a professional contrarian😂😂

I think it’s a better cushion than a 300k mortgage on a 400k house. But whatever.

I only put a £ measurement on it because it’s easily understood.

But if you must :

• I own shares in most of the worlds largest companies, which are growing through money printing and if not, they are defensive which pay dividends.

• I own physical precious metals, which are like old school money.

• I own actual crypto, which cannot be debased like £.

Yeah, I could have an accident, or die, or something could happen that I can’t predict - that’s life.

I’m doing my best to make myself resilient - it might work, it might not, but at least I’m doing something. Would you prefer I didn’t?

TulisaIsBrill

We didn’t quite have £800,000 and not quite a £150k job but given what happened to us you don’t have that much of a cushion if you lose your job and life throws you a curve ball you will be not far off the position we find ourselves in.

Has anyone ever succeeded in buying their HA property?

Yeah - I could lose my job tomorrow and wake up to find the worlds stock markets have crashed, and then I crash my car and things go to shit. So what?

I might not. At the current pace, it’ll take me a few years to reach a point where most people never get to which is complete financial independence. I’m incredibly lucky and accept that.

@TulisaIsBrill

I think it’s a better cushion than a 300k mortgage on a 400k house. But whatever.

I only put a £ measurement on it because it’s easily understood.

But if you must :

• I own shares in most of the worlds largest companies, which are growing through money printing and if not, they are defensive which pay dividends.

• I own physical precious metals, which are like old school money.

• I own actual crypto, which cannot be debased like £.

Yeah, I could have an accident, or die, or something could happen that I can’t predict - that’s life.

I’m doing my best to make myself resilient - it might work, it might not, but at least I’m doing something. Would you prefer I didn’t?

I don’t know why you are trying to prove yourself to me. You obviously think you have it all figured out. Like I said I hope for your sake that it works out for you. I am not sure you should really be telling others what to do though.

@Bythemillpond

TulisaIsBrill

We didn’t quite have £800,000 and not quite a £150k job but given what happened to us you don’t have that much of a cushion if you lose your job and life throws you a curve ball you will be not far off the position we find ourselves in.

Only on mumsnet would 800k be described as ‘not much of a cushion’. I’m out.

We didn’t quite have £800,000 and not quite a £150k job but given what happened to us you don’t have that much of a cushion if you lose your job and life throws you a curve ball you will be not far off the position we find ourselves in.

By that yardstick who does?

TulisaIsBrill yes the stock market might crash and you might lose your job but you still need to live. You have food to put on the table, you have bills to pay. You might have to take a few years off work add paying for a loved ones operation. Another 6 figures and how much would really be left.

It doesn’t happen overnight it took 5 years to get to this stage. Add to that the 90s mortgage interest rates wiped any gains we had made plus periods of unemployment and really we started again in 1997.

Only on mumsnet would 800k be described as ‘not much of a cushion’.

True dat!

On another thread someone bringing in 9k a month, putting 2k plus into savings/pensions, having a rainy day fund, separate saving vehicles for dc uni etc, small mortgage relative to earnings was also told they didn't have have enough of a cushion!