I’m never ever ever buying a house. How do people even do it?!

[misstartan]

I’m 26 and I just feel like giving up. I currently flat share with a friend but want to move in with DP soon.

I have £2500 saved up and that’s it. DP has about the same so we’re nowhere near a deposit. We’re both earning a decent amount but we’re not putting enough away. I’ve tried budgeting etc and put about £300 a month away if I’m lucky.

But realistically deposits will be around 30k now, so I’m only about 28 away… 😂😭

Thing is, I’ve always had it in my head that I’d have bought a house and got married before I have kids. And I’ve always wanted to start having kids by 30. Only gives me 4 years..
I genuinely genuinely do not see how this is going to happen and it really upsets me 🙁

How do people do it?! The

@LimeBasilu I'm into the eighth year of my current renovation. I couldn't afford to do it all in one go - I did the stuff that absolutely had to be done so that the DC and I could move in, and everything else has been 'as and when', so it hasn't cost tens of thousands. I do all the decorating, sourcing bathroom and kitchen fittings on ebay/FB Marketplace/Freecycle etc. And even if I'd paid the going rate for these things, the 'added value' is far greater than the amount that I would have paid someone else to do them.

I would absolutely prioritise TTC, OP. You have no idea how that's going to work out. If you were to become pregnant on the first attempt, you'll find a way to work out the housing issue.

I am sorry. That's pretty tough losing your dad when you were so young

Yeah @Mooshamoo , it's called a re-mortgage. Or an unencumbered mortgage.

You're basically releasing the equity on your home.

Unencumbered Remortgage - Expert Mortgage Advisor

The hedge funds and investment bankers treated the financial system as a casino they broke it in 2008 and were bailed out by governments that pumped in liquidity by QE and ultra low interest rates and pumped up the value of assets and destroyed the ladder for the middle class. They are parasitical scum who have wrecked western economies and still played their devilish games.

DH and I bought when we were 31, we had 2 kids by then. We had rented a tiny 2 bed new build house for 10 years and by the time DC2 arrived we just about had the deposit sorted...then the mortgage rules all changed and the affordability calculator priced us out overnight due to having 2 dependants.
I am forever grateful that my dad cashed in his pension that year and loaned us £10k, that we're still paying back.
This meant we could buy a tiny 2 bed terrace with no outside space for £130k in an area with potential, did it up very slowly and sold it 6 years later for £190k after the local shopping centre got regenerated and prices all shot up.
In those 6 years we both got significant promotions so our salary multipliers were very favourable.
We moved into a 4 bed semi (now with 3 DC) that needs a lot of work for £330k but I don't want to ever move until we downsize so we can do it up slowly.
Sadly I'm well aware if we were trying to buy our 2 bed terrace now we'd be well outpriced, because prices have rocketed in the 10 years we've lived here. So basically it was lucky timing and a loan from my dad.
I'm beyond grateful.

I feel for you OP. The only way I could do it was that my parents let me move back in with them for a year and they paid for everything (food for me and DD, clothes, shoes for DD, all bills etc) . They didn't want me to contribute at all and everything went into saving for a deposit.

I am going to add that I saved enough to buy on my own & I had been looking at properties to buy

Then I met my partner & we bought together

Outside of the UK most people aren't nearly as bothered about renting. For the first few years a child won't realise or care where they are living. Don't miss out on kids for the sake of an ideal house.

Renting a spare room from a homeowner was cheaper than a house share with similar aged people.

Usually all inclusive.
Obv restrictive in terms of having friends over etc.
But It didn't bother me from 21 to 26.
Then just didn't take holidays or own a car or bought things I didn't need.
That's how I saved my deposit.

That budget seems a bit mental OP. A 1/2 bed flay should be a good starting point I think. I know Essex is huge big and pricey in parts but not 350k starter home right?

Where do you work/what job do you do? @Itsanotherhreatday

With a new build? I am not surprised. I mean i like the look of them myself, but he works and fix houses for a living and he honestly is so surprised people buy them! They are expensive and done so cheaply. Drainage/pipes is the most common issues.

Oh and I took on extra work on top of my salaried job to boost my savings.

The property market in the south east is bonkers, I can’t comprehend how people manage unless rich parents. Can you move somewhere cheaper? I am in Glasgow, bought a big flat (in an area I don’t want to be forever but it’s fine) for 85k (deposit was 10k). I don’t have inheritance or an especially well paid job. Might be a bit far for you but surely there are places in England still vaguely affordable?

You can.

Searched for £150k homes and there’s plenty. They ain’t pretty but you have to start somewhere.

One year plan for you… Move out of your rent and move in with boyfriend. Then you have £900+ your £200 so that’s a grand a month. In a year you will have 12k plus your 2.5 and your partners. So that’s 17k.

That’s a ten percent deposit plus solicitors fees.

Go buy a house (or a one bed flat) 🥳

In another era, I was made redundant

I moved location to start a new job, where property prices were much cheaper

I bought an old doer upper ( property had been empty for over a year) with the redundancy money & a small loan

This property is now fully paid off. Currently, still doing some internal decorations.

Hope to sell at a profit soon & relocate again

Yes
And he is a contracts manager for one of these big developers.
You think he’d know better.
All the sewage from two rows of houses finished under his house on the corner but had no where to go. Just upwards.

Don't worry about it too much. You are still very young. Me and DP are hopefully going to get there this year and we are in our 40s. I've not been able to work f/t since my 20s and DP is in a v average wage and there's been no bank of mum and dad or (v fortunately) inheritance. It's been pretty hard still renting whilst basically all of our peers own and a lot are on the 2nd or 3rd 'rung'. For us we're not thinking about it as a ladder (too late for that!) but just hoping to get something in an area that we know well and that we can live in relatively happily despite (a lot!) of comprises.

I always feel that these types of threads are a difficult read because their is a huge disparity with housing in the UK.

I’m 26, married with a baby. DH is 2 years older. We bought our 3 bed semi with 3 car drive and decent size front and back garden in 2019 for £140k. We paid a 5% deposit of £7k plus fees, searches and surveys. We were lucky to live with parents paying low rent of around £350 per month each but we were low earners at the time and scraped getting the mortgage. All of our close friends own houses round here and no one that I know had any family help, but it’s much cheaper than where you say you live now. It’s also traditionally a working class area round here so my parents and my friends parents don’t have that much money to give anyway.

People will suggest that you move away, but it’s sad that you would have to leave where you’ve been raised, where your friends and family live to be able to afford a house.

I saw that too. Unbelievable ! he is the same age as my ds1 who still lives at home earning a pittance. And that lad only went on to win 99K so probably will be moving up the ladder pretty soon !

See I think this is the biggest misjustice we do to the younger generation. You can buy a house on an average or below average wage. DP and I bought our first home 5 years ago on 17k each. Banks will lend.

The only thing which actually makes a difference to how much house you can buy (for ppl on normal wages) is when you got on the ladder and whether you have had opportunity for equity build up and value increase.

We bought our first home 2017 for 190 with a 165 mortgage, sold for 260 last year (after 4 more years of saving and improving/ adding value to the house). Bought a new home for 395 with a 240 mortgage. Hope to live here 10 or more years before we reach the point where we can get an offset mortgage (so interest massively reduced), which increases our relative savings rate and then pumping money into savings to move to a forever home nearly mortgage free or small mortgage.

You just get on the ladder and keep climbing. We have low incomes. But we are super accumulators of wealth in percentage comparison to our actual wages. People can have high wages and the opposite, they are just like leaky buckets for money.

We bought age 28, 300k nice area but only a 2 bed house. 8%deposit. We lived in a houseshare while saving up and did not own a car. We were both on 40k though. The house is 500k now, complete utter madness. I have been saving a deposit for dd since she was born.

You keep chipping away at it and eventually you'll get there. It will be so worth it in the end.

I lived in shared houses until I bought a house aged 40. Still have a massive mortgage. My brother is much younger than me and has rented his own flat since he left home and bought all brand new furniture from ikea on credit and has a car on finance and loads of expensive tech but somehow still expects to be able to have a deposit. It pisses me off when he goes on about it to be honest as if it was somehow handed to me.