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

That's not true for me. Nor for a lot of people. I never had any help, and I didn't have a partner, i literally wasted my youth having zero fun to save for my house

me and my husband bought our house 4 years ago, we both saved £7,000 each so I’d a deposit of £14,000 and our house at the time was valued at £240,000. It might be worth speaking with a mortgage advisor so they can give you a rough idea of much you could afford based off both of your salaries and how much of a deposit you would need. That’s what we did, we thought we would need at least £20k but because we was young we got a longer mortgage term.

best of luck! Keep saving as much as you can x

I had to move 250 miles away in order to buy a house. I was in Hertfordshire,(where I was born) in a shared ownership flat( I would never recommend that to anyone!) now on Yorkshire Coast.
Best thing I ever did…. Is that a possibility?

I really feel for you OP - somewhat ironically DH and I were in exactly the same position but back in 2008. We were 27, desperate to buy but the financial crash had happened and deposits were 30k+. We worked out it would take five years but we also wanted children and as children was time sensitive in the way a house wasn’t, we had children first.

3 kids later and we finally bought in 2020 at age 40. Would have loved to have bought first as we could only afford a flat and it would have been great to have had 10 years paying into a property instead of rent, but that’s just the way it works sometimes. I ended up with everything I ever wanted eventually.

If you are buying woth DP then you will not be classed as a first time buyer

That's roughly my net on just over 27k. But I'm in the North. I co own 4 houses, have my own (small) house. But I was most definitely in the right place at the right time with regards to home ownership.

Don't bow down to the pressure. Pros and cons.

Your only renting from the bank with a mortgage. Unless you but outright.

Too much pressure on people these days to be who they think they should be. X

For LISAs you are. It’s the individual.

For other schemes, stamp duty, etc. It’s if either has owned.

Don't mean this in a rude way, but your expectations are too high. You are 26. I was 35 when I bought my own house as salary was good at that point. You need to sit tight and save save save. Don't be influenced by others, especially if they have help, just focus on yourself and reach your target in your own time.

Yes it is. Even someone on minimum wage doing a 40 hour week earns £21k gross! ONS say median average wage for a full time employee is currently £33k. London median wage is £805 per week or nearly £42k p.a. Even the lowest median wage (North East) is £30k.

We live in the Essex area so very very pricey sadly, can’t find much for under £350k
I don't believe that, sorry. Are you looking at starter flats or expecting to move straight in your 4 bed detached 'forever home'?

Agree with above, lots for sale in Essex under £230,000, ive just had a quick look on Rightmove, some lovely ones, 2 bed mid terraced ect.
Most older people i know went without (no takeaways, sim only phone no contract, removed sky ect from existing bills, stopped having eyelashes/nails done) and worked 2nd jobs to buy.
A lot do the new home to start where some of your deposit is paid for you by the builders, stay for a few years then sell, if sell at the right price (buy when prices are down, sell when they are up) it should give you a decent deposit to move on to something larger/nearer to what you originally wanted.
Also as new home owners those that buy new have the advantage of not having to pay out for works to be done, learn how to budget as a home owner, rather than old and needing work done that can get very expensive.

I’ve just put a quick search into zoopla. Loads of properties coming up under 250 k in Essex.

I bought aged 31 OP many moons ago and had to purchase the cheapest flat in the worst area. But it was a start. You have to start somewhere. That gives you the base to move up from later on if and when your property accrues value or you get promotions or whatever. Wanting to start on the property ladder at 350K is unrealistic. Cut your cloth according to your means. Sorry! Gen X real talk here.

You buy the cheapest property going, do it up without going overboard, make a profit, move to next , same again, carry on until you have something approaching what you want. Or, you do what we did. We moved out of London to a much cheaper area. I now live on the coast of Yorkshire in a 4 bed terrace that would cost a fortune in London. I also have a better quality of life.

I have read today that some lenders are giving 100% mortgages at the moment .
also I would start small and go for a two up two down terrace , my DD did this and it doubled in price in 2 years and her and her DH got better jobs in that time so they sold it and were able to purchase a three bedroom semi. 3 years later they were able to buy their 4 bed detached which is their forever home .

It is so hard for first time buyers now. It was always my dream to build a house together and get married before having kids. We have done things the other way round as kids was my priority before 30. It just means they can be part of your wedding day, which is something I'm looking forward to. We bought our house at 28, we moved in to my parents to save for a deposit for 2 years which helped a lot. We obviously paid board but not as much as we would of renting, is this something yous could do? We never had any help towards saving apart from this.
We saved 10k and both had a help to buy isa which topped it up to 12k, we didnt buy a new build, we bought a doer upper house which is soild. Nearly 4 years on we have the house almost as we want it, new kitchen ect. We have 2 kids and we get married next year and i will be 32. Sometimes things dont go the way you planned but you get there in the end. Hope this helps.

We bought a 2 bed terrace, in SW England, in 2003. Even then, we both worked full time, DH grifted, buying and selling tech, doing it up, I worked a second job, 8nhours per week, 2 evenings in Tesco and grabbed all the weekend overtime I could, we didn't have so much as a takeaway for 4 years, did a meal out for a joint birthday thing. Christmas presents were things we needed, like duvet covers 😬.
Now we are in a 5 bed detached and keep being told that we must be here because of the bank of mum and dad.
It is HARD and whilst we have what we have (still with an uncomfortably high mortgage) Indo sometimes wish I'd lived a bit more in our early twenties.
Given the way house prices have gone, especially in SE England, I feel OP's frustration.