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

On a more positive note, I do hear prices are coming down and given the state of things economically, likely to come down a lot. Watch moving home with Charlie on youtube. He might be a predicting falls that are too high, but I have learnt a lot about the process so if I am ever lucky enough to buy i might actually know what to do!

I think if you bought now then you might end up in negative equity anyway, so things taking a while might actually work in your favour. I genuniely feel sorry for any FTB who have bought in the last few years and havent gone for a long fix on their mortgage. I know a few people who have seen their mortgages go up by 500 or so per month.

The downside of the state of the economy is lending might get tighter over the next couple of years, especially if we get more bank runs.

You really should maximise your LISA. It's 20% free money a year. As PP says you can pay it in at the end of the tax year if you need to have a bit of an accessible slush fund.

Barclays rainy day saver currently has about 5% interest on the first 5k.

You'll progress in your jobs and be able to save more in the future but everything you can save now will be a huge help

Just look for something to rent together initially. Then you can share savings and plans etc and also trial the living together.

This is what I was wondering.

But that would probably means spending some of their savings on a deposit upfront for a new rental as well.

I bought my house a few years ago at a similar age to you now but I earnt a fair bit more than you - you must only be on about £25k? Is there any route to you increasing your salary? Eg by moving employers, gaining qualifications, even moving into a different industry? It’s always doing to be difficult to buy when you’re a low earner.

Yeah I agree, the North East is very cheap, a three bed house wouldn't even buy a flat here, not even one bed. If we all moved there it wouldn't be cheap though.

Well it’s that or live apart for another 5 years while they save enough for a deposit. People have to make choices.

I would seriously consider moving out of your area.

I was living in Essex and reached the age of 32 when I knew I was not going to be able to afford to buy. It was a bit easier in those days in that I didn’t need a huge deposit but I was single so obviously only had my wage.

I relocated to Wales and got a new job. I look back and miss Essex/London but I also know I would not have been able to afford my own place there unless I had married someone rich (I never did.)

I meant the cost of a three bed house. I think I need to put this phone in the bin!!😂

Just do a help to buy, you need max 5%, sell after 5 years, pay off the loan and use the equity to buy a new house without h2b.

We did this with our first house when we were 24. We bought a tiny 2 bed house, sold after 5 years, had 40k equity when we sold and now in new, much bigger house without the h2b.

Dc1, all being well graduates this year, he has saved some of his student loan down the years and starts his job in August. It comes with accommodation and he is planning to save like crazy for a couple of years.
His girlfriend is doing the same, so they should then be in a position to buy.

Dc2 is living at home, working and saving like crazy. He has a deposit, but unfortunately house prices are so expensive here that a flat would be 7 times his salary after deposit so the chances of a mortgage are low on his own. He's going to keep saving for now.

My advice would be to use these next four years to double your salary.

Look at anything and every qualification you need for the next level - move companies of you have to.

The job market is crying out for staff and wages are increasing so make the most of it.

Where I work several people have jumped ship or been give the next level after 7/8 months and have 6/7/8/9/ 10K pay rises - I was one of them! Plus I get double on overtime - so can raise loads more working 3/4 hours a week.

Think about your next move.

Average age of first time buyer is 30-33 so I think you are sitting well. Continue saving and seeing what you can put away. Cutting back on things is up to you, whether you want to live frugally and save quicker or enjoy things as they are.
At 26 you still have a lot of time ahead of you so it's on your side really!
I'll be 31 soon and in your scenario. I wish I was in that at 26

We've just done shared ownership with a deposit of £6k for a 40% share of a semi detached 3 bed new build. It's the only way we would ever get on the ladder. You can do as little as a 25% share I think. Although we also paid another £3k on mortgage broker and solicitor fees. It's so so tough nowadays.

Ah, it's awful for people in their 20s now, DH and I both bought flats the year before we met, back when I was 23 and he was 24? Both from working class/ council estate backgrounds. How? Low percentage deposit on his side and 100% mortgage on mine. Both newly qualified professionals back then. Granted we got stuck with the flats for a long time and neither was big enough once we had our eldest but it got us on the ladder.

It's the only way we'd ever have managed it because neither of us was inheriting or being gifted a deposit and neither I'd us had families we could live with as adults so we're very lucky.

Basically if you get on the housing ladder it will be a lot of hard work and sacrifice and not just no avocado toast or netflix as many of my friends in their 40s and 50s like us seem to think.

Compromise on WHERE you live, consider buying a studio or 1 bed flat to get on the ladder and then at least you're paying down aortggae instead of rent. Ultimately though the Tory austerity shit has put anyone frok a poorer background on the back foot way more than we already were.

Forgot to add - we can buy more of the house as and when we want to uk to 95%. We are hoping this way we can save the deposit for our next place to buy outright through our mortgage equity.

There are some steps you could take which are that you rent rooms not a flatshare, rooms normally have bills included and no liability for council tax. Have a double room for your partner and you to share, communal kitchen and living areas

Then make sure that your aim is for flats or similar not massive houses so that your costs are reasonable

Can you get a second part time job, I had several jobs up until around 10 years ago.

The other issue is that you are in a more expensive area that some others. In the north east property is much cheaper and you might need to move to achieve what you want

I am old enough to remember that, "I will never be able to afford if I don't buy now!!!" panicked feeling.... in the late 80s.
House prices dropped (in our case by over a quarter) after we bought and we were stuck somewhere not nice for YEARS and had to start again from 0, 6 years later, after we'd saved enough to cover the negative equity.
Because we'd put down the minimal deposit.

So be cautious folks. There are worse things than renting.

Our first house was shared ownership. Would that be an option?

We didn’t buy our home till I was 33 & dh 35.

The only way we could afford our own home was to move back up north (which we always planned to do) & live with my parents for 18 months.
It was a big change for us & not the easiest of times, but we appreciated what my parents did for us & we were able to save up a substantial deposit. I became pregnant with dc 1 in that time so it was good timing for us.

The average age to buy is way over 26 and that will be skewed by people living in areas with lower house prices - there are several houses round the corner from my first house up for 115-120k. That can be done with much lower deposits compared to what you are considering (which can be saved much faster due to lower rents).

Assuming the deposit you are quoting is 10%, most people don't buy a house for 300k as their first house! That is higher than the average uk house price - so the average first time buyer pays way less than 300k.

No way would I have been able to buy a first house for around 350k! My first house was 150k which was manageable (I was single at the time and not buying with anyone else). Even now that I'm married and both have decent salaries, our family home only has a mortgage of around 260k. I appreciate that I do live in a cheaper area of the country, but I don't know how you'd ever be able to buy where you are unless you are gifted money from parents or get an inheritance

If you are coming home with 1800 you’re only about 20 percent above national min wage. I’d focus on keeping saving but also increasing your earnings.

We moved together into a room in a flatshare. So our rent and bills were only about £900 between us (in London). We saved everything else we could.

We took on additional part time jobs. We did mystery shopping which basically let us eat out for free or a very small amount. We did a couple of clinical trials. I joined lots of survey sites and would spend my commute time and my evenings filling in surveys for cash (I’d get about £100 a month doing this), I also did quite a few focus groups which paid really well. I cut out all non-essential spending, and any other spending I would do through cashback sites.