Single, earning £35,000 - is it possible to buy a property on this?

[isitpossiblee]

I recently got a new job and have gone from £25k to £35k. I'm single and living with parents at the moment (I'm 25). I am happy living at home, but would like to move out. However, I'd rather stay living with family and paying them rent than be in a houseshare. I only have £8k in savings at the moment as I've done a lot of travelling (making up for lost time as I didn't get a passport until I was 23!)

If you were in my situation, AIBU to ask what you would do? Is it possible to buy a property on this kind of income? Would shared ownership be a good idea?

I live in the South-East, around an hour from London. I work in London around once a week, so need to be near the commuter belt.

First of all well done on doing so well! I would save as much as you possibly can, and even better if you could perhaps borrow interest-free from your parents to help with the deposit that would be great too. Otherwise second the LISA account advice. I would stay away from shared ownership, you have extra charges in rent/fees and it’s hard to sell.

I would focus on getting a smaller place in a better area, commuter belt for sure, not only it will be convenient even if you change jobs in future and need to come in more often, but also if you need to rent it out, it will be easier to find a tenant. It will also more likely go up in value over the years.

I bought a small 1-bedroom place when I was your age (I’m 36 now), money was tight for a few years as mortgage was a big chunk of my salary but I have since had multiple promotions and salary increases and while rents went up my mortgage stayed the same. Then I moved abroad and due to its good location never had issues finding a tenant. I now live with DH but I still have my flat and I’m renting it out and the mortgage is paying for itself. The place also almost doubled in value. Best decision ever.

Bought my terraced house in wales on £23,000 with 5% deposit... just depends where you want to buy i guess

Littlehampton is doable on that wage as a single buyer. Won't be the best place initially but your first home is the first step!

I live in the North East nr sunderland and Durham and you might get a decent 3 bed terrace but definitely not a nice 3 bed detached for anywhere near that .

Save up, have 2/3 years being a boring bugger, not going out, not buying posh coffees or sandwiches and relish your growing funds. Use the govt saving schemes that help first time buyers. You could even think of getting a second job to speed up your savings.

A studio or 1 bed is good enough to get on the ladder. 2 bed not necessary. I'm

You would need:

• to save for a bigger deposit
• move to a cheaper area
• consider shared-ownership.

I live up North and not in one of the big expensive cities but house prices have risen so much the last 4 years. 1 bed flat is £100k, cheapest 3 bed semi £200k

I'm in Northumberland and you definitely can here.

I bought a 3 bed semi on this very wage 2 years ago.

If you want to be in London in less than an hour you could look at flats in Milton Keynes or in Bedford, there are lots of purpose built flats and conversions within walking distance of the station.

How much deposit do you have now, OP?
adult DS, on lower salary than you, just had offer accepted, 75 minutes from London. But he's been saving for 4 years and we are helping a bit, too (1/3 of deposit).

BiL is doing shared ownership with similar numbers and geography.
Echoing others - how tied are you to the area? It's 3 bed detached territory if you are prepared to do some work. 3 bed semi/terrace if you want turn-key condition in my neck of the woods.

Oh,I guess I should add BiL has saved a significant deposit - by living at home.

Yes definitely doable if you prioritising saving. You live in the South East where you can get a nice me bedroom apartment for 180k.

Congratulations on the new role OP.

I would stay at home and save hard if you're happy living there and have that option. Those who don't are the ones who generally really struggle to put together a deposit because there is generally no recourse to save if you're paying rental market prices.

Look into a LISA and FTB schemes and set these up if you've not. If you aren't buying in the next year (or two) your best bet return on your savings would probably be an ISA or alternatively a higher yield savings account. I'm not sure what rate you're currently getting on your savings but the Money Saving Expert website is a good resource if you're not sure where to start.

Get yourself an Experian free trial and check your credit rating, take steps to improve it if there's any issues identified.

Consider location. I'm in the SE and moved elsewhere on the SE to buy as I was priced out of my hometown. It doesn't have to be forever but has been a good investment so far and got me on the ladder. I don't have a need to commute into London anymore but equally easily could and the rail links here are good. There may be several options you've not considered in that respect.

Lastly I'd probably just set up an appointment with your bank to speak to the mortgage advisor. They can run any numbers and let you know what you'll be able to borrow as it stands and what deposit you'll need, what the monthly payment will be and so on. It's a great starting point to understand where you sit and what your eligibility is.

Hi op, garlicgrace had totally excellent advice about train lines and how some areas are better than others for London even if they are further away.
Check out her posts again and follow her advice. Some posters are suggesting massive moves to other geographical regions but the train fares and the time spent traveling can be draining.
Obviously its up to you but an hour into London is not the whole commute you have to factor in getting to the station from your home and then travelling across London.
Plus travel is not stress free, I use London Bridge regularly and the collective anger and hate and stress exuded by commuters whose trains are cancelled or delayed would power a small country if harnessed.

Would a shared ownership property be an option? That's how I did it.

Definitely investigate the cost and reliability of the train.

If you need to get to London for office hours you're unlikely to be able to get any significant discounts although there might be flexible season ticket options.

But something that might help towards the cost of this, if you got a 2 bed house or flat in commuting distance to London, you could AirBnb the spare room to someone who also needs occasional access to London?

Yes its certainly possible depending on where you are able to live. I know some people are tied to jobs and family but imo the quality of life is better in the north when you can get a decent family home on a single average wage.

As a single person below the average age to buy their first property in this county DO NOT do shared ownership. It’s a total scam unless you are in a financially precarious situation and want to use it to gain some kind of stability.

I would say yes, just not yet. You are still very young, so time to save. Pretend you haven't had a pay rise and put every penny of it into savings every month, plus anything else you can afford. I would think you can easily save a grand a month living at home and not spending too much elsewhere. Be prepared to move a bit further out from wherever you are now too.

Littlehampton is doable on that wage as a single buyer. Won't be the best place initially but your first home is the first step!

It depends on how quickly you need to get into London - trains from Littlehampton aren't exactly fast and take 1h49min to get to Victoria.

If you need to be within 1h of London then I would be looking at somewhere like Rugby (yes it's in the Midlands, but it's less than an hour from Euston on the fastest trains, and house prices are cheaper than anywhere in the South East).