to reaally not be able to understand why, people say they can't afford to buy or rent a house if they are working?

[iamtrickyjigsaw]

i mean me and dh don't earn much, but we managed it just about.
i just can't understand all these peple on here saying i can't afford rent or a morgage.

When I was 18, I didn't have anything - had to live with parents.

It tooks us quite a few more years before we could set up our own house, and then loads more years befoer we could renovate/fully furnish etc.

You don't get there overnight - it is a process.

SqueakyPop - are you really incapable of understanding that people today have much less in the way of choices than you had? I've often heard the garden furniture lament from older relatives. You did not have the option of buying some disposable furniture from Ikea. It must have been traumatic

The sensible people who did not get into debt and hire purchase agreements to buy new furniture in the mid-80s would have been the equivelent of those simply accepting that they simply could not afford to buy at all in the mid-noughties. Some people really can't afford to rent either and there is very little in the way of social housing now. It sucks.

In the face of all evidence and common sense, WHY do you wish to deny these problems?

I got a job and bought a shared ownership place when I had this problem 15 years ago. The scheme was designed so you bought 1/2 the flat and paid subsidised rent on the other half, and it was deliberately made to be affordable. I confess I don't really understand why people fuss, either, because there's generally a solution if you look hard enough.

'You don't get there overnight - it is a process.'

It's a non-issue for an increasing number of people, Squeaky. Again, you said your first home was ex-council. You do realise how much cheaper those are for a right-to-buyer than someone buying on an open market and that getting one of those is a huge boon?

Or is it easier to just point fingers and label everyone else feckless and irresponsible?

I think I understand it very well, upwind. That you might not agree with me, does not take anything away from my understanding.

I paid full market value for my first house. I was not a RTBer.

We stuck it out through the 90s period of negative equity as well - we had a full four years between wanting to move and actually being able to move. Didn't whinge as much as some people today.

BoffinMum - things have changed since then, the price of housing trebled since Labour came to power. Earnings have not kept up.

What solution would you propose for the friend I mentioned earlier? He has been told that he will never reach the top of the list for social housing.

PS

www.shared-ownership.org.uk/

Good place to learn more about the scheme.

www.building.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=555&storycode=3124606&c=1

Why you might get a bargain - £1bn of shared ownership homes apparently unsold!

Maybe because there are two of you. Either two salaries, or, no childcare costs.

If I earned the best salary I could hope for, there'd still only be one salary and I'd have childcare costs too.

I'm not surprised people struggle.

I was just reading in the paper that the average house price in USA is 12-14 times what it would earn as rental in a year. so, a house that was 1,000 a month to rent would be worth about 130,000 dollars.

Over here, it would be 230,000. We're up against it. It's no wonder it's so hard.

Really, Squeaky, then surely you see in your statement:

'Our first house was ex-council. It gave us options we wouldn't have had if we had to compete with more people for fewer houses.'

that the rest of us now do have to compete with more people for fewer houses.

or again, is it just easier to label 'young people' today feckless and irresponsible because they don't have the same opportunities you had?

oh ffs are you lot for real [hhmm)

we live in a small house, close enough for dh to get to work and the kids to school. dh works full time i work 20hrs p/w. AFTER paying rent and bills etc we have about £400 left for food, petrol, dh's train pass, kids shoes/clothes etc etc. how on earth are we supposed to be able to save 30k for a deposit???

our rent is a quarter of what the mortage on our house would be. so er we'd need to earn 4 times more money to be able to afford it.

what's so difficult to understand?

'Why you might get a bargain - £1bn of shared ownership homes apparently unsold!'

But first, you now need to find someone willing to give you a mortgage for one of these.

Good luck, you're going to need it!

I don't understand what you are getting at Expat.

I paid market value for my house. The fact that there were lots of ex-council houses on the market meant there were more houses in our bracket.

Is it really rocket science?

Where I live shared ownership is generally only available to key workers.

The average price for a 3 bed semi is upwards of £250K.

My dh earns a sensible wage but no bank will lend us enough to cover a mortgage of that size especially in the current economic climate.

Our rent is almost £1k a month for a tiny 3 bed house which tbh has seen better days. Add on council tax, water rates, oil and electricity there is NO money left to save.

How hard is it to work out why people who work can't afford a mortgage

Young people today have even more houses to choose from, given that every vacant plot now has about 40 flats on it.

And now there are not lots of ex-council houses in many peoples' 'bracket', Squeaky.

Surely you have seen this?

[Beats head against stone wall]

oh yes squeaky you are right, me, dh and our 2 kids will go and live in a 1 bed flat, because that's all we could afford to buy. (not that we copuld get a mortgage tho)

what planet are you on?

'Young people today have even more houses to choose from, given that every vacant plot now has about 40 flats on it.'

the flats are over-priced. too expensive for most 'young people' to afford not because they are feckless and irresponsible but because a) they don't earn enough to save 20% deposit plus fees AND still pay their landlord rent b) when the flats tank in value, they're unable to get out of them or sell them off.

Yes, I freely admit that finding a mortgage is a knotty little problem at the moment, but Housing Associations also give you tips about where to find professional financial advice about buying shared ownership properties, and where all the mortgages are hiding. Obviously they have to shift their housing stock and are keen to help.

'oh yes squeaky you are right, me, dh and our 2 kids will go and live in a 1 bed flat, because that's all we could afford to buy. (not that we copuld get a mortgage tho)

what planet are you on?'

deco, just accept that you are irresponsible, lazy and entirely responsible for your predicament on Planet Squeaky.

'Where I live shared ownership is generally only available to key workers.'

same here.

I don't really understand why your wondering about other people's rent / mortgage problems.

sb6699, the category will apply to you will be something called 'local people in housing need', and if you pester a bit you never know, they might say yes.

'I don't really understand why your wondering about other people's rent / mortgage problems.'

The weather isn't very good in some parts of the UK just now, Abba. So some crawl out from under bridges to ponder the fate of others.

Squeaky - The ratio of house prices to income has shot up 60% since 1970.

Makes it slightly tougher for my generation don't you think?