someone (can't remeber who) posted about 'people mortgaged themselves to the max' and implied that they were being greedy and tkaing on more than they could afford.
I think thats another dammed myth. Of course there will be the odd person who has a huge mortgage and lives in a house with spare rooms, but I think the majoirty of people are just trying to get a half way decent house nr half way decent services and commutable to a half way decent job!
Around here if you bought 5 years ago you would have got a 3 bed house with small garden/yard in a GOOD neighbourhood, nr GOOD schools for about £50k. Now its triple that at £150k
Okay you can find the odd two bed house for about £120k but I have a hell of alot of sympathy for anyone who is trying to buy now and who is planning on more than one child - what should they do? stay in their 'budget' and only take on the £120k mortgage (still a pretty huge hunk of cash) or 'stretch themselves to the max' and go for the 3 bed because houses wont' get any cheaper and if they want a 2nd or 3rd kid they want 3 bedrooms. Remember salaries never go up in line wiht house prices so they could be faced with the additional expense and hassle of moving again if they want a bigger house in 2/3 years.
We're 'lucky' cos we got in halfway through the boom!
Its very easy to throw insults at people who you think are living in 'posh' houses or areas, and moaning about the costs. but the restrictions on work are very real. We'd love to move but until I have finished my training its just not viable, DH trained 'on the job' and so doesn't have the kind of paper qualifications that would enable him to get work elsewhere. Also we can both walk/bike to work here and the chances of that happening for similar salaries elsewhere is pretty slim.
I'd love to see more people moving 'up north' but the jobs are scarcer, I've changed job sectors precisisly because the job I was in was losing alot of the regional focus and most jobs were in London, manchester etc.
re Nanny costs: if you have 2 kids or more at preschool age, or if you have no fmaily back up and a sickly kid a nanny certianly can be the most cost effective option. we've had a nanny for DS cos he gets ill so often - nursery used to send him home and I lost a job over it. that lost job 'cost' me £2,000. A nanny enabled us to give him better one-one care which he needed when poorly whilst still letting me work (which for our fmaily is very important) and because she was doing the exact hours i needed rather than the nursery which had to be paid for a full 7am-6pm day even if he went 8am-2pm she worked out more cost effective after the first month.