To ask how you managed to buy a property in the South East

[Marghe87]

I’d be interested to hear from people
in their 30s and early 40s mostly (ie; not those that bought a house a long time ago before the crazy pruce increases of the past 2 decades.
How far from London are you and what type of house do you own?
DH and I are in middle management jobs earning over £110K between the two of us. We live outside London and have a DC in full time nursery and a high-ish rent + London expenses (ie: commute cost etc). I appreciate we’d be considered rich with our income in other parts of the country but we can barely save for a deposit whilst paying for childcare and all we’ll manage to get when we finally get there, will be a 2 bed cottage in zone 6.

A few clarifications as I know I might get these questions:

• our salaries have increased a lot in the past 2-3 years, before then we were on a much lower income and that’s why we never managed to save big amounts. Then we got DD and now the majority of our spare income goes to childcare


• our jobs are tied to London and we are not interested in relocating too far away from here (DH from here and I am from abroad and have no interest in living in other parts of England as feel no attachment to it)


• we want to buy somehwere nice, easy commute and with good schools

it just seems so bloody hard!

Kent / London borders, zone 4, small 3 bed terrace.

Bought before we had kids and before we were married. Bought our one bed flat in 2004, 'only' needed a 40k deposit and we were able to save that between us. Sold it two years later for 80k more than we paid and were able to buy our house. Without that profit from the flat we would have probably gone to a two bed flat or smaller house or pushed out to zone 5.

Our house is now worth over 700k. It is kind of relevant because we can't afford to move everything else has gone up the same way.

irrelevant!

South east (not long on but popular expensive city)
Tbh didn't really start saving properly till early 30s, 2 of us saving took till 36 to have a deposit. House prices have increased in the last few years so would have taken us longer now although our salaries have increased now too

*not London

Mid 30s with 2 kids. Lived in London for a decade but now live in a market town in Buckinghamshire.

My husband and I met in our early 20s. We were quite serious early on and decided we wanted to rent a room in a flat with others to save hard for 2 years to try and buy together. We now have what would be considered a high joint income but back then very much middle income earners. My husband took on freelance projects outside of work to supplement our savings as well.

2 years later, we managed to buy a 2 bed flat in 2012 in London with a 10% mortgage. We were then very lucky and sold that flat for much more than we paid 2 years later which enabled us to climb the ladder.
It worked out for us - through luck in large part. It is an intensely unfair system.

I live in the South East with fast trains every 10 minutes during rush hour that takes 40 minutes to Victoria, Farringdon and a bit less to London Bridge . OP you could buy a family sized house here on your household income if you a deposit saved.

We are just going through with our first home . Aged early 40s . We live in Essex . I never thought that we would be able to own our own home but here we are .
2 years ago our landlord said they had to sell the house we lived in . It was truly awful the rental market is awful round by us . DP works from home so ive worked 2 jobs and we've saved a 5% deposit. It's not been much fun but it's paid off .
We didn't have nursery fees though ours are in school so that helped .

@TopGolfer do you mind me asking where about you live? Maybe I didn't specify this well enough but I am happy to commute, don't need to be in London and frankly don't want/can't live in London if I buy a house! What I meant is that I want/need to be able to work in London, hence I need somewhere that is well connected as we also have a DD that needs to be picked up etc

Dd and her bf bought a 3 bed edwardian end of terrace in a commutable Essex city a couple of years ago (aged 26 but good earners and he has a good saving ethic), ds and his gf bought an almost identical house (aged 24/25) in a Kent commutable town for 110k less - both work hard but not great earners yet though they had some inheritance to help with the deposit. They stayed with us and/or her parents for a few months to do some big saving.

Neither have children and dd and bf opted for a bit further out for still nice city lifestyle with more space.

I’m 36, husband 45 currently combined income £170k. I bought £170k house when I was 23 (barely made £20k salary then) with 5% deposit from my parents and my small savings - we never staying at this house due to my husband job so only renting out. For several reasons we didn’t sell that house at the time , but bought another house £350k 5 years ago with our savings (child free and combined income of £200k then) a bit from my parents . Sold both houses, and bought another house 3 years ago (Ds was born so need bigger place) £640k with £150k deposit - 3 beds in Surrey near good train and schools. Don’t think we will move again anytime soon. Husband is sorting out his parents inheritance so hopefully we can pay the house off the mortgage in 5 years time after paying off nursery fees.

I think the crux of all of this is that the majority of people wouldn’t be able to buy their own house again today if they had to.

we certainly can. Our house has gone up “on paper” (and that’s the key thing paper and not actual hard cash in your pocket) by nearly 200k since we bought it 2 years ago. The first flat I bought when single 8 years ago is now £150k higher. People doing the job I was doing aren’t earning anywhere near enough to cover the additional £150k in house prices.

*can’t!!!!!

We are an hour our of london (and commute in) in Kent. Nearly 40 and have a similar income. One we we afforded our 4 bed early on was to rent rooms out to lodgers.

40, Hampshire (1.hr 30 to London), no family help.

Lived in tiny flat while we saved deposit. I mean really tiny.

Didn't really buy new clothes etc.

Salaries combined were around 60k when we bought a £215k three bed when I was 33 and had one child in nursery (but did compressed hours to reduce nursery costs)

But honestly prices have gone up so much since then it's mad. Mine went up £80k in 4 years then salaries increased and we moved to a 5 bed. I don't take any pleasure in price increases because I know it is making house buying even further out of reach for many

Thing is OP the things you want (near London, nice area etc) means you will have to pay a LOT of money on a mortgage or have a massive deposit.

Our house in Southampton is commutable by train to London within 1.30 hours.
We bought it in 2010 for 120k, with a deposit of 45k. Mortgage only for 15 years as both over 50.

It's a 2 bed Victorian terrace in a "dodgy " neighbourhood. Current value around 200k so definitely affordable but don't think it would meet your "wants".

It's very odd, as a new waterside estate a couple of minutes walk away have 2 bed terraced houses for sale over 315k, and they are smaller square footage than ours! Same dodgy area (in fact nearest street much seedier than ours).

What you want will cost top dollar, because its what a lot of people also want.

I waited to ttc and bought age 37, zone 4 3 bed. Turns out I was too old to have a baby by then. So I have a house but no kids. I think you got the better end of the deal.

You must be in an expensive part, I moved to be in a cheaper part of south east (kent coast) mind you it was a painful move we really miss previous area.

This simply isn't true. I live in the north and my DP and I earn more than you and your DH. We are both middle management and also in our 30s.

There are plenty of big cities in the UK, you don't have to live in London to get a decent job. It's so ignorant when people come out with statements like that!

Bought a tiny filthy scruffy house with all the deceased owners carpets etc still in situ. Spent every evening and weekend for two years clearing, cleaning, replastering etc which meant I didn't go out anywhere spending money. Had heating installed, then redecorated throughout. Installed my own kitchen (very slowly). Spent the next summer sorting the garden.
Sold up and did it all again with a two bed house over 4 years.
Sold up and did a third one with three bedrooms. Took another 4 years. Each time I sold for more than I'd paid, including renovations and stamp duty..

Now we are settled and I have ds. He absorbs all my money theae days🙂

@MidnightMeltdown but you don't know what industry we work in so I think you are being a bit unfair and harsh in your judgment.
It's not just jobs that keep us here by the way. I am not from the UK and have no interest in living in a different part of the country. I chose to move to London for certain reasons and I feel at home here. I accepted I won't be able to buy a house within London but we want to stay within a commutable distance - I don't think it's an unrealistic dream to be honest as most people I know have done it/are doing it.
My husband is also from near London and we have family and friends here - moving far away from here is not a change we are willing to make, wouldn't make sense for our lives and we are not interested in doing. I wouldn't drastically change my life just for the sake of buying a house, I can get there here too one day, might just take a bit longer.

The problem is that everyone wants the same thing

Nice house
Nice garden
Nice schools
Nice area

We bought in 2008 (after the crash) and could never ever afford to buy our own house now, if that makes sense (nice 3 bed semi with converted loft, nice schools, nice area etc)

I keep thinking the housing market must be a bubble about to burst

House prices are crazy imo

I haven't seen anyone on Mumsnet who wants the same thing as I do and the prices are not low. Even IRL the appeal is limited to a relatively small minority where the third bedroom is optional. Plus we already own a flat in north london so have some decent equity but still find it expensive.

North London zone 3 (nice area)
Communal garden, private garden optional
Nice schools
3 bed flat (third bedroom can be a single but must fit a 150 cm by 60 cm rodent cage, and an exercise bike and perhaps a desk).

I do find stuff in my budget but it's quite limited... The properties may take longer than houses to sell (the house are well in excess of a million) but they still get sold eventually at asking price. The sellers are not desperate because a 3 bed flat in a nice location can get rented out at £2400 per month (and three young people can share making that affordable). So while being a landlord isn't attractive anymore, vendors would rather do that than accept a low bar offer.

I bought my first place 20+ yrs ago in a cheap, unfashionable & slightly dodgy part of london and sacrificed a lot to do so.

Didn’t live in the chi-chi places my colleagues did, had far less glamorous holidays etc.

Most of my close social circle were doing the same & our social life reflected that whereas the wider circle were all out in Oxo tower & Quagliano’s.

Trade ups were achieved by burgeoning careers, combining two flats into one house and dead relatives.

I have no idea how those 10yrs behind are going to do it. I meet newly appointed colleagues (Ie. Newly appointed into a senior role) who haven’t yet managed to buy anywhere. It’s affecting recruitment & retention.

*MidnightMeltdown but you don't know what industry we work in so I think you are being a bit unfair and harsh in your judgment.

It's not just jobs that keep us here by the way. I am not from the UK and have no interest in living in a different part of the country. I chose to move to London for certain reasons and I feel at home here. I accepted I won't be able to buy a house within London but we want to stay within a commutable distance - I don't think it's an unrealistic dream to be honest as most people I know have done it/are doing it.
My husband is also from near London and we have family and friends here - moving far away from here is not a change we are willing to make, wouldn't make sense for our lives and we are not interested in doing. I wouldn't drastically change my life just for the sake of buying a house, I can get there here too one day, might just take a bit longer*
I would buy a two bedroom apartment in
a so so area, build up some equity and then try and get a house. If you aren’t willing to compromise you’ll be starting the same thread in a few years time.

We bought in 2016, aged 40 with a 95% LTV mortgage. Our household income was above the threshold for the old HTB scheme and we completed about two weeks before they announced stamp duty relief for FTB, so had to find the money for that too.

We did it through years of saving, a high mortgage and buying in a bit of a crappy area about 40 minutes commute into Marylebone

The frustrating thing is that so much of our money was being eaten up in rent that we couldn't save the £££ needed for the deposit/stamp duty/moving costs, because every time we got near 10% deposit the prices went up again and we were back to 7/8%!

The reintroduction of the 95% LTV mortgage was our lifeline, so we jumped on it and we are happily overpaying our mortgage every month