Property ladder- how?

[hercules]

How the f are we meant to get on it?

I don't know WWW - they've always done it with this company (and we have looked at places with them for several years now) and they only had 3 town houses left on Saturdsay when we put one on hold. When we went back Sunday morning there is now only one left. They were only released a week ago. Great for us - but as the other houses are so much dearer, I doubt stamp suty being paid makes much difference to them. LOL! I think the companies just prefer to sell houses to people in our situation - as you have to exchange within 4-6 weeks - so stamp duty offer is for that reason rather than anything else.

lockets - certainly what it is like here in South/West Sheffield. And there are so few new properties. Does amaze me how many of those massive 5 beds can be sold. Some people have far too much money

According to the company the Givernment has now requested less large properties and much more high density proerties, so we should see a bigger trend of more aprtments, town house - and less costly, new houses coming along in the future. As this is the main type of building they will be allowed to build.

some areas are also exempt of stamp duty so it's a good idea to check - as it can mean the difference between being able to afford a house, and not.

When we bought our first house (2 1/2yrs ago) it was MUCH cheaper to buy than rent. We had been paying £450 a month for a tiny 2 bedroom cluster home, horrible little place. When we bought, a 3 bedroom place with an enclosed rear garden, we payed £330 a month - and the area we moved to had lower Council Tax too so we were still better off.

I know that houses on our street were very recently being advertised for rent (unfurnished) for aroun £750 a month, we're paying £680 mortgage..

One tip to get on the property ladder is to buy a house that needs work. Dh and I (admittedly when we were both earning good money + no kids) bought a big 4 bed detached that was structurally perfect but hadn't been decorated or apparently cleaned since it had been built 20 years earlier. No-one else would touch it because it looked so bad on the surface but it was an absolute bargain - 30k below market prices. So we went for it and spent 2 years of weekends renovating and now it's beautiful! I know that it would be hard to decorate with kids in the house but if there is no other way...?

Id definately second trying to find somewhere to do up. The problem with places that need major refurbishment is that builders are likely to get them. But if you can find somewhere that is basically sound but needs cleaning up and maybe new kitchen etc then you might get a good deal.
This is the only way we were able to get on the ladder and then move to a slightly bigger place.

The house we're in now wasnt v attractive to builders because no one was ever going to make a fortune on it but the lower price meant that we were able to afford it and then took 2 years to do it up.

This meant living with virtually no kitchen and a truly disgusting bathroom for 18 months - with 2 small children - but we've now got a house we couldnt have afforded otherwise.
Kizziex