Moving out - where to start?

hailstorm_2

I'm currently living with parents and I'm hoping to move out asap as I am 25 years old. I've just landed my dream job working in Gloucestershire looking after all the schools computer systems across the county. I'm earning about £20k so I'm on good money now.

Anyhow, I have to admit going a little cross eyed with all the different options available. Ideally I'm looking for a 1 bedroom flat. I was looking at renting but in my area anything half decent seems to be £500+ a month. To me it doesn't seem all that far off what I would be paying on a mortgage for my own flat.

The biggest stumbling block with buying somewhere is of course the deposit. As my net worth at the moment is £0 I don't really want to be saving up for more than a year to afford a deposit. Renting would mean I could move out quicker but would also mean saving a deposit would take longer.

I have briefly looked at housing associations but it looks more geared towards single mums, key workers etc. Even though I work for the county council I don't think they have any such schemes in this area and even if they did I wouldn't fall under what is considered to be a key worker.

I'm have been told by family that there is something else called shared ownership.

Any links or things to read up on to point me in the right direction?

edit: Just wanted to add my concern about buying at the moment. I'm guessing its a bad idea with prices falling at the moment.

chewmylegoff

how much is a one bedroom flat to buy where you live?

bo_drinker

Don't go down the shared ownership route, not worth it. Rent for a while and look at options then. Prices are falling and will do for some time.

hailstorm_2

chewmylegoff wrote: »

how much is a one bedroom flat to buy where you live?

Well it ranges from £65k for a place in a dingy block of flats. Some of the nicer looking places range from £80-110k.

chewmylegoff

hailstorm wrote: »

Well it ranges from £65k for a place in a dingy block of flats. Some of the nicer looking places range from £80-110k.

well, you're on £20k pa. no-one is going to lend you more than 4 times salary, so max you can borrow is £80k. in order to get the mortgage you will also need a deposit of at least 10%, and more realistically 15% of the property's value. so if you want to buy a place for £80k you will need to save up at least £8k first, and really you need more than that as you need to pay the mortgage arrangement fee, solicitors fee, survey and then buy all the furniture etc for the place.

personally i would rent. when i was 25 i wouldn't have wanted to be living anywhere except for in a shared house with other people around that age. cheaper and more fun.

hailstorm_2

£80k doesn't really buy much at the moment and you've got a point about deposit + everything else they like to lump on top when buying.

I'm a little apprehensive about living with others. I have previously moved out to live in a place with my best mate and that was fine. I only lasted a month but that wasn't anything to do with not getting on.

Shared house doesn't really sound like it offers much more privacy or freedom to me.

kitschkitty

I hated sharing with other people!

For me I first moved into a pretty rubbish place (with my partner), but it was cheap. Then shared in a bigger place (hated sharing)

After 6 months we found a better place.

We probably had reasons to be fairly high on the council list but never applied, just got on and sorted ourselves out.

So long as you are pretty organised with money (make sure you can pay all the essential bills) then the benefits of renting outweigh the downsides.

chewmylegoff

hailstorm wrote: »

I'm a little apprehensive about living with others. I have previously moved out to live in a place with my best mate and that was fine. I only lasted a month but that wasn't anything to do with not getting on.

Shared house doesn't really sound like it offers much more privacy or freedom to me.

well, if you don't want to do that then you've always got the option of renting somewhere on your own, but that will be more expensive (not just the headline rent but the bills to think of - more expensive when you're living on your own than when they are split over a few people).

i guess take home on £20000 is about £1300 a month net. if you rent on your own you could easily be paying well over half of your take home out in rent and bills, before you even think about food etc.

shared house would make it cheaper, i suppose it depends whether you're prepared to shell out extra cash to always have the remote control.

hailstorm_2

Well I'm not really under any illusion its going to cheap. However you cut it moving out is expensive. I had always imagined moving out with a girlfriend but who knows how long I'd be waiting then as I'm not currently seeing anyone. It certainly does make it a lot more affordable even splitting the bills between two people.

Living with parents does seem to carry some stigma with it. It does seem to be a bit of a put off when dating. I'm currently paying £300 a month to parents so it's not like I'm living here for free. I have had a few puzzled reactions from the crowd of people who moved out when they went to Uni.

poppysarah

Get your name on the council waiting list there now. Tell them you're moving to the area for work reasons and ask them what you can do - tell them without somewhere to live you can't start the job.

sarah_elton

From your original post, I thought you needed to move out as your job was too far away to stay at home. From what you just said though I get the impression this isn't the case(??).

Ignore everyone else. I'm 27 and half my friends live with their parents. Maybe there's more people do it here (south-east) due to house prices, but since the whole country saw rises I can't imagine it's that different. My 23 year old brother lives with my mum. My OH just moved in with me (this weekend) and he's 31 and was living with his parents (was previously married then moved back home). Maybe it's just me, but I don't see it as a big deal and it wouldn't put me off dating you.

However, I do understand if you feel you want to move out. I moved back home after uni but needed my own space and rented a place on my own after a year (was 23). I then bought about 18 months later. It is expensive living on your own. I was on about £25k when I rented and money was tight. Not only do you have your bills etc but you need to buy furniture, kitchen stuff etc in your very first place. You can do it on the cheap but it still adds up. I then bought my place with a 100% mortgage (they still existed then!). Now I'm in negative equity and saving up to cover that when I sell next year. But I don't mind - I skipped saving for a deposit so I'm doing it now instead!

I would be substantially better off financially had I lived at home until now, and you'll be able to save a deposit much faster if you stay at home. So rationally that's the best thing to do. No one knows for sure, but most people think prices will keep falling on houses through to the end of next year. If rent is £500 per month, then all in with bills will be in the region of £750 per month. If you're paying your parents £300, that's £450 a month straight into savings.

However, like I said I understand the wanting to move out because I did too. I earned around £25k and rent was £525 per month. Money was tight but it was do-able, and I was paying off uni debts at the time which I assume you aren't. If you're looking at it purely financially, best is to stay at home and save for a deposit, next best is to get a house-share, last place is renting on your own. If it's an emotional decision, renting on your own is affordable so go for it.

I would avoid shared ownership like the plague. Prices are dropping and will become affordable for you. Once you've got a couple of promotions under your belt and prices have dropped more you'll meet in the middle. I can see why it's tempting now but I can imagine it must be a nightmare to try and sell a shared ownership property. I bought my flat (not shared ownership) when I was on my own and it was perfect. Now OH and I want a house and selling it next year will be a right pain (plus the negative equity) and it's starting to feel like a bit of a millstone. The market for people buying shared ownership places is going to be even smaller than that for flats.