23 yrs old, with partner, trying to get a home

Rising_Son

Hi!

Mine must be a common situation, albeit with circumstantial differences, yet I dont see much conclusive advice...

• I am 23 yrs old, I have a long term gf whom is 24 and whom I want to settle down and have a family with, in a family home.

• To keep things simple, she is on a 14K p.a income (although really she has just been unfairly dismissed, is on JSA and pursuing an unfair & wrongful dismissal claim, we believe she can eventually return to her previous income level)

• To keep things simple, I am unemployed (although really I have been a pro poker player for 3 years averaging £350+ per week, the tax man, banks, and society as a whole view me as unemployed)

According to the financial advisors I have spoken to , we need upwards of £15k as a deposit (doable if we try, more if we have to), but will only be able to borrow 4x my partners salary at a stretch, or combined if I take on a job. My income would not be of any worth for mortgage evaluation purposes.

So we have 75K to buy a house, in an unstable market, or if I can take on a job for the purposes of the mortgage application (netting realistically 10k p.a, which I would drop after approval) maybe 115K

We have looked at the homebuy scheme- according to the financial advisors we need more salary & deposit.

Shared accomodation seems an option, and one we will be exploring.

Another, but horribly crude and kind of wrong option is to have a child, 'be' homeless and get a council house, then after 5 years use the 'right to buy' scheme to purchase it at a knockdown price. We do plan to have a child but want to introduce them into a stable life, not have them to achieve a stable life if that makes sense.

After 3 years of spending £700+ per month renting, we feel we should really be putting it towards a future somehow. It is shameful that we can be paying that for so long but still be struggling to get a property.

I have posted this because I have done so much research, and gotten so much advice, but it seems like its all just building unsurmountable obstacles, not making paths. I am approaching it with an optimistic and positive approach, I work bloody hard, so does my partner, and we are prepared to do whatever we can to achieve a future for ourselves, but we keep getting told we should just rent somewhere shoddy for the rest of our lives, or until we save up enough to either buy outright or house prices crash to 50% of what they are.

So does anyone have any advice? Any views, knowledge or experience you think is relevant? If we cant do this, then surely the average working couple of my generation has no hope...

Thankyou

theartfullodger

So does anyone have any advice?

Get a "normal" job: Then the "normal" things in life (tenancies, mortgages..) become much easier...

Ensure you are local council housing waiting list: These are usually shared with Housing Associations...

Are you in receipt of JSA??

Cheers!

Lodger

maninthestreet

The very first step is for you and your girlfriend to get back into gainful employment, and stay in employment - how is a single salary of only 14K going to service a mortage debt of 100K? That's 7 X income!!

Fire_Fox

So what savings/ deposit do you have? What are your 'prospects' as a poker player, will your income increase exponentially as they would with a 'proper' career? What is your partner's previous income level and how soon does she expect to return to that?

Pee

Save up as much of a deposit as you can and meantime consider shared accomodation.

Don't buy with your girlfriend unless the relationship is 100% commited, i.e. you would marry her, because splitting owning a house together is no fun. Buying a house is as big a commitment as having a baby.

I doubt the council would rehome you. They have a lot of other people to rehome. It tends to be B and B and might not suit a stay at home poker player. (There is usually a period during the day when you are not allowed in.)

At the moment, your girlfriend couldn't get a mortgage, let alone you and her income would not be enough to live on - yours is not declared so to the mortgage company doesn't exist. Try a normal job, you may even like it and stick with it.

princeofpounds

Your are both on very low incomes, that's the long and short of it. Especially when you just include 'white' earnings. People in that situation have very rarely been able to buy property.

I would focus on your careers and upping you incomes first. The average first time buyer is now 34 or so (property is quite expensive right now, whilst 50% crashes are not likely you are likely to get some help from that direction), so it's not like you are behind the curve.

The conclusive opinion is that you can't afford it. You aren't the only ones, our whole generation has been priced out (unless helped my mater and pater!).

You should also not rely on the council route. RTB may be severely restricted and the discounts are nowhere near as massive as they used to be and I doubt this will be as helpful to you as you think it will.

Nosht

Rising_Son wrote: »

• To keep things simple, I am unemployed (although really I have been a pro poker player for 3 years averaging £350+ per week, the tax man, banks, and society as a whole view me as unemployed)

Give up the expensive hobby, if you were any good at it you would not be in this state after 3 years.
I have known many gamblers & the only person that consistently wins is the bookie.

Regards,

N.

sysadmin

Nosht wrote: »

Give up the expensive hobby, if you were any good at it you would not be in this state after 3 years.
I have known many gamblers & the only person that consistently wins is the bookie.

Regards,

N.

I think he means he wins £350 per week...

PasturesNew

Get better at the gambling/bet more. A friend of mine has a nephew who accumulated £100k from gambling alone and bought a house for cash.

Alexh_3

My partner and I have been trying to get a mortgage for a number of months despite both of us being in full time employment both with salaries over 30k and a 15% deposit. We've been rejected from one lender as they didn't believe we could cope with household bills and the mortgage if one of us lost their job. Lenders aren't willing to lend if they even think there is a risk of you not paying up. They raised concerns that my partner moved jobs in the last 2 years (which was of her own choice).
You're best off either trying to get the money in full or getting a job now (carry on with the poker if you're that good) and saving up a 40-50% deposit.

Rising_Son

Alex thats just ridiculous.
Where do you live if you dont mind me asking? What sort of value property?

Who the hell is buying all these houses... it isnt people that want to live in them thats for sure... BTLers and second homes for the propertyboom generation it seems.