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

pingu2209

Back in 1993 I was 21 and earned £10k. I had no way of buying a house just like the OP.

My advice, which is the route I took, was to study hard at night and weekends to get professional qualifications. Slowly my salary rose, to the dizzy hights of £15k. I changed jobs every 18 months (or handed my notice in) and got the pay increases that I felt I deserved (yes you have to hold most companies to ransom).

Then when I was 26 and earned £22k I was able to buy my first house, which was a 2 bedroomed mid terrace. I was not able to afford to start a family until I was 30, buy which time I had been able to move into a 3 bed semi.

I then had to work full time when I had my first child and was only able to drop my hours when I was 35 and had child number 2.

Get real and look at how most other people get on the housing ladder and have families. They work hard, study for relevant exams and wait till they can afford things.

Why is it people think they have the right to own a home?

Alexh_3

RabbitMad wrote: »

Look up Victoria Coren on Wikipedia. Now that is an income from Poker - yet she still has several proper jobs on top

Not sure why I keep getting quoted, everyone realises that I'm not the original poster. I was only making that point that the income was already less tax and therefore more reasonable as a result, I didn't say it was good.

jonboy31

BritRael wrote: »

Thats the funniest thing I've ever read on here! :rotfl::rotfl:

Fruit machines pay out a set rate (say 40%). Irrespective of how you play them. So if you and me played on the same type of machine with a million quids worth of coins, we'd both end up with around 400,000 even though I don't know how to play them. If we continued to play, we'd both end up with nothing....

I hope you've given them up now

It's mugs like yourself that used to fill them up for the likes of me.
I will correct your ignorance if you don't mind.
Fruit machines by law in this country have to pay out 70%. Most decent arcades will have them around 88-92 percent, Motorway service stations tend to have them at 70%, pubs tend to be 78% or so.

Things have changed in the past few years, and "random" machines have appeared with much higher jackpots (500 pounds typically) that are a pound a spin, and between 88 and 96% These machines (barring a few in the early days which had flaws in the programming which allowed you to win on them all the time) for the sake of arguement work exactly as you describe i.e. we would both have the same chance of winning on them.

Normal machines though are compensated, and work to a strict program. If you work out how the machines are programmed you can find ways of enhancing your chances of winning on them.

Occasionally you find a flaw in the programming that allows you to win more than you would normally be able to, and this is generally how I made my living for many years.

Due to the ease of communication these days it is difficult to have a "trick" on a machine last a great deal of time before the manufacturer of the machine releases an update to stop you from taking more than is due out of it.

Tricks used to last years, now they last months at best, days at worst. Plus because of internet discussion boards there is a lot more competition than there used to be 15 years ago.

You can still choose not to believe me, but at the end of the day machines are programmed by humans, they make mistakes. and it was my job to find these mistakes in the programming and exploit them.

John

Jowo_2

Rising_Son wrote: »

I know it is not achievable whilst we are both 'unemployed'.

I was hoping for advice on how 2 people earning a 'normal' wage, as we would/could be, can have a chance of investing in a future, rather than renting ad infinitum. I am aware of the status of my income being a major problem, and unless there are other options I will have to take (almost certainly) much poorer paid work to have the right status.

... I guess I was hoping for inspirational tales of 2 people on a similar wage in 'proper' employment using some unbeknown to me government scheme to secure a small place they can live, and eventually, own. If it cant happen, it cant happen, but at least I'm trying.

There was nothing in your previous posts that indicated that you were planning to change your joint official income of 14k per year and everything to indicate that you hoped there were options to become property owners with the status quo, despite advice from financial advisers on how to qualify for a mortgage.

Here is a list of Home Ownership schemes. If you and your partner had proper jobs with a decent income and a decent deposit, you'd have no problem securing a conventional mortgage, let alone a low cost option.

Since your mother is struggling and your generosity will impact your ability to save towards a house, perhaps you could run her circumstances through the EntitledTo website to see if she's missing some benefits.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/BuyingAndSellingYourHome/HomeBuyingSchemes/index.htm

Rosebud24

I realise it is not an attractive option for everyone but have you considered moving in with your mother and sharing the rent? This would help you both.

Alternatively, as someone has already suggested, consider moving into a shared house/flat. I lived in shared houses until I was 25 and they were all positive experiences resulting in some great friendships. Easyroomate is a good site where you can advertise for sharers. You can meet people before agreeing a contract and if you are all honest about your standards and expectations (eg. will late night parties be ok, what are your standards of housework), then you have a good chance of finding sharers you are compatible with... and you will half some of your outgoings. :j

Radiantsoul

jonboy31 wrote: »

It's mugs like yourself that used to fill them up for the likes of me.
I will correct your ignorance if you don't mind.
Fruit machines by law in this country have to pay out 70%. Most decent arcades will have them around 88-92 percent, Motorway service stations tend to have them at 70%, pubs tend to be 78% or so.

I have never met anyone who doesn't believe they are slightly up on fruit machines.

I very much doubt it is possible to earn a decent living off them, although I suppose it might be possible.

I can imagine the job satisifaction must be very, very close to zero.

poppysarah

Radiantsoul wrote: »

I have never met anyone who doesn't believe they are slightly up on fruit machines.

I very much doubt it is possible to earn a decent living off them, although I suppose it might be possible. .

MY OH used to write software for fruit machines (The code that runs them rather than hacks or anything like that)
He also doesn't think it likely you could make a living without spending an awful lot of time in casinos and other places the high payout machines are.

It'd be the worst sort of job I could imagine!

BitterAndTwisted

Agreed. For all the time, trouble and boredom involved I'd rather get a ruddy job, no matter how poorly-paid and mind-numbingly routine. At least you'd get some holiday-pay and wouldn't have to spend every waking hour in the company of a load of alkys with nothing better to do

Radiantsoul

poppysarah wrote: »

MY OH used to write software for fruit machines (The code that runs them rather than hacks or anything like that)
He also doesn't think it likely you could make a living without spending an awful lot of time in casinos and other places the high payout machines are.

It'd be the worst sort of job I could imagine!

And the ones in casinos are well watched for people trying to fiddle them.

If you assume that a game cost, say £1 and you are able to increase the payout from 80% to say 105% then you would need to "spin the wheels" half a million times to win £25,000 per year. Assuming you worked 40 hours a week for 52 weeks you would spend 2080 hours per year. Which would mean you need to play 240 times per hour. Which is possible I suppose.

But I can imagine you would get odd looks in a pub doing it and as they are emptied pretty often you would have to travel around a lot, probably drink quite a bit. It strikes me as hell on earth.

bitsandpieces

poppysarah wrote: »

MY OH used to write software for fruit machines (The code that runs them rather than hacks or anything like that)
He also doesn't think it likely you could make a living without spending an awful lot of time in casinos and other places the high payout machines are.

It'd be the worst sort of job I could imagine!

I think on some of the old-fashioned machines you could end up slightly up by monitoring money going in/coming out of the machines. You'd likely have to spend plenty of time hanging around in casinos, though, doing remarkably dull work and risking being helped out by the friendly bouncers. Seems like it would have been a really lousy job - and, as has been said, newer machines are apparently much harder to get around.

Of course, people do tend to remember the wins from gambling more than the losses. It would be easy to fool yourself that you were earning money when you were losing.