Mortgage Dilema. How Do Single People Afford A House These Days??

sickofdebt_2

Hi, I'm new to this site but am so glad I found it.
I'll give you a bit of background to my. I am separating from my husband & between us we have got quite a bit of debt (mostly in my name because he had a bad credit history from years ago, not bancrupsy, just defaults). I've got myself booked in for a consultation with CCCS which is the best thing & I wish I'd done it ages ago.

We have a house which is currently up for sale & the agreement of the split is we pay off the mortgage & every other debt we have between us regardless of whose name it's in then split whatever's left, we'll proberbly get about 25p each but we'll both be clear of this mill stone that's been around our collective neck.

The house is in the midlands & I'm now living at my mums in Manchester during the week & traveling back there at weekend. Manchester is where I hail from & my plan was to move back up here anyway once the split was final. The company I work for have been able to transfer me to a different office but it's had to happen a lot sooner than anticipated. I had to take it because the last thing I needed was to come up here aged 32 living in a bedroom at my families, pennyless AND jobless. After being dumped by my husband it was too much to contemplate not having a job!

I have a couple of questions for anyone that may have any ideas, my estate agent has only sent round 2 people for veiwing in 6 weeks & keeps blaming the time of year for lack of interest & the other is now I'm single & dont earn that much 17k pa how am I going to afford to get somewhere to live?? All the mortgage checkers I've tried either give me really low amounts 60k-70k (what am I going to get for that) or say because I have admitted to problems with debt that I dont qualify for any of their products.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation???

F_T_Buyer

sickofdebt wrote:

now I'm single & dont earn that much 17k pa how am I going to afford to get somewhere to live?? All the mortgage checkers I've tried either give me really low amounts 60k-70k (what am I going to get for that) or say because I have admitted to problems with debt that I dont qualify for any of their products.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation???

Basically, i'm sorry to say, but you're priced out. Just like the majority of under 30 year olds in the country.

With the average age of a first time buyer at 34 (i.e. at peak earnings) many many people are struggling to afford a place. That's why charities such as https://www.pricedout.org.uk who are compaigning for affordable housing has sprung up.

I'm personally a bear, and think prices are a bubble which has been mainly caused by speculation of prices (cough, locationx3, property ladder). That's why I think prices will fall (plus many other reasons).

There's also another website https://www.housepricecrash.co.uk that discusses this in far more detail, and the economics behind it (if you can seperate the wheat from the chaff).

seven-day-weekend

http://www.primelocation.com/uk-property-for-sale/search/

Are these of any use??

sickofdebt_2

It's rubbish isn't it. There is so called 'affordable housing' there was an estate built near me a couple of years ago & the 'social housing' section consisted of 2 bedroom 'Mews' properties that you couldnt swing a cat in which were put right next to a large electricity sub station with a massive pylon in one of the back gardens! used to walk the dog round there & there was always a constant hum & if it was raining you could hear it fizziling really loudly. It was only affordable becaus they wouldnt have been able to sell any on the open market next to that. The rest of the estate was all 4 & 5 bed's starting at 220k! It may sound a horrible thing to say but sometimes I think I'd do better for housing if I were on the dole. Mind you the council estates around here could give Beruit a run for it's money so maybe not!

Alan_M_2

You're lucky, the "Affordable housing" built where I live in Surrey are £120,000 for tiny one bedroom apartment, ironically they're all empty as the key workers that they were built for don't earn enough to get into them and as they are key workers houses anyone outside the restricted occupations can't live there. What nonsence.

F_T_Buyer

For the record https://www.pricedout.org.uk is not campaigning for shared ownership, shared equity, parents help or anything like that.

They are campaigning for a home to be a home, and not a speculative vehicle.

Twisterella

I'm single, 24 and earning just over 18k a year. The only way I've got any chance of getting on the property ladder is that I'm living at home with my parents (who bless them, don't charge me rent) and saving like hell!! Loads of people keep saying that single people can't afford to buy, but I hope that by this time next year I'll have proved them wrong

WesternExpress

It's really scary being under 30. According to the BBC to buy a house (including deposit, fees etc) I would need £29k. There's no way I can find that.

It also means that if I do get a house at 34ish I will be paying my mortgage until I am 60, have less chance of climbing the ladder and be far further financially stretched.

To me the problem is that it is now seen to be the norm to take out 5 or 6 times your salary. If that stopped "Demand" for houses would just stop.

Stubbsy05

I'm 21 and am now just buying my first Flat. 2 bed, sea views.

I'm on £20K a year and my mortgage advisor could lend me up to £96K. The property I'm buying is £83K however as I didn't wanna stretch myself.

My girlfrend is probably going to move in and pay me £250 a month as we see each other so much, it makes sense. Will get a Co-habiting agreement in place mind you.

All I can recomend is getting a joint mortgage with a friend, or family member? More and more people are doing this these days and there was a series on BBC 1 not so long ago where strangers in the same area met and went in on a mortgage together.

sportbeth

WesternExpress wrote:

It's really scary being under 30. According to the BBC to buy a house (including deposit, fees etc) I would need £29k. There's no way I can find that.

It also means that if I do get a house at 34ish I will be paying my mortgage until I am 60, have less chance of climbing the ladder and be far further financially stretched.

To me the problem is that it is now seen to be the norm to take out 5 or 6 times your salary. If that stopped "Demand" for houses would just stop.

You're absolutely right. My OH and I have just bought our first home together, it cost is £300k, and we saved for over a year to get the deposit together.

The only thing to remember is that once you're in it's not too hard once you've been in for a few years. Think of what your parents paid for their house and how over the next 20 odd years you then get an increase in salary (with inflation) and how much your mortgage figure seems to drop against that.

I panicked when we first looked at our mortgage figure, until my OH reminded me that once upon a time, £15 a month mortgage seemed horrific to my parents when they started out with their first property,.

BarmyBubba

sportbeth wrote:

Think of what your parents paid for their house and how over the next 20 odd years you then get an increase in salary (with inflation) and how much your mortgage figure seems to drop against that.

Thats an excellent point and certainly reassuring for myself. I feel slightly nervous about going from living rent free with parents to paying £700 a month mortgage before even getting to my bills.

Its going to be tough for a while until I get used to the majority of my wage going elsewhere than the pub (where it usually ends up).