Can someone please explain....

Mrs_pbradley936

Can someone please explain how we are better off these days? Prior to the mid 70s what a woman earned was irrelevant because she could not get credit without a guarantor. Thus her wage was not counted towards a mortgage, now that it is counted people can borrow more and the first rung of the housing ladder reflects what people can borrow. The more you borrow the higher the repayments and now it is the norm to need two pay packets to make ends meet. Now both partners are on a treadmill rather than just one, but at least before a woman could stay at home with her children. When I look at the lives young women lead today I could weep. They are doing everything they ever used to and in addition are expected to make a financial contribution to the household.

Rosie75

Indeed - we aren't "having it all", we're "doing it all".

lynzpower

They are doing everything they ever used to and in addition are expected to make a financial contribution to the household.

Or alternatively women can in fact buy a property on thier own without having to shack up with some bloke in order to get themselves somewhere to live

Thats progress as far as im concerned

Mrs_pbradley936

lynzpower wrote:

Or alternatively women can in fact buy a property on thier own without having to shack up with some bloke in order to get themselves somewhere to live

Thats progress as far as im concerned

Can they? Please refer to the read "how do single people afford..." I certainly do not want to return to the old days but I would not want to be bringing up a young family and doing a full time job. I cannot agree that this is progress.

lynzpower

Ive done it

missk_ensington

Lynz- WELL SAID! (My thanks button doesn't work)

pbradley- What difference coes it make if its the 60's and the mortgage is just taken off 3x a mans salary, or whether it is 2006 and the mortgage is taken off just a womans salary??

I've done it too and Im a single parent, aged 20 albeit living in the North where you can get something alright for under 100k.

I can't think of anything that 'makes me want to weep' more than the thought that my husband owns the house and I have only two chioces- stay with him, or be homeless. Nor can I think of anything worse than spending my short time on earth serving my husband and sitting at home with squiking kids all day long!

AMILLIONDOLLARS

I've done it and still doing it , even though I am married with two grown up kids, one who can't afford to move out even though she'd love too!! to top it off hubby was made redundant a couple of months ago so I am now funding a £130,000 mortgage until he find work again, Can you imagine if I was a stay at home wife, we'd be up a creek without a paddle right about now!!

It's not having it all that counts, it's what NEEDS to done that's important!!

Mrs_pbradley936

The difference is that now it takes many people two wage packets rather than one. If you can live well on one wage and buy a property in the South or London then you are fortunate. Many cannot please refer to thread I mentioned earlier. You are young and may not be as enthusiastic in a few years time to "do it all". Many women could cope with full time work and a growing family for a short time but day after day for years can wear you out. Not just financially but emotionally as well. Anyway, my original post was not meant to infer that women should not be given credit or mortgages of course they should - but the consequences of two incomes being on the mortgage means that more money is available therefore the bottom rung of the housing ladder is more expensive which has a knock on effect. In other words it makes prices rise faster all along the property chain because of the law of supply and demand. In economic terms it can lead to a "boom and bust" prices go up and up and up and then crash and people find themselves in negative equity. I do not want to give you a history lesson but it has happened before.

lynzpower

having 2 incomes doesnt mean theres more money about though, as in essence I earn more than 2 people IYSWIM

missk_ensington

Exactly, whats the difference between two £15,000 incomes, or one £30,000 income???

Rimo2021

pbradley936 wrote:

Now both partners are on a treadmill rather than just one, but at least before a woman could stay at home with her children.

What if she didn't get married and have children (and be financially dependent all her life) ?

At least women are now more independent - it is not women's fault house prices have gone up.