advice desperately needed - im clueless

Kate0208

hi there
i was wondering if i could ask you kind folks for some advice as i feel totally out of my depth and confused. please no-one attack me for being so useless with mortgage/house related things tho

me and my husband currently own a house in scotland - we have owned it for just over 2 years but only lived in it for a year from nov 08-nov 09 as my husband lost his job and due to the nature of it was unable to find another in scotland so we moved back down south so he could gain employment. so he now has a job but we live with my parents at the moment as our house is on the market but hasnt sold despite changing estate agents to try to improve the situation, dropping the price and chasing them all the time

IF we sold our 3 bed house there, we would only get £139,000 (thats what we have dropped the price to so far) our remaining mortgage is £119,000 but we wouldnt be able to realistically afford anything down here for that. we have an 18 month old baby so would need to be a 2 bed at least and also would need to be able to commute into central london for his work - i think it would kill him if the commute was long and he never saw the baby so thats not an option. from what i have seen of house prices we just cant afford to buy here as its only his wage coming in as im a sahm so we only make £27,000 a year - we dont want it to be in terrible area as we have to send the baby to nursery & school and im not doing that in a crummy area (sorry if that sounds rude but its the truth)

ive read up on the homebuy scheme and there seems to be alot of negative opinions about it and im not sure we can even afford that on his wage alone (i could maybe work weekends but that would earn practically nothing over a year!) im not sure how it works really despite reading alot about it - i just find the whole thing confusing!!

what other options are there for us? we just cannot go on living under my parents roof as a) it is far far too small for us and b) i dont get on with them so is making everyday life hell for me and the baby honestly i cry myself to sleep alot!!

i didnt know about homebuy direct until someone mentioned it so was wondering if there are any other options available to us that i dont know about?

can the council help us do you think or will we be placed somewhere awful? can you get help from the council for private renting on £27k a year? is there another type of initiative that would suit us better? is there any mortgages that would help us? im just so confused and miserable

this is only if we manage to sell the house which at the moment is looking unlikely. my father in law has thought about buying it from us to rent it but seen as he gave us the deposit then he would only pay us £119,000 for the house which basically means he takes the deposit back and we lose it so that would mean we cant afford anything!!! grrrr!!!

any advice?

kate x

Salz

Why don't you just rent your house out in Scotland and rent a house where you need to?

sonastin

I think buying again looks unlikely at the moment. You will have to find the best rental in the best area that you can afford. If you can find work to boost the family income, it will obviously help with what you can afford - you'll need to weigh up the quality-of-life aspects of staying at home in a cheaper area against the quality-of-life aspects of being able to afford a better area.

Any chance of your husband finding work outside central london? It will boost your chances of buying again if you can live and work in a cheaper location. Jobs seem to be easier to find once you already have one so perhaps he could start looking for something somewhere more affordable?

BitterAndTwisted

It seems to me that right now you need to cut your cloth according to your current income. Renting in a not-so-perfect area while the child is under school-age isn't the end of the world. Any social housing which you may be entitled to might fetch you up in the very same kind of neighbourhood in any case. Not that there's any social housing going spare as it's in very short supply and allocated according to need. You are currently adequately housed so will therefore go to the bottom of the list in any case. To be frank, if your OH is on such a low wage I don't think you're in a position to be fussy about the possibility of commuting if you won't consider the type of area your income suggests you can afford. We'd all like to be able to live in Hampstead but some of us only have the income to live in Hackney or Dagenham. I've heard that perfectly decent people manage to raise their children properly even in those sorts of places.

AB2007

I agree that private renting sounds like the only realistic option. You will have great difficulty getting a mortgage for a property near London given your deposit and income. In any case do you want to commit long term to what is likely to be a small flat at this stage of your life? Would you ever want more children for example? Flats are tricky to sell at the moment, particularly shared ownership and I can't see the situation improving in the near future.
Without going all Phil and Kirste, you have posted quite a lot of things that you want from your next home but given your income restrictions, you need to prioritise. Good schools, easy commutes, nice neighbourhoods all command a sizeable price premium, particularly in the South East. Personally I would look at the schools as there are many very good schools in pretty ropey areas (particularly at primary level) - you just need to do the research first (OFSTED reports are the best place). My partner is a headteacher in a pretty ropey estate but the school is rated outstanding and regularly beats those in middle class areas.
I think you will struggle most with the quick commute. It is just something that differs from living/working in London compared to the rest of the country. If you can do it in an hour you are probably as well off as you can be. You of course have to factor in commuting costs which are rising steeply, particularly of you live on one of the fast lines.
There are some very knowledgeable people on here about a lot of areas around London. Why not look at rental prices, come up with a shortlist and see what people think?

Kate0208

well thanks for the replies so far
salz - our house in scotland doesnt really ahve too much renting potential due to the area that its in - at the moment not many hpouses are selling or being rented - but my father in law can afford to sit on it for a bit longer till the market picks up whereas we cant. should have explained that in the first post sorry

sonastin - thanks for reply - i think ur right and renting is our only option but everyone always says that renting is dead money so wanted to make sure id looked at the possiblilities. my husbands trade is quite unique so not many places that require the skill set so london is our only real hope of permanent work - think i'll need to look into affordable commutable rentals. thanks

thanks AB2007 that was a really helpful post. I think your right. reading my post back has helped me to see things a little more clearly. I think what im going to do is sit down with my husband and prioritise like you say. I think the babies safety and education are going to be top of the list so will give ofsted a check. i think we are going to resign ourselves to the fact that for now he will have to have a longer journey into work than we would like but just make the most of our family time when we do get it.

thanks again

BitterAndTwisted

Look, I do understand about crummy areas because I live in one of them. It's an area with a very high crime-rate but not everyone is at risk of being mugged in broad daylight or anything like that. Still, I wouldn't necessarily choose to raise a child here but your little one is only 18 months old, so if you did move to somewhere like here you wouldn't necessarily still be here once your kidlet is of school-age. Who knows, perhaps your OH might be earning a decent wage by London standards by then?

Please don't consider shared ownership/equity. These schemes might seem like a good idea when you're looking for a home but could turn into a huge albatross around your necks if and when you want to sell and move on.

dopester

Well, from the thread you began yesterday, I wouldn't be wasting any more money on latest TV's and try and build up some savings tbh, to better secure your future in uncertain times.

Kate0208 wrote: »

Hiya
I have had a look around the site and done a search but im not the best at all this stuff so hopefully no-one will jump down my throat

my oh wants a new tv - we used to have a samsung 40 inch lcd which was fine i thought but anyway - we went to the shop today and he likes the thiness of the led tv's (i think he wants to stick with samsung as it always been good to us but willing to change brand if anyone has any recommendations)

basically i have a few questions for people who know more than us (although thats not hard)
a) are the led tv's really worth the money?
b) does anyone have any recommendations or advice relating to models - budget is max £800
c) are there any models or brands to avoid as there are alot of deals on atm and i dont want to get fooled intot he wrong one?
d) what would you do - £800ish on an led tv or £400ish on an lcd tv which is decent enough

we only really watch normal tv channels - are not advanced or techie in any way, he watches dvds but no bluray as yet, will be moving soon so not sure whether freeview hd is important to have built in or not?

as i said im totally clueless and would really like some help but was worried about posting in case i got ridiculed lol!!

thanks for your help in advance

kate

concerned43

Oh !!!!!! - if she wants a new telly then she can bloody decide for herself what she spends her money on and has nothing to do with her new post!
have you looked at shared equity options with the local housing associations?

BitterAndTwisted

I certainly hope that she hasn't. They're a very, very bad idea all round. I'd rather rent in this low-class hell-hole than be stuck with a shared equity property any day

Kate0208

actually oh's parents are giving us money to spend specifically on a tv as its been a really rough year for us in many ways so as his xmas present and to cheer him up they are giving us the money but they have stated its for a tv.

this is why i hate posting anything on this forum - theres always some smug know it that thinks they know best when really they dont,
now !!!!!! off and annoy someone else - you are clearly a sad person with nothing better to do.

anyways thanks concerned i have looked into the shared equity schemes but like bitterandtwisted said everyone else says the same - that they are a bad idea - i guess if ur like me and you have no clue about these things then they might be a bit dangerous!

thanks anyway