1st Time Buyer, too buy or not too buy?!

Running_Horse

With all due respect, you keep talking about being priced out, but seem happy to be a perpetual student. You are not hard done by, but incredibly priveliged with supportive parents. I worked from 16 years old, putting in endless overtime in a grotty factory to afford my first place. Some of the things you post sound incredibly self indulgent.

Ditzy27

Thank you for your comment Running Horse.

Maybe my comments are self indulgent, but the majority of people I know in my age bracket are in a similar situation.

If going to university getting a degree, then deciding not to go down the route of a big money career in lucrative professions or industries in the private sector and working my socks off with children in the public sector is being elf-indulgent, then shame on me then!

I have worked since I was 12! Paper round, then coffee shop, then waitressing while simultaneously having a department store Saturday job, then bar work and netball coaching throughout uni is self-indulgent, then again shame on me! Oh and then after my degree working as a special needs teaching assistant on 11k, then a family support worker in London on 21k (which is peanuts in London, paying high rent prices), and volunteering to do respite sessions in my spare time for families with SEN children rather than taking a second job that earns is self indulgent, then shame on me!!!

Now I am going back to uni for three years to qualify as a child psychologist. Hhhm self-indulgent. I've worked hard for very long time; I’ve not sat on my bum just taking pocket money from my parents. I know people like that, people who have never had a part time job, people whose parents paid for them to go travelling, people who have used their connections to get placement years on top banks and government offices, all while their parents completely support them financially. I can say I am far removed from that.

I don't take my parents offer lightly as you have hopefully noticed from my previous posts. I don't see owning a home as a god given right, but I do feel that it is something that I want to work towards, and I freely admit that my following a career path that has involved not earning much to date and spending a lot of time in education has been my choice and is the reason I can't afford to get on the property ladder alone. Thank god I have lovely parents that are willing to help. My parents were brainy grammar school kids, but due to their poor circumstances including loosing each of their fathers young they had to leave education at 16 and forge careers, which they did. But this means that my education means a lot to them and me, they would rather help me out while I strived to qualify as a psychologist than quit.

Things have changed and unless your earning megga bucks most of my generation need a little bit of parental help, unless they want to wait until their 37 to buy, which is now the average age of unassisted buyers.

Rockporkchop

Completely off topic, how can a perpetual student with a high enough level of education to be accepted to study for a Doctorate not know the difference between to/too, your/you're, their/they're, lose/loose etc etc etc. At least you are planning to be a psychologist and not an English teacher.

You sound pretty self indulgent to me. Stop factoring your parents' hard earned cash into your future plans, rent a small flat and then stand on your own two feet when you are in gainful employment.

AnnaV

Rockporkchop wrote: »

Completely off topic, how can a perpetual student with a high enough level of education to be accepted to study for a Doctorate not know the difference between to/too, your/you're, their/they're, lose/loose etc etc etc. At least you are planning to be a psychologist and not an English teacher.

You sound pretty self indulgent to me. Stop factoring your parents' hard earned cash into your future plans, rent a small flat and then stand on your own two feet when you are in gainful employment.

I think that was a bit harsh - OP was concerned about parents, as you can see from the first post.

And making some grammatical/spelling mistakes is hardly worthy of a flaming. I have a close relative who is a Nobel laureate and dyslexic and I still get misspelled Christmas cards from her.

Rockporkchop

AnnaV wrote: »

I think that was a bit harsh - OP was concerned about parents, as you can see from the first post.

And making some grammatical/spelling mistakes is hardly worthy of a flaming. I have a close relative who is a Nobel laureate and dyslexic and I still get misspelled Christmas cards from her.

Sorry, I have read it back and I guess it did come across as harsh, it's just that I found the spelling/grammar mistakes quite shocking. You can't compare the OP's posts to receiving misspelt cards from a dyslexic.

If the OP is concerned about her parents then why even consider using their money for her own gain? It sounds like they have done more than enough for her already.

hcb42

Ditzy27 wrote: »

Things have changed and unless your earning megga bucks most of my generation need a little bit of parental help, unless they want to wait until their 37 to buy, which is now the average age of unassisted buyers.

Have read the thread and see you have come to a rational and sensible conclusion, which sounds like it is the right one for you

Just curious though, on this statistic, seen similar statements before, but I find it really hard to interpret. I am 5 years older than that - and had paid a mortgage off on a decent home by 33 (although since remortgaged to buy a more exp property) - I struggle to think that someone five years younger than me took so much longer to even get on the property ladder (and I paid mortgage when it was 13-15% rates and definitely could not rely on the bank of Mum and Dad or the crazy mortgage offers pre crash..! ) I know prices climbed steeply, but interest rates dropped dramatically, and just seems weird it could have such an impact really - certainly as a national average anyway...

Running_Horse

Ditzy27 wrote: »

I have worked since I was 12! Paper round, then coffee shop, then waitressing while simultaneously having a department store Saturday job, then bar work and netball coaching throughout uni is self-indulgent, then again shame on me! Oh and then after my degree working as a special needs teaching assistant on 11k, then a family support worker in London on 21k (which is peanuts in London, paying high rent prices), and volunteering to do respite sessions in my spare time for families with SEN children rather than taking a second job that earns is self indulgent, then shame on me!!!

Doing a paper round is not the same as having to leave school at 16. You lived in London on 21K? Big deal. I lived there on £80 pw, without financial help from mummy and daddy. A few hours of bar work and netball coaching does not equate to 12 hour factory shifts. You worked part time through uni? I worked full time, studied part time, and paid my mortgage. If you want to own your own property, then show the same gumption as your parents, and work for it.

BaconandEggs

Ditzy: what is a qualified Psychologist and what course are you doing? It sounds interesting. Are you 37 now? What did you do since your undergraduate degree? Would you be moving in on your own, or would you be able to split costs with someone else? What you said about your Mum wishing she had bought a student house a while ago: I know a few people who did that, and of course it seems sensible now. In hindsight, we know property prices increased alot. However, they could have come down and not everyone was in a position to buy a second house to capitalise on this.

Helen Bradshaw: Would you prefer to buy a house relatively cheaply, with a high interest rate, or a pay more for the house with a lower interest rate? It depends on alot of things obviously and is not straightforward, but it is undeniably harder for people to buy a first property now compared to even 10 years ago. Prices are higher, lending criteria stricter and deposits must be larger. In terms of the OP, we do not know her circumstances and different people have different reasons for not buying. I don't think it is fair to assume she should have "got on the ladder" like you did. She may have been better off - but like I say people have different circumstances.

Running Horse: What exactly is your point? Do you want the prize for hardest worker? Ok you can have it. How does it help the OP's situation exactly?

Gwhiz

It's TO buy or not TO buy. TOO is used to indicate excess or in addition to.

I'm in a grammar and spelling mood today

chelseablue

I think its always been hard to save up and buy a place without help.

I bought my flat last year, after working 2 jobs for 4 years to save up the deposit.

Im still doing the 2 jobs to buy furniture and pay the bills :-/