Its Depressing

kriss_boy

Im on 14K, but realistically I'll find a job at approx 17K in the next 3 or 4 months. And possibly one at approx 20K within the next 12 months.

How does someone on 14/17K possibly buy a house in this day and age.

The cheapest flats in my town are going for 70K now. Its a joke. Unless I buy a slum of a house in the worst areas of my town Im basically snookered.

What are people like myself meant to do

lynzpower

rent?
or buy "Unless I buy a slum of a house in the worst areas of my town"

kriss_boy

Renting is a waste of money. Id sooner stay at home and pay digs but either way I cant get on the ladder.

Buying a house in these places is a slum... I cant speak for what its like in your town but the bad areas in my town.. are bad... I wouldnt dare set foot in some of those streets.

lynzpower

hey I live in the most deprived borough in the UK. Its fine, in fact I love it here. Contrastingly we are moving out as we can no longer afford to live here as its so expensive

where are you Kriss?

barnaby-bear

kriss_boy wrote:

Im on 14K, but realistically I'll find a job at approx 17K in the next 3 or 4 months. And possibly one at approx 20K within the next 12 months.

How does someone on 14/17K possibly buy a house in this day and age.

The cheapest flats in my town are going for 70K now. Its a joke. Unless I buy a slum of a house in the worst areas of my town Im basically snookered.

What are people like myself meant to do

Most people seem to:
Get a wife (double income) and buy a small flat. Live at home and save a big deposit.

Dead_Eye_Jones

you need to sort out your expectations!!

In the 'old days' my parents only afforded a house because they bought together, they lived on upturned boxes, and had no appliances. Yet I imagine you are looking to buy a swish place in a nice area on your own on a starter salary. Soz chap but its just not possible. Why would you think it is possible??! Everything in life takes time and requires work, the faster you learn this the better! But there is good news, if you work hard, in time you will get what you want - no probs.

So what do you need to do? First of all stick with this site - become a top MSE! On 16k I was saving hundreds per month, when I hit 20k, hmm whats that like £1200p/m, I was saving about £600p/m, as I worked harder my salary increased a little more - im never gonna be a big earner - but thats not a problem.

So I spent my early 20s in London, a shared house is about £400 a month, some people spend £800 a month to live in their own flat, again this comes down to expectations, if you are a low earner and want a house - soz but you cant afford £800 a month in rent and then buy. You also cant afford a top mobile line, an ipod, sky, gym, etc. So you make your choice. You might not like the idea but thats reality - manage your expectations!!

Anyways, so I was saving hundreds a month and then five years or so went by, eventually my deposit + mortage was enough to buy quite a nice little house. Dunno how old you are, but trust me the years between 20 and 30 go by so quick, you need to decide now whether you are an MSE or not, if you are, you'll hit 25 with 50k in the bank and 30 with 100k. Buying will be a breeze ! Yes it require dicipline and sacrifice, but then whoever said life was easy? Perhaps you were bought up in a nice middle class environment and so were protected from this reality, maybe you know just how hard life can be - in which case you'll understand what Im saying.

Cant be done? A deposit of 10s of thousand on that salary is impossible? Of course it can be done, I did it for a start, so noone can tell me its impossible - you are simply wrong if you think it is!! Look around the site and see how quickly some people are paying off their debts, some people are clearing 1000s every year. Well of course that works the other way too, you can get saving 1000s a year.

One of my mate is renting at 800 a month and refuses to move out, another friend is looking for a lodger to pay £100 a week ALL bills paid, right by a tube station. Yet this 1st guy moans that he will never be able to afford a house, and if he carries on this way he's probably right too. However, if he saved that £400 a month it would be 5k a year, 50k in the bank in 10yrs, add in any additional savings and we are talking big bucks!! And realistically if we work hard we should increase our wages, I found I could save close to £1000 a month once I made the "dizzy heights" of 25k a year - an average wage?

As a saver I was happy to take out a fixed rate large mortgage as I knew I could comfortably meet the repayments, with no debts or silly outgoings like sky or a phone its actually really easy to meet my payments - dont even feel stretched.

So anyways, yeah towards the end I earnt a bit more than the 20k you mentioned, but not much, and I bought a proper nice house in London. It takes a bit of time and its annoying when your mates are jetting off to New York for a weekend (a grand down the drain) or they blow £100 on booze but actually living an MSE lifestyle becomes very liberating. It comes down to expectations, if you are a lower earner then you cant have it all, you cant have that flash lifestyle and a home, this has always been true, there has and always will be a divide between people who can and cant afford luxuries. Life is tough - thats reality, get used to it.

If I overpay at my current rate Ill be mortgage free by the time im 40. And then maybe Ill be free to be a bit more careless with my cash !! The choice is yours, but tbh most of my peers are more interested in "living for the moment" and they'll have to live with the consequences...

Hereward

kriss_boy wrote:

Renting is a waste of money. Id sooner stay at home and pay digs but either way I cant get on the ladder.

Buying a house in these places is a slum... I cant speak for what its like in your town but the bad areas in my town.. are bad... I wouldnt dare set foot in some of those streets.

Why is renting a waste of money? In most cases renting is actually cheaper then buying. The only downside is that you don't benefit from House price Inflation, the landlord does, but if you invest the difference between a mortgage and the rent then you should make more money as Stocks and Shares historically generates better returns that property.

ukbondraider

Hereward wrote:

Why is renting a waste of money? In most cases renting is actually cheaper then buying. The only downside is that you don't benefit from House price Inflation, the landlord does, but if you invest the difference between a mortgage and the rent then you should make more money as Stocks and Shares historically generates better returns that property.

Why is everyone suggesting playing the stock market. This form of investing should only be done with extra money you have lying around and can afford to lose. Renting is a waste of money most of the time but the fact is, it is the only option available to some people.

As for the OP, £14K?? and you want to buy a house? I think you would struggle to buy a car with a salary of £14K.

I dont want to sound like a c**t but lets be a little realistic people. You should not be think about buying a house at this stage in your life my friend.

dougk_2

IMHO stocks and shares are a far riskier investment than a house!

Yes at sometime you may be unlucky to experience a house price crash that will affect you (neg equity etc) - BUT the prices WILL recover in the long term.

A company can go broke just like that (Farepak anyone?) your investment is gone and you will never get it back.

Stocks and shares are far more volitile and small event can have a company crumbling. If they were such a good way of a guaranteed investment why are endownments and pensions struggling?

aderbyshirelad

Try moving to Coventry....?

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-13072621.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

dougk_2

I really can't belive they actually used the photos!

Could try Middlesborough too!

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-13328407.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy