I'm 23yrs, with a sizeable deposit. What should I do?

garreh

I've hit a crossroads in my life; I either move in with my fathers to-be-wife and her 2 kids by year end (losing my rather drab non-career job and move 60 miles from my current location) or bite the bullet and start living on my own, keeping current job and move into a career a year or so down the road.

* Salary: 17k
* Deposit: 20-25k
* Area: work based in Slough, SL3 looking to move within 10 miles or so. My friend suggested Central London as the housing market will mean a good return in a few years. The job opportunities are also very good in London (my current idea is to move far far West London)

My options as I see it;

• With my low salary I believe I can only get up to 75k mortgage, so realistically can only go into part-rent part-buy schemes
• Unless I get a full-blown mortgage of £100-110k for a rabbit hutch or a house that even John McCririck wouldn't live in.
• Live with rather irritating family v2™paying a reasonable rent of £200-220 a month

Has anyone here been in the same position? I feel I need to make the right decision in my life, and now's the time.

poppysarah

Move to a part of the country where a 17k income is enough to buy a whole house?

Keep saving. Go travelling. Do something exciting. But don't waste your money buying a % share of a rabbit hutch.

For a long term property you need room for a family. Unless you plan on never having kids, never meeting anyone with kids, never changing your mind, then a 1 bed flat is a no-no. Even nuns need more room than some of these boxes.

Suarez

The mortgage you will get will be close to 50k i'm afraid.

BitterAndTwisted

I would advise you to stay well away from shared-ownership/shared equity: they can look very attractive when you're looking into them but if your circumstances change and you need to sell up they can be an albatross round your neck. And costly.

I would say that quitting your job, upping sticks to go to live 60 miles away with your father and his new family sounds like a recipe for disaster. You could feel like a cuckoo in the nest quite quickly with most of your bridges burned. What is the employment situation like there and will you be able to develop your career there?

You do have other choices. As I see it, you should seriously consider going into a flat or house-share somewhere near to where you work and concentrate on developing your career while adding to your savings. In a couple of year's time you could be earning substantially more than you are now and it might be possible to buy something with 100% ownership. Who knows? You might meet someone who also has £20k in savings and want to settle down and buy with them. Two salaries and two lots of deposits would make buying a real possibility where you are now

beecher2

Yeah, I'd agree with the flatshare idea. I don't see the point in tying yourself down to a mortgage for a tiny place, especially when you're intending to change jobs in the next couple of years.

garreh

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I would advise you to stay well away from shared-ownership/shared equity: they can look very attractive when you're looking into them but if your circumstances change and you need to sell up they can be an albatross round your neck. And costly.

I would say that quitting your job, upping sticks to go to live 60 miles away with your father and his new family sounds like a recipe for disaster. You could feel like a cuckoo in the nest quite quickly with most of your bridges burned. What is the employment situation like there and will you be able to develop your career there?

You do have other choices. As I see it, you should seriously consider going into a flat or house-share somewhere near to where you work and concentrate on developing your career while adding to your savings. In a couple of year's time you could be earning substantially more than you are now and it might be possible to buy something with 100% ownership. Who knows? You might meet someone who also has £20k in savings and want to settle down and buy with them. Two salaries and two lots of deposits would make buying a real possibility where you are now

Thanks for your comment.

There's very little room for progression where I work; only few are rumoured to have left the box of doom. So realisitcally I'll have to get a new job, I want to get into web development (currently in aviation repairs, god knows how -- having said that I wouldn't mind progressing to work at the airport or within aviation).

So my train of thought is basically I need to get a kick up my rectum to get a new job anyway. The plus is I believe they won't charge me rent until I get a job (I think that's what she said, she's got my father by the balls, everything dictates around what she wants, hence why I fully agree with your comment about being a cuckoo out of his nest), although I wouldn't hold them to that, chances are they'll want me to dig into my savings. Plus side is they will be charging low rent anyway, downside is she'll cook dinners for us all.

It would be great to find a partner who equally has the same size savings (nobody wants to be alone forever right?)

By the way the idea of moving into a house-share sounds like a interesting idea but I've always painted it as a bad picture; over the top rent-rates pointlessly plummeting your money for a little rabbit hutch (5 by 7 room) with annoying flat mates running around.

maninthestreet

so how are you going to make the transition from aircraft repairs to web development? Why are there few career openings for aviation repairers? It sounds like a skilled job to me - why do you consider it 'the box of doom'??

BitterAndTwisted

I suspect that you would be better placed to develop your career where you are now than moving 60 miles away. Have you done any research about employment prospects around this place 60 miles away? I think we both know that the area where you are now would offer better possibilities: the airport and all of those support services are constantly expanding.

Do not discount flat or house-sharing! At your age it could be a lot of fun and doesn't need to be particularly expensive, depending on where you decide to live, so you should be able to add to your savings.

garreh

maninthestreet wrote: »

so how are you going to make the transition from aircraft repairs to web development? Why are there few career openings for aviation repairers? It sounds like a skilled job to me - why do you consider it 'the box of doom'??

I don't actually repair the equipment, I'm just an administrator/customer service advisor so just a shared office. The plus side is that aviation is very linked and therefore many opportunities, once your in then you can spiral up, even if it's not with your employer it seems.

BitterAndTwisted wrote:

I suspect that you would be better placed to develop your career where you are now than moving 60 miles away. Have you done any research about employment prospects around this place 60 miles away? I think we both know that the area where you are now would offer better possibilities: the airport and all of those support services are constantly expanding.

Do not discount flat or house-sharing! At your age it could be a lot of fun and doesn't need to be particularly expensive, depending on where you decide to live, so you should be able to add to your savings.

I haven't done much research about the area I'm moving, although it is pretty rural and I would of thought that certainly diminishes employment opportunities than the plenty-busy West London area.

The airport/aviation sector is extremely big and constantly expanding your absolutely right. The area I'm commuting to has over 140 freight agents connecting to Heathrow alone. My brother was working at my place (I put in a good word and got him the job) for a year, now he's working for a freight company right round the corner from where we live. He's now working as a customs compliance clerk, a very good prospect. He's got the gift of the gab though and 6 foot of meat match, lucky git.

Anyhow I digress; flat sharing could be fun at my buttercup age, I suppose money is the biggest factor for me; I just hate the thought of spending high rent money as oppose to investing. I wouldn't dare do it for a tiny room either, I'm tired of using my carpet as a wardrobe.