Is owning a home important to you?

Chatzby

I stumbled across some unsettling information about home ownership the other day and wanted to know people's thoughts on it.

Presently two-thirds of potential first-time buyers have no realistic prospect of owning their own home in the next five years and lack the long-term saving mentality they need to get onto the housing ladder, according to a report on home ownership by one of the UK's biggest mortgage lenders.

Owning a home has been a priority for most Britons since the 1950s when living standards began to rise, but the professionals says that the high cost of property, strict lending rules and unwillingness of non-homeowners to save a deposit have fundamentally changed the attitudes of younger people towards home ownership.

Personally I want to own a home, but more than that I want the opportunity to own a home.:)

I've recently heard of a new scheme that sounds exciting (and that I'm happy to share) are there any new means/schemes/opportunities that people are aware of that allow people to buy the homes that they want?

Would you be open to any new means/schemes/opportunities that allow you to buy your own home?

Or have the failures of the property system/goverment promises made you more cynical about buying a home or new means/schemes/opportunities that hope to allow people to buy homes?

cankle

To me owning my own home is very important, it has got more important to me as I have got older (so wish I had got my foot on the ladder years ago instead of going out so much and wasting so much money!) I think the attitudes towards renters have changed though, renting nowadays is often seen as the only option to many people. I have really struggled saving my deposit (the repayments will not be a problem, in fact they are lower than what I am currently paying in rent). I do think there should be more help available to FTB's and the big lenders need to lessen their lending criteria or at least try to be more flexible and open about their reasons for declining I think it is two out of four mortgage applications!!!

Chatzby

cankle wrote: »

To me owning my own home is very important, it has got more important to me as I have got older (so wish I had got my foot on the ladder years ago instead of going out so much and wasting so much money!) I think the attitudes towards renters have changed though, renting nowadays is often seen as the only option to many people. I have really struggled saving my deposit (the repayments will not be a problem, in fact they are lower than what I am currently paying in rent). I do think there should be more help available to FTB's and the big lenders need to lessen their lending criteria or at least try to be more flexible and open about their reasons for declining I think it is two out of four mortgage applications!!!

I agree....the odds seem stacked against first time buyers and the policies/bureaucracy in place just deter FTBs from being able to buy property. I think for most people the want is there but unfortunately the ability is not. I know that there are things like shared ownership and renting to buy but I don't think that in the long run they'll change what is going on.

Running_Horse

This is remarkably similar to spam from a new member that was removed the other day.

You're not about to link to a Facebook page by any chance, are you?

Do tell us all about this exciting new scheme you have heard about.

Chatzby

Running_Horse wrote: »

This is remarkably similar to spam from a new member that was removed the other day.

You're not about to link to a Facebook page by any chance, are you?

This isn't a spam and no I'm not planing to link to a facebook page...I'm genuinely interested in people's opinions and initiating a discussion, that's what I though this forum was for:money:

Running_Horse

Fair enough.

Chatzby wrote: »

I've recently heard of a new scheme that sounds exciting (and that I'm happy to share)

Would you be open to any new means/schemes/opportunities that allow you to buy your own home?

Tell us all about this exciting sounding new scheme.

In answer to your question, I'm not open to any new means/schemes/opportunities that allow me to buy my new home. I find the old system works adequately enough. Schemes are for schemers.

Chatzby

Running_Horse wrote: »

Fair enough.


Tell us all about this exciting sounding new scheme.

In answer to your question, I'm not open to any new means/schemes/opportunities that allow me to buy my new home. I find the old system works adequately enough. Schemes are for schemers.

An exciting sounding scheme I recently stumbled upon was the homebuy/renting to buy scheme introduced by the government. And yes in answer to your 'Schemes are for schemers' I agree that the government are schemers lol.

But it's a scheme that does what it says on the tin. You can find out more about it on the internet (I don't want to spam this page by posting a direct link).

I think for many people the old system is inadequate as you'll see from cankle's post.

What I'm interested in is new opportunities for people who find that the system inadequate for them. Why do you think that it is still an adequate system?

flossy_splodge

Well one of the biggest problems seems to be the fact that so few are prepared to make the effort to SAVE for the deposit. If half as much money was put aside as was poured down throats perhaps more COULD afford that first step.
I lived a VERY frugal life in my early years, didn't drink, didn't spend a fortune on clothes, makeup, hair and other non essentials which meant that a few years down the line when I met my husband to be and we decided to take the plunge into matrimony, we could afford a house.
It was not big, not in a 'good' area and we certainly did not manage to equip it with all new things.
It was about not thinking we had a God given right to anything so WE needed to provide for ourselves. If that attitude prevailed today there might be more home ownership amongst the young and less whingeing.
Just a point of view.:o

C_Mababejive

You never truly own your own home..or anything in fact. You just have use of it whilst your alive.

A car..well you can pay it off in 3 years.

A house? well you spend most of your life paying it off...and then you die..and then its sold to someone else who spends their lives paying it off..and then they die..

The only people who truly own houses are the financial institutions who pimp them out,year on year to burden people with like Marleyian chains..to keep them enslaved.

coffeebeen

I swing back and forth on this issue!

My husband and I rent at the moment, but are paying off debt and living frugally with a view to saving a deposit (in about 4 years we might get there ). I live in an area that have reasonable house prices so they are within our reach...if we can ever save enough! I don't really have a problem renting at the moment- I like that someone else is responsible for the maintenance and I also love the fact that we can move whenever we want (we're not 100% sure where we want to settle yet). Also I don't want to put my life on hold completely while saving for a deposit (we want children in the next year or so) so renting is fine with me at the moment.

I think as the OP says, I am more bothered about having the opportunity to buy a house, rather than actually buying one. I don't like the UK's obsession with home ownership/house prices at all and if we lived in a country where rentals were regulated and viewed as a normal, not second class option I would be more than happy to rent forever. I don't think owning a home is the be all and end all of life. So as I say, I am always divided

lazer

Honestly,

I think it is nonense that FTB's cannot buy due to x, y & z (usually house prices, renting costs, restricted (careful) lending etc)

They can - it just takes a lot of saving and a good credit record.

The stumbling block for most people seems to be that they spend about 5 years paying off debts, which if they hadn't got into debt that money could be used to save for a deposit.

High rents, are an issue, but why not move to a bedsit, move in with parents, houseshare, move to a worse area, etc. There are many ways to reduce the money paid for rent and with a good mortgage broker, they may find that mortgages are available for low deposits for people that have been paying rents, the interest rates are higher (but if the rents really are that high, then the repayment is probably still lower than rent), but overpay for a few years, then remortgage.

People as far as I can see have choices, make sacrifices and save to buy a house, or live your life to the full and rent. It is up to everyone to decide.

I recognise that it is probably not possible for a single person on a minimum wage jab to buy a house, but is this really a bad thing? Should house buying be open to all.
If the single person on the NMW wants to buy a house, then they need to get some training and get a better paying job.

For the record, I am single, and buying a house on my own with a decent deposit. I lived in a house share for 3 years after uni, then a one bed, run down flat for another 2 years, then moved in with parents for the last 6 months to hammer down the savings to increase the deposit from 10 - 15%.

I had no porblem getting approval getting approved for a mortgage, due to no missed payments, no CCJ's, no overuse of credit.