How depressing - House hunting

Feanor

Hi,

I just wanted to reply to the original poster on this. I can totally understand where you are coming from.

I dont think many people can understand how soul destroying it is sometimes to be a FTB in the south.

Me and my boyfriend are originally from Lincolnshire, so the property prices in the south (Kingston Upon Thames) are even harder for us to justify. We both went to uni, gained first class degrees and have good jobs now (combined income of 48k). I dont think its at all unfair to want to just have a fairly decent place to live.

I dont really want to give my opinion on what this person or the next has or hasn't got, but i do feel like we have both worked incredibly hard to further ourselves and make something of ours lives, but only to be beaten down. We currently are living in a 2 room flat (one is the bedroom, one if the kitchen, living room and study!) Its so small and its £750 a month. We have looked at buying in this area, but thats when the soul destroying part comes in. We just want somewhere we can settle and call our own after moving and being apart all through uni etc..

Anyway we have now decided to seriously think about going back up north, as the standard of living we have now is dreadful really. We dont even have a front or back door we can open in the summer etc..(the list could go on! lol) We even looked seriously at immigration, but we would miss family too much.

Anyway just wanted to say that i do sympathise on some levels with the original poster. Its very hard at the moment. Keep it up. Good Luck x

Melissa177

Very few people now can buy their first house with a view to it being the one they stay in long term.

I think this is the nub of the. Most people who have lovely houses have started off with something very small and worked their way up. One of my friends has a £2M mansion in Surrey - it took four moves over ten years to get to that point. Admittedly, this was from 1977 to 1987.

A lot of FTBs are delaying their first purchase, because they prefer to rent a nice house rather than live in a slightly dodgy one in an area they don't care for. I think this is fair enough, but it's not a strategy I would pursue because I think that it will take a while to build equity. I'd like my mansion in Mayfair one day - but I'm 24 now, and I realise I probably won't have that until I'm 40! So, I have to start somewhere And right now, "somewhere" is a one bed flat on a housing estate in south London.

Also, just because your friends have a lovely house on a lower salary, doesn't mean that they are in the same financial position as you. They may have come into a lot of money via an inheritance? Or perhaps they bought a reposession? Or perhaps it's their second purchase, and they built a lot of equity in their first house in a faster market?

pollyanna24

It is hard when you can't find anything you like, but believe me when I say there are lot of honest, hardworking people in the South East who are not on anywhere near £85K a year.

Me and bf have struggled quite a bit to get on the property ladder, and we are "only" (only she says!) on a joint income of £56K a year.

We made do by buying miles away in 2003 when everyone thought the peak was already happening. Bought reasonably cheap in quite a bad area for £110K. Sold in 2005 for £130K and kept the money safe in a bank account.

We've recently bought a 3 bed house in Watford for £210K. I have no idea if that is considered reasonable, but we found that is what houses cost these days. We could have waited for this big bubble to burst, but who knows if it will (although I personally think it will). Yes, we are going to struggle for years. Yes, we probably won't be able to have kids for a few years, and yes, we can't even afford to get married. But there is no point in whinging about it, cos it's done now. And yes, it's blooming annoying when I know the couple before us bought the house in 2000 for £90K.

frivolous_fay

pollyanna24 wrote: »

We've recently bought a 3 bed house in Watford for £210K.

I'd call that very reasonable I don't know what Watford's like to live in, but perhaps you're familiar with St Albans prices?

I don't drive, so I'm tied to towns with a train station

pollyanna24

Parts of Watford are not very nice, but we happened to get a largish 3 bed for that price this time last year, in what I think is a nice area.

I think it is more reasonable than other parts cos some people might think it's a bit remote. Fields all round type thing and 15 mins walk to the station. I like this though.

I am familar with St. Albans prices, looked there. But managed to get one junction closer into London.

MJMum

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Amitoocautious

Well the reason we want a house we can stay in as many of my other friends who have bought can't move to the next rung on the ladder and i truly think a downturn is round the corner and so we need to find somewhere we can stay put and ride out the storm. If this was 2001 then yes i would say we should go for a small house and then move up but i don't want to be stuck somewhere too small to have a family in.

As i said the avergae wage can't buy an average house and i think that is wrong

doitmyself

Amitoocautious wrote: »

Well the reason we want a house we can stay in as many of my other friends who have bought can't move to the next rung on the ladder and i truly think a downturn is round the corner and so we need to find somewhere we can stay put and ride out the storm. If this was 2001 then yes i would say we should go for a small house and then move up but i don't want to be stuck somewhere too small to have a family in.

As i said the avergae wage can't buy an average house and i think that is wrong

I don't know that this makes sense does it? Those people such as your friends you mention here who bought, let's say in 2001 seeing as you mention that too should be better able to move to the next rung than those who didn't considering the recent levels of house price inflation.
Having seemingly missed the 2001 boat yourself will you now have the courage in your belief a downturn is coming and wait even longer before you buy?

Your primary concern is to purchase a nice home for yourselves where you can start a family and stay a while. To that extent there will be no storm to ride out as the value of the property is only ever relevant when buying/selling (and of course for those dinner party convs).
Maybe you really are amitoocautious! You each earn considerably more than the average wage never mind combined and you have more options I'm sure than you have considered or explored properly.
Go take another look at post #22 here. Somewhere between the figures outlined there and the £200k you mentioned in your first post is a quite easily affordable borrowing, perhaps c.£300k, and that will most certainly secure you that very nice house you want, in Basingstoke and in many other places besides. (Ref to website post #28).

Good luck anyway

keeperbear

Amitoocautious wrote: »

Hi all, well we have finally decided that we want to take the plunge and buy a place despite us both being property bears as the madness never seems to end and we are fed up of living in our 2 bed rented flat!

Now I am not saying we deserve something amazing but there is a part of me that thinks we earn good money with very good prospects, we work hard and all we can afford is to live among people who have ended up in a nice cushdy house (which they paid next to nothing for and couldnt afford now) because of the right to buy scheme and so what is the point of trying to succeed.

I know what many will say a FTB should put up with a grotty one bed somewehre and move up the rungs

Another poster thought your comments were a touch snobbish, and I kind of agree. You claim to be have been "bearish on property", and have been renting. Why? Other people, such as myself, bought a grotty 1 bed and moved up the ladder. I now have substantial equity and am glad that I didn't sit on the fence before buying. We all work hard, but some of us took the risk to invest in a property. I couldn't afford my property now, but it was still expensive ten years ago.

Rick62

What is this nonsense about 'the property ladder'? To buy and sell a typical house in the SE of £300k will cost about £20k in stamp duty, EA and other fees.

The problem Amitoocautious has is that house now cost 3 times what they did 10 years ago making any half decent house unaffordable for someone on a typical good wage. Why do so many people have a problem with the idea that a hard working responsible couple should be able to buy a reasonable house? What we are seeing now is huge numbers of young professionals leaving the UK because anywhere else in the world they would be able to buy a decent house (in most countries you would get a luxury mansion for the price of a semi in the SE).