Rant About House Prices!

CharllieSays

My partner and I would love to have a home of our own. We have been renting individually and as a couple for the last 8 years in various places, and it has been a nightmare! We have moved 3 times to get away from noisy tenants (learned very quickly that landlords, police and LAs do not care if the floorboards are thin and the tenants above like clubbing and fighting till 3am on weekdays), and dangerous areas, and have been forced to move twice at short notice from places we did like due to landlords selling. The rent has also gone up continuously each year (and we are already renting a tiny place miles from the city we work in, so downsizing at this point would be a camper van)!

Several people we've spoken to have told us to quit complaining, as 'everyone rents in mainland Europe', forgetting that other European countries may have higher numbers of people renting, but the LAWS are much fairer... If we were able to agree a longer lease at a fixed price, ensure we could sleep on work nights, stop the landlord just turning up randomly for inspections, keep the flat in good condition (I would be more than happy to paint, put down carpets, etc if the landlords don't have time for proper repairs or decorating), and treat the place like a home rather than a storage box, then I wouldn't be so panicked about buying. But currently we just feel trapped with no way out.

We don't want property as an investment to make profit. We don't need a big house. We would even be happy to build from scratch if we could buy the land and knock down an old building (I grew up watching/helping my father do this). We just want somewhere to live, grow food and possibly bring up a family one day (if we are able to). We take home about £2600 a month after tax and pension contributions and his student loan repayments. The majority of this goes on fuel/transport to work, rent, food and bills. Neither of us have any expensive habits - we don't drink, smoke or go out much (once every few months, if that). We don't have Sky, ipads, holidays or new phones. We are living like hermits in an attempt to save for a deposit, yet still have only managed £8k so far as real inflation (have no idea where the government get 2% from) is eating away at our funds and savings rates are pitiful. We both follow the money-saving tips on these and other forums, and are doing all the right things. We don't have any rich relatives or friends willing to loan us money and the bank wants a minimum of £20-25k for a home at the lower-end of the scale in this area (closer to work costs more in deposit, further away costs more in transport). Although no one will give us a straight answer without a formal application/assessment (and we were told that could negatively affect our credit score if we were turned down for a mortgage as a result).

Every year we see rent, bills and food go up in price and everyone around us complaining they are broke and have no way of cutting back any more (and those are just the people in work who haven't been made redundant). Now people are talking about house prices rising! How the hell are they rising when everyone's poor? Who are the people with all the spare money, buying up property? It's both confusing and depressing. If house prices increase, then we will never be able to catch up and save enough to buy a house (by the time we've scraped together 20-25k, they will want 30-35k)! In that situation, what's the point of even trying? Renting has been hell so far, and the only thing keeping us both going is the thought of one day being able to escape and buy a place of our own. Someone in the know, please tell me the papers are wrong and house prices won't go up!!!

ruggedtoast

Good post, wish I had something constructive to say but you are right. Younger people are being absolutely shafted so that landlords and boomer owner occupiers keep on winning the property lottery.

DannyboyMidlands

I dunno. An income of £2600 after tax and pension and loan is pretty good so sounds to me like you need help with budgeting. I don't see why you're not tucking away £1k per month.

When the missus and I were saving for our own place we sort out the crappiest of rentals because they were cheapest and it was easy to negotiate the price even lower.

Ciderarmy1987

which city is it you live in?

BitterAndTwisted

Yep, with a monthly after-tax income of £2600 you sound like you need budgeting advice rather than just enjoying a rant. Buying has always been difficult for those on modest salaries, in my younger days people saved for decades rather than a couple of years in order to buy. What has changed is people's expectations. I blame all those shows on the telly

sinbad182

Isn't 2600 a pretty awful post tax joint wage? How on earth would they put away a grand a month on that and still pay rent, and still actually live some kind on life?

BitterAndTwisted

Oh, it can be done except the means might not be palatable to those who can't or won't make sacrifices.

I suggest the OP visits the Debt-Free Wannabe part of the forum and posts up their SOA on there.

Cornucopia

Have you looked into shared ownership? That might give you a bridge from renting into buying.

DannyboyMidlands

sinbad182 wrote: »

Isn't 2600 a pretty awful post tax joint wage? How on earth would they put away a grand a month on that and still pay rent, and still actually live some kind on life?

I think its a pretty good wage but it's all about personal choices isn't it.

In my case rent was £600pcm and other bills would have brought outgoings up to say £1200pcm. There's easily £1k pcm to be saved there. The flat was crap but we firmed it for 4 years because it was cheap.

In fact, we still survive at that kind of level today. Effectively saving one wage and spending the other.

These guys are saving into a pension, paying off cheap student loans and as you suggest, might be enjoying some kind of life. Plenty of room to save more I reckon.

Xiderpunk

I do understand your predicament and rest assured you are far from alone in this. The problem is one of supply and demand, I agree with you that house prices are too high but it is hard to see how they will fall whilst demand for them remains high. Through-out the last 4 years the mortgage rationing has created a latent demand amongst people just like you and with savings devaluing according to inflation, BTL is the obvious answer.

I wish I could give you a more positive outlook however this is the way I see it. It sounds very much like you are doing everything right, I suspect you will just need to hang on in there and keep putting as much away as you can. You have a goal and with enough determination I am sure you will reach it.

Ciderarmy1987

sinbad182 wrote: »

Isn't 2600 a pretty awful post tax joint wage? How on earth would they put away a grand a month on that and still pay rent, and still actually live some kind on life?

Our joint post tax income is just under 3100 and over the last 3 months we have managed to save just shy of 6000 pounds! is do-able if you really want to do it and are willing to cut things out that aren't essential.

Has been a bit easier for us as we have already got quite a chunk saved up so this is just to top up our deposit and cover fees so we do have the bonus of a light at the end of the tunnel