Scared - will I ever afford my own home?

Sapphire

Why don't you go out and enjoy life for the next 5 to 10 years? You've plenty of time after that to saddle yourself with a mortgage. A few years ago it didn't enter people's heads to start thinking about 'settling down' until they'd lived a little, found out what they really wanted from life in terms of both profession and general lifestyle, and explored the world and themselves in various ways.

I find this obssession with property obscene. It's due to persistent propaganda by those with vested interests in gaining money/votes NOW from property rises. Next it will be 10-year-olds who will be thinking of buying properties! And a flat is not enough, of course – it must be a house . . .

mystic_trev

Wait until the end of next month. Mr Boom's retiring and Mr Bust is going to take over!

prudryden

You could join the Army. Free housing, free education, lots of travel, free health, free exercise, lots of friends, many holidays. Save while you are having fun.

nonsensefactory

You've got better things to do than worry about house prices haven't you ? You're a student you should be making freinds, making lurve, making notes and making yourself, not worrying about HP's. Trust me, you've got the rest of your life to worry about bloody house prices. They're too high anyway and anyone buying now wants their head testing.
If you want to invest, get an equity ISA

pickles110564

Sapphire wrote: »

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I find this obssession with property obscene. It's due to persistent propaganda by those with vested interests in gaining money/votes NOW from property rises.

I only buy property to try to provide for our retirement and to have something to pass on to our children.
I realized a long time ago that you can not trust financial advisors to help secure a future for you as they only do it to make money out of you spreading doom and gloom.If they were any good at making investments they would only be working for themselves.
Most of them look like they are just out of School, so where have they picked up the life expierences that will benifit your investments.
I bought my first house when I was 18 and it was a hard struggle then, we were given hand me downs for a bed and picked up some chairs from the local tip.Whenever you try to get on the market it is always very hard.
You have to decide if you want a easy life as a tenant skipping debts all over the place or become a hard working houseowner and LL.

liz545

Once you've factored in the costs of buying a property, such as solicitor's & estate agents' fees, moving costs, loan arrangement fees etc, I think for the first couple of years, it will be more expensive than renting, rather than less. Bear in mind that when you own somewhere, you will need to furnish, insure and maintain it, which is not a cost that you'll incur with a rented property. Furthermore, when you graduate you may well find yourself moving in order to secure a job, which would incur further costs. Yes, it's true that the housing market has risen a lot over recent years, but there's no guarantee that it will continue to do so, and buying a property regardless of your personal circumstances, when you're on a fairly rubbish income, is putting yourself at a great risk if prices do fall (nationally or locally). The people who lost their homes and went bankrupt during the last crash were those who had overstretched themselves, taking on unaffordable loans when they were really in no position to buy. Stop thinking of rent as "dead money" and think of it instead as paying for a roof over your head. There's plenty of time to buy a house when you've graduated and you can realistically afford it! And since your uni education is costing a fair bit, why not try relaxing and enjoying it?

Dreaming_2

Ah, thanks for your comments everyone. It seems to be propaganda indeed. Rest assured I am enjoying life and for a student, live quite well. But if when I graduate I get a salary of 26 (I think thats a good starting wage for a graduate in london) and the average house prices have gone up to 300 I'll need a mortgage of 12 times my income.

I'm considering investing in a caravan .

All the same, I'm definately putting some aside, aiming for a couple of thousand each year as I do live quite frugally compared to a lot of students, I spend around £800 a term on accomodation (fixed) and then £500 on top of that for everything else, which brings me well below my £5k maintenence loan / grant, not to mention bursaries and scholarships.

I've looked at ISAs but the paltry interest rates don't seem much better than just an easy to access variable web saver I set up in 2 minutes (5.00% p.a). They're less of a way of investing and more just somewhere to stop your savings getting eroded by inflation. I save far more money by drinking coke on a night out than those ridiculously priced cocktails every seems to favour.

Sapphire

Dreaming wrote: »

I've looked at ISAs but the paltry interest rates don't seem much better than just an easy to access variable web saver I set up in 2 minutes (5.00% p.a). They're less of a way of investing and more just somewhere to stop your savings getting eroded by inflation. I save far more money by drinking coke on a night out than those ridiculously priced cocktails every seems to favour.

Don't forget that ISAs are tax free, though, while other savings accounts are not. The highest interest rate you can get on a cash ISA is around 6.05% at the moment. I've opted for the National Savings ISA - I especially like the fact that they announce rises in their interest rates immediately after the BoE raises interest rates, which many other providers do not!

davef

Hi Dreaming

Stick with me on this one !!!! Can you swim ??? Have you thought about a house boat. Can be bought with as little as £50k with moorings in London from £200 pcm. Most have 240v electric hookup, running water/drainage, can hook up broadband, hotwater and all creature comforts.

If you are keen for independance on a budget worth a look.

Have a look at this site for example
http://houseboats.apolloduck.co.uk/index.phtml

I would also add that most firms of accountants have in-house qualified financial advisors (FCA, FPC etc). Stop the immediate worry, enjoy life now, concentrate on your studies and focus on getting a position with a top firm. If you've a good brain on you, after a few years (and long hours/graft) you will be on good money. Then you use your in-house financial advisor to enlighten you with their 'creativity'.

Anyway whatever you decide good luck.

Sapphire

davef wrote: »

Hi focus on getting a position with a top firm.

Not necessarily the best life choice! Being saddled to a 'top firm' can also be a terrible bind.

If you want to earn a lot of money (legally :cool: ), you could alternatively consider starting a business of some sort.