Help! Should I buy a house or pursue my career?

92203

Hi everyone,
I have a big decision to make and would like to know everyone’s opinions please.

I earn £25K per annun, working in IT, and my girlfriend (a nurse), earns roughly the same too. After paying off various student debts, we have a £15 K house deposit saved up, which we are adding £1000 to each month.

We both detest the city we live in, however would like to buy a house, ideally in our former home town, some 40 miles away from where we currently work and live. My job is fairly dead end and I doubt I’d earn the same money elsewhere in the locality, due to the fact I’ve been pigeon holed over the last few years.

My girlfriend can earn £21K (basic) pretty much anywhere, and I could get a min wage supermarket job, or maybe work in an office or call centre for £12-£15k per annun in the city we would like to move to.

Now the waters have been muddied. I have been head hunted for a job down south, working for an amazing company, small/medium sized environment, no pigeon hole/silo mentality, excellent management team and very keen to fund professional development and certifications. A friend works for them (having come from the same environment I currently work in) and loves it. It sounds like a dream. The remuneration is excellent and would more than offset the additional rent I’d be paying in order to live down south. It is essentially a dream job from my perspective.

I would love to accept the job, however having read about the £5.4 Billion the government is throwing at the housing market through help to buy, and potentially £80 Billion being thrown at buy to let through FLS, I am seriously wondering whether we should buy a house while we can. It is clear that they’re going to manipulate another bubble and I do not want to be priced out!!

If we move down south, our house purchase will be delayed potentially indefinitely while we live down there (or increase our deposit to match the prices down south). This, and the cost of moving down south could set us back 6-12 months and I really don’t want to miss the boat.

What should I do, am I over reacting? Having our own place is important, though we’re not desperate to do it right now, though may have to in order to avoid the next bubble .

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

92203 wrote: »

having read about the £5.4 Billion the government is throwing at the housing market through help to buy, and potentially £80 Billion being thrown at buy to let through FLS, I am seriously wondering whether we should buy a house while we can. It is clear that they’re going to manipulate another bubble and I do not want to be priced out!!.

These government schemes only partially restore functionality to a still dysfunctional mortgage market.

Mortgage rationing has been endemic since the credit crunch started, and prices are still artificially low as a result.

If more people can buy, that is a thoroughly good thing, and whilst it may well lead to prices increasing this is a completely normal result of supply and demand at work as the market allocates scarce goods through price.

Almo

In your position I would take the job.

92203

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

These government schemes only partially restore functionality to a still dysfunctional mortgage market.

Mortgage rationing has been endemic since the credit crunch started, and prices are still artificially low as a result.

If more people can buy, that is a thoroughly good thing, and whilst it may well lead to prices increasing this is a completely normal result of supply and demand at work as the market allocates scarce goods through price.

So, do you think it'd be a good idea for us to batten down the hatches. Get my GF to get a transfer to a hospital to where we want to live (and can afford to buy), and me to get whatever job I can get?

92203

Almo wrote: »

In your position I would take the job.

I feel v.inclined to so too.

CLAPTON

how old are you?

chewmylegoff

92203 wrote: »

Hi everyone,
I have a big decision to make and would like to know everyone’s opinions please.

I earn £25K per annun, working in IT, and my girlfriend (a nurse), earns roughly the same too. After paying off various student debts, we have a £15 K house deposit saved up, which we are adding £1000 to each month.

We both detest the city we live in, however would like to buy a house, ideally in our former home town, some 40 miles away from where we currently work and live. My job is fairly dead end and I doubt I’d earn the same money elsewhere in the locality, due to the fact I’ve been pigeon holed over the last few years.

My girlfriend can earn £21K (basic) pretty much anywhere, and I could get a min wage supermarket job, or maybe work in an office or call centre for £12-£15k per annun in the city we would like to move to.

Now the waters have been muddied. I have been head hunted for a job down south, working for an amazing company, small/medium sized environment, no pigeon hole/silo mentality, excellent management team and very keen to fund professional development and certifications. A friend works for them (having come from the same environment I currently work in) and loves it. It sounds like a dream. The remuneration is excellent and would more than offset the additional rent I’d be paying in order to live down south. It is essentially a dream job from my perspective.

I would love to accept the job, however having read about the £5.4 Billion the government is throwing at the housing market through help to buy, and potentially £80 Billion being thrown at buy to let through FLS, I am seriously wondering whether we should buy a house while we can. It is clear that they’re going to manipulate another bubble and I do not want to be priced out!!

If we move down south, our house purchase will be delayed potentially indefinitely while we live down there (or increase our deposit to match the prices down south). This, and the cost of moving down south could set us back 6-12 months and I really don’t want to miss the boat.

What should I do, am I over reacting? Having our own place is important, though we’re not desperate to do it right now, though may have to in order to avoid the next bubble .

How old are you?
Do you actually want to live daaaan saaaaffff?
Does your girlfriend want to move south?
Would taking the job for say 2 years give you skills and experience which would enable you to move back to your home town and earn a better wage than working behind a till?

92203

I'm 31, so at the kind of age where it would be nice to have some stability. Indifferent to moving down south, though have never been particularly interested in doing so due to living costs.

The skills I'd gain would definitely make me more employable, and potentially open up the possibility of me working from home.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

92203 wrote: »

So, do you think

I don't think you should be taking advice from strangers on the internet about your life choices.

There are pros and cons to both decisions.

But enabling more people to buy through ensuring mortgage availability returns to a more normal position, is not government "manipulating another bubble".

It's government doing it's job to at least partially restore functionality to a currently dysfunctional mortgage market.

And if that then causes prices to rise, despite only partially restoring functionality, that tells you more about the immense shortage of housing in the UK and it's likely future price trajectory than I ever will.

chewmylegoff

92203 wrote: »

I'm 31, so at the kind of age where it would be nice to have some stability. Indifferent to moving down south, though have never been particularly interested in doing so due to living costs.

The skills I'd gain would definitely make me more employable, and potentially open up the possibility of me working from home.

May be worth doing it for a couple of years then as presumably you'd rather not work stacking shelves for the rest of your life, and you'd earn more so have a better quality of life in the long run. Perhaps set a timetable for moving back and stick to that.

bluedrop

Take that job!