We'll never be able to buy a house!

oasisfeverish

Lavendyr wrote: »

I do agree with this, I'm not sure that this came across in your first post though - it did come across as a little judgemental. Apologies if I misunderstood the tone, it is difficult to convey accurately over the internet.


The thing is that we currently don't believe the market is stable enough to want to get ourselves into so much debt, at a time when interest rates could well continue to rise and/or house prices could start to fall.

There are some houses in our area within our price range, just, but they are few and far between, unfortunately - perhaps one or two pop up in the paper each week. We could consider some other areas and may do if and when we decide we are ready to buy, but due to working constraints, we are fairly limited in the number of locations we can go for.


We would like a house, and we would need at least 2 bedrooms to fit all our junk in! But again, if & when we look to buy, we are going to have to be willing to compromise on some areas, I agree.

Thanks for your comments.

If your gut instinct is that you don't want to over stretch yourself and concerned that getting a high LTV mortgage would be risky if the market did stutter for while, then you are right in deciding to keep saving to reduce your LTV.

If you can, would certainly look at a minimum of a 2 bed house. I did this and my reasoning behind it was the target market when I want to move.

2 bed house appeals to;

FTB
Flat owner wanting to move up to house
1 bed house owners wanting to move up to 2 bed.

You therefore have three target buyer areas increasing your chances of a sale.

Good luck and one day you hard work will have paid off.

before_hollywood

Running_Horse wrote: »

Patronising bull, or the truth? I wish we lived in a world where everybody could buy a nice house regardless of salary, but the current stage of the house price cycle simply doesn't allow that. Would you rather a pat on the back and a "there there"?

I bought a £47,000 house in a not so nice area in the 80s on a salary of £8,500 and endless overtime. When the overtime disappeared I took in lodgers. If it had been easy, would I have worked so damned hard?

regardless of salary??? i earn whats regarded a good salary for what i do, and as for taking in lodgers, thats exactly what i intend to do- i've said that on here before.
about 18 months ago i was offered a 60k mortgage and was seriously considering buying a 1 bed house, the major thing that but me off was i went to a booked viewing and the vendor wasn't even in , i had to park round the back and saw problems straight away, damp patches caused by still dodgy guttering and that was just the start, it was a real mutton dressed as lamb house.

i don't know why- and i will name and shame here- northern rock were willing to lend me so much when on the salary i had at the time i wouldn't have been able to afford it, now i could but i would still take in a lodger cos lets face it, bills don't pay themselves, houses don't pay for their own repairs and having a bit more a month to play with certainly wouldn't do me any harm when i am starting out.

there seems to be 2 groups of people, those who are sitting pretty cos in the last couple of years they have made £100k plus by doing nothing but pay a mortgage and those of us who can't afford a house/to buy the house we want because house prices were allowed to get out of control, they will soon notice though when their children can't get on the property ladder without serious financial help that the banks won't give them

arthur_dent_2

I consider myself to be very very lucky, in that later today I am going to sign contracts on my new home. My mortgage despite being low in the scheme of things will be two and a half times my original mortgage. I shall be the proud owner of a rural 3 bed semi. The point of me telling you this is that I consider myself to be the luckiest person alive. If i had bought my original house any later I would not now be able to have a bedroom each for my children, I would still be sharing a one bedroom quarter house with them.

The attitude on this site is in some cases very mean. I live in an area where the minimum wage is the norm rather than the exception and people work long hard hours for little pay. If I was a first time buyer I would be stuffed as I could not afford to buy and yet I could not afford to rent either.

Circumstances and wages and house prices do vary as per the area you are in just because somebody cannot afford even the first step on this stupid property ladder does not make them lazy. Also it isn't always the case that you can better yourself as education is also costly.

People live in an area often because they grew up there or because they have family close by. I do not buy into this if you cannot afford it choose a cheaper area stuff

Leave peoples hopes and dreams for a home alone, they only want what you are already lucky enough to own (probably).

before_hollywood

arthur_dent wrote: »

I consider myself to be very very lucky, in that later today I am going to sign contracts on my new home. My mortgage despite being low in the scheme of things will be two and a half times my original mortgage. I shall be the proud owner of a rural 3 bed semi. The point of me telling you this is that I consider myself to be the luckiest person alive. If i had bought my original house any later I would not now be able to have a bedroom each for my children, I would still be sharing a one bedroom quarter house with them.

The attitude on this site is in some cases very mean. I live in an area where the minimum wage is the norm rather than the exception and people work long hard hours for little pay. If I was a first time buyer I would be stuffed as I could not afford to buy and yet I could not afford to rent either.

Circumstances and wages and house prices do vary as per the area you are in just because somebody cannot afford even the first step on this stupid property ladder does not make them lazy. Also it isn't always the case that you can better yourself as education is also costly.

People live in an area often because they grew up there or because they have family close by. I do not buy into this if you cannot afford it choose a cheaper area stuff

Leave peoples hopes and dreams for a home alone, they only want what you are already lucky enough to own (probably).

thanks for that arthur, when i say that where i live is too expensive i get told to move elsewhere but where i live is cheap in relative terms, someone said ''oh you live near manchester- move to burnley its cheap round there'' failing to realise my friends/family/job/life in general are all 20-odd miles away and the houses i could ''afford'' on the mortgage the banks were offering were on empty streets where many houses were abandoned
and any savings on mortgage price would be made up by petrol costs to commute 40-odd+ miles a day.
i used to live 15 miles from where i live now, in a place called middleton in east manchester, i knew nobody there, my friends, family, life and job were all 15 miles away and i hated it.

kingkano

before_hollywood wrote: »

how about this for a laugh, i have a respectable (ish) job on the outskirts of manchester
The maximum we could lend is...

Standard products

£48,600
Find out more about our Standard mortgage range
Fixed Rate Plus

£54,000

and thats with a 10% deposit
yeah right, like i'm ever going to be able to afford anywhere, anywhere at this rate

I dont mean to be rude, but does your respectable job only pay around £10k? (the fixed rate plus is usually a bit more than 5x I think).

Jonbvn

oasisfeverish wrote: »

......
And as you are proving you are saving & being determined until you are able to use a deposit and purchase that first home. The same I started saving at 14 when I made the decision that I want to buy a home, something my parents never did and regret it now.

This sounds like something out of a Monty Python sketch. "Licked road for breakfast, and we were lucky!":rolleyes:

Running_Horse

arthur_dent wrote: »

Also it isn't always the case that you can better yourself as education is also costly.

Got my degree part time while working full time, so education does not have to be expensive. A friend has applied for a career development loan to be a driving instructor with the aim of earning £30,000 a year

arthur_dent wrote: »

Leave peoples hopes and dreams for a home alone, they only want what you are already lucky enough to own (probably).

No one here is destroying people's hopes and dreams. But it is odd so many come to a house buying message board to say they can't (or won't) buy a house at current prices.

That is a perfectly laudable decision based on their personal circumstances. But coming here to complain is like a vegetarian going to MacDonalds to complain about the lack burgers in his diet.

Orion_3

oasisfeverish wrote: »

I've never stated that all FTBs are lazy or undetermined, what I said is that you need to be determined to get what you want these days, no one has the right without hard work to obtain a car, home, holidays, etc.

And as you are proving you are saving & being determined until you are able to use a deposit and purchase that first home.

For most people it doesn't matter how much they save as house prices are rising too fast to catch up with. What's the point in me saving 10K over a year if house prices rise 50K over the same period?

So how does anyone ever buy a house you ask? Well some people already own one and just need to sell it. Others are lucky enough to have parents who can help out. But there are plenty of professionals who can't join the ladder no matter how 'determined' they are. They've simply been priced out.

arthur_dent_2

Running_Horse wrote: »

No one here is destroying people's hopes and dreams. But it is odd so many come to a house buying message board to say they can't (or won't) buy a house at current prices.

That is a perfectly laudable decision based on their personal circumstances. But coming here to complain is like a vegetarian going to MacDonalds to complain about the lack burgers in his diet.

You do not seem to have grasped the concept of low wage. I have a good friend who for want of a better word is not academically talented. It is not and will never be an option for him to better himself. So for the crime of being unskilled he is not entitled to a decent living space? Everyone is entitled to express their own view point and I would whole heartidly disagree with the mcdonalds analogy.

In Hitchhikers the Golgafrinchams send away all their hairdressers telephone sanitisers etc and the race die out as a result. You seem to be of the opinion that all the said hairdressers are not good enough and should better themselves in order to get what I consider to be a necessity, a roof over your head.

In life we need all sorts of differently achieving people not just those who are graduates etc,.

oasisfeverish

before_hollywood wrote: »

there seems to be 2 groups of people, those who are sitting pretty cos in the last couple of years they have made £100k plus by doing nothing but pay a mortgage and those of us who can't afford a house/to buy the house we want because house prices were allowed to get out of control, they will soon notice though when their children can't get on the property ladder without serious financial help that the banks won't give them

I wouldn't say they are all sitting pretty, but you're correct in stating 2 groups of people, those with a mortgaged home, and those without a mortgaged home.

I do think that the house market will slow down (although this mornings news report predicts that average home will cost £300k in five years time).

And you are correct in mentioning the potential issue surrounding our children having a similar situation when their time comes. That's why I have always said to my friends, that when your children are born and you open that traditional saving account. Use it as their home deposit fund, not to purchase a car, or for their 18th or 21st. Keep it secret, see that your children are attempting to manage finances themselves and when the time is right that they advise they want to buy a home, then you can tell them about the fund. You will have approx. 18-30 years to save and compound interest.

For those of you FTBs that are struggling to purchase a home, I would be genuinely interested to hear how we could correct the present increase on prices and combat the affordable housing situation?

And not the answer build more homes, as the ones that appear to being built are going on flood plains, which in the long run and climate change is as useful as a chocolate teapot. More like remove stamp duty fees for any property under £250k, not a massive difference admittedly, but a start.