At what age is 'normal' to buy? How old were you?

Elliesmum

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Why are the only options living with parents or buying? I left home at 19, rented for a number of years whilst at university and the for flexibility to move for jobs. Bought at 26 then went back to renting at 30 as I moved cities to further my career. About to buy again.

Bought at 24, then again at 34 and 38. Got divorced and lost all of my collateral at 43, but now re-buying at 48.

Thanks to help to buy

EM xx

mum2boys83

I started with shared ownership at age 23, then age 25 moved to full mortgage. moved to renting age 29.


I agree don't worry about "normal" age, just do whats right for you.


I had a mortgage then couldn't keep it as repayments got to much when I had to have it on my own.

Missus_Hyde

I was 23 when I got married and we bought our first house, but that was back in the dim, distant past (1976).

However, I don't think that there's any "normal" time; circumstances and finances tend to dictate when the best time should be.

Old_Git

rented from aged 20 to 28 .Bought a repo two bed terrace at 28 .interest rate was 11%. Stayed 6 years .Bought a 3 bed semi .Remortgaged it in 2005 to buy a flat .Moved to a 4 bed bungalow two years ago .I still own the semi and the flat ,just no mortgage now .

densol_2

I was 18 ! I'm now 49 I'm glad I bought early and pushed myself especially with my last house 14 years ago. I had a devastating injury from work 4 years ago and now cannot work at the moment. As I live in outer London my house has increased significantly and I have enough equity to buy a house outright if I have to - but I'm hoping I get lucky not too

moneyistooshorttomention

You can't help comparing yourself with what everyone you know does.

So - I'm now in my 60s. So the norm for my generation (everyone I knew in it anyway and a lot of others) was:

- buy a starter house (eg 2 bed terrace house) in our 20s
- move to a 3 bed semi-detached in our 30s
- move to the final house (ie detached with decent garden in decent area - or a nice area if we were lucky) in our 40s

That's what my parents did.

That's what I expected to do too.

But - I was single - so it was my 30s and a large stroke of luck later before I got my starter house.

I had to move across country recently to get a Final House type house - as I couldn't see a way to get it in my own area (bar inheritance). Obviously its not possible to rely on inheritance (with the way possible nursing home fees have been "in the picture" since my 30s) and add in having a grabby sibling who tries to have more than "his fair share" and that's something that can't be relied on.

*************

So, all sorts of factors can affect whether we personally can manage to have The Norm - be it being single, being poorly-paid, living in a dear part of the country. I think it is now about as hard for couples to buy in this generation as it was for single people in my generation.

GwylimT

I was twenty three, but I was only able to buy as my deposit was my wifes life insurance policy, while we were renting we couldn't save. It was a two bed terrace that needed a lot of work.

It depends what prices are like in your area, in some your deposit is fantastic, in others it is quite conservative.

davenport151

Aged 26 and brought on partners salary.

This was in 1995 and prices were just begining to rise.
I was only working as a temp then (albeit full time)! Struggled to get 3 x his salary. We thought that was a massive amount then!

Still in the same house. Would not rule out moving again but do not want to overstretch ourselves.

fairy_lights

Im 27 and currently in the process of buying my first house. My oh and I are only able to buy thanks to my parents generously giving us most of the deposit, if we'd had to save it all up ourselves it would have taken us another 2 years.
I've got a few friends who bought around 25/26, but they've all had help from parents too.

Peter999_2

I was 21 when I bought my flat for £35,000 in 1993. It wasn't as easy for me as it seems to be for others on this thread. Interest rates were very high, I think I was paying around 13%-15%. Still worth it though to own a little bit of the world. It was probably some of the best years of my life the 7 years I lived there.