First Time Buyer Frusutration

Rose46

Hello,

Don't know if there are any suggestions people can give to my quandry, I think I'm posting more out of sheer frustration.

Me and my boyfriend are first time buyers, having spent 5 years since Uni saving very hard to get together a good deposit and doing so by sacrificing being together and moving back in with our respective parents. Yes very grateful to be able to have done that as we wouldn't have been able to save as much if we'd rented.

But after all all the hard work to get to this position it now seems that buying anything is out of our reach! We're just completely priced out of the market. We have a good deposit and obviously no chain, a DIP... everything is in place. But there is nothing come up!

We're not asking for much and as far as I'm concerned we have a good budget but it just doesn't seem to be enough! I don't want to get to the point where we're so desperate that we end up spending our maximum budget on something completely overpriced and not what we want. But the longer it goes on it just feels hopeless.

So there we go... I've vented!

[Deleted User]

Presumably you mean you're priced out of a specific area. Widen your search maybe?

Rose46

We have widened it already yes, slightly restricted as my partner rides his motorbike into town so we can't be too far out. And we already are quite a way out as it is

[Deleted User]

Then if you can't widen it any further (we've had to purchase a house 7 miles from where we currently live as we simply could not afford prices round our way) then the only other options will be to wait a few more years until you've had a few payrises and earn more money, or maybe look into shared ownership.

glimmerofhope

Could you look at help to buy?

[Deleted User]

Whoops sorry, meant to write Help To Buy as well!

caprikid1

You have a few options.


1. Lower your sights in terms of area
2. Lower your sights in terms of Property
3. Wait and bet on a house price fall
4. Wait and gamble on income increase above house prices.
5. Help to buy.
6. Try and achieve a bigger deposit ? Whats the gap ?
I suspect if/ when interest rates start to increase in the coming year affordability will further restrict your borrowing.

PasturesNew

To be fair, everybody feels like you do. Few people want/like what they can actually afford. Few people buy "the perfect house". We all have to, at some stage, accept the fact that we can't have what we want and have to either find something we can afford or not bother.

It might mean you have to move 20-30 miles away, or buy a 1-bed flat instead of eyeing up 2-bed houses ....and/or various combinations of that and everything in between.

Work out what's actually important from what you'd like, then look again and just accept that nobody else is living in the house they want either.

Maybe you need some fresh eyes on the job for you. What's the first part of the postcode, your top budget and your "needs" and wants (separately). We can all find places and give our tuppence worth on what we'd do.

SuzieSue

I was in exactly the same position 20 years ago when I bought my first property.

I had to decide what was most important to me as I couldn't afford to live where I would have liked to.

I would have liked to live inside the M25 but had to move just outside as I wanted a house not a flat.

I would have liked to live in a nice area with cafes and bars, but so does everyone else, so as I didn't want a large mortgage I had to buy in a less popular area.

My husband bought his first property 40 years ago and had to buy what he could afford at the time too and not what he would have liked to buy, so it has always been this way.

natrapx

Partner and I are in the same position, but houses are pretty affordable in the West Midlands. How much have you got saved up so far?

mashmash90

Hello Rose

We were in a similar situation (we're 4 years out of uni) and are about to move into our shared owneship property on friday! We have been renting (so not living with parents as where they live there are no jobs!) and moved to London to secure good careers. We've been renting since leaving uni in london (elephant & castle) and the prices have only gone up and up (both rent & buying). We had been checking on zoopla and there were some properties in the block we were renting that went up by over 70K in 1 year. We thought if we keep renting and trying to save, the prices will also keep going up so we looked into shared ownership. I think you should definitely consider this as an option as you are at least getting your foot on the property ladder and starting to build up some equity.

Also if you haven't been paying rent, you may struggle to get a mortgage unless you have a substantial deposit (don't quote me on this), whereas Shared Ownership lenders are a lot more lenient as it's an affordable housing solution.

Anyway, something to consider!