Help to buy ISA worthless as all houses in this area are more than 250000

Brown_Eyed_Girl

The help to buy ISA isn't for us. It's for those starting out and it's to encourage them to think about saving regularly.

So think people coming out of university, getting them to see putting away a couple of hundred each month as something the want to start going now. And the realisation that they need enough of an insentive to do it.

Is it annoying for those of us who it won't help. I.e those who'd saved hard to be able to buy now and knowing the increasing prices makes it unworkable for us to hold on longer, sure.

But that's where we are. If you can get it, and save for the three years, the you are all the better off.

bobobski

AdrianC wrote: »

Yeh, I couldn't agree more.

These look like absolute hell-holes to me.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-56583944.html
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53914286.html

I can't even tell if you're being serious. Not sure what part of "Cambridge" didn't come across when we said "Cambridge" and not "East Anglia". It's not all one place. Do you know that, even at rush hour, trains from Newmarket to Cambridge run only once an hour? So if you're one minute late (or, more likely as recent events have shown me, there are problems with the trains), your commute takes the better part of two hours, if you work in the city? I have friends who work in Cambridge and live in Newmarket and they HATE their commute; it's comparable to mine to London.

Even if you narrow down to Cambridge, I don't think you qualify to offer advice about decent places to live unless you've lived in the city. I've done long commutes before and that's why I left London. Hence Cambridge.

Jeez, this is a complex and personal issue; I don't see why there's so much judgement. If someone complained about living in London I wouldn't say "well Guildford's nice and it's comparatively cheap, so what are you complaining about?". It seems only people who live on one side of London and work on the other are entitled to complain about commuting. Also, as before I'm not even complaining; I'm just trying to stand up for OP who has a completely valid point but was shouted down by people who, no doubt, managed without a HTB ISA and are therefore unsympathetic to people who would benefit from it if they up and left their home region.

EDIT: You've shown us houses, not regions. In the comments you've quoted, we were talking about regions. Have you seen how close Fordham is to Soham? There's a lot of criticism and not a lot of reading going on around these parts.

kinger101

bobobski wrote: »

a) It would help if you actually read what I'm saying.

b) Why do you care where I live? I was responding to OP's original point. I've never seen so much slagging off in one thread, of OP far more than me, mind. Bearing in mind this is most people's biggest ever investment and the scariest thing a lot of people will do, given that they're probably spending their life savings on it, I don't see why there's so much emphasis on throwing your money potentially towards crap just to get on the property ladder, regardless of what it is, where it is and how the length of the commute may affect your mental health or other aspects of your life. No, I don't want to live outside Cambridge for various reasons, and I recognise that is my choice and it will make it harder for me to buy a house. So why do you care?

I'm not complaining about anyone getting the HTB ISA (I do think it is a good idea) and I realise the line has to be drawn somewhere, but it also leaves a bad taste in my mouth that I'm working my butt off, scrimping and saving to do this properly, while others who live elsewhere (again, for various reasons) who may already find it quite easy to save for a house (given that, by definition, the houses are of relatively low value) get my tax money.

No, you was saying that in some areas HTB is useless. If you're prepared to commute, you can take advantage of this wherever you work. You can even get 2 bedroom properties in parts of London for under £250K.

And if you start using language the "bad taste in my mouth", "scrimping", "working my butt off" you are complaining.

AdrianC

bobobski wrote: »

I can't even tell if you're being serious. Not sure what part of "Cambridge" didn't come across when we said "Cambridge" and not "East Anglia". It's not all one place.

What was being discussed was a ten mile radius. And those are within a ten mile radius, going by a RM search.

I'm so terribly sorry if you expect the world on a plate right within easy reach - and for your fellow taxpayer to subsidise it for you, without you having to compromise even slightly. Boo. Hoo.

bobobski

kinger101 wrote: »

No, you was saying that in some areas HTB is useless. If you're prepared to commute, you can take advantage of this wherever you work. You can even get 2 bedroom properties in parts of London for under £250K.

And if you start using language the "bad taste in my mouth", "scrimping", "working my butt off" you are complaining.

If you take anything out of context, anyone can mean anything.

You haven't disproved what I've said, that in some areas HTB ISA is useless. You've just translated that into commuting radius. And, if you read what I said, some people are not prepared to commute. And yet again, that is fine. It is not your money.

bobobski

AdrianC wrote: »

What was being discussed was a ten mile radius. And those are within a ten mile radius, going by a RM search.

I'm so terribly sorry if you expect the world on a plate right within easy reach - and for your fellow taxpayer to subsidise it for you, without you having to compromise even slightly. Boo. Hoo.

Have you read anything I've written here? Have I said I expect anyone to subsidise anything? Have I said I think the HTB ISA is a bad thing?

HouseBuyer77

There are certainly properties under £250k in Cambridge available in non-dodgy areas, e.g. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50058052.html

Though if you are looking at £250k and above the HTB isn't that useful anyway. Whilst the £3k is certainly nice if you've got the income to support that kind of mortgage it shouldn't be a deal breaker.

bobobski

HouseBuyer77 wrote: »

There are certainly properties under £250k in Cambridge available in non-dodgy areas, e.g. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50058052.html

Though if you are looking at £250k and above the HTB isn't that useful anyway. Whilst the £3k is certainly nice if you've got the income to support that kind of mortgage it shouldn't be a deal breaker.

I agree, and to quote my earlier self: " I live in Cambridge where there is extremely little for £250,000 or less". That isn't the same as saying it's impossible to buy anything on that budget.

I also agree that above a certain threshold the additional £3k doesn't make much of a difference. One of the reasons I support HTB ISA and agree there needs to be a threshold somewhere.

kinger101

bobobski wrote: »

If you take anything out of context, anyone can mean anything.

You haven't disproved what I've said, that in some areas HTB ISA is useless. You've just translated that into commuting radius. And, if you read what I said, some people are not prepared to commute. And yet again, that is fine. It is not your money.

I wasn't taking anything out of context. Unless you work at home, you will inevitably have to travel some distance to work, even if it's only a mile.

Regardless of whether people use HTB ISAs, they need to make a decision on the type of property they want, where it's located etc. Very few of us are in a position where we don't make compromises.

I would think you'd understand in particular that if you wait until you can afford the right property in Cambridge, you might find the price running away from you and be renting for the foreseeable future.

Personally, I'm not in favour of HTB ISAs at all, so I'm pleased if you don't take advantage of them. But you can't pretend they didn't put some additional options on the table.

bobobski

kinger101 wrote: »

I wasn't taking anything out of context. Unless you work at home, you will inevitably have to travel some distance to work, even if it's only a mile.

Regardless of whether people use HTB ISAs, they need to make a decision on the type of property they want, where it's located etc. Very few of us are in a position where we don't make compromises.

I would think you'd understand in particular that if you attempt to wait until you can afford the right property in Cambridge, you might find the price running away from you and be renting for the foreseeable future.

Personally, I'm not in favour of HTB ISAs at all, so I'm pleased if you don't take advantage of them. But you can't pretend they didn't put some additional options on the table.

I can't pretend and I don't pretend. I have given this a lot of thought, and I do understand the problems that I'm facing having decided that - having left London for the sake of my mental health - I want a reasonable commute from my job in central Cambridge (where, by the way, there's no parking) but on a Cambridge salary. I'm just failing to understand what's so offensive about that. I want a certain type of property in a certain type of neighbourhood, and that disqualifies me from the HTB ISA. Fine, so be it, it will take me longer to save.

Does it make you less judgemental to know that I've spent years discussing this with family, friends and colleagues, and have even had several conversations with my boss, with whom I get along extremely well and have done for years, about my personal (house buying) plans and my projected salary rises and bonuses?

And I'm sorry, but you did take my words out of context. It is possible to have two separate feelings about one fact. I cannot be the only person in the country who thinks the HTB ISA is a good thing in theory but feels disgruntled about who it will help.