Why Is A 44 Year Old Man Still Renting?

westernpromise

Crashy_Time wrote: »

people know they are getting shafted by banks and corporations at every turn nowadays?

Well, I'm getting around 3% yield on a flat worth about £900k. The mortgage is well under a third of that and is a base rate tracker at 1.29%. The gross rent is thus 9x the mortgage.

So I reckon I am shafting the bank rather than the reverse.

westernpromise

I would self-harm before I'd live in the south.

We are talking about south of the river, right?

zarf2007

ringo_24601 wrote: »

I just got back from a weekend in the North West. I live between St Albans and Watford.

It feels like no one in the north has a 'purpose'. They drive like they don't know where they are going. They seem generally slow at doing everything. Yes, they're chatty. Wonderful. I think it might be a lack of drive, because it's just a bit easier to live in the North. Down South, you're going to be poor if you've not got drive. You've got to be purposeful.

Being in the North for 2 days reminded me why I left.

I'm from Durham and tbh when I visit its like stepping back in time...even people in the cities seem to be 'pretending' to know what they are doing and Hotel service is clueless even in 4-5 star....

Newcastle Airport reminds more of amateurs trying to run an airport....maybe life is less stressful up there but I can also see how people move south before rigamortis sets in.

MoonJelly

People rent for all kinds of reasons. We are not all "big failures in life" like some previous poster kindly put it. My OH and I have spent what seems a life time as carers for older/sick parents. We had to pay out of our pocket for respite care a few times and travel expenses and sometimes couldn't work full-time. We did buy a house once but during 2008 OH was made redundant and we had to sell the house. He took a job abroad and then found when we got back that because we'd been away for 3 years we had to rebuild our credit score from zero and were available for a mortgage. We are working towards there but are not spring chickens and we wonder if owning a house if really worth the haddle.

I think life can throw people a few curves but it doesn't that they are "failures" or "losers".

chucknorris

MoonJelly wrote: »

People rent for all kinds of reasons. We are not all "big failures in life" like some previous poster kindly put it. My OH and I have spent what seems a life time as carers for older/sick parents. We had to pay out of our pocket for respite care a few times and travel expenses and sometimes couldn't work full-time. We did buy a house once but during 2008 OH was made redundant and we had to sell the house. He took a job abroad and then found when we got back that because we'd been away for 3 years we had to rebuild our credit score from zero and were available for a mortgage. We are working towards there but are not spring chickens and we wonder if owning a house if really worth the haddle.

I think life can throw people a few curves but it doesn't that they are "failures" or "losers".

Well I certainly don't consider myself a failure, and if after visiting the Isle of Man a few times, we like it enough to progress to moving there. We will be renting for about a year, just to ensure that we like it enough to commit to beyond a decade and buy a house on the island.

moneyistooshorttomention

Obvious answer could be "Just (bad) luck of the draw".

I make what is only a semi-jokey comment about the first thing I realised in life is "Oh I'm a girl" (at whatever tender age in childhood it first stuck me that there were boys on the one hand and girls on the other hand). About the second thing I must have realised is "Oh...I'm a home-owner. I will be buying my own house when I grow up". That came from the fact that my parents owned a house, my mothers mother had owned a house and the line of house-owners my mothers side of the family could (possibly did) go back beyond my grandmothers time. So I took it for granted I would have one too when I grew up.

Then I grew up and realised that houses cost a lot and I was living in an expensive city and assumed the way that would be dealt with would be that I would meet Mr Right and marry him and the two of us together would buy a house.

Then I realised Mr Right looked like he was never going to turn up (and he didn't.....) so I had to buy my house on my own. It was at that point that I got well and truly "stuck" as to just how I was supposed to reconcile single/poor salary/dear city and get one.

It was only sheer luck basically that, belatedly, meant I was in a position to buy my house at last.

I still sit and shudder to this day about what on earth I would have done if that "stroke of luck" hadn't come along - particularly in view of seeing the worse treatment renters get than they did 40 years or so ago (short-term contracts, fees, etc).

I literally honestly don't know what I would have done if that "stroke of luck" hadn't happened. I've tossed up between "Would I have bought a mobile home somehow - back before they shot up in price too?", "Would I have been forced to move to a cheaper area of the country at that point?", "Would I have given up waiting for Mr Right and married Mr Will-Just-About-Do just in order to have that second salary coming in to buy a house with?".

I suspect I would have moved to somewhere like the North of England at that point - in order to be able to buy in their much cheaper housing market.

I can only speak for myself - but I just couldn't have managed without having a place of my own and would have never given up the intention of buying my own proper house until the day I died - and been waiting for a chance to emerge some time somehow. That is exactly what I was doing when my "stroke of luck" came along and I was able to get one - I'd got my eyes and ears peeled and I was waiting/waiting/waiting for an opportunity to come along somehow and I would have carried right on waiting all the way through till my 80s if that's how the cookie had crumbled. Speaking personally - I would never have accepted not having one.

I definitely wouldn't have regarded myself as a failure if I hadn't managed it though. I would have regarded Society as having failed ME (for not having provided something so necessary and commonplace - despite my "doing my bit" by holding down full-time jobs and trying to manage my money well).

Crashy_Time

zarf2007 wrote: »

I'm from Durham and tbh when I visit its like stepping back in time...even people in the cities seem to be 'pretending' to know what they are doing and Hotel service is clueless even in 4-5 star....

Newcastle Airport reminds more of amateurs trying to run an airport....maybe life is less stressful up there but I can also see how people move south before rigamortis sets in.

People in Loandon know what they are doing though, right
Keep taking the tablets mate.....:rotfl:

nomorecreditcards1973

Wow! Not everyone has the same opportunities in life. I'm 40+ and still renting whilst saving for a Shared Ownership mortgage. It's not an ideal lifestyle renting but without a well enough paid job I have no option than to go down the Help to Buy route or rent forever. It's a very depressing situation. Some awful judgemental comments on here that don't help anyone is a similar situation.

[Deleted User]

I suspect you get stuck in a 'rent trap', and watch as all the house prices go up around you, as you fail to save enough money to get a deposit. We've got some friends who sold up their house because they needed a bigger property, but couldn't afford it without renting. They're stuck in a rent trap now, as house prices have massively risen since they sold up - I don't think they'll own a home again until their parents pass their house on to them.

I started with a mentality of 'wanting to buy a house' when I was 22, and it took me 4 years for it to happen - I can't imagine what would have happened if I hadn't met my wife and was able to present a double income to get a mortgage. I doubt my saving rate would have matched the rise in house prices.

mayonnaise

nomorecreditcards1973 wrote: »

Wow! Not everyone has the same opportunities in life. I'm 40+ and still renting whilst saving for a Shared Ownership mortgage. It's not an ideal lifestyle renting but without a well enough paid job I have no option than to go down the Help to Buy route or rent forever. It's a very depressing situation. Some awful judgemental comments on here that don't help anyone is a similar situation.

You're saving for a Shared Ownership mortgage but think you may go down the Help to Buy route? You're talking different things here.
I'd avoid Shared Ownership like the plague. You'll be stuck on a part short-term lease/part rent with no way of extending that lease before you staircased to 100%. Add to that rising rent payments and often rip-off service charges.
Help to Buy is the better option. Have you looked into a HTB ISA already? Monthly saving ceiling is quite low, but is basically 25% free money.
Good luck.