The Garden Fence - proper Old Style support and chat!

pollyanna_26

I agree with Fuds on the housing . This house was just below £10,000 new in Dec 75 . When I got rid for good of toxic husband in the 80s it took every OS way I'd learned during my life to keep the roof on, the bills paid and the children fed and suitably shod . It wasn't a dream but I made it with no loans , credit cards or second mortgage . The fifth of December 2000 ( 25 year mortgage ) was a day I will never forget as that was final payment day . So far 17 years on I don't regret it . True there are upkeep and repair costs but I still think this is the better way .
There is a secure feeling about not being controlled by a third party plus there is a legacy you leave behind and a lesson for those offspring who were around when times were tight .
polly

Floss

I have lived in bought and both private rented & social housing...repairs in both were done quickly, financial problems were dealt with sympathetically and with help rather than eviction (unlike Abbey National when the ex-h stopped the mortgage d/d in August 1999 and didn't tell me until they wrote to begin repo proceedings after 3 missed payments).

candygirl

I've been here almost 31 years :eek: Bought it with first hubs when interest rates were sky high , took it on when we split, n am now mortgage free 😀
I feel sorry for young uns finding it hard to get on the property ladder, my DD is one of them, but am sick of them thinking we somehow had it easier way back when :mad:
Rant over 😙

mardatha

I still don't think I'd buy a house if I was young now, I'd try to find another way round the problem. Lots of wee cottages on long term lets up here, I'd go for one of those. I hate the idea of all that debt round my neck for so many years.

monnagran

I too feel sorry for youngsters starting out today but we certainly didn't have it easy when we started out. It took two years of hard saving to get the deposit together for our first home. That was two years of no holidays, no paid for entertainment, no new clothes, no outings that cost money. We also took on extra jobs, I went straight from school to home teaching a young boy who was bedridden and straight from there to be youth leader of a council run youth club. Got home about 9pm and had to prepare the next days lessons before I went to bed. In the school holidays I looked after a family of children whose mother had walked out on them.
And before the violins start wailing, I don't regret a bit of it. Even then it was a year before I could afford a second hand fridge or a vacuum cleaner.

I think that our children wanted to start at the point that it took us 30 years to get to.

I still don't regret it. I glory in being independent and although times have been tough through the years that early training means that I have always been able to manage.

How did we get on to this subject?

Climbs gingerly off her soap box.

pollyanna_26

Mar I can see what you mean when you imagine the years it will take to repay a mortgage but rent is still something owed so a form of debt while you need a roof over your head . For the past 17 years I haven't needed to pay either rent or mortgage costs . The house is worth many times more now so hasn't just been a home but is now an asset .

I've just spotted Wondercollie on another part of OS and can't remember where she used to post . Was it one of the tougher threads ?
She was in the frozen wastes of Canada .
polly

Islandmaid

Hi all,

Just sailing in with my 2 pennies

Monna, I agree, it wasn't wasn't easy when I first bought, we completed the week the interest rates went up 3 times in one day to 15% - I cried my eyes out.... a friend was smug as they had fixed their mortgage at 12% for 5 years, but bought at top of market, where we had a flexible one, but bought after the 'bubble' burst. We had to rent our 2 spare rooms out, and my OH at the time had to work 200 miles away during the week and I had 2 jobs - friends soon realised what they had done when they were in massive neg equity and expecting their first child - luckily both us and them managed to scrape through the bad times - we are not quiet mortgage Free, but can see it on the horizon

Our next quandary is do we downsize to release equity to help the kids onto the ladder, or possible arrange for the house to be put into the kids names before it's too late?... who knows

candygirl

ISLANDMAID , I recall ours being at 15.4% for a while too :eek:Seems hard to imagine now 😀

pollyanna_26

Islandmaid I can still remember the shock of those rises . I was also sold one of the endowment mortgages - I'm sure many remember them - nearing the end of the mortgage I got a letter informing me of the shortfall although the insurance on the endowment was always paid -
It was lucky I was weeks away from finishing the term .
That was one big con . I personally only knew a couple of people who got the extra cash benefit promised .
polly

Floss

Me, ex and DH missed out with endowments but me & the boys benefited from cashing in after the divorce - DH almost returned his house keys at 15% but managed to hang on. His endowment went thru green, amber, red and back to amber before he stopped paying into it when he remortgaged in 2014.