Anyone else in the same boat as me?

Phirefly

We've created stability in this country, and we must ensure that the benefits go particularly to young couples who want to own their own homes, who've found that house prices have been high.

They need some help to get on the first rung of the housing ladder.

The idea is that building societies, mortgage lenders, the government and the prospective owner share the cost of the mortgage, with perhaps 75% held by the prospective owner

So now not only am I working every hour and scouring Sainsbury's whoopsy cabinet to afford my own mortgage, I'm going to be helping other FTBs with theirs via my taxes. Oh hang on, sorry Dan, Gordon's talking about helping young couples.

:mad:

Unknown1234_2

Turnbull2000 wrote: »

The usual suspects also insist you must "work longer and harder" to ensure that first home affordable. I myself worked 10 weeks of overtime last year. So how much extra did I earn from that 400 hour grind? Sweet f**k all.

I am starting to understand the chip on his shoulder..

Guy_Montag

Yeah, my job doesn't pay overtime, not for working extra hours, not even for working Christmas day & Boxing day; I do get time off in lieu - one day for each :rolleyes:. Of course, since I've not had the opportunity to take all my holidays this year, well any of them in fact, it doesn't make much difference.

Working evenings & weekends during busy periods would make it difficult to take a second job, unless it was very flexible.

Having said all that I am going to be sitting on a small boat off a tropical island for most of December so it's swings & roundabouts.;)

Running_Horse

Guy_Montag wrote: »

Working evenings & weekends during busy periods would make it difficult to take a second job, unless it was very flexible.

My wife has just started an Avon round (in addition to her job) which I help her with on my days off. It all helps with bills, birthdays etc. Might not suit everyone, but as one million Poles have discovered, there is work for those who go and look for it.

lieutenant_dan

Thanks to the many constructive replies received on this thread (you'll know who you are)

As for the rest, it's like banging your head against a brick wall.

Getting a bit fed up of reading all this nonsense about discipline/sacrifice (I'm not averse to this at all WITHIN REASON) and suggestions that it should be bloody difficult to own your own property. It shouldn't. How difficult was it 10+ years ago when propertys were in some cases valued at 33% of their current market values? How difficult is it in other countries of the Western/developed World to buy a home? And for those who don't buy in these countries, rents are very reasonable. That's why the problem is twofold here, you can't buy, and if you want somewhere half decent to live, then you have to pay a lot out on rent, also depriving yourself of potential deposit savings, hence my current predicament.

As has been suggested in the thread, why should it be necessary to move miles away from your neighbourhood, from family and friends, to look for cheaper housing, or even to move abroad?! Ludicrous.

Fact is we're in exceptional circumstances at the moment, and all the smug smart asses are talking about sacrifices they made WHEN THE MARKET WAS WELL BELOW CURRENT SILLY UNATTAINABLE LEVELS. Yes, cutbacks have been necessary in previous years too to reach the eventual goal, but the main point is that properties were still within reach.

So now you have to have no life or live in sh*tty accomodation in order to eventually save enough to own a one bedroom flat?! Yes that's right, a flat, not a house. Just check out other threads and you'll see examples of factory workers and butchers getting a mortgage for 2 and 3 bed houses in years gone by, try imagining that in this climate. The current housing market has also distorted what can be considered a decent wage, or even an average wage.

And as many others in the thread have alluded to previously, you can't raise a family in a one bed flat, so more and more people putting off starting a family, what happens to the long term prosperity of the country?

BrandNewDay

you sound like you need a little encouragement.

I think a year of living in a bedsit would be worth it, in the end. You can tolerate it if you have to, and it will only be temporary. It's so easy to get comfortable paying rent and then you wake up one day and say, "Wait a minute!"

I hope you can work something out.

jyonda

Face it Dan. If you don't earn 50k+ in London/SE then you don't earn a decent wage. If you want to buy somewhere half decent in London then you should find a partner earning at least as much.

My advice FWIW is go find another situation as your current one is clearly not working for you. Although I mostly agree with you I would like to point out that millions of people DO choose to leave their friends and families in search of a better situation. If you want more then you have to break out of your comfort zone. Why should it be OK for a million Poles to have to migrate for work but you shouldn't have to? It just sounds like whingeing. If you had kids then you'd have a point.

John_Pierpoint

"Having said all that I am going to be sitting on a small boat off a tropical island for most of December so it's swings & roundabouts.;)"



Hi Dan,
Welcome to the global economy. The Eastern Europeans are over here, I know one quite well as I book his cheap airfares for him (The banks won't give you a proper debit/credit card for 2 years and HSBC are welcoming him into their fold this week). In that time he has done up his "Stalin" flat and sold it. He has now bought a detached house in half an acre and his wife and teenage son are hard at work getting that renovated.. His trade over there was grave digger, so he is doing pretty well by most peoples' standards. Over here he is the "rent a room" tenant of an ambitious West Indian immigrant, who needs the extra to pay his mortgage.

In some ways, pensioners like me did have it easier, rationing meant that we could not rot our teeth eating sweets or get over weight unless we bought meat on the black market. There were lots of adventure playgrounds in town, in those days they were called bomb sites. You could play in the streets, because very few people had any cars and those, that there were, did 0 - 60 in about half an hour and 500 miles to the pint. BUT when it came to space there were only 50 million people competing with us in UK and less than 3 billion in the rest of the world. The only place with any money was USA.
You are competing with 6.3 billion, many of them better educated than you are and very ambitious. 1.3 billion are Chinese not to mention the billion plus living in India. In China a factory girl earns 50 GBP per month and some one with a craft skill makes 100 GBP per month. They tend to wiz about the place on bicycles powered by large lap top batteries with a 16 mile range.
I'm not sure what a call centre worker in Bangalore is paid?
However, why morally do you think you deserve a better standard of living than these people? Do you think that perhaps you will look back in 30 years time and say, "why am I still renting a flat in a block owned by a rich Indian and working for a Chinese owned company?"

Economically we are back where we were in Edwardian times; our saving grace is that we are no longer the, but one of the top half a dozen, sources of investment capital (even this is being siphoned off by the oil price). Back then the world's third richest country was Argentina. There is no guarantee you will continue to live in one of the world's rich countries. Without any capital in a capitalist world, you might find yourself a bit short of options, as the water level and the population rises - or do you have some special skill to lift yourself above the fate of the masses?

"How difficult is it in other countries of the Western/developed World to buy a home?"
Bl00dy difficult if you cannot get a job even at 1 GBP per hour. That said I know 4 people who are buying property in Eastern Europe, the sort of people who would have invested in the Algarve 30 years ago. One of Indian extract has bought blocks of garages in Poland; as Poles get richer they get cars but don't want to leave them outside to be wrecked by vandals and the winter weather. Cars are easier to evict than single women with babies.

Enjoy your holiday, forget your massive carbon footprint, "Eat drink and be merry..................".

Running_Horse

lieutenant_dan wrote: »

Thanks to the many constructive replies received on this thread (you'll know who you are)

As for the rest, it's like banging your head against a brick wall.

I apologise. I thought you were looking for concrete help in getting on the housing ladder. Now I realise you want a "there there" and a pat on the back for your unique suffering.

lieutenant_dan wrote: »

Getting a bit fed up of reading all this nonsense about discipline/sacrifice (I'm not averse to this at all WITHIN REASON) and suggestions that it should be bloody difficult to own your own property. It shouldn't. How difficult was it 10+ years ago when propertys were in some cases valued at 33% of their current market values?

You have been an adult for 15+ years now. I'm sorry you were never in a position to buy during that period. Even modestly saving a couple of grand per year, with interest, would have given you a deposit of £40-£50 grand.

lieutenant_dan wrote: »

How difficult is it in other countries of the Western/developed World to buy a home? And for those who don't buy in these countries, rents are very reasonable. That's why the problem is twofold here, you can't buy, and if you want somewhere half decent to live, then you have to pay a lot out on rent, also depriving yourself of potential deposit savings, hence my current predicament.

You are not living in other countries, you are living in Britain with unlimited immigration and limited land.

lieutenant_dan wrote: »

As has been suggested in the thread, why should it be necessary to move miles away from your neighbourhood, from family and friends, to look for cheaper housing, or even to move abroad?! Ludicrous.

I left London because I could not afford it, then left the first town I arrived in to buy in the cheapest town in the county. Was that ludicrous? As a result of that decision 20 years ago I can now afford to live where I want. Are Poles ludicrous for travelling across a continent in search of low paid work?

lieutenant_dan wrote: »

Fact is we're in exceptional circumstances at the moment, and all the smug smart asses are talking about sacrifices they made WHEN THE MARKET WAS WELL BELOW CURRENT SILLY UNATTAINABLE LEVELS. Yes, cutbacks have been necessary in previous years too to reach the eventual goal, but the main point is that properties were still within reach.

If we are in exceptional circumstances at the moment, then stop whining, save your deposit, and wait for the exceptional circumstances to end. I am deeply offended you casually dismiss the sacrifices I made to buy a house. HOW DARE YOU? You haven't got a clue about the things I gave up to buy a house.

lieutenant_dan wrote: »

So now you have to have no life or live in sh*tty accomodation in order to eventually save enough to own a one bedroom flat?! Yes that's right, a flat, not a house. Just check out other threads and you'll see examples of factory workers and butchers getting a mortgage for 2 and 3 bed houses in years gone by, try imagining that in this climate. The current housing market has also distorted what can be considered a decent wage, or even an average wage.

Your wage is well below the national average, so before you look down your nose at those of us who worked long hours in a factory to buy a house, I suggest you take action on your own failing career. Get some more qualifications, or change jobs.

lieutenant_dan wrote: »

And as many others in the thread have alluded to previously, you can't raise a family in a one bed flat, so more and more people putting off starting a family, what happens to the long term prosperity of the country?

I know people who have begun their families in a one bed flat, before selling up and buying something bigger when they could afford it.

To be honest, you come across as one of those people who when offered useful advice, keep saying "yeah but, yeah but", and look for excuses not to take action. I suggest you re-read this thread and take on board some of the practical advice. If you won't, then you don't want to buy a property, you just want to blame everyone for your own misfortune. Well guess what? IT'S NOT OUR FAULT.

housebuyer_abc

Has anyone else noticed a recurring theme in all these "FTB cries because they party too hard and haven't got a deposit" threads?

Firstly - House Ownership is a privilege earned by years of diligent saving and budgeting it is most definetly not a right or even someting you should expect.

Secondly - You do not earn the average wage for London so you won't be able to buy there. I don't earn the average wage for London, I earn much more but I still can't "afford" to live there, if you take afford to be how much I can comfortably pay rather than how much a bank might lend me.

Thirdly - If you really wanted a house you'd do what I and countless others have done before, buy a house somewhere else thats cheaper and put up with the pain of commuting two hours each way a day. If it sounds hard and your not willing to do then maybe you just don't want a house enough. I refer you back to point one as I can already hear you complaining about how unfair it all is.

Finally - I do sympathise with all the FTB out there who can't get on the ladder yes you are right when I first bought 7 years ago houses where only at an average of 5.5 times income although you could only get a mortgage at 3.75 times. Nowadays at 9 times income people are offering 6 times income mortgages, statistically this makes the 9 times income property more attainable. (Notice the word attainable not affordable).

And before you (or someone else) mentions how lucky I am to have bought seven years ago, let me point out I'm younger than you and I worked bl00dy hard to scrape that deposit and have had to continue to do so ever since, when all my mates where at the pub or clubs, football matches or music festivals I was at home just getting by. Oh and don't feel sorry for me, it was my choice, I wouldn't have it any other way, those mates are still renting and whinging about deposits and valuations, and I've almost paid of my four bed house in a nice town. Oh and now since I don't really have any housing costs I can party hard whenever I want.

Lifes about choices you made the easy one by not strecthing yourself years ago. I don't think you made a wrong decision, you made the right one for yourself at the time, however you can't now come on here and whinge at others because we made the opposite decision.

One last thing remember we are in the L'oreal age. - "Because I'm worth IT!", this seems to be everyones mantra at the moment, I want a new car, I want a house, I want a holiday --- why cos everyone else has one, and so I deserve one cos I'm worth it.

Rant Over!