What chance does a twenty something year old have in the South? Anyone else in a similar boat?

Barny1979

OP - Have you got a recent mortgage quote? Do you know what you can realistically go for?

Facknats

Think others covered my main take away from this- there's no way a *lot* of young people can afford the same area as their parents. True for many Londoners. My partner's family are in a cotswold village; sure he grew up there but you are not buying there under the age of 30-40.

It's called a 'ladder' for a reason. I am sure if you want it hard enough without a 10 year wait you can find somewhere within easy travelling distance of your friends/family. It is hard. But as poorweelass said, you work up the chain until you get where you want to be.

P.s no holiday? I picked up a 5 night stay with return flights and breakfast to Morocco for £160 last year.. hardly 'mental'. Now is the time of year to look

Herzlos

HPC_Ghuol_Hunter wrote: »

Quality cognitive dissonance coming from yourself, who averages 3.29 posts per day to my 0.33. Have a word with yourself. The OP has been called out for what he is. I make no apologies for exposing him.

Hey, I'm happy to admit I waste too much time on here, but I'm not a successful real man. Although I do spend a lot of time waiting on stuff and type pretty fast.


I'm not the one crawling through peoples posting history or making a point of trolling hpc forums either.

Crashy_Time

Do they teach spelling at top tier schools?

Cakeguts

I think what has happened is that because of the amount young people can borrow they can buy all the gadgets and new cars that their parents can afford without the debt. So they think that they are entitled to have the kind of property their parents have as a first property because they can borrow money to get everything else. However that is where the problem starts. You can't generally as a first time buyer afford a property like your parents have as their 3rd or 4th property because you can't borrow enough to buy it on a young workers salary.



They don't understand that their parents have had to work for an extra 20 or 30 years to get what they have. If young people had to buy all the things they do out of earnings rather than on credit or using car payments they would get a much better idea of how long it takes to get a nice house through saving, working and moving from small houses to bigger ones.



Starter homes are often in not such desirable areas and are smaller but that is why they are starter homes. They have to be small and cheap so that people can afford to buy them. They also have to be in cheaper areas. It is unrealistic to expect to be able to buy in an area where people have had to work for 30 years to buy when you yourself have only been working for around 10 years or less. They couldn't buy there either when they had only been working for around 10 years so nothing has changed.

Lornapink

So I first bought in early 90's and it was a super human task, I thought it would never happen. Had to wait until I met a serious partner so we could afford to buy a very modest home together.


My first mortgage was a 3 yr fixed rate of 9.2%, so vastly higher than that available today (under 2% if you go for Gov't help to buy thingy)


At least now you can take advantage of Gov't interest free loan of 20% to add to your deposit and in 5 yrs time remortgage or move on. Yes, yes, the Govt want 20% back but so what, you've enjoyed exposure to an asset you otherwise could not afford.


Yes, some new homes can be pricey but on the other hand you can move in and relax which is unlikely with most second hand homes where you will be throwing money at them (this phrase 'nothing wants doing to it' is almost never correct - any home a few years lived in needs a lot of change in reality)

buglawton

The idea that a new home will be trouble free is touchingly naive. Need I supply a list of links to endless troubles with new builds and the astonishingly poor quality of new builds today from 'household name' builders?

Any first time buyer should consider a used house as seriously as a new build.

Hectors_House

firebubble wrote: »

I'm sure many people's first houses were in areas they might have preferred to avoid. But those are the kind of sacrifices that often need to be made to get on the ladder. I'm sure there's pockets of Luton that are just fine anyway.

This is it what I did - looked for areas which were nicer than the prices suggested, often where the reputation of the area is that it is the "worst", as you put it.

Rundown areas with good transport links (currently, or being developed), period homes (particularly periods which aren't that fashionable now, eg thirties or sixties rather than Victorian, Georgian etc), which are probably smaller than you'd choose, but you're not going to be there forever. Areas where if you knew nothing about it, it may be scruffy but it's got all the elements of a nice place to live. Sure, they may be poundshops now, but if they were coffeeshops? Places often very close to somewhere deemed "nice", but which have reputations, often not really deserved for any real reason other than personal prejudice. Look ahead - for regeneration plans, new buildings, changes to the area which are going to make it better, and therefore will pull property prices up. Be prepared to renovate it yourself (ie you actually pick up tools, not hand over the keys to a builder which will often make renovations too expensive).

That's how you do it.

I did the same (buying with my sister).

At first she refused to even look at properties in the area until I told her I traveled through there most weekends to get to work (overtime so the company paid for a taxi) and I could see there was regeneration going on.

The area has had a bad reputation so hasn’t seen speculation or much change and is full of well built Victorian houses with many of the period features still intact.

I spotted a for sale sign down a side road and we just got incredibly lucky.

It turned out to be a repossession. The bank wanted £95k (even though there was only £19k left owing on their mortgage). We went in hard ball and got it for £62k (why should I have to pay for the previous owners holidays to Australia and Egypt).

The place needed a lot of work but we lived with our folks until it was habitable again.

I am, of course not talking about a property in the south but we bought in 2009.

I’m a lot older then the OP (a LOT older) but if you’re canny and prepared to think out the box it can be done.

noodle_doodle

Move north young man, a wage of 20K in Carlisle is better than 30K in the home counties. Saying you're wedded to one of the most expensive areas in the uk, nay the earth, is not doing you any favours

35K! Granted it flooded in 2005/15, but it's a second floor flat so it would have affected communal stuff rather than the actual flat
https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/50136599

65K! 3 bedrooms! Garden!
Ex-council, used to be a dodgy area, but a lot of regeneration going on in the estate behind it. I lived near there for 19 years, you can't go wrong!
https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/49627975

75K! 3beds! Garden!
Ex-council too, but one of the better estates from my experience.
https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/49438081

55K! 2 beds!
Typical terraced house, half a mile from the town centre
https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/50063697


MAFLATSE - Move Away From London And The South East

Run free!

GreatApe

The young have never had it so good. But of course there is a normal distribution and the tail end of hardship will paint a grim picture

The young get £200 billion annually gifted to them that is more or less 1 million homes for free each and every year. At which other point in history did the young get a million homes gifted to them annually?

The easiest option, especial for women, is if you are poor and have poor parents then partner up with someone in a better situation than you. This does not mean sell yourself it means be wise in your choices. I mean starting a business or getting better paid work is a good idea but partnering up with someone already well off is the easiest of all things to do.