For those aged 26-36 (Your housing situation)

eilidhcatriona

About to turn 36, we bought when I was 33 - 2 bed flat, no mortgage, there will be no kids so this is our forever home. Managed to buy outright an ex council flat in what a lot of people think is a “bad” area of Aberdeen, me I see it as a bit low income but full of spirit. Couldn’t be happier here - cracking sea views, lots of open space, and nice neighbours. Massive improvement on our last rental flat which was in a “nice” part of town - freezing in winter, surrounded by grey granite, and screaming neighbours in the street.

homeless9 wrote: »

lol, we all know that anyone aged 50+ is on the property ladder, if those who are 50+ and not on the property ladder then something obviously went very wrong.

Very presumptuous. And rather rude.

The poll is to see how 'millennials' are doing. The thing is - I bet you many people above 36 have voted on the poll so this poll is void anyway.

I hate those brackets. I am not a millennial. I may (just) fit into the age bracket that seems to be what defines millennials, but I am not one of them. More of a Gen X-er if you must put a label on things.

+ you would think most people signed up to a 'moneysavingexpert' website would be savvy with their money so they are most likely to be on the property ladder or close to being on it.

Getting on the property ladder isn’t the be-all and end-all. Many people on this forum and who visit the site are looking for help to make ends meet, many are renting, living with family or in social housing.


I don’t post often, but this got up my nose a bit...

lumpyspaceprincess

I'm 36, I bought at 19 and sold at 28 (for no profit!) and have rented since. Currently my husband and I are in the process of buying a home together now I have my debts cleared and the income to support it.

Slithery

Am now out of the age range (41) so haven't voted, but I'll tell you my story...

First bought when I was 22 with my then partner after saving up a £4k deposit. Split up 4 years later when we were half way through renovating so didn't make any cash.

Rented ever since spending all of my spare cash instead of saving but had a whale of a time, I wouldn't change the past if I could.

I've always loved the freedom of renting, especially when younger and have only just now started to think about settling again now that I've found a job that I enjoy (after starting about 15 different careers). I've never quite figured out why people think that owning is the massive life-goal that most seem to think that it is.

Recently managed to save just enough to buy a small bit of countryside without planning permission, I'll be moving there in the next year or two but haven't quite decided upon how legally I'm going to do that yet. I will be doing all of the building and landscaping myself though (an advantage of the many careers).


Edit - Oh god. Just realised that I'm starting to sound like Crashy...

jlaw4

I bought my first house at 24 with my ex. We saved through HTB Isa and had £11K deposit had a bit of help from bank of mum and dad. He's now buying me out of that so word of warning if you ever get a partner your willing to put your life savings in with, do a deed of trust to protect it.

i'm now in the process of buying an onward property that is a far cry from the dream house i have now but its a 3 bed semi ex council that i should pay off in 10 years. Owning your own home is a great feeling but so is being able to actually enjoy living, its only splitting up with someone and assessing all my options that i decided a smaller property in a less nice area was better for my quality of life than stretching myself and my range rover never happening!

ebam_uk

homeless9 wrote: »

Thanks for all the messages....they give a better insight than this poll.....

I am currently saving. I have a huge deposit after saving for years, plus I had a big windfall in the cryptocurrency mania. I have a £180,000 deposit, but I am single, I live in one of the most expensive towns outside of London (Surrey), I have a low paying job....

So even with such a big deposit I can only afford a 1 bed apartment around here and the types of apartment I want are rare (new build, in a small block, ok area, ok size)....

So my dilemma is:

1. Do I move away - much further away, somewhere I can afford a house.

2. Do I buy an apartment, find the love of my life, then buy a house with them.

3. Do I keep renting and investing. I am into the 'risky' investments. Cannabis stocks and Cryptocurrency. I am sure crypto will go crazy again and the Cannabis sector likely has massive growth ahead. There is a life changing opportunity here, of which could mean early retirement or at least an outright buy of a 2+ bedroom house. Obviously there is money to be lost, but I feel I play this game sensibly.


It's interesting to see where I stand amongst others in my 'age group'. Although I have decent savings I still feel poor in that I can't afford to buy a house, I feel that even with all this cash - I am behind others.

Play it safe, think where you can buy somewhere reasonable costs, where i live u can get a 3 bedroom house outright, but obviously its not surrey or central london...

Then if u wanna play with crypto and cannabis any profits or losses won't result in you losing your home / roof over your head.

nyc_451

I am single (30yo) and own a small 2 bed flat. Never thought I'd get on a property ladder as I was always on a basic wage and houses in South East are very expensive. I then got a job wich pays 24k and bought my own place in a more affordable town. I was able to save the deposit of 13k + expenses through not owning a car and lodging with others.

At the moment I spend a lot of time commuting and plan on doing so for another 1-2 years for various reasons. Wages here are lower but it wil cover my living costs, plus the spare bedroom can be used for some extra income.

I deny myself a lot of things as I have to take care of everything myself. I would love to take driving lessons and get a car, I think it would come in handy but... I just don't have enough money for it.

murdayg

I bought my first house when I was 25 , a little semi 2 up to down for 88k , I sold it for 125k. Roughly 3 years ago due to needing more space due to the birth of my little boy, I bought a 4 bed detached house for 235k which I used all my profit from my first sale and my savings to reduce the mortgage to make it liveable

I currently have just over 129k left on my mortgage, At the start of the year I made a decision to get this paid of asap so put a plan together to overpay, so far I have managed to overpay my mortgage by 3k, I aim to do at least 1k a month until I hit my 10% annual limit.

I really want a kitchen extension , as I feel the kitchen lets down the house due to the size, so I could be tempted to remortgage in a few years.

JennyJukes

I'm 26 and renting a council house on my own.

At 22 I moved in with my ex and spent my life savings on a car for work and furniture.
At 24 I left him and received no furniture or money from him selling any (we have no contact).
At 25 I got my council flat after 10 months homeless. Had to spend a big chunk of savings on furnishing.. again.

I have a help to buy ISA with 2.5 years to go until it reaches the full £12000. I have other savings but they're there for emergencies so I doubt I'll save much more than £12000 by then. So I'm looking at only ever buying if I have someone to buy with. My partner is younger, at University here on a visa so isn't earning yet. I also have other things I want to do with my money (such as getting married) and we might have to move countries depending on where he gets work. Let's just hope he earns enough to buy us something in a few years lol otherwise it feels like I'll never afford one.

I always envisioned myself to have a house, wedding and family by 30 but it's looking unlikely I'll have any of them. I was on track to have it all but glad I didn't as I would have been trapped in an unhappy marriage. This is the price of my freedom, I suppose.

happyandcontented

I voted on behalf of the two of my children who fall into the age bracket.

Aged 31 and 34 respectively and both have their own 3-bed semis as single income first-time buyers.

Also, one of my son's has a girlfriend who is 31 and who owns a 3 bed/ 3 bath semi, also as a single income first-time buyer.

We all live up North! Close to Manchester and Liverpool.

happyandcontented

homeless9 wrote: »

This is what infuriates me, this culture....

You are accused of 'not prioritising the kids' and being a bad father if you don't let your stay at home ex-partner have the house and the kids. It's ridiculous. It's all a fraud.

Presumably, the partner gave up work to look after the children? This is usually done by mutual agreement, so this often means their earning potential is damaged long term. How would they fund a home and keep the children of the marriage if they have no job and the relationship breaks down?