1st positive thread on here on how you CAN get your 1st home

Cakeguts

lisyloo said:

I kind of agree with you cakeguts about attitudes, but there disadvantages to society when people have to move away.
for example some families care for elderly parents. This may be taking round food on a daily basis or even helping someone into bed. If families cannot do this then the burden will fall on the local authority and therefor tax payers.
younger grandparents may offer free childcare enabling both parents to contribute to soceity.
if a family member has poor mental health nearby family may be able to provide support that would otherwise fall to crisis teams, ambulances and hard pressed A&E.
so whilst I agree about expectations I’m not sure “we’ll move away then” is a great idea either economically or for the well-being or split up families.
unpaid careers save the taxpayer a huge amount of money which they can’t do if they are several hours always. It’s not always about time but also the cost of travelling certainly if required daily.

Weve moved away to find work but it meant that daily visits have fallen to another sibling. In some cases there isn’t another sibling.

I agree but it isn't generally the people with elderly parents who are complaining about this situation it is the first time buyers in their 20s and 30s whose parents are not elderly. I can understand if you are in your 60s and have elderly parents or you are in your 40s and have children at school. The point is though that it is not usually those people who are first time buyers trying to get onto the property ladder.  Plus elderly parents can be moved if needed especially if they need a lot of care and children can move school.

The problem seems to be mostly with younger people who are in their 20s and 30s complaining that they can't buy where they have chosen to live and they don't have a reason to not move away other than they have decided that the UK housing market should grant them the wish to live in the exact place that they want to live. Those people will never be in a position to buy because they are not flexible enough and they will continue to complain that they have been given a bad hand but in fact the whole situation has been  caused by their own choices.

lisyloo

It depends on the individual situation and I agree with some of what you say.

i would certainly not move elderly parents away from their wet room, stair lift, friends, other children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. 

some young couples have extremely helpful parents who provide day care, babysitting, plus not taking children away from grandparents and vice vests.

just saying it’s not so simple in all cases. 

How does moving to a cheaper area help if you intend to move back later to be near granny for free childcare and for grandparents to be part of their children’s lives? How would people make the move back to the more expensive area? Or are granny and grandpa have to move away from their friends, chirch, long term home, siblings, children and othe grandchildren.

i agree though that people need to make sacrifices and do the best with what they’ve got and not expect it on a plate.

 

John_

ruperts said:

I believe the appropriate expression here is "ok boomer".

I'm sure your offer to help is very genuine and meant with the best intentions but unfortunately I doubt you have the ability to turn back the clock to when you could pick up good houses for less than twice the average salary.

I am a homeowner before anyone feels the need to rant at me about avacados, and yes while it took a lot of hard work and sacrifice over several years, it's not something the average person should be unable to achieve.

But my lord when I see how cheap houses used to be... I'd probably have a dozen houses by now if I was born 30 years earlier. Things must have been so very, very easy compared to now.

It’s always been hard. I bought my first place in the mid-90s, and like others on here that meant living like a pauper. A rare treat for entertainment would be four cans of drink from the supermarket and a frozen pizza.

After an unlikely confluence of events I then had to start all over again in 2010, so at about the time that I think many on here started saying that it could not be done. If you don’t earn enough to get a home to call your own then you’ll need to do what most people always have, to move, compromise, work hour way to a higher wage, or even do all three.

John_

PasturesNew said:

Forgot to put at the top of your list "become a WE".

You start writing like an "I", but were really a "WE".
... you also hid in the small print that you did it in 1997.

In 1997 I was earning £17,500
That same firm still has that job advertised, I checked, they are paying £17,500.

Wages haven't increased, house prices have.

Most wages absolutely have increased. Minimum wage is hugely up, and take-home pay on minimum wage is up even more because of the increase in personal allowance.

One example from my own background is that my first graduate wage in 1996 was £32,000; the equivalent now pays about £60,000.

triathlon

jimmyjammy001 said:

triathlon said:

amywoodmead said:

Sure OP.
We get that.  We read MSE.  You aren't telling us anything we dont already know.  We are already saving what we can and working hard and going for promotions.

Do you really think you've said anything that isn't already a core message of this website?!!  Perhaps Martin could give you a job lol

A couple of points:

Why are you so against questioning if it should be like this?  Why should we have to live such meagre lives just to afford shelter.  It sounds like a broken society to me.  There is vast wealth in the UK.  Why shouldn't we get a share of that? There must be a better way.

Secondly, it is not cynical to discuss how frustrating it is to see affordability slip out of reach each year. A few years ago we talked about saving for a decade to buy a 2 bed property. Our dream shifted to a 1 bed property and if some of the threads I've read today are to be believed, we'll be adjusting our sights to a studio or facing the reality that we have to move away from the area I grew up in.

It's not something to be happy about really is it.

Yes it all has to be said or even repeated, the real evil out there is people, even on here, that will suggest waiting for "an event" that will make life easy for those not already on the property ladder and for people like me to have 20 year plus of hard work just stolen from me, will never happen I might add.
You can get on the property ladder, anyone can, but you are going to have to do what it takes and 9 times out of 10 that usually means sacrifice.

20 years of hard work, lol, you can hardly call buying a property 20 years ago to buying one today, sitting around whilst it doubles/triples in price due to low interest rates and a housing shortage pushing up prices up even more, you must be a troll on here for sure. In my area 2 bed starter homes have gone up 50% since 2015, can hardly call that hard work of the owners and having it stolen from them, even if the price did fall 50% over night they would still be quids in from what they paid for it in the first place. 

I am saying it takes hard work and sacrifice in order to secure your own home, and that makes me a "troll", there is is you problem sorted straight away. You make it sound like it was so easy in the past for us, why didn't you or the rest of the naysayers get in on the act then, with all this amazing insight you all seem to have

BikingBud

Cakeguts said:

  Then they bought in an area they could afford to live in. They didn't  go to work in London because the salary there was £5,000 more than they could get in Manchester because they had worked out that by moving to London they would actually be worse off.   

So London is overpriced and all those, teachers, nurses, shop workers, restaurant staff, bus drivers etc, that support activities in London, for those fortunate enough to get £60K straight out of uni and able to buy, have now moved to Manchester.
Seems you just want to tell them to work harder! Genius. Brilliant!!  

timeism0ney

Really strange post that's described as positive but is actually patronising and assuming. Thanks. Not. 

lisyloo

John_ said:

ruperts said:

I believe the appropriate expression here is "ok boomer".

I'm sure your offer to help is very genuine and meant with the best intentions but unfortunately I doubt you have the ability to turn back the clock to when you could pick up good houses for less than twice the average salary.

I am a homeowner before anyone feels the need to rant at me about avacados, and yes while it took a lot of hard work and sacrifice over several years, it's not something the average person should be unable to achieve.

But my lord when I see how cheap houses used to be... I'd probably have a dozen houses by now if I was born 30 years earlier. Things must have been so very, very easy compared to now.

It’s always been hard. I bought my first place in the mid-90s, and like others on here that meant living like a pauper. A rare treat for entertainment would be four cans of drink from the supermarket and a frozen pizza.

After an unlikely confluence of events I then had to start all over again in 2010, so at about the time that I think many on here started saying that it could not be done. If you don’t earn enough to get a home to call your own then you’ll need to do what most people always have, to move, compromise, work hour way to a higher wage, or even do all three.

Interesting what you say about living like a pauper John.
we lived like that in the 70s except we didn’t have pizza or cans either.
that was normal and I never felt poor or deprived as a child.
the only negative thing I remember is the occasional mickey take about badly fitting hand me down clothes, but I expect kids still get similar.
it just amuses me that what we consider “living like a pauper” was once normal.

eidand

the people who understand this post already have houses or are on their way there anyway and those who don't get it will never get it, so it's pretty pointless. 
It does make me laugh however, hearing all this negativity. UK is one of the best places to be and have a career and a great life.
I came here a long time ago with nothing, heavy accent, no degree. 5 years later I bought my first house. It wasn't massively big, not in a great area either, but it's mine. Now, 10 years later, I earn quite a bit and have quite a bit of equity so now I can finally buy a nicer house in a nicer area. This was all achieved through my own work and effort, not hand me downs, no benefits, no rich parents. 
Life is a marathon and we all do what we can at every point in time. A house takes a lot to get. It's hard work, saving, not wasting money on stupid things, It can be done and once done, it's done. No more wasting money on rent ....
As for wages, you keep learning, you keep getting better and earn more and more. I wasn't wasting my time going to the pub, I was learning instead. There you go. It's a long term commitment and you must keep your eyes on the prize. Those who understand this know what I mean. The others ... well, you'll need to drop the negativity and do all you can to get better.

homeless9

The initial post makes me laugh.....cut out this and that, spend less, work harder.....

I have been saving for 10 years now. Saving £10,000 a year...... but the average 1st time buyer home of a 1 or 2 bed have risen £10,000 a year. So all this hard work and saving has been in vain. I am in no better position now to buy a property as I was 10 years ago. I am £100,000 richer, but the same house I was hoping to buy 10 years ago is also £100,000 more expensive.

What now?

I give up on housing as it is now too ridiculously priced and instead reward myself with a 6 year long round the world trip?