What comes after Covid, wwyd?

Evens_Steffers

Currently live in a 2 bed HA flat. Two adults a one yrold and a 3yrold. We've got lockdown induced itchy feet. Need more room for the kids now baby is more a toddler and not having a garden has been... challenging. HA rent is £420pm. Private rent for three bed £850+ pm in the area (around £795 for a 2bed) Room allocation for HA strict  so no swaps allowed/ almost impossible. We have around £4k savings and a joint income of £30k per year before tax. Any of our peers who have a mortgage have either got a shared ownership or have had financial help/ inheritance (we are 30). I feel stuck and not sure if even looking into home ownership is ridiculous in our position. What would you do? 

Thrugelmir

See how events unfold. Interesting and potentially challenging times lie ahead. 

Davesnave

Thrugelmir said:

See how events unfold. Interesting and potentially challenging times lie ahead. 

I agree, the cards are in the air at present, but when they land, the opportunities will be grasped by the creative and the driven.

If you are not driven or particularly creative, your best bet is probably to be better qualified.

AdrianC

Evens_Steffers said:

Currently live in a 2 bed HA flat. Two adults a one yrold and a 3yrold. We've got lockdown induced itchy feet. Need more room for the kids now baby is more a toddler and not having a garden has been... challenging. HA rent is £420pm. Private rent for three bed £850+ pm in the area (around £795 for a 2bed) Room allocation for HA strict  so no swaps allowed/ almost impossible. We have around £4k savings and a joint income of £30k per year before tax. Any of our peers who have a mortgage have either got a shared ownership or have had financial help/ inheritance (we are 30). I feel stuck and not sure if even looking into home ownership is ridiculous in our position. What would you do? 

£30k/yr income is considerably under 2 x full-time minimum wage. Assuming it's one person earning, it's not much over the national average full-time salary. Even so, it's about £2k/mo after tax - so you're spending about 20% of your income on your housing currently. That's very low.

Where in the country are you, and what are house prices like around your area?

If you're in an expensive part of the country, how portable is your career, and would you consider relocating to a cheaper area?

Evens_Steffers

Davesnave said:

Thrugelmir said:

See how events unfold. Interesting and potentially challenging times lie ahead. 

I agree, the cards are in the air at present, but when they land, the opportunities will be grasped by the creative and the driven.

If you are not driven or particularly creative, your best bet is probably to be better qualified.

Frustratingly I am at a time in my life where childcare is a huge contradiction to moving forward in employment. Especially in the current situ. I sacrifice a lot of my own time preserving my husbands now work from home hours. 

Evens_Steffers

AdrianC said:

Evens_Steffers said:

Currently live in a 2 bed HA flat. Two adults a one yrold and a 3yrold. We've got lockdown induced itchy feet. Need more room for the kids now baby is more a toddler and not having a garden has been... challenging. HA rent is £420pm. Private rent for three bed £850+ pm in the area (around £795 for a 2bed) Room allocation for HA strict  so no swaps allowed/ almost impossible. We have around £4k savings and a joint income of £30k per year before tax. Any of our peers who have a mortgage have either got a shared ownership or have had financial help/ inheritance (we are 30). I feel stuck and not sure if even looking into home ownership is ridiculous in our position. What would you do? 

£30k/yr income is considerably under 2 x full-time minimum wage. Assuming it's one person earning, it's not much over the national average full-time salary. Even so, it's about £2k/mo after tax - so you're spending about 20% of your income on your housing currently. That's very low.

Where in the country are you, and what are house prices like around your area?

If you're in an expensive part of the country, how portable is your career, and would you consider relocating to a cheaper area?

Husband is full time variable around 27k due to self employment. I have two different cleaning jobs and a self employed illustrator. Flexible for childcare. So...we are both very portable as long as he can commute to the office a few times a week. Already does a 1.5 hour journey. 
We are in the Cotswolds. So all odds against us really.

I even asked for advice at the council District office and the assistant suggested we leave the county! It's just such a shame being priced out as all our family are here. 

 I don't know if shared ownership would be a good idea? It seems to good to be true. And property really few and far between. And all these stories of bad work...

On the other hand is leaving a housing association to private rent completely foolish? Our families say we would be mad to give up a secure property.  

Evens_Steffers

Thrugelmir said:

See how events unfold. Interesting and potentially challenging times lie ahead. 

Indeed. I feel the need to be 'ready' for something. But what that is I don't know. We could comfortably pay a mortgage and outgoings per month (which we have based on what peers pay not a professional insight) it's just having the lump deposit to get off the ground. 

MovingForwards

Lockdown won't last forever, but if it did you have a secure tenancy and the kids will grow up and have their own lives.

The options you have:
--Start saving and cut out unnecessary spending
--look into properties for sale,
--expand areas you are looking into and ensure they have good transport / commuter links
--Look into costs of said commute
--Look at shared ownership and other available help for first time buyers
--Speak with a broker and see what they say you may be able to borrow

It's all about prioritising what means the most to you, a home with a garden where you have to drive / commute further to work, or living in something smaller but in a nice area.

Many of us are moving counties as we cannot afford to buy where we rent or buy in the county we work in.

I've no chance of buying where I live (wouldn't buy in this area) unless I was earning £40k+ per year, so I looked upto 30 miles / 90 minutes away from where I work and found something that suited my needs / wants.

Davesnave

Evens_Steffers said:Our families say we would be mad to give up a secure property. 

That might be true right now, but  it won't be in the future if the need for space overwhelms the benefits of security.

The Cotswolds probably means a pleasant environment and good schools, but it's possible to achieve both of those in a less costly location, probably with the loss of convenience and easy access to family.

We lived in a similar location and couldn't have bought what we wanted there on my retirement, so we moved to somewhere 100 miles distant. Schools and environment are fine here, but there's a penalty in being distant from some everyday services and the nearest family member is 80 miles away. It's a price we're willing to pay, but it wouldn't suit everyone. We've seen people arrive here from more urban locations and sell up again within a few years.

Maybe lurking and eventually posting a SOA on the Debt Free Wannabe Board would be a way into building up that deposit?

[Deleted User]

Do you get child tax credits ? Put your figures through on “entitled to” website and see if Universal credit would help you out better. UC credit pay some money towards the “rental element” of a shared ownership house and you pay the mortgage and usual maintenance charge - you might be surprised that this could work well for you to get a bigger home 
look at “share to buy” and widen your search. Look at the tab that says “ calculate “ and play around with those. They will also tell you how much the rent part is for the “entitled to” calculation 

[Deleted User]

I did a quick calculation 
If just hubbie worked at £27,000 pa before tax, you didnt for example 
rent £800 month ( as part of shared ownership ) 
all including CB, tax credits and housing - all under UC its suggesting £252 a week - so £1100 a month 

VERY VERY quick calculation I did