At what age were you when you first bought your first home?

greensalad

onylon said:

RE: the "We saved up and went without to pay our 14% interest mortgage because thats what you did in them days" comments. My parents were actually gifted their deposit, rode the property boom and ended up with several properties. The very same property boom that made my parents wealthy now makes it very difficult for my younger siblings (who missed the post 2008 slump) to get onto the housing ladder without help. 

I'm totally with you on this. It's not true for everyone of course but being told I'm not doing enough when a) my Grandparents were gifted two entire mortgage-free houses in their lives and b) my great grandma paid the deposit for my parent's first house even though my Dad lies to my face and says she didn't really pisses me off.

greensalad

WiseOwl00 said:

I've been completely financially independent since 18 - pay all my own phone contracts, car insurance, food, etc. Moved back home at 22 for 2.5 years, currently paying board + do my own food shopping. 

These two sentences don't seem to make sense to me. If you move in with parents, that's parental help. I know you say you pay board but I bet if you compare your "board" with how much you'd pay if you lived in your own rented property you're better off living with parents. 

zodiac55

31, southeast...if I actually exchange and complete in the next 5 months!

hotmama

Single mum of two, 22, in Midlands, at peak in 2007. 10k inheritance gift and 20k savings.

diggingdude

35, west midlands near the Welsh border. Bought well below what I could afford as have plans for my money but still got a nice house. Spent my early adult life in uni including post grad courses and then lost 2 years following a near fatal car accident. Utilised the H2B ISA then the LISA. 
I see alot about how it's harder in the south east. To an extent I see that and have lived there myself, but whilst house prices are more affordable here, the average salary for people is about £17k which means a house like mine is out of the reach of many also. 

FTB_Help

greensalad said:

Jonathan_Powell said:

26, London, in 2015 and no help from family at all. I saved over £20,000 from working in retail jobs and used that for a deposit. Think a lot of young people who complain about housing being too expensive (which it is in some parts to be fair) could find themselves easily on the property ladder if they just thought more than a year ahead of time. I purchased with my partner and borrowed significantly less than what the banks would give based on our salaries at the time.

Only issue I'm facing now is we have two children and two bedrooms so contemplating whether to buy a new house or going into the loft. Both options are financially out of reach for the next 3/4 years at least but so far we are coping. 

I'm curious on the numbers for this. If you're working retail jobs, how can you afford to meet the x4 salary requirements to get a 2 bedroom house in London? Minimum wage working full time couple would give you a household income of around £32k and I can't understand where you'd be able to buy in the South East for that little. 

Probably because he bought a shared ownership in London.

If he earned around 30k each = 60k x 4ish so a mortgage of 240k.

Assuming the 20k deposit represented 5% deposit so he could have easily got a SO of about 50% for that amount in the East end of London (Barking) super cheap over there but not the nicest area

connors07

South East. 28 (in 2015). I did have the luxury of still living with parents then though. Work did help me with stamp duty/fees etc due to a re-location which is why I could afford to move in the first place (to cheaper location). I've always been frugal which I put down to the fact that I was unemployed for 6-8 months (I can't remember exactly) back when I was 18 when I left school; I had good GCSE's and A-Levels but had a totally unrealistic view on the jobs you could get fresh out of school. I bought a terraced 3 bed (2.5!) house for £175k with £50k deposit. Should be fully paid off when I am 35. I was lucky to have a close family friend (mortgage adviser) that guided me through the whole process, the mortgage allowed unlimited over-payments. Playing on Halifax Over-Payment calculator made me even more frugal although I don't believe the balance has been right. 2020 has given me little choice.

Without living at home until 28 (last to fly the nest) I'd have had no chance.

[Deleted User]

18 ! And I bought my forever home as a single mum at 35 by combining two houses I owned to buy this one. Now buying houses for my two sons. ( Greater London ) 

WiseOwl00

greensalad said:

WiseOwl00 said:

I've been completely financially independent since 18 - pay all my own phone contracts, car insurance, food, etc. Moved back home at 22 for 2.5 years, currently paying board + do my own food shopping. 

These two sentences don't seem to make sense to me. If you move in with parents, that's parental help. I know you say you pay board but I bet if you compare your "board" with how much you'd pay if you lived in your own rented property you're better off living with parents. 

You're making assumptions. For the amount I pay in board + travel expenses, I could rent a bedroom out near where I work. However, this would have left my mum struggling financially as she would have been living by herself and she wasn't in a great position at the time. I couldn't have done that to my mum whilst paying for someone else's mortgage. So I chose to move back home whilst I saved my house deposit, this has allowed my mum to recover from her financial difficulties and myself to save my deposit. Living at home has probably helped a bit, but not as much as you might think. 

So many people assume that everyone's parents are in a position to help them, which isn't always true. In fact, when my house purchase goes through, it will be me checking that my mum is doing okay... 

Lokolo_2

In 2014 when I was 24 years old, I bought a 2 bedroom flat in Bedfordshire, little bit of help with the deposit but majority funded by myself with a small mortgage which I paid off early within a few years. 

I was fortunate to have lived with parents paying little and never had to privately rent and also got help with the deposit. Though I did have a frugal life and made many sacrifices to get to the position I am in today. Now in the process of buying for the third time upsizing and moving to a nicer location (Cambridgeshire) ! 

My employment has always been low paid front line customer service jobs since 17 years old but I always put in the hours and lived frugally so it was possible to buy on a low income. The deposit help from parents was only small compared to what I put down of my own savings.