First Time Buyers- Can’t get on the Ladder

AdrianC

07hthom said:

We’re school teachers, we can’t be spending 4 hours of our day travelling. 

Lots of people doing lots of other jobs seem to manage just fine.

Perhaps you could even get some of the lesson planning and marking done on the train...? Again, lots of other people manage to work on trains just fine.

Niv

And here I am spitting feathers at my work for making me go back to the office a few times a week meaning I have a 45min each way commute.

I couldn't imagine doing 4 hours commuting five days a week - seems bonkers, the money better be good otherwise what's the point? Well its, not the pay really, its the disposable income that matters.

Owleyes00

AdrianC said:

07hthom said:

We’re school teachers, we can’t be spending 4 hours of our day travelling. 

Lots of people doing lots of other jobs seem to manage just fine.

As a former teacher now doing a “normal” job, this is not a reasonable comparison. Teaching is exhausting mentally and physically, much more so than many “normal” jobs and at the time the OP would need to be getting in, they would probably need to get up at 5 everyday. I completely understand why they are saying this is not feasible.

Chandler85

If you teach in a state school, then the salaries are on pay points, the London weighting, as you have found out doesn't mean you can afford to but a house and compete with bankers etc!

If you work in a private school, then you need to consider working there and living at your parents (which I assume you mean by living at home) or working elsewhere and moving, lesser salary but better pay to house costs ratios etc.

Whether that should or shouldn't be a choice you need to make is a much much bigger question, but that is the reality.  You can't live the lifestyle you want and afford to live in the area on your salaries you have.

lookstraightahead

Owleyes00 said:

AdrianC said:

07hthom said:

We’re school teachers, we can’t be spending 4 hours of our day travelling. 

Lots of people doing lots of other jobs seem to manage just fine.

As a former teacher now doing a “normal” job, this is not a reasonable comparison. Teaching is exhausting mentally and physically, much more so than many “normal” jobs and at the time the OP would need to be getting in, they would probably need to get up at 5 everyday. I completely understand why they are saying this is not feasible.

Owleyes00 said:

AdrianC said:

07hthom said:

We’re school teachers, we can’t be spending 4 hours of our day travelling. 

Lots of people doing lots of other jobs seem to manage just fine.

As a former teacher now doing a “normal” job, this is not a reasonable comparison. Teaching is exhausting mentally and physically, much more so than many “normal” jobs and at the time the OP would need to be getting in, they would probably need to get up at 5 everyday. I completely understand why they are saying this is not feasible.

So you have to pick your battles, and make compromises.

I moved far away from London when I had enough of commuting. I teach as well. It is exhausting, but I've also worked in London in finance, and that can be a killer. 

lookstraightahead

07hthom said:

lookstraightahead said:

07hthom said:

Areas with houses as cheap as that are too far away. We cannot be spending 2 hours travelling to work. We’re school teachers, we can’t be spending 4 hours of our day travelling. 

This is the issue (I'm not having a go honestly). You have to compromise somewhere. 

If you are teachers can't you teach outside of London? It seems you've a double blow as you don't get the benefits of a high London salary, but want to stay central.

So this means we can either put up with hours and hours of travel, or accept a huge salary cut where in some places drop our salary by nearly half? 

That's the decision other people make isn't it? Otherwise everyone would be in London.

my daughter has just got a job in London. She's paying 60% of her salary in rent (for a shared house). People think she's bonkers. But she wants to live close to work. But be in London. 

Ramouth

Have you considered buying a house that needs a lot of work?  If it’s liveable then you can spend the school year planning and organising to get work done in the holidays.  This is what we did with our first house - moved into a bit of a wreck and slowly improved it.  It allowed us to increase our equity and get a good foothold on the ladder.  I know teaching is very tiring, but much of the work on a house is time consuming and physically hard rather than mentally tiring.  We found that working on the house still felt like a break from work even if it left us with sore muscles. 

It’s not easy (having no heating and only 1 tank of hot water a day for 5 years is not for the faint hearted), and I wouldn’t recommend it if you had options but it seems like you have reached a point where you are not wanting to compromise on location or property size so condition is the only thing that can give.

JS21

Not sure what areas in London you're wanting to be in but have you looked at some of the outer London boroughs e.g. zones 5-9? It's often quicker to get into London from those than it is travelling across zones 1-3. You get more home for your money and although you pay a bit more in travel costs, you save more on home costs. I live in zone 5 and it takes me 50mins - 1 hr to go door-to-door to work at Liverpool St. Trains are frequent and there's a few options for train stations inc. Overground etc. 
I also regularly stay with family in zone 9 and the travel time is even shorter with the overground as the fast trains can get me there in 25 mins.
Also agree with other posts that it may be worth looking at a flat instead of a house, it'll get you on the ladder and then you can move in a few years into a house - by then hopefully your salaries etc may also have gone up.

nicknameless

07hthom said:

nicknameless said:

first post plus hundreds of offers plus two to three year search equals (trolling)?

We’re definitely not a troll. This is just the reality for young first time buyers in London. This is our first post because we joined this forum after yet another rejection we had on Wednesdays. It was a 2 bed £350,000 house that went for £380,000 (and this is in the cheapest area we could find). There are so many people in the same situation as us and it’s incredibly sad actually. 

My apologies then.  Haven't read the remainder of the thread but sure someone has said you can't afford what you're offering on if you've had 100s of offers rejected.

All the best with it.

FTB_Help

07hthom said:

nicknameless said:

first post plus hundreds of offers plus two to three year search equals (trolling)?

We’re definitely not a troll. This is just the reality for young first time buyers in London. This is our first post because we joined this forum after yet another rejection we had on Wednesdays. It was a 2 bed £350,000 house that went for £380,000 (and this is in the cheapest area we could find). There are so many people in the same situation as us and it’s incredibly sad actually. 

Where in London are you looking to buy? Where are you both working?

I know London very well and could perhaps give pointers on areas along with others.

£350k on a house in London is pretty much nonexistent so im not suprised you are being outbidded everytime