In my 30s and in London - what do I do?

jonnydeppiwish!

[Deleted User] said:

jonnydeppiwish! said:

wildbilljones said:

jonnydeppiwish! said:

pinkshoes said:

Ultimately what you want and what is affordable are NOT the same thing so something needs to change.

You are never going to settle elsewhere if you keep thinking about you want.

If you WANT London then you are going to have to change career or take steps to earn much more! Even teachers in London earn more than you!

If you like your job then stop thinking about London life and get involved where you are now. If you look hard enough for people your age with common interests you will find then.

Try kick boxing - lots of men in their 30s in my class. Joint a local sports group - casual footy or something??

A location is what you make of it, but if you don't give it a proper chance you will never settle.

I've lived in 10 different areas, and always managed to meet people. The loneliest place I found was living in a city!

As Pinkshoes says, if you can’t afford to live in London, then YOU need to do something about it. You have to change your career prospects, no somebody else doing it for you.

You have a degree - well done, join the rest of us who have one and post graduate degrees. 

You’ve not made any friends so you say that there’s only people with 21 or 65 - look into different hobbies/exercise groups. Pretty sure someone has already mentioned Parkrun or gym classes.

What do you expect to gain from going to another country? As a charity worker, are there any feasible roles overseas for you? What are you expect the government to do for you? You earn a good wage, can afford to house feed yourself.

I’m a also a big believer in people making the most of where they are, regardless of who lives close or not. Life can be as hard as you make it, or as easy as you want it to be.

Right. So everyone who works in London but can't afford to live in London because of the extortionate rent prices and lack of housing options would just 'get paid more'. 

Great advice there. You should start charging people for this kind of thing. 

No it’s simple economics - some people can pay these high rental prices and house prices. If you can’t afford to live there then you can’t live there. Either commute in or find a job somewhere else.

The same as it is all around the UK. There are always areas which will be too expensive for any mere mortal to buy in.

It happens, get over it and move on.

Do you want your bins collected, your coffee and cake, a nurse to look after you in hospital?

Well then they better be able to afford to live there, hadn't they?

That’s everyone’s point though, isn’t it. We can’t afford to live there so we don’t.  We were 33 when we bought our first home. We had to move out from where we were renting to a ‘less desirable’ area to get the home we wanted.

And what’s wrong with the flats at your budget?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/126220847#/?channel=RES_BUY

sourpuss2021

jonnydeppiwish! said:

[Deleted User] said:

jonnydeppiwish! said:

wildbilljones said:

jonnydeppiwish! said:

pinkshoes said:

Ultimately what you want and what is affordable are NOT the same thing so something needs to change.

You are never going to settle elsewhere if you keep thinking about you want.

If you WANT London then you are going to have to change career or take steps to earn much more! Even teachers in London earn more than you!

If you like your job then stop thinking about London life and get involved where you are now. If you look hard enough for people your age with common interests you will find then.

Try kick boxing - lots of men in their 30s in my class. Joint a local sports group - casual footy or something??

A location is what you make of it, but if you don't give it a proper chance you will never settle.

I've lived in 10 different areas, and always managed to meet people. The loneliest place I found was living in a city!

As Pinkshoes says, if you can’t afford to live in London, then YOU need to do something about it. You have to change your career prospects, no somebody else doing it for you.

You have a degree - well done, join the rest of us who have one and post graduate degrees. 

You’ve not made any friends so you say that there’s only people with 21 or 65 - look into different hobbies/exercise groups. Pretty sure someone has already mentioned Parkrun or gym classes.

What do you expect to gain from going to another country? As a charity worker, are there any feasible roles overseas for you? What are you expect the government to do for you? You earn a good wage, can afford to house feed yourself.

I’m a also a big believer in people making the most of where they are, regardless of who lives close or not. Life can be as hard as you make it, or as easy as you want it to be.

Right. So everyone who works in London but can't afford to live in London because of the extortionate rent prices and lack of housing options would just 'get paid more'. 

Great advice there. You should start charging people for this kind of thing. 

No it’s simple economics - some people can pay these high rental prices and house prices. If you can’t afford to live there then you can’t live there. Either commute in or find a job somewhere else.

The same as it is all around the UK. There are always areas which will be too expensive for any mere mortal to buy in.

It happens, get over it and move on.

Do you want your bins collected, your coffee and cake, a nurse to look after you in hospital?

Well then they better be able to affo.rd to live there, hadn't they?

And what’s wrong with the flats at your budget?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/126220847#/?channel=RES_BUY

There must be a catch, no such thing as a sub-£200k, zone 2 flat of 40sqm+. 

Maybe cladding?  Unmortgageable?

GixerKate

Unfortunately it appears this thread is to do with complaining that the system is broken because the OP can't afford what he wants.  I'm pretty sure there are very few people who have what they want when they want it!!

Until you decide to do something nothing is going to change, its up to you.

jonnydeppiwish!

sourpuss2021 said:

jonnydeppiwish! said:

[Deleted User] said:

jonnydeppiwish! said:

wildbilljones said:

jonnydeppiwish! said:

pinkshoes said:

Ultimately what you want and what is affordable are NOT the same thing so something needs to change.

You are never going to settle elsewhere if you keep thinking about you want.

If you WANT London then you are going to have to change career or take steps to earn much more! Even teachers in London earn more than you!

If you like your job then stop thinking about London life and get involved where you are now. If you look hard enough for people your age with common interests you will find then.

Try kick boxing - lots of men in their 30s in my class. Joint a local sports group - casual footy or something??

A location is what you make of it, but if you don't give it a proper chance you will never settle.

I've lived in 10 different areas, and always managed to meet people. The loneliest place I found was living in a city!

As Pinkshoes says, if you can’t afford to live in London, then YOU need to do something about it. You have to change your career prospects, no somebody else doing it for you.

You have a degree - well done, join the rest of us who have one and post graduate degrees. 

You’ve not made any friends so you say that there’s only people with 21 or 65 - look into different hobbies/exercise groups. Pretty sure someone has already mentioned Parkrun or gym classes.

What do you expect to gain from going to another country? As a charity worker, are there any feasible roles overseas for you? What are you expect the government to do for you? You earn a good wage, can afford to house feed yourself.

I’m a also a big believer in people making the most of where they are, regardless of who lives close or not. Life can be as hard as you make it, or as easy as you want it to be.

Right. So everyone who works in London but can't afford to live in London because of the extortionate rent prices and lack of housing options would just 'get paid more'. 

Great advice there. You should start charging people for this kind of thing. 

No it’s simple economics - some people can pay these high rental prices and house prices. If you can’t afford to live there then you can’t live there. Either commute in or find a job somewhere else.

The same as it is all around the UK. There are always areas which will be too expensive for any mere mortal to buy in.

It happens, get over it and move on.

Do you want your bins collected, your coffee and cake, a nurse to look after you in hospital?

Well then they better be able to affo.rd to live there, hadn't they?

And what’s wrong with the flats at your budget?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/126220847#/?channel=RES_BUY

There must be a catch, no such thing as a sub-£200k, zone 2 flat of 40sqm+. 

Maybe cladding?  Unmortgageable?

But there are properties that are available.

sturgeon

sturgeon said:

To the OP. I’m in my mid thirties and living in London. You say you have £30k-40k deposit? Fantastic. That’s the main barrier to most FTB’ers in London. 

Do help to buy. You can buy 60% share of a property meaning your property budget is about £330k factoring in £40k deposit and a £160k mortgage. Or a little less to factor in a bit of stamp duty and fees. 

I did it twice and it massively helped me as I’ve benefitted from growth in property prices so now have a large amount to put towards my next property. Yes it has some downsides but you need a place to live and want to be around London. 

Yes you won’t be able to get zones 1-3 but should be able to find somewhere in Zone 4 (or 5/6). RightMove let you search by TFL zone. Or as someone else has suggested the Elizabeth line goes far out now and that’s super slick and speedy so your commute will be short. 

This is very doable so I’m not sure what the hold up is or why you haven’t looked at this previously? The barrier is usually the deposit. You’d afford a one bed flat for that budget with shared ownership or HTB easily. 

Any thoughts on this OP? It’s the best answer for you. 

jelajelavic

[Deleted User] said:

jonnydeppiwish! said:

[Deleted User] said:

jonnydeppiwish! said:

pinkshoes said:

Ultimately what you want and what is affordable are NOT the same thing so something needs to change.

You are never going to settle elsewhere if you keep thinking about you want.

If you WANT London then you are going to have to change career or take steps to earn much more! Even teachers in London earn more than you!

If you like your job then stop thinking about London life and get involved where you are now. If you look hard enough for people your age with common interests you will find then.

Try kick boxing - lots of men in their 30s in my class. Joint a local sports group - casual footy or something??

A location is what you make of it, but if you don't give it a proper chance you will never settle.

I've lived in 10 different areas, and always managed to meet people. The loneliest place I found was living in a city!

As Pinkshoes says, if you can’t afford to live in London, then YOU need to do something about it. You have to change your career prospects, no somebody else doing it for you.

You have a degree - well done, join the rest of us who have one and post graduate degrees. 

You’ve not made any friends so you say that there’s only people with 21 or 65 - look into different hobbies/exercise groups. Pretty sure someone has already mentioned Parkrun or gym classes.

What do you expect to gain from going to another country? As a charity worker, are there any feasible roles overseas for you? What are you expect the government to do for you? You earn a good wage, can afford to house feed yourself.

I’m a also a big believer in people making the most of where they are, regardless of who lives close or not. Life can be as hard as you make it, or as easy as you want it to be.

I earn a decent wage and I can't afford to house and feed myself. That's the whole point of this thread. A large percentage of London salaries don't pay for people for people to live in or near London. The system is broken. 

Exactly - you can’t afford to live in London. The system isn’t broken, it’s just the way it always has been. People have been moving for jobs and places to live for years.

I’m one of 8 children, all of which had to move away from where we grew up because we couldn’t afford to live there.  We all realised this and changed our lives to fit.

If you want to live in London, then there are only two options - you find someone else to live with or you get a better paid job.

It's not the 'way it always has been'. More university of life nonsense.

My aunt bought a one bed flat in the 90s in Finsbury park on a schoolteacher salary. 

OP - I think you need to get over the past and what yours and everyone's parents and grandparents were able to do. We all know its completely different now, which is frustrating especially as London is such an expensive city. Also, whether the system is broken or designed by those who it benefits, or not, moaning about it isnt going to fix the situation. 

It's a sad fact that many in important jobs (NHS, retail, public sector, charity etc etc) get paid less than other roles/sectors and that housing can be unaffordable but you need to just accept it and find a solution rather than keep moaning about the past

As many have pointed out, you either need to upskill, find a job in Norwich (or other long term location), or accept that maybe you need to live with someone else or use help to buy. At least you have a deposit and a steady job. You say you dont want to live with someone else at your age but then wont upskill and want to live in London so maybe you need to, something needs to give / find a compromise. Or the shared ownership / help to buy.

No advice on here is going to change some of the economic fundamentals and magically find a place for you so you need to find that compromise that works best for you, even if its not your first choice in an ideal world

Retireby40

wildbilljones said:

sturgeon said:

sturgeon said:

To the OP. I’m in my mid thirties and living in London. You say you have £30k-40k deposit? Fantastic. That’s the main barrier to most FTB’ers in London. 

Do help to buy. You can buy 60% share of a property meaning your property budget is about £330k factoring in £40k deposit and a £160k mortgage. Or a little less to factor in a bit of stamp duty and fees. 

I did it twice and it massively helped me as I’ve benefitted from growth in property prices so now have a large amount to put towards my next property. Yes it has some downsides but you need a place to live and want to be around London. 

Yes you won’t be able to get zones 1-3 but should be able to find somewhere in Zone 4 (or 5/6). RightMove let you search by TFL zone. Or as someone else has suggested the Elizabeth line goes far out now and that’s super slick and speedy so your commute will be short. 

This is very doable so I’m not sure what the hold up is or why you haven’t looked at this previously? The barrier is usually the deposit. You’d afford a one bed flat for that budget with shared ownership or HTB easily. 

Any thoughts on this OP? It’s the best answer for you. 

Loanranger21 said:

wildbilljones said:

Loanranger21 said:

Why not travel to London by coach if you can't afford the train fare.

There are actually plenty of jobs in Norwich, just not ones you fancy or are qulaified to do.

Am sorry to say you are getting good advice which I presume you came on this forum to get or was it so you could snipe at people " you  you should start charging for this sort of thing" or did you come here to tell us that because you can't get a house in London the government must be blame, ie the system?

I worked in the public sector and discovered in my early twenties that I needed to upskill. So I did. Then when I still foiund it v difficult to manage I got two other part time jobs on top of my professional role. I literally had no time to fritter money away by seeing friends and expensive train journeys but I got my finances under control pretty quickly.

I do. The Megabus was the best option. It's recently been cancelled (presumably because of the rise in fuel prices). 

I'm not sniping at anyone. I'm not going to say 'thank you' for condescending, thick observations such as 'earn more money'. 

Feel free to not comment at all.

Earn more money is exactly what you need to do or lower your expectations.

Sniping and sarcasm, I do not offer condescending and am certainly not thick.

As for feeling free not to comment: condescending much?

Yes I've been looking into shared ownership options in and near to London since opening this be thread.

I came on here as I was intensely unhappy and hoped for some practical advice. People have been understanding of the predicament and have made some great, constructive recommendations. 

There's also been a lot of unhelpful 'university of life' responses from people who think 'everything is relative' and 'things have always been this hard' etc. They seem to resent younger people wanting opportunities to buy. I think it's best to take them with a pinch of salt/ignore. 

OP. Many people have made suggestions. Some you agree with and respect. Others you don't which is fair enough.

Let me flip the question with this scenario.

-Im in my mid 30s, no intention or plan at the moment to have a family or partner up.

- I am content in my below average paid job and have no intention of upskilling or moving up the ladder or trying to find a better paid job.

- I want to get my own house and get a foot on the property ladder but the only thing I can afford is 1 hour away from where my life has always been. The house prices in my area are sky high as basically there's someone wealthier than me willing to pay a lot more for a house than I can afford. Supply is less than the demand for the area hence prices sky high.

- I am too old for house sharing and it doesn't meet my long term goals.

What would you advise me to do OP? It would be interesting to hear what advice you would actually give someone in your predicament to see where you are with your thinking.

[Deleted User]

Loanranger21 said:

[Deleted User] said:

Loanranger21 said:

Why not travel to London by coach if you can't afford the train fare.

There are actually plenty of jobs in Norwich, just not ones you fancy or are qulaified to do.

Am sorry to say you are getting good advice which I presume you came on this forum to get or was it so you could snipe at people " you  you should start charging for this sort of thing" or did you come here to tell us that because you can't get a house in London the government must be blame, ie the system?

I worked in the public sector and discovered in my early twenties that I needed to upskill. So I did. Then when I still foiund it v difficult to manage I got two other part time jobs on top of my professional role. I literally had no time to fritter money away by seeing friends and expensive train journeys but I got my finances under control pretty quickly.

I do. The Megabus was the best option. It's recently been cancelled (presumably because of the rise in fuel prices). 

I'm not sniping at anyone. I'm not going to say 'thank you' for condescending, thick observations such as 'earn more money'. 

Feel free to not comment at all.

Earn more money is exactly what you need to do or lower your expectations.

Sniping and sarcasm, I do not offer condescending and am certainly not thick.

As for feeling free not to comment: condescending much?

People can't afford to live in or near London because there are not adequate housing options for people who earn less than £45-50k a year. Simply telling them to 'earn more' is dumb. They can't all earn more. 

There are thousands of people in their 30s and 40s who don't earn that amount and who never will. London needs them. I assume you think they should all live in overpriced rented rooms for the rest of their lives.

Martico

A first flat or house is pretty much never ideal in terms of price, quality or location if you don't benefit from old money. I'm sure you know that. And yes, things are less affordable now than they ever have been, but there are still possibilities. And those mean compromise on size, location and / or price. That's always been the way.

If it was me in your position I'd look (as I think others have mentioned) at somewhere like Croydon -- super fast links into London, not nearly as bad as its public image, and still very affordable for flats (1 beds still starting around 100K). A few years paying a mortgage there and you should start to see your equity improve and your options open. 

[Deleted User]

Martico said:

A first flat or house is pretty much never ideal in terms of price, quality or location if you don't benefit from old money. I'm sure you know that. And yes, things are less affordable now than they ever have been, but there are still possibilities. And those mean compromise on size, location and / or price. That's always been the way.

If it was me in your position I'd look (as I think others have mentioned) at somewhere like Croydon -- super fast links into London, not nearly as bad as its public image, and still very affordable for flats (1 beds still starting around 100K). A few years paying a mortgage there and you should start to see your equity improve and your options open. 

Thanks. I have looked at Croydon and unfortunately that's still out of reach for a person earning £35-40k with a £30k deposit. 

I'm actually very open to moving somewhere in the commuter belt but I haven't seen any feasible options. So I do appreciate all of the advice on here but it's confirmed that there are no real options beyond renting a room for the foreseeable future (this is why I thought it best to pack up and move to Asia).