first time buyer question - how do you get a house?

jezebel

toasterman wrote: »

This may seem like a vague kind of question, but I'm fascinated by the whole idea of buying a house.
I'm not in debt, and I'm saving at the moment, but the sheer scale of buying anything seems impossible.

I feel your pain, OP. I was in the same boat 2 years ago when I started saving for a mortgage, I wasn't even sure there was an end in sight but started saving just in case prices ever plateaud (I don't expect a major crash).

toasterman wrote: »

I'm 25, single, and not doing too badly for money, but there's absolutely nothing for miles bigger than a garage, I could get a mortgage high enough to buy....without seriously committing mortgage fraud and lying heavily about my income, which I'm definitely not prepared to do.

I'm saving for a 1 bed flat and no one else seems to understand why this is my dream home - quite frankly having a small place to call my own is my only dream.

ad44downey

toasterman wrote: »

This may seem like a vague kind of question, but I'm fascinated by the whole idea of buying a house.
I'm not in debt, and I'm saving at the moment, but the sheer scale of buying anything seems impossible.

While I know that everyone finds the first step difficult, to put it in some perspective, a friend of mine was 30 when they bought a house. At the age of 30, they were earning the same amount I'm earning now (which isn't a terrible salary at all). Since they bought their house, the values in their area have nearly tripled.

I'm 25, single, and not doing too badly for money, but there's absolutely nothing for miles bigger than a garage, I could get a mortgage high enough to buy....without seriously committing mortgage fraud and lying heavily about my income, which I'm definitely not prepared to do.

A friend of mine bought half a 1 bedroom flat on a shared ownership scheme last year, and had to sell his car (small, reliable..wasn't a Porsche or anything) to afford the deposit. He's also been employed and shall we say.. "thrifty" and saving for the last 10 years.
At the rate he's going, in 25 years, he will own half of a 1-bedroom flat. Just the idea of that I find so depressing I don't think I'd ever consider it.

I'm very envious as I watch shows like Property Ladder or Grand Designs at these people who all somehow have £300,000-odd from somewhere to spend on houses. If that's 3x someone's salary, they're on a hell of a lot more than me.
I saw one recently where a couple of part-time dog-walkers (hippies) bought a house for over £200,000 with seemingly no deposit at all..is there some new way of calculating what people can pay back? Or are banks doing 200-year mortgages these days?

Simple. Do what everyone else does, get a collossal self-cert mortgage from a 'reputable' lender e.g. Northern Rock :rotfl:by vastly exaggerating your income. Don't worrry, they never check. Then as long as house prices keep rising by 15% + per year you'll be quids in soon enough! :rotfl:

toasterman

jezebel wrote: »

I feel your pain, OP. I was in the same boat 2 years ago when I started saving for a mortgage, I wasn't even sure there was an end in sight but started saving just in case prices ever plateaud (I don't expect a major crash).

Well you're kinda still in the same boat really.
You're two years ahead of me on the savings front though (and accelerating away from me all the time, as I'm going to have to buy a newer car this year because mine is falling to pieces and I need it for my line of work).

Maybe I am naive about the economy, but I don't really see why anyone expects a crash in the near future.
Couples seem content to take out longer and longer mortgages, borrow thousands from relatives, etc. There's people buying houses together who barely know each other because its the only way they can afford something.
There seems to be plenty of people willing to pay the current prices, and while that's there - why should it suddenly crash?
With shared ownership schemes, there's even a way for the firsttimebuyers who were priced out of the market, to buy their way into property, albeit with them not actually owning their own house.

jezebel wrote: »

I'm saving for a 1 bed flat and no one else seems to understand why this is my dream home - quite frankly having a small place to call my own is my only dream.

It's not my only goal in life, but I can totally see where you're coming from.
I've had friends try and 'sell' me on how I should be looking at buying property, for the last 2-3 years now, and ask me what I'll do when I'm old, as I'm not paying into a pension and won't have a house of my own at this rate. Quite what they expect me to do about it even if I agree with them, I'm not sure.

The people I know who have bought properties in the last 5 years are either:
- In a couple
- Just moved out of their parents after having lived there well into their mid 20's, while working full time constantly
- Very intelligent so they could command a salary higher than I get now, when they were 20 (and in a couple)
or
- Fortunate enough to have a friend they trust well enough that they could share a £140k mortgage between them

I moved out at 18 and started renting, because me and my parents didn't get along well enough for me to stay there longer. I had some gappy employment before I got on my feet properly, and ran myself up some debts living from overdrafts and credit cards.
I have friends, but not any I could live with full time, or trust enough with such a huge investment.

toasterman

ad44downey wrote: »

Simple. Do what everyone else does, get a collossal self-cert mortgage from a 'reputable' lender e.g. Northern Rock :rotfl:by vastly exaggerating your income. Don't worrry, they never check. Then as long as house prices keep rising by 15% + per year you'll be quids in soon enough! :rotfl:

Definitely
That's fraud as well.
You're ok though - I do know you were joking....at least I hope so!

I know it goes on though. It's not affordable that way either though, because the monthly repayments on a property are more than I could afford to pay back. There are a lot of instances where people get away with lying on forms, so long as they can actually keep up the repayments.. I definitely couldn't.

MadSebW

http://www.howardsaffordablehomes.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-details.php?pid=16523

It tells you there the 3 bed house for 140k.. Which is amazing.. But i'm also confussed because another agency are selling 3 bed houses for over 200k so not sure why they are more expensive. Either way i'm not complaining