How can people be so greedy?

terrierlady

when i was 18 i was earning £4.00 pr week my husband was an apprentice earning the same the house we wanted was £2,500 so big leap of faith to us plus a young baby guess who had two jobs one a full time an hours rest then an evening shift at a petrol station just to make ends meet BUT YOU WILL DO IT AS WE DID if you want something hard enough you will achieve good luck
Now a days I sell new homes and love it when a FTByr gets a plot over an investor:j

neas

Phirefly wrote: »

30K!! Ocado deliveries once a week was it?!

Sorry to generalise but thats what you appear to be doing when you cite those who have done arts degrees as naive (I'm assuming by using the example of media studies this is what you meant).

I too am frustrated by my pals who've not had the drive to stick it out and ended up in fall-back jobs after their degree. But I don't really get the point you're making here.

I came off with 12k student loan debts. But students going through today pay 3k tuition fees and 3k accomodation fees. So..

6k a year student debt... Plus 2k to just 'life off'.

After 4 years when you start paying back your student loan... you will owe 26.5k to the student loan company (because suprise suprise the 6k you borrow goes up at RPI (4% currently).

Take into account any other overdrafts and the students are nearer 30k...

This is the blindsightedness that really makes my blood boil.. the students going through at the moment are totally and uterlly shafted royally beyond belief... and people have the cheek to question it...

neas

blue_monkey wrote: »

I think the OP was saying that the price of housing was high, but if they went on to have a family then this fiancee would have to leave work leaving them unable to pay for the house. I got that between them they could buy as long as they did not want a family or their situations changed.

This is what I was trying to say really, I think these days you do get a choice - having a family or having somewhere SECURE to live. Renting is an option but as you rarely get a longterm secure tenancy there is always the possibility that you are moving on every 6 months. And if there is nowhere in that area to live (as there is not around here) then the kids are going to be uprooted from schools/friends every 6 months too.

I think that everything needs to feel secure, not that the place they live is theirs, but they are secure and that they have 'roots'.

I also think that everyone migrating from the south to the East, West, North, whatever means the property prices in that area will also rise because there is a need for it. How many people want to leave their friends/families/jobs though? This goes back to wanting security.

Exactly my point... i can stretch myself now but if my situations change i am screwed... and cant really afford to have a family etc... its a high risk venture.

Phirefly

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you, OP, we're there or thereabouts fighting the same battle. Mr Phirefly and I often have a private whinge to eachother about how hard done by we are, I honestly do share your frustrations. All I'm saying is that its futile getting cross about it all. I re-read your initial post to get my facts straight and from where I'm standing, you're in a pretty strong position.

And in a couple of years when you're fed up with using your expertise to line the pockets of somone else, if you read a few entrepreneurial propaganda tomes (I just finished Duncan Bannatynes effort), I'm sure you'll find yourself wondering just how huge those barriers are that you think stand between you and working for yourself.

neas

GavP wrote: »

So it's unreasonable for a couple on an above average salary to be able to afford a house*? Which income bracket do you think people should be in before they should be able to buy? Top 30%? Top 20%? Top 10%? And then what happens to everyone else who falls below that? 12 month ASTs with the landlord able to turf them out more or less whenever he/she feels like it?

*admittedly the OPs aims for a first home may be a little over-ambitious

Still on my current salary it should not be entirely unfeasibly.. to buy a home and not have to worry if my fiancee gets pregnant that I cant them afford the morthgage... It would good for my general health really

neas

andyrules wrote: »

Sorry but what calculation are you doing? Have you heard of top up fees?

I attended a finance talk at the open day of my daughter's college - they said that as things were then, students starting in 2006 could expect a debt of £28k.

So far that's spot on - in fact if she didn't work and have our backing she would also be forced into CC debt as well.

Dylanwing is so correct about the impact on society regarding the next generation - it is what many of us are predicting, and the sooner this gvt wakes up to it the better.

Exactly my calculations because 3k accomodation fees plus 3k tuition fees mean a year by year debt of 6k... over 3 years with interest... is nasty debt.

Fighting back 4% interest is like a cheap fixed rate mortgage on a balance of 20k... you pay alot more than 20k by the end of it especially if they take just 50 quid a month from your salary lol... most of these kiddies will never pay back their entire loan over the 25 year period!.

Phirefly

Know what OP, for some reason I read the whole thread assuming you were a girl. It changes things to a certain degree.

neas

aztec21 wrote: »

The estimate was actually for first year top up fee students:

"First-year students are totting up record debt levels of nearly £6,000 a year and face leaving university owing more than £17,500, according to a survey today.

The report paints an alarming picture of the financial prospects for young people who signed on for courses in the first year of the Government's new top-up fees regime, obliging them to pay up to £3,000 a year. They clocked up debts of £5,586 in their first year - a 25.5 percentage point increase on the debts incurred by first-year students the previous year."

Average student debt to hit £17,500 as top-up fees burden starts to bite

Yes Means are always nice... but thats scaling in those kiddies who get their Accomodation and Pocket money from mummy and daddy.

With 6k.. 3 years you'd get 18k debt. You'd only start paying that debt back after your 4th year... so you have 4% interest on the debt...meaning its closer to 20k.

This isnt even taking into account money required to actually live... clothes food, books etc.

neas

Phirefly wrote: »

Know what OP, for some reason I read the whole thread assuming you were a girl. It changes things to a certain degree.

Why? Because if i was a girl my salary would be decimated... just because im primary breadwinner doesnt change much as a man.

Phirefly

Student loans and the whole system is a shocking mess - but I don't see how that directly affects your issue with being unable to afford to buy a property....