How can people be so greedy?

neas

Badger_Lady wrote: »

I have to say, I want to feel some solidarity with the OP, but it does just sound like a whinge - "But it's not fai-ai-air!"

I've just turned 25, earn £32k and have a mortgage on a 3-bed house that I bought for £145k and is currently valued at £150k.

As a MSE, I find it quite easy to afford the £720 a month repayments and have the flexibility to bring in lodgers if necessary too. In fact, my lifestyle now is the most comfortable it's ever been - a (second hand) sports car, one cushty 9-5 job, eat fresh healthy food and go out socialising whenever I fancy it.

And, as some others have pointed out, that's without a partner to share the costs.

Economies and markets change - don't compare yourself to previous generations (Monty Python sketch warning), just make the best of your situation. If I can do it, you can .

What if interest rates went back up by 2-3%? Would you still be able to afford it. I could probably afford it like you with my partners joint salary but we want a 'family home' not some 'bachelor pad'. So sharing with a lodger when we aim to have a family is a little inconvienent.

If interest rates went up I wouldn't be too cushty with it. Also not all graduates get 32k a year, most get on average 17k rising up to 22k after a few years. Some work at supermarkets... if their degree was a mickey mouse degree.

neas

Quote: Originally Posted by Benefits Blagger
i have a lot of sympathy and much in common with the OP. one of the big problems with higher education now is that there is simply to many people going to university now that most degrees are worthless and the only reward for doing them is a load of debt.

my degree has never helped me get a "better" job and with house prices being so high there is no chance of me ever owning my property, so i have decided to throw in the towel and now live on benefits, ive done this for 7 years now.

the situation for young graduates now is abysmal, the country and the older generation has screwed us, i have no shame in screwing them back.

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Aha the disabled guy who can't and now it seems won't work is back, you're also screwing the OP as well of course.

I wont go on benefits I haven't worked my !!! off through full time education from 11 years old to give up!. I dislike people who sponge off soceity as much as the rest of people.

Badger_Lady

neas wrote: »

What if interest rates went back up by 2-3%? Would you still be able to afford it. I could probably afford it like you with my partners joint salary but we want a 'family home' not some 'bachelor pad'. So sharing with a lodger when we aim to have a family is a little inconvienent.

If interest rates went up I wouldn't be too cushty with it. Also not all graduates get 32k a year, most get on average 17k rising up to 22k after a few years. Some work at supermarkets... if their degree was a mickey mouse degree.

My first home (bought in May 2005) was a "batchelor pad" in an expensive area - it was a 1-bedroom flat for £125k when I was earning £16K. So, I did everything I could to up my full-time wage (I straight away bargained myself up to £20k), and I took on a second job which initially brought in another £5k a year but within a few months this had gone up to £7k.

There were some tears - I'd phone my family in frustration because I was working 12 hours a day, sometimes at weekends too, and had no social life because I was paying a mortgage (on a proper starter home) and paying off my debts. And their answer was, "we've all been through it - it's always hard to start off with."

But 2 years later, here I am. And I'd hardly call this place a batchelor pad - it's a 3-storey Edwardian townhouse in a posh residential cul-de-sac near the City Centre. It's got 3 bedrooms but 5 living rooms. If I was precious about my privacy (for example so I could start a family), I could have bought somewhere smaller / cheaper instead.

I'm not going to pretend our situations are identical when they're clearly not, but surely you can see they're not all that different either?

andyrules

OK just a comparison.

Back in the 70s I bought my first 2 bed semi for £7k. I was earning £7k pa., fairly average. Now, same area, a 3 bed semi is around £150k. Unfortunately, my earnings no longer equate to that in the same way.;)

dubsey

My cousin is at uni studying something that sounds really complicated and flashy and when I asked what she intended to do she left she laughed and said 'dunno yet'.

My daughter is only 11 but she knows she wants to get a degree because she wants to be a teacher (I know this will probably change soon to actress or pop star lol) but I would support her because she has a long term goal. I'm not saying uni is a kop out, but so many seem to have no clue what they are going to do after. As someone else has mentioned with degrees in finger painting it does make the rest of us wonder why students moan that they have such a tough life. Why take on so much debt if you have no clue as to how much you will earn or how likely a job will be after. Is it not back to the principles of teaching basic finances in primary school?

We were 'lucky' to buy our first house in 1994, £36.5k for a 2 bed eot on an ex-council estate. We had scrimped for a deposit and my FIL still had to act as a guarantor because we didn't earn enough to cover the mortgage at 2.5 times salary. We were 26 but had looked at buying 3 years earlier and just couldn't afford it, so we had no choice but to continue to live seperately until we could.

Lotus-eater

Just like to add I don't think its people being greedy either, we're all just "riding the wave" none of us control the housing market, no one controls it I think, although the BOE have a certain control over it through interest rates.
If you have a chance at making money, you will take it. If you buy shares at a cheap price and make loads on them, you don't think about the guy whose just lost loads on them do you?

chappers

chappers wrote: »

Just be patient you have a few years ahead of you yet, save what you can and hopefully your incomes will improve. I don't think the housing market is goin to run further away from you, anytime soon.

As I said here chill out be patient you are doing all the right things it will come to you in time.
It seems to me like you are wishing your life away, needing that house, wanting kids, talking about how old you will be when they are playing football, thinking about when you are going to pop your clogs.
Your not even married yet.Juat take it one step at a time, life generally has its own order and I'm sure you will get all the things you desire in their own time.
As to playing football at 50, I bloody well hope I can still have a kick about with the kids then, my father-in-Law is 70 this year and still plays tennis twice a week.

ixwood

Diddums. Lifes not fair is it?

People are talking like property is never going to be affordable. It's a cycle!! Houses go up, houses go down. Stop the self pity, bide your time and prepare for the opportunites that are going to appear over the next year or 2.

LittleTinker

You know.....I was at Uni, not so long ago, as a Mature Student and I left Uni WITHOUT any debt. How did I do that?? I went to work. I didn't go living it up night after night in the student union, I didn't buy new clothes every two minutes and I didn't feel as though I HAD to take advantage of the loans available to me.....Younger generations just seem to want want want but are NOT prepared to live with any discomfort to get what they want!! .........By the way......your Uni education didnt do much for your spelling and grammar did it?

MrsE_2

andyrules wrote: »

OK just a comparison.

Back in the 70s I bought my first 2 bed semi for £7k. I was earning £7k pa., fairly average. Now, same area, a 3 bed semi is around £150k. Unfortunately, my earnings no longer equate to that in the same way.;)

Thats the problem in a nut shell isn't it.

Houses are now 10 x the average wage & the mortgage covers 3 x