My kids will only ever own a property if their g/parents leave them massive amount

miss_bargainmad · 22 April 2007 at 5:41PM

My kids are 9 and 12 now.

I am desperately worried for their future as I don't think they'll ever get on the housing ladder and rents are so high for anywhere decent.

We are are in the fortunate position of being practically mortgage free (2 more years) but it's still not a good enough position to buy another house as the rents wouldn't cover the mortgage. I can't see how many BTLs succeed these days.

As well as saving for their future education it would be nearly impossible to save say £60,000 for each of our children to have a deposit, although we are going to try very hard if possible.

I hate talking about inheritances but my husband's parents who are in their early 80's are on around £400 a week state pensions (Irish and English) and have an estate worth approx. £400,000. They definitely save a lot of the £400 as they live a very frugal lifestyle.

My husband only has one brother who owns two properties outright (plus a massive amount in the bank) and him and his wife have very good work pensions and they do not have children (they are in their 40s). We are in a good position financially (although we do have to save a lot for our pensions as we don't have any works pensions) so I can't see why they couldn't leave a hefty chunk to their two grandchildren.

I would never ever bring this up at all and my husband said this isn't how things are done - he reckons they will leave everything 50/50 to him and his brother, regardless of how much money his brother is worth.

What will really annoy me is that his brother's inheritence would just remain in a bank account until they died and be passed to his wife's side of the family in all probablity.

Am I being really unreasonable to want this for my children as they are the only two grandchildren in the family?

We did say at the weekend to my father in law that we didn't think our kids would ever get on the property ladder and he said now was the time to buy property before it was too late. I said did he realise how much say a £120K mortage would be and did he think we had that kind of cash lying around.

I was gobsmacked when he said we shouldn't have far off that.

He really is blinkered and thinks everyone has the odd £100K lying in a bank somewhere.

Before we told him how much we did have, which is less than one fifth of this, I really think he thought we would be able to sort both our children out.

I haven't overlooked nursing home fees etc.

I don't know if anyone has ever broached the subject of inheritance tax with them either?

Guy_Montag · 22 April 2007 at 5:50PM

So your kids are at least 6 years away from looking for a property, probably closer to 9 years. Forget about it until they've finished uni. A lot can change in that time.

miss_bargainmad · 22 April 2007 at 5:55PM

My husband is quite blase about it and thinks in the future everyone of their age will now own property and why should we worry, but I can't help it.

I want them to have the best start if poss.

brixandmorta · 22 April 2007 at 6:04PM

I agree, loads can happen between now and when they leave uni, I can remember years ago when is was 14ish and you looked at house prices in those days you never ever imagined owning a property, I now own a house in town that I rent out (mortgage free) and a £300,000+ house for me the wife and 2 kids to live in!

I am proud that I have achieved this for my family, far more so than being given a golden spoon!!! let's face it, we are all in the same boat at that age, you just have to try and make the right decisions, a bit like monopoly:D

joeblack066 · 22 April 2007 at 6:08PM

I wouldn't worry about it yet, continue to wish for the best possible start for your kids, save for it, bring them up with a good work ethic and they'll be fine. I have brought mine up on my own and been skint all my life, but #1 is 21 and earns £21k, lives in rented but likes it that way, no student debt as didn't do uni, own car, #2 lives with fiancee, both working, 19 with 5 month old baby, live in rented with an option to buy at a later date if they want to, also no student debt, own car and motorbike and #3 has just bought a car at 17. They are doing just fine. You sound like a good parent to me. Just be that and the rest will follow.

cattie · 22 April 2007 at 6:10PM

I don't want to sound harsh, but shouldn't you just be enjoying your children being young & carefree instead of worrying about a distant future. I speak as someone who lost her only child & believe you me it's the here & now that's important. The maybe's if's & supposes can be saved till the time in question has arrived.

Whatever your inlaws decide to do with their money is up to them & you say 50% of their estate will go to your husband & 50% to his brother.

You have to look at things from their point of view, which is whatever they have worked hard to achieve over their lives is for their children. Well whenever that happens you can invest that money for your children's future.

miss_bargainmad · 22 April 2007 at 6:12PM

Yes, I think that was the case around 10 years ago that anyone could have owned houses.

We aimed quite low in those days, always had loads of cash but bought a very cheap property and put a large deposit down. I suppose we would all do things differently with the benefit of hindsight.

We still had our first house when we bought the second, approx 9 years ago, but back then thought it was a chain round our necks as we had a new baby and a toddler and hated DIY so we took an offer on it after 3 months. How I could kick myself now - would would probably have made £100K on it if we still had it now.

But I think 1998 was the complete bottom of the market and BTL was only in the very early stages so we just didn't see the potential at all.

We were very financially stupid in our twenties.

Rimo2021 · 22 April 2007 at 6:16PM

miss_bargainmad wrote: »

I would never ever bring this up at all and my husband said this isn't how things are done - he reckons they will leave everything 50/50 to him and his brother, regardless of how much money his brother is worth.

What will really annoy me is that his brother's inheritence would just remain in a bank account until they died and be passed to his wife's side of the family in all probablity.

You chose to have children. How do you know what your husband's brother and his wife's circumstances will be like in the future? Anything could happen which would make extra money helpful or necessary for them. Maybe when they are retired if they have not children/grandchildren of their own to be interested in they will wish to do other things with their leisure such as extensive travelling which could be very expensive. It sounds like your husband's parents are pretty well off and that your 50% share of inheritance would likely be enough for you to give each of your children their 60K deposit - why do you want your husband's brother to pay for their deposits out of his share?.

EliteHeat · 22 April 2007 at 6:20PM

You seem to think that your childrens future prosperity is someone elses responsibility - I can't quite get my head around that one.

Doozergirl · 22 April 2007 at 6:21PM

miss_bargainmad wrote: »

We were very financially stupid in our twenties.

We all have the benefit of perfect hindsight!

The bottom was before 1998 but there is no reason why that won't happen again

Also, property just can't get that far away from the average buyer as property just wouldn't sell at all if people couldn't afford it. Fair enough, we're currently looking at higher income multiples because of low interest rates, but nothing in life stays the same for very long. None of us have any idea what will happen (except that property prices can't just stretch away from everyone!)

It isn't worth worrying about it right now. Just do what you can and wait and see what the position is in the future.

silvercar · 22 April 2007 at 6:27PM

I fail to see that inheritance is a right.

I hope my parents live to a right old age and enjoy their latter years in health and spend their money on themselves; flash holdays, world cruises and excellent healthcare, whatever floats their boat.

I wouldn't begrudge them a penny and wouldn't even think of it as spending my inheritance.

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My kids will only ever own a property if their g/parents leave them massive amount

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