Strong economy, I disagree.

[Del Lardo]

I remember reading an article in The Times a few years back which went into quite a lot of detail of how my generation will be the first one in many generations to be worse off than their parents.

Thinking back to when I left school I never thought at the age of 26 I'd be earning enough to be coughing up 40% tax but equally so I never thought that getting on the housing market would be so difficult. I freely admit that this isn't just down to the cost but also due to me wanting to run a sports car and prefering to rent in a nice area to buying in a **** area. Despite this the fact that my first properly that I hope to buy in a years time will be close on £180k for a similar flat to one my mate bought back in 1999 for £80k and that I find really hard to stomach. It seems that increasingly in the UK there are people who are well on the property ladder (and I freely admit that many of them will have worked very hard to stay on it) who as a result are in the position to start buying 2nd and 3rd homes to rent out. This puts first time buyers such as myself in an increasingly difficult situation as we are forced to fork out more and more money to keep up with people who are in a more financially stable situation.

[Jonny69]

Originally Posted by kitten_caboodle

And yes, while there is demand prices will go up. But there must come a point when people just can't afford to buy anymore. And what happens then? I mean, i'd like to see the figures for how many people in their 30's now were first time buyers in their twenties, and how many are now.

PS.. shouldn't this be in the serious forum?

Well this is me now, I can't afford to buy and I actually earn quite a lot. I'm at a stage in my life when I really should be thinking about starting a family but I can't afford to and I don't have anywhere permanent to live. However say I was on the breadline with no job and no education I'd have a local authority place handed to me on a plate. That's screwed up in my opinion, it's like being penalised for trying. The sad fact is most people my age who have bought recently have either had some serious help from their folks or inherited.

Oo yes, serious forum, good point...

Originally Posted by Del Lardo

I remember reading an article in The Times a few years back which went into quite a lot of detail of how my generation will be the first one in many generations to be worse off than their parents.

Yup I saw that one. Kind of amused me a bit when I read it at the time but it's actually turning into a horrible reality.

[Zirax]

Originally Posted by Jonny69

Yup I saw that one. Kind of amused me a bit when I read it at the time but it's actually turning into a horrible reality.

I saw that article and there was a follow up one recently essentially saying:- the current generation of 20ish's are more worse off than their parents, they are the most stressed with both work/student loans/getting a house.

It took a long time for my dad to actually see how bad things are around here. For months he was saying "there is a house for 200k". Yes.... but I can't get a full mortgage on that. In the end my solution was to move in with my sister as by the time I catch up to the market with todays prices.... in a year or so it will be out of reach again.

My dad really can't believe this situation as I earn more than him and yet what I could afford is an awful council flat/house either in Melbourne or off springfield park road (really bad areas). It came down to me sitting down with my folks and showing them the market.... "Would you live in these areas?"
"No"
"Would you like me living there?"
"No"
After crunching raw numbers they all began understanding what is going on. He almost fell of his chair at what our three bed mid terrace is worth, its just insane.

To give you an idea of where I am just moving to, over the road there is a four bed house that looks rather :/ Price.... £275k!! sweet mother

edit: In Leeds there are loads of flats sitting empty where the owners have never moved in. They are all sold to people who will sit and wait for their value to increase.

[Pebs]

Originally Posted by kitten_caboodle

I was in the same position. Despite the fact I paid £500 per month rent and a mortgage would have seen me paying around £300-£350 (at the time), they insisted that because I was on a single income and only earned around £45k per year, that I couldn't afford it. Showing them 4 years of rent payments didn't make a bit of difference. Now £45 wouldn't buy me the bathroom in the house I wanted.

...and now they'll offer mortgages for 4x 5x 7x annual incomes!

I'm going to be looking for a mortgage provider to lend me the best part of £202k to take over this place. Best case scenario I'll have an job income of around £24k but my solicitor thinks its doable. Ridiculous!

I'm going to be in the horrible position of relying in my parents estate to see me through my old age.

[Fayshun]

Me and Lom will probably never be able to afford a mortgage.

Unless we move to Beruit.

[Piggymon]

I really do feel for people trying to get on the property ladder recently and then also feel very lucky that we are in the postion we are.

I own 60% of Piggypad in Swansea which is worth about £120K and I have a £50K mortgage on it - this is currently rented out to a nice Polish couple and the rent just about covers my mortgage.

Pigmo Pad is worth approx £180/190K and even with the re-mortgage to do it up our mortgage has gone up to £126K so we still have a nice chunk of equity to play with.

A few years ago I got off the property ladder and nearly didn't get back on ! Jamie bought PigmoPad just as it went on the market at a knock down price because of all the work to do.... if it wasn't for us both being lucky with our houses we wouldn't be in the nice position we are in today.

I bought a 3 bed terrace house in Swansea about 7 years ago for £35K. I then split with my partner at the time and though sheer stubborness I bought him out and re-mortgaged for £50k. I couldn't really afford to do so and by burrying my head in the sand I racked up about £30K worth debt - things were very bleak.

My parents had a newsagents at the time and on their property was a small warehouse which was a property in it's own right.

My parents house was on the market at this time but I sold up my place with £25K to spare after paying the mortgage back and planned to use this money to convert the warehouse into Piggypad. My parents would then sign it over to me and I would get a mortgage on it to clear my debts, it would also be a very nice nest egg for them and we would own it 50/50.

Whilst we were waiting for planning permission to convert my parents got an offer on their place, at the full asking price and it had to include the warehouse. I insisted they took it and started looking around to see what I could get .. I was almost in tears

I'd left a nice, roomy 3 bed terrace house and I now had the prospect of living in a pokey, crappy 1 bed flat in not very nice areas :/

Luckily for me the house sale went through and we carrried on as planned. If it wasn't for this lucky situation I would have been off the property ladder with zero hope of getting back on being on my own.

Crikey, bit of a brain dump there .. sorry

[Nutcase]

There's absolutely no way I could have got my flat without massive help from my parents.

They must have REALLY wanted me out

[Jonny69]

Originally Posted by kitten_caboodle

I totally miswrote that what I was trying to say was that I was on £15k so I was offered x3 that which was £45k per year. Christ, if I'd been on 45k per year I'd have been laughing

There was me thinking about coming round with choccies, flowers and a guitar to sweeten you up.

Gold digger? Me?

[BBx]

OMG I'm not even going to say what I am paying... London is depressing! :/ but this is where my life is atm and I am happy so I am not about to embark on a whinge

All I will say is that this thread is too serious for GD

BB x