On £25k but 'poor'?! Misery thread...
Discussion
All that jazz said:
But it's not yours and never will be so your comparison is pointless. Come back when you've actually bought 100% of a house on your £27k income.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/Broxb...https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?client=safari&h...
Simples, as an annoying b
d would say 
2 people earning £25k a year can afford to live in and around London fairly easily with a mortgage assuming they can get a decent sized deposit.
Plenty of one beds and some two beds for less than £250k in zone 4,5 and 6.
The problems arise when its just one person but even then a one bedroom in zone 6 of the underground can be had for £150-£180k which is close if you have a decent deposit or if you earn slightly more i.e £28-£30k.
Until fairly recently (2009/2010) one beds in zone 2 could be had for £180k-£200k.
If this is the most expensive part of the country surely other areas are easily more manageable unless you have kids, debts, have luxuries that aren't necessities, etc
Plenty of one beds and some two beds for less than £250k in zone 4,5 and 6.
The problems arise when its just one person but even then a one bedroom in zone 6 of the underground can be had for £150-£180k which is close if you have a decent deposit or if you earn slightly more i.e £28-£30k.
Until fairly recently (2009/2010) one beds in zone 2 could be had for £180k-£200k.
If this is the most expensive part of the country surely other areas are easily more manageable unless you have kids, debts, have luxuries that aren't necessities, etc
STURBO said:
simonej said:
You can buy a perfectly nice house in a perfectly nice West Yorkshire village for £100k. One that's also within easy commuting distance of Leeds. And a job paying 50-60k is a well paid job wherever you are in the country.
Really? Care to share where. I've been in W Yorkshire a while and can't quite agree with that.Easy commuter access to Leeds (preferably train) and a "nice" place to live (entirely subjective I accept), and I cannot think of places where property is cheap, and I am originally from Hampshire so base things on Hants prices. I pay £1250 pcm rent on a city centre flat, which is about the same at Southampton.
If I stay in the area then I keep looking at places in Ilkley and again, prices look comparable with what I am used to back home, eg
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...
Shnozz said:
I was thinking the same.
Easy commuter access to Leeds (preferably train) and a "nice" place to live (entirely subjective I accept), and I cannot think of places where property is cheap, and I am originally from Hampshire so base things on Hants prices. I pay £1250 pcm rent on a city centre flat, which is about the same at Southampton.
If I stay in the area then I keep looking at places in Ilkley and again, prices look comparable with what I am used to back home, eg
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...
If you're paying £1250 in rent per month I'd assume you have pretty high standards as £800 a month will get you into a very nice flat in the city centre, my brother lives in west point, 4 minutes walk to the station and the centre of town + has underground parking space.Easy commuter access to Leeds (preferably train) and a "nice" place to live (entirely subjective I accept), and I cannot think of places where property is cheap, and I am originally from Hampshire so base things on Hants prices. I pay £1250 pcm rent on a city centre flat, which is about the same at Southampton.
If I stay in the area then I keep looking at places in Ilkley and again, prices look comparable with what I am used to back home, eg
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...
Finding a home around £100k in the north within commuting distance to the city centres and is decent is eeeasssilly achievable I really can't see how anybody can deny that?
You can buy a nice house in rotherham for pennies, that'd be a 30-40 minute commute to Sheffield city centre, likewise Barnsley & the surrounding villages is probably a 45 minute commute to Leeds.
I bought a very nice riverside apartment in Kelham Island (central sheffield) with parking and balcony for £85k, perfect for a young couple with a kid even, the mortgage is a few hundred a month....
Down south is obviously another story.
And good luck when it comes to trying to sell your shared ownership keith.......
lewisf182 said:
If you're paying £1250 in rent per month I'd assume you have pretty high standards as £800 a month will get you into a very nice flat in the city centre, my brother lives in west point, 4 minutes walk to the station and the centre of town + has underground parking space.
Finding a home around £100k in the north within commuting distance to the city centres and is decent is eeeasssilly achievable I really can't see how anybody can deny that?
You can buy a nice house in rotherham for pennies, that'd be a 30-40 minute commute to Sheffield city centre, likewise Barnsley & the surrounding villages is probably a 45 minute commute to Leeds.
I bought a very nice riverside apartment in Kelham Island (central sheffield) with parking and balcony for £85k, perfect for a young couple with a kid even, the mortgage is a few hundred a month....
Down south is obviously another story.
And good luck when it comes to trying to sell your shared ownership keith.......
Clearly it is a case of standards and for that reason it is why one person might think £100k would go far, and another disagree. I know West Point well and have many mates that live in there. I wouldn't classify them as any more than distinctly average - a bread and butter city apartment. Finding a home around £100k in the north within commuting distance to the city centres and is decent is eeeasssilly achievable I really can't see how anybody can deny that?
You can buy a nice house in rotherham for pennies, that'd be a 30-40 minute commute to Sheffield city centre, likewise Barnsley & the surrounding villages is probably a 45 minute commute to Leeds.
I bought a very nice riverside apartment in Kelham Island (central sheffield) with parking and balcony for £85k, perfect for a young couple with a kid even, the mortgage is a few hundred a month....
Down south is obviously another story.
And good luck when it comes to trying to sell your shared ownership keith.......
Equally, Rotherham, Barnsley etc etc....er, yes. Possible. Hideous. But possible.
Yes, one can survive on £25k a year down South or up North, but the North/South "issue" that was raised in the context of this thread still largely applies across most parts of the country IMO. There are cheap pockets in the South as there are cheap pockets in the North. You can buy quite a lot for £100k somewhere like Chatham and commute into London easily enough. Would I want to live there any more than I would in Barnsley, er, no. Cheap pockets are cheap pockets. North, South or in the middle. For the most part, cheap is cheap for a reason and there are no real bargains to be had.
VBRJ said:
Wow, this thread is full of twists and turns!
I think we have now covered budgeting, the rights and wrongs of starting a family, the north south divide...
Have we had winter tyres yet?
I know, it's definitely the longest-running thread I've started, and being the OP I've now just become a spectator!I think we have now covered budgeting, the rights and wrongs of starting a family, the north south divide...
Have we had winter tyres yet?
Little update-
Mrs has been very good and boxed up most of the crap / ornaments and things we don't 'use'. I need to pull my finger out and pack up all of my Radio Controlled car stuff (as explained earlier, the value of which I'd get on eBay doesn't justify selling it before anyone wonders!).
Off to mum and dads tonight to finish stripping the wallpaper from the spare bedroom which will eventually be for my daughter to stay in. It's a good size and my dad has paid out for a plasterer to come and do the walls as they're in a bit of a state, so I've got to put paint up soon after too!
I've just worked out that I only have 2 weekends to get all of my stuff out of the property, which has come around faster than I thought. Found the instructions for the wardrobes so less concerned about dismantling them now!
My termination from the BT contract has cost an additional £71 - unavoidable really.
Need to phone the council and pay the final £36 odd that I owe in tax too.
It's all happening. It's like going backwards.
Well, D-day is upon us (moving out tomorrow)
Typically the car has decided to require work, with dodgey front shock absorbers and then eating its' own fanbelt on Saturday I've had to up the spending on the credit card briefly - but it will all be paid off before long. To think I almost sold the car and bought an Alfa Romeo earlier in the year too...
Mrs is still upset about the whole thing, losing our personal space etc. It's not going to be easy by any stretch, but we're getting there.
I've sourced a HDD and tower to install the PC parts which were kindly donated to me by a fellow PHer, so hopefully once I'm all set up I can start to bring some extra money in.
On top of all this, finally some good news - my MD approached me last week to say that he is aware a payrise is 'long overdue' so we will see what the future holds out for me. It could mean even less time spent lodging with my parents.
Typically the car has decided to require work, with dodgey front shock absorbers and then eating its' own fanbelt on Saturday I've had to up the spending on the credit card briefly - but it will all be paid off before long. To think I almost sold the car and bought an Alfa Romeo earlier in the year too...
Mrs is still upset about the whole thing, losing our personal space etc. It's not going to be easy by any stretch, but we're getting there.
I've sourced a HDD and tower to install the PC parts which were kindly donated to me by a fellow PHer, so hopefully once I'm all set up I can start to bring some extra money in.
On top of all this, finally some good news - my MD approached me last week to say that he is aware a payrise is 'long overdue' so we will see what the future holds out for me. It could mean even less time spent lodging with my parents.
6 Week update time...
Things are OK back home, for me anyway, I'm actually not struggling with the lack of personal space at all. The Mrs on the other hand...
She's gone a bit mental, had a few teary moments etc.
I've only managed to clear £600 so far, with £4k to go. I paid 900 off at the beginning of the month but had to spend £100 on a pair of tyres and then some on ball joints / droplinks which failed on the car. Now I have justified keeping that for at least the next 12 months as I didn't want to spend any money on it if it could be helped.
Friends and family are insisting that we put our names down on the council housing list. This is something I've always tried to avoid because until now we've been able to afford living privately renting, but the sudden realisation last year that this is money just being put down the drain has led to us moving back home. I'm still wondering whether to just swallow my pride and get my name down on the list - despite waiting times being several years for our area.
If I can convince the Mrs to stay at home for even longer (without her killing me) then ideally I'd like to save for a mortgage. House prices are only going up - much faster than I can save. I still haven't had the time or motivation to look into what I would actually need to get onto the property ladder. I've seen part-rent part-buy offers but don't really understand them fully and 5% mortgages too - but these would put the monthly repayments back up to the same £700-800 per month which was almost un-managable as a rent payment. I guess I lack enthusiasm to look into this because there's the 'elephant in the room' is the significant lack of any form of deposit!
Other good news as of yesterday, my salary has increased because we have taken on a lot more work recently. The raise means an additional £200-ish a month in my pocket every month, so a healthy addition!
I still think I need 4 months to clear the £4k before I can even consider any other option but privately renting again.
Things are OK back home, for me anyway, I'm actually not struggling with the lack of personal space at all. The Mrs on the other hand...
She's gone a bit mental, had a few teary moments etc.
I've only managed to clear £600 so far, with £4k to go. I paid 900 off at the beginning of the month but had to spend £100 on a pair of tyres and then some on ball joints / droplinks which failed on the car. Now I have justified keeping that for at least the next 12 months as I didn't want to spend any money on it if it could be helped.
Friends and family are insisting that we put our names down on the council housing list. This is something I've always tried to avoid because until now we've been able to afford living privately renting, but the sudden realisation last year that this is money just being put down the drain has led to us moving back home. I'm still wondering whether to just swallow my pride and get my name down on the list - despite waiting times being several years for our area.
If I can convince the Mrs to stay at home for even longer (without her killing me) then ideally I'd like to save for a mortgage. House prices are only going up - much faster than I can save. I still haven't had the time or motivation to look into what I would actually need to get onto the property ladder. I've seen part-rent part-buy offers but don't really understand them fully and 5% mortgages too - but these would put the monthly repayments back up to the same £700-800 per month which was almost un-managable as a rent payment. I guess I lack enthusiasm to look into this because there's the 'elephant in the room' is the significant lack of any form of deposit!
Other good news as of yesterday, my salary has increased because we have taken on a lot more work recently. The raise means an additional £200-ish a month in my pocket every month, so a healthy addition!
I still think I need 4 months to clear the £4k before I can even consider any other option but privately renting again.
I still think she needs to get a grip, you're doing the right thing.
And council housing sounds like a waste of time if the list is long, and also, depending on what kind of person you are, I couldn't do it, I wouldn't want to.
Extra £200 each month is a healthy payrise, we may need to change the thread title to, on £28k but poor!
By the way, what is your GF doing now you're at home? Are you parents at home at all during the week? If so, surely part time work is the answer to both her whinging about personal space and extra money?
And council housing sounds like a waste of time if the list is long, and also, depending on what kind of person you are, I couldn't do it, I wouldn't want to.
Extra £200 each month is a healthy payrise, we may need to change the thread title to, on £28k but poor!
By the way, what is your GF doing now you're at home? Are you parents at home at all during the week? If so, surely part time work is the answer to both her whinging about personal space and extra money?
C.A.R. said:
Friends and family are insisting that we put our names down on the council housing list. This is something I've always tried to avoid because until now we've been able to afford living privately renting, but the sudden realisation last year that this is money just being put down the drain has led to us moving back home. I'm still wondering whether to just swallow my pride and get my name down on the list - despite waiting times being several years for our area.
It might be a waste of time given the waiting list but i don't think you need to swallow your pride until you are actually presented with the option to have a council house. You never know what the future holds and i'd view having your name on the list as a contingency plan. Plus it will keep everyone else quiet.FWIW - I would also be reluctant to take a council house.
Shnozz said:
You can buy quite a lot for £100k somewhere like Chatham and commute into London easily enough. Would I want to live there any more than I would in Barnsley, er, no. Cheap pockets are cheap pockets. North, South or in the middle. For the most part, cheap is cheap for a reason and there are no real bargains to be had.
If you look hard enough you can get cheap decent properties. I bought this a few years ago for 107k.http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatc...
Its in the Walderslade area (between Chatham and Aylesford) which is not bad at all. Most of the local houses are detached or semi's and all reasonably modern.
I spent about 10k completely refurbishing it(new kitchen, bathroom and fully redecorated). That's a nice house for 117k all in. Its 3 miles to the station, and you can be in London in 35-40 minutes. Its also in a close and had a garage + off street parking.
Edited by 98elise on Tuesday 15th April 14:27
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