How can a young person get on the housing ladder?
Discussion
It about priorities. My youngest son saved a deposit and bought his first house two years ago aged 21. He didn’t go to Uni so had been working for three years although not earning a fantastic wage as he was a warehouse assistant. He still managed to run a car (an oldish Corsa) and go out at weekends but didn’t need the latest phone on contract nor a new car on PCP.
Eldest and middle child are trying to do this. Eldest had a break in to TV/influencer stuff and works hard. Middle child lives in my house still and frugally. No take-seats or nights out etc. saves every penny he can and he and his girlfriend use vouchers and find deals for days out (I have his Tesco Clubcard for example and he gets the points). Others I know are living in vans or boats and working/saving. The latter being where I want to be in a years time. Just with intention of eventually owning some land and mooring rights and not working!
ZedLeg said:
Is it totally normal to suggest working every hour you can and living in a van to be able to live in secure housing?
I feel like we should have a better way tbh.
Totally normal and fine when you've done alright and you're looking over your shoulder at others struggling.I feel like we should have a better way tbh.
Hard work never did me any harm.
Get a partner (double income makes a huge difference - possibly more than anything else).
Buy in a cheap location, even better if it needs renovation and you can renovate while you live there.
Save money by living in a cheap location / with parents / house share and not regularly eating out / going on holiday / not having an expensive car or using public transport if its viable.
Buy in a cheap location, even better if it needs renovation and you can renovate while you live there.
Save money by living in a cheap location / with parents / house share and not regularly eating out / going on holiday / not having an expensive car or using public transport if its viable.
ZedLeg said:
How much rent was he paying?
If that’s directed at me he wasn’t paying rent as he was still living at home. The deal was we wouldn’t charge him board if the money was going towards his savings account. Once it started to build he really got a taste for seeing it grow.My daughter bought her first house at 26/27 years old. She left home to go to Uni at 18 and had been paying rent but she and her wife still managed to save a deposit for a house.
Double income
Work extra hours/jobs
Don't have cars on pcp
Cheap holidays etc
Realistic house - we arent all PH level directors who will have a 6 bed detached as a first home.
Move to a cheaper area - just because you were born in London doesn't mean you have to stay there.
Easy? Absolutely not.
Posiible? Yes, just about.
Work extra hours/jobs
Don't have cars on pcp
Cheap holidays etc
Realistic house - we arent all PH level directors who will have a 6 bed detached as a first home.
Move to a cheaper area - just because you were born in London doesn't mean you have to stay there.
Easy? Absolutely not.
Posiible? Yes, just about.
There's a 22 year old barmaid at my local, she works a normal job and does 3 bar shifts to top up her work. She's just bought a fixer upper and is living in it while she gets it all done room by room.
I've not been nosey enough to ask how much her normal job pays but I presume she has a partner so it must be possible.
Perhaps the question should be how does someone on minimum wage or in London get on the housing ladder.
I've not been nosey enough to ask how much her normal job pays but I presume she has a partner so it must be possible.
Perhaps the question should be how does someone on minimum wage or in London get on the housing ladder.
Sheets Tabuer said:
Perhaps the question should be how does someone on minimum wage or in London get on the housing ladder.
Rent/council/housing association/shared ownership are the only options surely?
Be interested to hear about anyone on min wage who has managed it though!
Help from parents, doing it means I am still working but it got them on the ladder.
Son was paying £650 rent for 1 bedroom in Slough 14 or so years ago and after some help with a deposit his mortgage on a 2 bed flat was less. Better alternative than him going into shared ownership.
We brought them into the world so it is only right that we help them
Son was paying £650 rent for 1 bedroom in Slough 14 or so years ago and after some help with a deposit his mortgage on a 2 bed flat was less. Better alternative than him going into shared ownership.
We brought them into the world so it is only right that we help them
Well the obvious answer is give up coffee, walk and get a better paying job isn’t it?
In reality, getting a cheaper car could help, but everything else is insignificant and I don’t see why you should have to live a utterly miserable life to save for years just because the market is such a state.
I feel for anyone who lives in a expensive area where you still get crap houses for massive money, I regularly watch location x3 and I’m always shocked at FTB looking to spend £375k and end up with a Victorian working man’s cottage that the original people who lived in it got for free, or some scabby ex council house and they always seem chuffed to bits.
I bought my first house at 27, a flat, it cost me £132k, I used help to buy for 20% of it, the deposit was very small at just under £5000, which I saved month to month in about a year, luckly prices on flats weren’t hot so they weren’t rising that quickly. I was renting a house with my OH for £750 a month, and earnt £29k a year, after bills etc I had roughly £950 spare a month, so I saved £400 of it, and still had a decent quality of life.
The rest of the money for fees etc came from my mum, about another £3k.
Sold that 2 years later (after a very stressful lockdown and issues with the ESW1 form) for £145k, and bought a house with my OH (he couldn’t get a mortgage the first time round due to a crap 6 month work contract)
2nd house was a new build, used part exchange so saved £3k on EA fees, used all the equity from the flat as a deposit and my OH had £18k from inheritance, we only could just afford a £260k 3 bed mid terrace, the choice was this or a ex council house, we had to change area as Cardiff is dead for jobs unless you want to work for the welsh government, so moved closer to Bristol. There where months during the buying process we actually ran out of money, we didn’t go on holiday that year or anything really, but fees kept popping up all over the place and it wiped us out, £300 for a management pack, another £300 for another management pack, searches etc, it all adds up, and then stamp duty.
In the end in this house I ended up being bailed out by my mum again, she paid for removals and the flooring.
If my OH hadn’t had the inheritance, we wouldn’t have been able to move here, (25 mins from Bristol) and there’s no way we could save the difference needed either when we where maxed out on the mortage.
The house was £257k, we had a 26k deposit, rest mortgaged. (Many new builds need 15% now)
For prospective, the same house type has just been released for sale, it’s £303k, meaning a 46k leap in a year, there’s no way we could afford that same house now, our wages haven’t increased enough to cover that level of borrowing, not have we been able to save the additional 5k for the extra deposit, plus god knows what the rate changes have done.
That 46k jump would also mean another £2100 in stamp duty alone,
Even the smallest house here is now £290k, again which we couldn’t afford.
We had to rent while we saved originally, my parents live 100 miles away in west wales, and there’s No jobs there, cardiff is dead for jobs and Bristol is the only real place around here with HR jobs for my OH, and I’m a mobile engineer covering the south west.
To me it’s clear from my friends, parents nearly always contribute to this.
I don’t know why it’s such a divisive topic, everyone deserves a place to live, it doesn’t have to be huge but why is it such a struggle to get even a basic place?
In reality, getting a cheaper car could help, but everything else is insignificant and I don’t see why you should have to live a utterly miserable life to save for years just because the market is such a state.
I feel for anyone who lives in a expensive area where you still get crap houses for massive money, I regularly watch location x3 and I’m always shocked at FTB looking to spend £375k and end up with a Victorian working man’s cottage that the original people who lived in it got for free, or some scabby ex council house and they always seem chuffed to bits.
I bought my first house at 27, a flat, it cost me £132k, I used help to buy for 20% of it, the deposit was very small at just under £5000, which I saved month to month in about a year, luckly prices on flats weren’t hot so they weren’t rising that quickly. I was renting a house with my OH for £750 a month, and earnt £29k a year, after bills etc I had roughly £950 spare a month, so I saved £400 of it, and still had a decent quality of life.
The rest of the money for fees etc came from my mum, about another £3k.
Sold that 2 years later (after a very stressful lockdown and issues with the ESW1 form) for £145k, and bought a house with my OH (he couldn’t get a mortgage the first time round due to a crap 6 month work contract)
2nd house was a new build, used part exchange so saved £3k on EA fees, used all the equity from the flat as a deposit and my OH had £18k from inheritance, we only could just afford a £260k 3 bed mid terrace, the choice was this or a ex council house, we had to change area as Cardiff is dead for jobs unless you want to work for the welsh government, so moved closer to Bristol. There where months during the buying process we actually ran out of money, we didn’t go on holiday that year or anything really, but fees kept popping up all over the place and it wiped us out, £300 for a management pack, another £300 for another management pack, searches etc, it all adds up, and then stamp duty.
In the end in this house I ended up being bailed out by my mum again, she paid for removals and the flooring.
If my OH hadn’t had the inheritance, we wouldn’t have been able to move here, (25 mins from Bristol) and there’s no way we could save the difference needed either when we where maxed out on the mortage.
The house was £257k, we had a 26k deposit, rest mortgaged. (Many new builds need 15% now)
For prospective, the same house type has just been released for sale, it’s £303k, meaning a 46k leap in a year, there’s no way we could afford that same house now, our wages haven’t increased enough to cover that level of borrowing, not have we been able to save the additional 5k for the extra deposit, plus god knows what the rate changes have done.
That 46k jump would also mean another £2100 in stamp duty alone,
Even the smallest house here is now £290k, again which we couldn’t afford.
We had to rent while we saved originally, my parents live 100 miles away in west wales, and there’s No jobs there, cardiff is dead for jobs and Bristol is the only real place around here with HR jobs for my OH, and I’m a mobile engineer covering the south west.
To me it’s clear from my friends, parents nearly always contribute to this.
I don’t know why it’s such a divisive topic, everyone deserves a place to live, it doesn’t have to be huge but why is it such a struggle to get even a basic place?
Edited by Nickbrapp on Sunday 4th September 10:50
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hstewie said:
hstewie said:ZedLeg said:
Is it totally normal to suggest working every hour you can and living in a van to be able to live in secure housing?
I feel like we should have a better way tbh.
Totally normal and fine when you've done alright and you're looking over your shoulder at others struggling.I feel like we should have a better way tbh.
Hard work never did me any harm.
Plus learning to be independent, self sufficiency, hard work, maintenance and diy are all valuable skills. I wish I’d done it at 18. Sorry Gretchen it was a poor attempt at sarcasm 
I do wonder how many of the people suggesting young people should be expected to work every hour god sends just to afford a very basic standard of living did so themselves.
Maybe we should just move to the Foxconn model and put dormitories next to the factories.
I do wonder how many of the people suggesting young people should be expected to work every hour god sends just to afford a very basic standard of living did so themselves.
Maybe we should just move to the Foxconn model and put dormitories next to the factories.
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