Do you own your own home?

It's my house, and I live here...

  • Total voters
    55
VoR

VoR

Take it or leave it
Joined
Feb 3, 2004
Messages
135,266
Location
The Cinema
Inspired by some of the mortgage chat occurring elsewhere.

Having been blasé about it for years I hit a bit of a panic about this when I turned 35 this year.

My friends have all long-since done it, but they're all in couples (so double/shared income) and have all had parental support to put up the deposit. My parents just aren't in a position to do that unfortunately, so it's down to me. I imagine that situation is quite a bit more common in gay men.

I make a decent salary so I can get there, but it just feels like such a long road...
 
I do, but I got VERY lucky with a help to buy scheme that was running at the time - under normal circumstances I don't think I'd have been able to save for a deposit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: KNT
Yes, and paid off the mortgage earlier this year.

That sounds fantastic but it's partly circumstantial - houses in the north are cheaper (although a bit more expensive here than elsewhere), and I bought a bottom of the range house in a marginally shit area that someone's granny died in, and needed fucking loads of work doing to it, which i've mostly had to do myself. It's not the end of mortgages for me.
 
Not a chance. Got enough in savings for a decent deposit, but on a single income I don’t earn enough to pay a mortgage and realistically live a life other than eating non brand baked beans for the next 25 years with no electricity.
 
I would definitely imagine there's a strong North/South - or rather London/Not London divide on this in terms of it being in any way feasible for a single income person to own a home in a decent area.
 
Suomi said:
My greatest pet peeve is people who talk about how they did it on their own and then when you dig a little bit deeper you find out ‘on their own’ = a hefty financial contribution from their parents.
Click to expand...

That's absolutely rife in the media. I BOUGHT MY OWN HOME AT 25 YOU CAN TOO (although the £25k deposit was given to me by my mum)
 
Suomi said:
My greatest pet peeve is people who talk about how they did it on their own and then when you dig a little bit deeper you find out ‘on their own’ = a hefty financial contribution from their parents.
Click to expand...

I literally don't know a single person who did it entirely on their own. And yet they can be so condescending about it! The amount of times I've had to justify why I don't 'Just do it'. :manson:
 
VoR said:
Out of interest is that because it's not a priority for you, or you don't feel it will ever be financially possible?
Click to expand...

A bit of both to be honest. Financially it’s not possible and it would take a very long time and an awful lot of sacrifice that at this time I have no inclination to do.
 
Indie said:
That's absolutely rife in the media. I BOUGHT MY OWN HOME AT 25 YOU CAN TOO (although the £25k deposit was given to me by my mum)
Click to expand...

I know, literally every bastard time. Worse are the ones who get their parents to pay for a buy-to-let and then use the rent to buy their own house - they're cunts of the highest order.
 
I have no idea how it would be possible to do it on your own. Even with a generous Government scheme and the Help to Buy ISA to top up my deposit, I still needed a fuckton of money from my parents to get over the line.
 
VoR said:
Good for you!

Is it a co-mortgage with your partner though? No to diminish your achievement if so, but that is also a big factor I think.
Click to expand...

Oh absolutely. The deposit was mine but the size of the mortgage i couldn't have achieved on my own at the time.

And I say, i'm not here to brag - i was lucky and bought the cheapest house i could find. After several years of doing my own repairs/refurbishments, i am done with that shit.
 
Suomi said:
My greatest pet peeve is people who talk about how they did it on their own and then when you dig a little bit deeper you find out ‘on their own’ = a hefty financial contribution from their parents.
Click to expand...
And the ones that lived at home rent free while they were saving! Even when I lived at home I was paying £150 a week in rent.
 
Ellie said:
And the ones that lived at home rent free while they were saving! Even when I lived at home I was paying £150 a week in rent.
Click to expand...

Fuck anyone that doesn't pay digs while they're earning.
 
By the way this thread is not at all intended to shame those who did get parental support - you do what you have to!
 
Quite literally the only single people I know who own their own homes:
  • Are at least 50 and got their mortgages in the 90s
  • One is a stupidly high earner
  • All others had at least one of their parents die young and they came in to an inheritance
 
VoR said:
I literally don't know a single person who did it entirely on their own. And yet they can be so condescending about it! The amount of times I've had to justify why I don't 'Just do it'. :manson:
Click to expand...
Even thinking back to university, my parents took the approach that if I wanted to go, I’d have to fund it myself, so I was in one of those unfortunate loopholes where my parents earned too much for me to qualify for a good maintenance grant, but were not going to help me. So I worked every weekend, took out 3 student loans and 2 credit cards to whiteknuckle those horrible three years. Then I spent the next five years trying to get into a position to pay those debts off. There was a point where I would tie plastic bags around my feet because my shoes had so many holes in them and it was raining.

that I’ve worked pretty much continuously since I was 16 and have two degrees and could never afford a mortgage shows to me the system is BROKEN.
 
VoR said:
I would definitely imagine there's a strong North/South - or rather London/Not London divide on this in terms of it being in any way feasible for a single income person to own a home in a decent area.
Click to expand...
I didn't do it entirely on my own but I could have. My parents matched the amount of deposit that I had saved, which meant that I could get a much more affordable mortgage, although I could have got and paid a mortgage based on the deposit amount that I could pay myself. I lived at home for more than ten years whilst saving, but I paid rent, albeit a fairly small amount, every month.
 
I had help from my dad - he was emigrating, sold his house, tied up his business affairs and found himself in a position to do so. In any other circumstance, it wouldn't have been doable. In that respect, I am very fortunate and I understand that.
 
octophone said:
I had help from my dad - he was emigrating, sold his house, tied up his business affairs and found himself in a position to do so. In any other circumstance, it wouldn't have been doable. In that respect, I am very fortunate and I understand that.
Click to expand...
One of my friends has a dad who moved to America and re-married. He’s quite well off over there, but instead of helping his son, he sold his London home in a quick transaction to the local council for much less than it was worth and didn’t give him a penny.

Honestly, the mind boggles. While my parents aren’t in a position to help me out, I know if they were, they would.
 
Indie said:
That's absolutely rife in the media. I BOUGHT MY OWN HOME AT 25 YOU CAN TOO (although the £25k deposit was given to me by my mum)
Click to expand...
I never understand why people my age would want to do that and attach themselves to something like it so early on.

GO OUT and ENJOY your life for a bit FFS
 
Ellie said:
One of my friends has a dad who moved to America and re-married. He’s quite well off over there, but instead of helping his son, he sold his London home in a quick transaction to the local council for much less than it was worth and didn’t give him a penny.

Honestly, the mind boggles. While my parents aren’t in a position to help me out, I know if they were, they would.
Click to expand...

Just reminds me how lucky I am to have my dad - he's a legend and always has been. He's living his best life and I couldn't be happier.
 
Ellie said:
And the ones that lived at home rent free while they were saving! Even when I lived at home I was paying £150 a week in rent.
Click to expand...
I guess I can be categorized as one of these people, but it's not always exactly an either this or that arrangement ie while I was living rent free I offered to pay my parents for all the house costs and bills they have had with any of their property to minimize their loss of income from not renting that house to someone else, sth that I eventually still do cause their pensions were cut by 50% sometime later with the crisis and all.
 
I bought where I live now 5 years ago and did it on my own to be honest, and I left home at 18. Apart from the deposit it’s cheaper than renting though you do have all the sneaky extras to pay for though I suppose a landlord usually passes those on to the tenant through the rent.
 
I didn’t have any help from my parents, but I did buy relatively cheaply with my ex so when we split up and he bought me out it was a decent amount plus I had managed to save some more in the meantime. So I guess I can’t claim to have done it entirely alone.
 
Queen of the Bay said:
I guess I can be categorized as one of these people, but it's not always exactly an either this or that arrangement ie while I was living rent free I offered to pay my parents for all the house costs and bills they have had with any of their property to minimize their loss of income from not renting that house to someone else, sth that I eventually still do cause their pensions were cut by 50% sometime later with the crisis and all.
Click to expand...

That's more than fair, I would say. It may not be catagorised as "rent" but you're paying your way.

Absolutely different if you can't.
 
I had my deposit as I made some good profits in shares years ago that I invested in and set the money aside for a “rainy day”.
 
Soldi said:
I never understand why people my age would want to do that and attach themselves to something like it so early on.

GO OUT and ENJOY your life for a bit FFS
Click to expand...
If you are able to make it work, getting on the property market as soon as possible is never a bad move, even if you rent it out so you can go live your life elsewhere.

It shouldn't work like that, I hasten to add, but at the moment the goalposts for property ownership are moving constantly and gets harder and harder as time passes. And it doesn't seem like that is changing any time soon.
 
I did, but I sold it.

I take great umbrage with the concept that home ownership is some sort of essential achievement. It's dog shit.
 
I guess if you have no ambitions outside of working your way up a career and a property ladder then its fine. But its not for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top Bottom