How the heck do people my age and younger afford to buy houses?!
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Original post by SophieSmall
What is your job in China? How did you get the job/ what did you need to get the job? What was your degree? And do you speak any of the main languages of China (mandarin, cantonese ect)?
If you don't mind me asking/ answering of course.
If you don't mind me asking/ answering of course.
Spoilerd so it doesnt derail the thread:
Spoiler
Original post by fallen_acorns
Right now, move away from the UK.. if you are serious about saving.
I mentioned my circumstnaces earlier in the thread.. but serriously, if like me, you are expecting the Uk to go through a turbulent few years with brexit, then being outside is amazing.
I have around 250,000 rmb in savings currently, and 1 year left working out here in china,
1 year ago when I arrived in china, 250,000 Rmb, was worth roughly 24,900 pounds.
Today its worth 28,885
Extra 4k at the moment..
No idea if I should transfer my money back into pounds or not.. I thought I should a week ago, and yet its dropped again since then.
---
Anyway, point is:
Working in another country (especially an asian country)
- Lower cost of living = easier to save
- Wage premium for British workers
- Often accomodation is packaged with the job giving even more for savings
- Avoid problems with the pound/currency
- Great life experiance + Great transferable skills (depending on job) for when you return to the Uk
Honestly, if you are a single 20 something who has just graduated.. no idea why you would limmit yourself to just england when there are so many good opertunities in other countries, that can make it so much easier to save money + gain experiance.
I mentioned my circumstnaces earlier in the thread.. but serriously, if like me, you are expecting the Uk to go through a turbulent few years with brexit, then being outside is amazing.
I have around 250,000 rmb in savings currently, and 1 year left working out here in china,
1 year ago when I arrived in china, 250,000 Rmb, was worth roughly 24,900 pounds.
Today its worth 28,885
Extra 4k at the moment..
No idea if I should transfer my money back into pounds or not.. I thought I should a week ago, and yet its dropped again since then.
---
Anyway, point is:
Working in another country (especially an asian country)
- Lower cost of living = easier to save
- Wage premium for British workers
- Often accomodation is packaged with the job giving even more for savings
- Avoid problems with the pound/currency
- Great life experiance + Great transferable skills (depending on job) for when you return to the Uk
Honestly, if you are a single 20 something who has just graduated.. no idea why you would limmit yourself to just england when there are so many good opertunities in other countries, that can make it so much easier to save money + gain experiance.
This is largely true, but the currency thing was luck. You moved to China when the currency exchange for GBP was good, and Brexit made it worth more. Doing it now, means people's savings when transferred won't be worth much. I got lucky as well when I moved to NZ. I only had just under GBP10k originally, but a year ago it got me pretty good exchange rate. If I made the move now I'd be getting $4k less. Btw regarding transferring back to pounds, I wouldn't do it for 6months at least. It will keep declining gradually according to most experts until about 1.15USD to 1.20USD. Based on my past experiences, these guys are USUALLY more accurate than the weather stations
Original post by Snufkin
Oh right, sounds interesting and profitable. I'd quite like to teach abroad (not TEFL, proper teaching in proper international schools). I hear good things about the jobs in Asia but a few grumbles about smog in the bigger cities.
spoilered
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Original post by cipi
This is largely true, but the currency thing was luck. You moved to China when the currency exchange for GBP was good, and Brexit made it worth more. Doing it now, means people's savings when transferred won't be worth much. I got lucky as well when I moved to NZ. I only had just under GBP10k originally, but a year ago it got me pretty good exchange rate. If I made the move now I'd be getting $4k less. Btw regarding transferring back to pounds, I wouldn't do it for 6months at least. It will keep declining gradually according to most experts until about 1.15USD to 1.20USD. Based on my past experiences, these guys are USUALLY more accurate than the weather stations
Your right about getting lucky.
Thanks for the advise on transferring it back!
Original post by LavenderBlueSky88
This week 3 of my Facebook friends have posted the nauseating "finally got my keys" status. They're all between the ages of 24 and 27, I know none of them earn more than £25k and the houses they've bought look pretty decent. How in gods name have they done it? I'll be lucky to be on the property ladder by the time I'm 40 - I have absolutely no savings, very little chance of family inheritance, no rich boyfriend. sigh.*
I saved £40,000 between the ages of 23 and 29 whilst earning significantly less than £25k; partly by living at home—though still contributing £270 per month in upkeep—and partly by eschewing this, frankly, profligate obsession with overseas travel that seemingly defines everybody else within my dating age-bracket, amongst other noteworthy concessions to fiscal moderation such as commuting by bike in lieu of owning a car. Even then I'd hardly consider myself a model of economic self-restraint: I'm no stranger to the occasional lavish purchase, and pre-mortgage my attitude to money—while relatively prudent—was arguably little more than an afterthought given that I held on to a glorified student bank-account for the best part of ten years, so how I've secured approval (and on relatively favourable terms) for what is basically the world's most generous consumer loan with virtually no credit history to speak of, is anyone's guess.
My one prescription, should you ever find yourself in a more auspicious position with regard to property, is this: don't forgo the advice of a good broker.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by fallen_acorns
spoilered
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Spoiler
Original post by fallen_acorns
Travel: the subway in my city is 20p to go as far as you like.
I weep for our hopelessly decrepit public transport infrastructure.
Original post by Profesh
I weep for our hopelessly decrepit public transport infrastructure.
There was a good BBC article on how far the UK and the west in general is falling behind through decades of under investment in infrastructure.
My Chinese friends laugh at us for how longs its taking to finally bring high speed railways to England.
My boyfriend and I are 27 and 24, and we're hoping to buy a house together within the next year. He's on £17k a year, owns a cheap car and still lives with his parents, so he's been able to save a good few grand in the last couple of years, and still have money for a social life and couple of holidays. I've been renting in flatshares while studying full time for the past couple of years, so I hardly have a disposable income right now. However, my parents have luckily left me a substantial amount in a trust fund, and still help me occasionally with deposits into my Help to Buy ISA. I plan on getting a full time job ASAP so hopefully that will help us along on our goal to getting a mortgage in the near future
My boyfriend's best friend bought a house on his own at the age of 25 on a £24k salary, but I think he lived with his parents while saving so that helped.
It all depends on circumstances. Granted, if you are single, renting, on a low salary, own a vehicle, and have no financial help from relatives, it will probably be more difficult to save up for a house. It's not impossible though, so don't give up, you can do it!
Plus, we all live in Scotland, where housing is relatively cheaper than other parts of the U.K., bar Aberdeen.
My boyfriend's best friend bought a house on his own at the age of 25 on a £24k salary, but I think he lived with his parents while saving so that helped.
It all depends on circumstances. Granted, if you are single, renting, on a low salary, own a vehicle, and have no financial help from relatives, it will probably be more difficult to save up for a house. It's not impossible though, so don't give up, you can do it!
Plus, we all live in Scotland, where housing is relatively cheaper than other parts of the U.K., bar Aberdeen.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by James.Carnell
The job market is **** at the moment. Getting a job is a problem.
When you are an ethnic minority going for a job, the person who is white and has a 3rd class degree in an irrelevant subject gets the job. While you with the 2.1 and all the experience necessary does not.
In general I am tired of this, I am heavily considering emigrating.
When you are an ethnic minority going for a job, the person who is white and has a 3rd class degree in an irrelevant subject gets the job. While you with the 2.1 and all the experience necessary does not.
In general I am tired of this, I am heavily considering emigrating.
As an ethnic minority myself, stuff like this has always worried me too. For my next job hunt, I've decided that I will specifically aim for companies that have a known reputation for good workforce diversity, and hopefully that will yield me better results
Original post by scrotgrot
Yeah, if you have a relative who will sell you it at 1/3 value...Seriously, I know what your views are like but that's something even for you.
Original post by Reue
If they've not found their life partner by mid-20s perhaps they shouldn't yet be buying and effectivly locking themselves into a specific location? What about buying with a friend instead? All you've come back with is why some might not want to adapt their life to afford a house...
Interesting, there was actually an article on this matter that stated one of the reasons why Germans tend to weather out economic storms far better than Brits was many never owned their homes and that made it far easier to move to where jobs are.
Original post by Snufkin
There are all kinds of EXCUSES why someone may not be able to move out of the South East, and frankly you shouldn't have to just to buy a home. Living away from home for a while is one thing, but who wants to permanently move to a city where they don't know anyone? I wouldn't.
I might just go abroad for a while to save. I'd rather live in Berlin (where the cost of living is much cheaper than anywhere in the UK), but you can still enjoy a high quality of life. But again, most people won't have that option.
I might just go abroad for a while to save. I'd rather live in Berlin (where the cost of living is much cheaper than anywhere in the UK), but you can still enjoy a high quality of life. But again, most people won't have that option.
I corrected it for you.
Original post by ByEeek
Probably not. But the younger generation are also very mobile. If owning a house it top of your priority, why would you hang about in London? If people are prepared to move half way around the world to better their lives, moving from London to one of the other great cities of Britain like Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Cardiff or Glasgow isn't much of a sacrifice.
I still smile to myself at the thought that I bought a 4 bed house in a leafy suburb of Stockport for less than £250k especially when I see couples on Location, Location, Location raving about 1 bed basement apartments in sh1tty areas of London for double that money.
I still smile to myself at the thought that I bought a 4 bed house in a leafy suburb of Stockport for less than £250k especially when I see couples on Location, Location, Location raving about 1 bed basement apartments in sh1tty areas of London for double that money.
I personally don't have much problem with moving about, but I think there are some people that just can't bear being away from their families and childhood friends. I live about 400 miles from home now, but I'm only a train or bus ride away, and technology these days makes it so easy to keep in touch
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Original post by Reue
If they've not found their life partner by mid-20s perhaps they shouldn't yet be buying and effectivly locking themselves into a specific location...
Good point. I'm originally from London and when I was 21, I went travelling in Australia, met my boyfriend there and ended moving to his hometown of Edinburgh to be with him. I had never even thought of moving to Scotland before I met him, but now I'm here and in hindsight can see how much better living costs are than in the South of England
Original post by Alfissti
I corrected it for you.
Aren't you the guy who regularly posts about being left money in trusts, owing multiple houses, land, expensive cars etc? I don't think you're in any position to lecture people on how they can afford to buy if they are prepared to make sacrifices and work hard, because if your post history is to be believed, you've never done either.
Original post by zayn008
I meant combined salary lol sorry for not being clear
that's still quite a lot I think my salary after tax and pension and loan is about £17k and my boyfriends is even lower than that :/*
Original post by LavenderBlueSky88
This week 3 of my Facebook friends have posted the nauseating "finally got my keys" status. They're all between the ages of 24 and 27, I know none of them earn more than £25k and the houses they've bought look pretty decent. How in gods name have they done it? I'll be lucky to be on the property ladder by the time I'm 40 - I have absolutely no savings, very little chance of family inheritance, no rich boyfriend. sigh.*
1) Ask them how they can afford it, maybe they did part buy part rent with the council and got a big loan
2) Also you can rent a house then re let it to rent the other 3 rooms to other people and keep their part of the rent for yourself to save up to buy your own house,
I saw people doing this on tv
3) Or you can go online to find a rich bloke on Millionaire dating websites or signing up with Seeking Arrangement where a wealthy man might pay rent on a house for you or buy it for you
4) P!ay the lottery once a week or once a month
Original post by Reue
5% deposit on £200k house is only £10k. Split between 2 people is £5k each... how anyone can't afford to save that while employed is beyond me.
5k from a 25k wage (tax not taken into account) is a 5th of a salary-quite a lot. Whereas I could rent and not be given the millstone of a mortgage. But if you want to own a home (eventually) I guess then go for it
Original post by LavenderBlueSky88
that's still quite a lot I think my salary after tax and pension and loan is about £17k and my boyfriends is even lower than that :/*
You'd have to be on like £12 an hour I guess, assuming you work 8 hours mon-Friday, but there's other ways to gather a deposit or it might just take you longer, like 5 years. I still think it'd be repayable, you could start interest only and eventually you can arrange to start paying for equity, hopefully by then you'd have a pay rise too! So it's possible, before osbournes changes it was easy to get a landlord mortgage and just pay interest whilst renting it out so you're paying zero and actually making profit while also paying off a house so it's a short term and long term investment
My friend recently bought his house. To be fair, he got a pretty good job after graduating and started with 21k salary. He saved money by renting with some friends so paid around £300 a month for rent and bills. He put around 10k into savings each year for 4-5 years got a good amount saved up and then got a 10 year mortgage to cover the rest.
I personally plan to open help to buy isa after I move for uni and get a part time job. Start the £200 payments then and save what I can left over from rent/food/bills. Thankfully my maintenance loan should cover my rent for the whole year. By the time I finish uni, if everything goes to plan, I should have saved up quite a bit. Then I'll probably spend a few more years saving while working full time and in 5-6 years time I should probably be able to get a pretty good place on mortgage. Then it's basically like paying rent except you can do whatever you want with your property.
I personally plan to open help to buy isa after I move for uni and get a part time job. Start the £200 payments then and save what I can left over from rent/food/bills. Thankfully my maintenance loan should cover my rent for the whole year. By the time I finish uni, if everything goes to plan, I should have saved up quite a bit. Then I'll probably spend a few more years saving while working full time and in 5-6 years time I should probably be able to get a pretty good place on mortgage. Then it's basically like paying rent except you can do whatever you want with your property.
Original post by zayn008
You'd have to be on like £12 an hour I guess, assuming you work 8 hours mon-Friday, but there's other ways to gather a deposit or it might just take you longer, like 5 years. I still think it'd be repayable, you could start interest only and eventually you can arrange to start paying for equity, hopefully by then you'd have a pay rise too! So it's possible, before osbournes changes it was easy to get a landlord mortgage and just pay interest whilst renting it out so you're paying zero and actually making profit while also paying off a house so it's a short term and long term investment
Yeah I think I'm on about £12 per hour, £22k gross salary per year. Which isn't actually too bad considering I only graduated in 2014, if I'd gone straight into work at 21 like most people I'd probably be on nearer £26k. *
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