Stupid house prices

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lauren123

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Feb 3, 2007
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East Yorkshire
Currently in the process of trying to get on that lovely housing ladder...
The area I am wanting is in a pleasant area of my town and minutes away from the parents.
However due to my salary etc I will have to go for something smaller or not really what I want and have to redo it in the next 5 years. Ideally I want something to move into straight away that doesn't need any woek doing to it. But there few and far between. I am reluctant to go further towards the city centre as I was brought up in a more expensive and nicer part of the city. It's also further to travel to sox. It it's frustrating. I saw a lovely property today. All ready to move into, driveway etx. But just out my price bracket:(
 
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Always been the same sadly. I remember in my 20s, being told by a mortgage broker, to go and live in a caravan and save for 2 years to be able to on the housing ladder in surrey.
 
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I think you have to accept you are very unlikely to get your perfect house first time in that situation, think of it as a stepping stone, and that any work you have to do you will be paid for when you increase the value of the house.

A house in a nice area that needs a bit of tarting up will set you in good stead to step up to the next rung of the ladder when the time comes. Try to look at the bricks and mortar separately from the aesthetics, if its a good solid house, with a nice layout and all the room you need that's great. If the wallpaper is something from the 70's in orange and brown nastiness well that's something that you can easily fix for a few hundred quid and some elbow grease and you'll probably put 5-10 grand on the value! a messy garden is another great value improver, if there is road access to a front garden and it's big enough you can always add a parking place, which again will add value. Try to see the work as an opportunity rather than something you don't want to deal with :)
 
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Congratulations for being in a position to buy! You do however need to adjust expectations, location or budget - or all three - for the first few houses. It's always a shock at first :D I remember viewing our house thinking 'Oh gosh - this is too small & needs a lot of work' but we liked the area, it was convenient & the sum"s worked. Living in London commuter belt land in the South East, that was important!

Getting on the housing ladder has always been difficult & everyone I know (including myself) has had to compromise.

I certainly don't live in as nice an area as I grew up in - it's still nice, as we're on the edge of a market town but it's not as nice as where my parent's live and neither is my house. However, they've spent years buying and doing up in order to progress up the ladder and it's no different for me.

We bought a small but structurally sound two bedroom house two years ago that needed work doing & had potential to add value. It's soon to be a three bedroom house with an extended kitchen diner and utility room/porch by the time we've finished but we couldn't have afforded that when we bought it.

It's all part of a 10-15 year plan to hopefully get what we really want :)

With houses, it's generally always better to be paying your own mortgage than someone else's and it's a long term investment.

Good luck!
 
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I think where the house is, is more important than the house itself. Our first buy was a super little 2 bed maisonette - lovely house, nightmare neighbour upstairs - we lasted 4 months! We changed county, but still ok for work etc, and prices were lower. Bought a run down semi in a leafy little close and did it up over the years. Our present house was a decorative dump, but again, improved gradually. I hope you find something right for you, and enjoy the doing up - I got quite hooked in the end!
 
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I've seen a lovely 2 bed maisonette for sale and it would be perfect but we can't get a mortgage until I get full time work, I hope it doesn't sell but at £270k for a 2 bed it probably will.

Garden is just a mass of brambles and the kitchen has no cupboard doors or anything but look past that and it's lovely!!

What sort of place are you looking for @lauren123 a flat or a house? It's really exciting and great that you are in a position to buy. I can completely understand why you want somewhere you can just move in, you might get lucky and a place come up that's just right. If not others who are more knowledgeable than me on the topic have given better advice.
 
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diplomaticandtactful said:
Always been the same sadly.
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Haven't house prices in most places increased more than the average wage over time? My parents first and only house they purchased was a 3 bed house and we are looking at 1 or 2 bed flats in the same area and can barely afford them 😂
 
Ale said:
Haven't house prices in most places increased more than the average wage over time? My parents first and only house they purchased was a 3 bed house and we are looking at 1 or 2 bed flats in the same area and can barely afford them 😂
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It's six of one, half a dozen of the other I think.

Houses have always been expensive but it is a more different mortgage application these days. 100% mortgage weren't uncommon (ie, no deposit required) and it used to be possible to borrow larger sums of money against your salary. Whereas now a larger deposit is necessary and lending will be limited (understandably so). Usually 10% is the minimum deposit but the bigger deposit, the wider range of mortgage available.

Back in my parent's day, interest rates were what made it 'interesting'. At one point, they were paying 18-25% interest rates for their mortgage - I can't remember the exact figure but I've heard the story enough times! But imagine having to pay 25% on top of your agree mortgage rates 😲 To put it into perspective, our interest rate is less than 2% on our mortgage and I still begrudge that *and* we have a good fixed rate deal. Interest rates are likely to rise in the future, but it's unlikely it will be anything like those levels.

It's never been a walk in the park for any generation buying, despite the current narration that tries to suggest otherwise ;)
 
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So how did my parents afford a 3 bed house at a younger age than me? Oh wait a minute they didn't have a horse. It all makes sense now 😂 I do think it's harder now to buy, especially if you are alone. Of course by the sounds of those interest rates when we finally do buy we have it easy!
 
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I remember when we bought our first flat interest rates went from 11% to 14% and we had a 95% mortgage....we lived on beans and toast and when friend went out for a curry on a friday we stayed at home as we couldn't afford it.
 
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diplomaticandtactful said:
I remember when we bought our first flat interest rates went from 11% to 14% and we had a 95% mortgage....we lived on beans and toast and when friend went out for a curry on a friday we stayed at home as we couldn't afford it.
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Yep, pretty much the same. I paid £12,000 for my first house, an old cottage style one bed semi, literally 2 up, 2 down, tiny garden and no off street parking. But the mortgage interest rate was at least 15% and I think I earned £80 a week. I lived very frugally, walked instead of taking the bus where possible and budgeted £5 a week on food shopping. I was very happy though!
 
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I think expectations have definitely changed. Like @diplomaticandtactful we went without a lot of things when we moved into our first house (with interest rates at 12%). We had no chairs of our own (we borrowed camping chairs). The only furniture we has was a bed and luxuries like take aways and holidays were out of the question. We only had curtains in the bedroom. The only cooking utensils we has were those we had for camping..

I think people now expect to move in, furnish the house, have satellite TV and still go on holiday
 
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GaryB said:
I think expectations have definitely changed. Like @diplomaticandtactful we went without a lot of things when we moved into our first house (with interest rates at 12%). We had no chairs of our own (we borrowed camping chairs). The only furniture we has was a bed and luxuries like take aways and holidays were out of the question. We only had curtains in the bedroom. The only cooking utensils we has were those we had for camping..

I think people now expect to move in, furnish the house, have satellite TV and still go on holiday
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Lol yes we had garden furniture for our table and chairs and lucky for us inherited a sofa from the previous owners. I literally left home with two forks and two knives, spoons etc that had belonged to my Nan. It was ace though because it was all so exciting! And people were generous and gave us their old fridge, washing machine etc.
 
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Ale said:
So how did my parents afford a 3 bed house at a younger age than me? Oh wait a minute they didn't have a horse. It all makes sense now 😂 I do think it's harder now to buy, especially if you are alone. Of course by the sounds of those interest rates when we finally do buy we have it easy!
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Horse's, expensive? Surely not 😂 My parent's and their friend's geniunely didn't have expensive hobbies though. They didn't run multiple cars per household (I'm not sure Mum & Dad had a car when they bought a house) and they didn't do holidays etc. University etc was out of the question too - all the things it's so easy now to take for granted.

I definitely agree with the idea of expectations changed, too.

My parents certainly didn't have all their furniture when they did buy a house and move in ... I think they were without a bed for a few months and definitely without other things much longer. Whereas, when we bought our house, my friend's found it really odd we didnt have a dining table and chairs immediately and one set of friend was really quite concerned by it. Which was sweet, but a sign of how 'instant' we expect things to be these days?

I think there's a trend to believe among a lot of people my age that their parents bought whatever house they liked and had it kitted out and they were set up for life just like that!

Times have changed so it's not entirely comparable, but I certainly have more than they did in a lot of ways.

Each generation sacrifices and works hard for what they have. The next generation will probably tell me I had it so easy 😂
 
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Yup, expectations are massively different now, I’m another who spent what was a fortune (£14,000) on a first house, an ex council house in an ok but far from brilliant area, we had a second hand sofa,tv and stand, second hand fridge and no curtains! Bought a new bed, the only new thing we had for years, the rest was bought second hand at car boot sales, we had one car, no horse, no holidays, no take aways, no mobile phones, no land line actually and I grew what veg I could to supplement our tight income, it was hard sometimes if I’m honest, but time ticked by and things got easier.
Mortgage lenders are very wary since 2008 and you need a much bigger income to loan and a bigger deposit but in my experience most young people, not all obviously, now want everything yesterday and wont look at anything less than a three bed detached with furniture on the never, never which they’ll be paying for long after the furniture needs replacing.
Good luck @lauren123 and @Ale with finding something, it’s crazy times just now with houses selling virtually as fast as they are getting listed right now, my advice would be to sit tight a while and keep saving, as @PePo said the more deposit you have the better interest rate you’ll get and I reckon things will settle down in the next 6 months or so.
 
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GaryB said:
I think expectations have definitely changed. Like @diplomaticandtactful we went without a lot of things when we moved into our first house (with interest rates at 12%). We had no chairs of our own (we borrowed camping chairs). The only furniture we has was a bed and luxuries like take aways and holidays were out of the question. We only had curtains in the bedroom. The only cooking utensils we has were those we had for camping..

I think people now expect to move in, furnish the house, have satellite TV and still go on holiday
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I had £200 to furnish it. Can't remember what it cost to buy, probably about £30K, but now worth around £340,000..... We bought second hand furniture from junk shops, mind you nice things, Ercol table and chairs, White and Newton wardrobe in cherry wood (still have it 30 years on!), couldn't afford the headboard at the time. Second hand sofa and 2 chairs. The kitchen was old but putting in new tiles made it better. When we moved to the wreck, we took the ercol and white and newton with us, and in fact bought more ercol. There was a salvation army furniture outlet, you could get real bargains there. Never spent much on furniture as the cats wreck it.

The second house, the wreck cost £120K, it was sold in Nov 2013 for £575,000, they added a huge extension on the back and removed all the period features so it is now just a boring bland house like everything else. It has the period exterior but the inside has gone, all the nice fireplaces and period tiles ripped out, sheer vandalism.....I painted that house by hand up scaffolding, we placed the main windows and i painted them in situ, took me most of the summer.

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Well the houses up my road arent selling that quick. 2 had boards up for over a year. But then its not surprising with the million pound plus price bracket.

One finally just changed hands last week. Will be interesting to see in a couple of months what silly money it went for. I expect 2 million.

Its funny how we keep getting letters through our door for our empty properties, that are not on the market. Yet the ones on the market in the same road take time to sell. I think people think that they are going to buy our empty properties for nothing. How wrong they are. We regularly get told your properties must be worth a fortune yet people want to insult us, by offering peanuts. Typical human mentality.
 
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