Boomerang Generation

It's certainly easier to do it with somebody else. My partner an I started off 8/9 years ago in a shared-ownership flat whilst also throwing money in ISAs.

We built up a nice 10+% deposit excluding what came out of the flat equity to buy a house. Lived in that house for 2.5 years and sold it for 22% more than we purchased it with minimal investment.

Took a bit of a gamble on the next house due to existing potential local planning issues and we got the house for 15% cheaper, it paid off and now almost 4 years later I'm 32 and we have a LTV of less than 60% on a £380K house and still building on a nice nest egg of savings. I'm happy with that, but it helps that:
  • My partner is an accountant
  • We didn't buy much in the way of flashy stuff and generally quite conservative
  • We took a few risks
  • We had some luck
It wouldn't say it has been easy, but it certainly wasn't hard. A challenge for sure, but a challenge to better your position in life is certainly one worth pursuing. I mean, it's for a place to live, a place to call home.

I can't really comment factually on the current generation but I do get the feeling many could do with a bit of a kick in their spending habits. I would also like to see real life stuff taught in schools before they leave. About how much things actually cost, how interest rates and mortgages work, general economics.
 
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I moved to the UK when I was 19, didn't go to uni, had no money. I have had zero financial help from my parents since moving here, as they are still in South Africa.

Crashed on my brother's couch for 6 months, got a minimum wage job, roomshared (room, not flat, shared a ROOM) for a year, got a slightly better job (Phones4U retail), and slowly progressed from there.

Lived beyond my means, partied like a rockstar, and wracked up £20k worth of debt by 26 with nothing tangible to show for it.

I was on about £25k at this point working as a junior analyst, and consolidated my debt in to a 5 year IVA.

Lived more frugally, and cleared all my debt by 31, and still had a good time.

Some good career moves has seen my wage increase significantly, got married last year, and bought a detached house in Greater London 2 weeks ago.

For reference, my wife moved over here in 2006, with no tertiary education (she dropped out of school at 16), yet she got on the property ladder in 2012 (shared ownership) just through hard graft and sacrifice.
 
Ocean Breeze said:
This makes absolutely no sense. A household that has two salaries of say £25k has a total income of £50k compared to one person which is half that and they would have to pay for everything..
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Probably means being in a relationship is more expensive when you are not living together, which is true. Once you move in and can share the cost of one place together then you will be better off.
 
krooton said:
I moved to the UK when I was 19, didn't go to uni, had no money. I have had zero financial help from my parents since moving here, as they are still in South Africa.

Crashed on my brother's couch for 6 months, got a minimum wage job, roomshared (room, not flat, shared a ROOM) for a year, got a slightly better job (Phones4U retail), and slowly progressed from there.

Lived beyond my means, partied like a rockstar, and wracked up £20k worth of debt by 26 with nothing tangible to show for it.

I was on about £25k at this point working as a junior analyst, and consolidated my debt in to a 5 year IVA.

Lived more frugally, and cleared all my debt by 31, and still had a good time.

Some good career moves has seen my wage increase significantly, got married last year, and bought a detached house in Greater London 2 weeks ago.

For reference, my wife moved over here in 2006, with no tertiary education (she dropped out of school at 16), yet she got on the property ladder in 2012 (shared ownership) just through hard graft and sacrifice.
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It’s funny you say this because whilst there is no doubt you have worked hard, it sounds like your current purchase wouldn’t have been possible without teaming up with your wife, which is sort of the problem for many young people in today’s age of settling with a partner later and later.

If you can only borrow 4.5x your salary, you are never going to buy anywhere in the south without being on an above average salary. Let’s say you’re on £25k so could borrow £112k maybe. Well, that is not going to get you far with many property prices way outside of that and rising faster than you could realistically save for a deposit.

It sucks.
 
Nitefly said:
It’s funny you say this because whilst there is no doubt you have worked hard, it sounds like your current purchase wouldn’t have been possible without teaming up with your wife, which is sort of the problem for many young people in today’s age of settling with a partner later and later.

If you can only borrow 4.5x your salary, you are never going to buy anywhere in the south without being on an above average salary. Let’s say you’re on £25k so could borrow £112k maybe. Well, that is not going to get you far with many property prices way outside of that and rising faster than you could realistically save for a deposit.

It sucks.
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25k for the South especially is below average, so of course you're looking at a below average property.
 
Nitefly said:
It’s funny you say this because whilst there is no doubt you have worked hard, it sounds like your current purchase wouldn’t have been possible without teaming up with your wife, which is sort of the problem for many young people in today’s age of settling with a partner later and later.

If you can only borrow 4.5x your salary, you are never going to buy anywhere in the south without being on an above average salary. Let’s say you’re on £25k so could borrow £112k maybe. Well, that is not going to get you far with many property prices way outside of that and rising faster than you could realistically save for a deposit.

It sucks.
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I was in an incredibly similar situation to that. I earn a bit more than £25k but not by that much, I could only borrow about £120k. Given near me a really basic flat is £160k, I ended up having a 60% LTV which is completely unreasonable unless you have financial support from family etc

Dis86 said:
25k for the South especially is below average, so of course you're looking at a below average property.
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This is true, but it's not a case of getting a below average property, it's about being able to get one at all!
 
Nitefly said:
It’s funny you say this because whilst there is no doubt you have worked hard, it sounds like your current purchase wouldn’t have been possible without teaming up with your wife, which is sort of the problem for many young people in today’s age of settling with a partner later and later.

If you can only borrow 4.5x your salary, you are never going to buy anywhere in the south without being on an above average salary. Let’s say you’re on £25k so could borrow £112k maybe. Well, that is not going to get you far with many probably prices way outside of that and rising faster than you could realistically save for a deposit.

It sucks.
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Indeed, which is why shared owndership/help to buy are double-edged swords, they make it possible to get on the ladder, whilst at the same time artifically pumping up prices, rinse and repeat.

But by the same token, had I not partied like a rockstar for all those years, and factoring in all the monies wasted on interest, I could have saved £40-50k for a deposit by the time I was 30, got on the ladder using a scheme, and staircase to full ownership of that hypothetical flat.

Also, we certainly didn't need to spend what we have on our new house, we could have got a perfectly good terraced for half the price, but this one ticks all the boxes to be a forever home, so we did that rather than doing the normal flat->terraced->semi-detached->detached route.
 
XeNoN89 said:
Probably means being in a relationship is more expensive when you are not living together, which is true. Once you move in and can share the cost of one place together then you will be better off.
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Can absolutely confirm this is true. I've spent a deposit keeping a relationship going in the past year.
 
My brothers trapped like this. He’s 25 and is a gas engineer. Earns about 36k a year. Decent money but not when you want to buy in London or even the surrounding areas. Doesn’t really get close. He’s considering paying for a loft extension on my mums house instead and plotting there for a few years until things improve or god forbid, something happens to my mum and he can have the house.

The way he sees it, he could pay £30-40k for a nice loft extension, but as well as somewhere for him to live, it puts 20% on the house, which would be around another £80k. Double the cost of the extension.
 
robfosters said:
My brothers trapped like this. He’s 25 and is a gas engineer. Earns about 36k a year. Decent money but not when you want to buy in London or even the surrounding areas. Doesn’t really get close. He’s considering paying for a loft extension on my mums house instead and plotting there for a few years until things improve or god forbid, something happens to my mum and he can have the house.

The way he sees it, he could pay £30-40k for a nice loft extension, but as well as somewhere for him to live, it puts 20% on the house, which would be around another £80k. Double the cost of the extension.
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If he has £30-£40k to spend, then that would be enough for a deposit to buy a 2 bed flat within commuting distance of London. Do people expect to move straight into 4 bed detached houses these days?
 
That kid needs to spend a month in Nigeria with my former nanny, she would sort him out.

I was a typical student/boy but I don't remember been that dense or unappreciative.
 
robfosters said:
There’s reasons he wants to stay close mate. Family reasons, but they’re very important.
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Further to this, yes people can put themselves onto the property ladder with hard work and saving but it is often at a gross cost to their everyday life post purchase if they have to move to the arse end of nowhere.

Sure I may have been able to scrimp for years to get a small place in Hereford and have a wonderful hour plus commute every day and move away from all my friends but, really, who wants to do that? It would be a huge sacrifice to your enjoyment of life.
 
Nitefly said:
Further to this, yes people can put themselves onto the property ladder with hard work and saving but it is often at a gross cost to their everyday life post purchase if they have to move to the arse end of nowhere.

Sure I may have been able to scrimp for years to get a small place in Hereford and have a wonderful hour plus commute every day and move away from all my friends but, really, who wants to do that? It would be a huge sacrifice to your enjoyment of life.
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Exactly, I get fed up of people saying that you should just move away. Maybe they come from a dump and getting outs an escape, but we are in a decent part of London where my brother has spent his entire life, it’s very handily placed near shops, restaurants and all our friends and family are here. None of us wants to move away, my brother included.

I think the loft extensions a good idea. This house will be worth nearly half a million by the time my brother comes to inherit it.
 
I moved out at 21, straight into renting a flat by my self. My parents had a rule that the children had to move out and stand on their own two feet once they hit £22,000 per year. I didn't really agree with this but it forced me to grow up. I moved into a shared house just over 18 months later as I found it too expensive and I was not able to effectively save. I stayed in the share house for 6 1/2 years. Started there with my ex and finished there last summer with my current partner. I reckon it took us about 2 years to clear the small amount of debt we had and save up the deposit while paying full renting costs. We really cut back on expenses though and have not had a proper holiday since 2015. But last year we bought our first house, a large 4 bed detached house so it was worth it in the end. We could have bought earlier but we were fortunate enough to be in a position to be able to get better first house so decided to sit it out and save.

We have lots of friends who are currently "saving" to get a house. Problem is that they are not fully committed and still book expensive holidays, buy designer clothes and run expensive cars. It is possible to get the deposit but you gotta make sacrifices and I feel like a lot of people lack the discipline required.
 
MG42Maniac said:
We have lots of friends who are currently "saving" to get a house. Problem is that they are not fully committed and still book expensive holidays, buy designer clothes and run expensive cars. It is possible to get the deposit but you gotta make sacrifices and I feel like a lot of people lack the discipline required.
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Question is does forgoing these things materially help them to be able to afford a house? - the answer could be surprisingly varied depending on circumstances and just how expensive those things are.
 
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In 2004 at the age of 24 I bought my first house with my ex wife for £85k. It was a do-er-uper, ex council house on a partially still council estate. We got a 100% mortgage.

15 years later Im now 39, divorced and renting for 10 years now. I have saved about a 10% deposit but a similar house to what i got 15 yrs ago is simply not there. I spotted two on rightmove just last week around the £140-£160k mark (both still needing work) and they both sold before I could even view them. And the trouble is that if interest rates were to increase a couple percent the mortgage on £150k that is affordable now, would not be, let alone finding cash to replace bathrooms and kitchens.

Another partner would instantly make it affordable and would probably double my budget. If youre single at any age its incredibly difficult and there is little hope for younger people these days.

Whatever has happened to make house prices rise so much needs to be undone or reversed because this simply isnt sustainable.
 
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