How do you do it?

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Soldato
Joined
10 Mar 2006
Posts
11,351
Location
East Lancs
At the end of June I'll be 21. I'll be 21 and still living at home with my parents and my girlfriend.

I've been dreaming of moving out for a long time now and the more I look at the figures the more I want to keel over and die. I really feel worthless becasue I just don't have enough money to even think about living some sort of decent life which I could remotely enjoy.

I earn 12.5k a year at the moment and I really don't see that changing much in the very near future. I am qualified upto A level stage and I went to uni for a while but it really wasn't for me. I finished uni and went into a full time job which was 12.5k a year. The problem was is that this job was 40 miles each way, and it was the only thing going for that money. To get there I had to buy a reliable car, so thats cost me 5.5k over 3 years, I have gone through 1 year of that already.

I stuck it out for 4 months untill I was practically forced to leave after they realised I wasn't really "one of them". They practised bad business and I hated it, I made sure I left on good terms before being sacked, just to keep my CV clean.

After doing some odds and ends of contract work I'm now working locally on the same wage at a nice relaxed job. It's a small business and I really enjoy it. We all get along and the business is growing in income quite fast, so I stand in good stead to go up the ladder faster.

I have a girlfriend of over a year and we are both pretty much going to get married one day, without a doubt, I love her and thats that. At the moment shes working too but becasue of the scase jobs in my area shes had to settle for a modern apprenteship at Thompsons (travel agents), which pays a measly £80 week from Tony Blairs back pocket. This goes up in July to £120 becasue he'll be over 19 and in her 2nd year. After 2 years she might or might not be taken on by the company, and it might or might not be the shop shes in now. Shes doing this after doing 2 years at college studying the same thing. What a waste of time and a way to get cheap labour, makes me sick.

Now, where I live, the average house price is £110k for a terraced property in the town I work. How does a young couple totalling an income of just under £20k afford a mortgage for 110k, the leccy, counsil tax, gas, water, food, tv licsense, broadband, phone, and any scope of keeping a bit on the side for this that and the other. Never mind furnishing the place and other little bits like life and home insurance. I'm also paying for my car and car insurance.

I've thought of renting, but the situation remains the same, but you're just throwing money away and you lose the scope of being able to save on top of that if you want to buy somewhere in the future, unless you score big on the lottery or your folks die and leave you a fortune.

I think its mostly down to the area I live in I think. The precious Ribble Valley name comes with a price tag. I couldn't imagine living somewhere else. I've been brought up in the middle of nowhere and I love it. Even moving out a little from the area and it's still just as much and the area is more built up and dodgy.

What I'm asking here really is can anyone help me with some genuine advice? Most here I notice are a little older than myself and must have gone through the same or maybe be in the business. There is only so long I can stand living at home in my room.
 
In short, you can't.

You need to look at buying a small flat on that kind of salary. Then build up from that. If you can't afford the property, then factoring in boradband and other such luxuries at this stage is jumping the gun somewhat.
 
Are there any council houses in your area? I moved out into a 2 bedroom council flat and the rent was only £180/month + council tax. Granted I was on the waiting list for almost 7 years before I was offered, however if your a couple (or apply as a couple) and pester them (get your parents to kick you out) you could probably get moved up the list faster. Seems the people who pester the council around here get houses pretty rapidly!

Otherwise you're going to have to do what I did, work your way up to a better salary and rent whilst you try to save up for a mortgage. Fortunately living in central scotland house prices aren't insane yet, I'm guessing down your way they are though :(
 
renting is such a waste imo, giving your money to someone else is fine if you can quietly save some money also.
 
Keep plugging. If you're desperate to move out, rent. It's a stop gap whilst you and the missus find ways to pay a mortgage and find money for the upkeep of your own property.
Renting can be seen as 'throwing money away'. But having your own independence and discovering the costs of life on your own pays back for this fairly quickly - without the need to worry about the hidden (and sometimes substantial) costs of keeping ones own home worth living in.

Once you have established yourself in your current employment, and perhaps when you are earning more money between you, you can look into getting a mortgage.

In a round about way I am saying don’t discount renting so hastily. It’s a viable option, and having options in life is good.


Also, you stated that the average house price in your town is £110,000. Don't look at average house prices.
 
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As above really, on that sort of money you will get nothing, I am lookin at moving out when I get a graduate job sorted (24k approx), and I will be looking at either buy a house with friends or buying a small flat at around 80k.

KaHn
 
luckily i dont really mind living with my parents. it'd be unrealistic of me to consider moving out in my current financial situation (i only have myself to blame!) but i've set a goal salary and i'm working towards it. as soon as i hit that salary, i'm going to start looking for people who might want to flat/rent share.
 
i just stayed at home til 23 and saved loads, same with my g/f.

we finally bought our own place but does cost a LOT not just mortgage but all the other stuff easily comes to £1000 a month if not more.

guess you justgotta slowly build to it, is worth it in the end though, think you'll appriciate it more :)
 
I don't even want to think about it. I'm going to have to go through all this in a couple of years when I finish my degree. Hopefully i'll be able to get some well paying job (fingers crossed) and things will fall into place. I've also begun discussing moving into a shared house with some good friends after university. I'll have to see how this all unfolds though. Would anyone say it's getting harder to move out on your own now or has it always been difficult?
 
On your own - Impossible. Always has been [/controversial]

Flat-share = easy, or rather not easy, but certainly do-able if you're willing to give up a lot of creature comforts that come with living at home.

Weigh up financial benefits of staying at home with the personal benefit of moving out then use that to decide.

Or move somewhere with more opportunities, weighing up the potential financial gains with the change in scenery etc.

Life is a matter of compromise, if you do find a well-paying job, in a lovely quiet area, with cheap house prices, please let me know so I can apply. :cool:
 
Rich_L said:
Life is a matter of compromise, if you do find a well-paying job, in a lovely quiet area, with cheap house prices, please let me know so I can apply. :cool:
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if i find that job, i'm going to kill you in case you apply for it! :p
 
I would really recommend going back to uni, maybe you didn’t find a course that suited you? There are loads of courses to choose from so I am sure there must be something that would pique your interest. Once you have your degree you can expect a significantly higher salary than 12.5k.

Just my two cents.
 
richyfingers said:
I would really recommend going back to uni, maybe you didn’t find a course that suited you? There are loads of courses to choose from so I am sure there must be something that would pique your interest. Once you have your degree you can expect a significantly higher salary than 12.5k.

Just my two cents.
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that's a really backwards way of presenting it. and all this crap about post grads being on big bucks is a bit idyllic too. not 1 of my friends has walked out of uni on over £16k. so basically what you're telling him is to rack up a wad of debt going back through uni, just to be a few £k p.a. better off than he is now?!
 
I was lucky when I moved out, house prices had just slumped and I had just managed to get a job that at the time was paying a decent wage (£12k), it was a house that needed completely gutting and re-decorating, new bathroom, central heating and kitchen, but with a lot of hard work and some good friends (we did 90% of the work ourselves) it was habitable. We stayed there for about 5 years at which time the house prices had increased a lot so me made a nice profit and that enabled us to take the next step up the ladder....

I know the above doesnt help you much but 1 thing I will say is I am glad I am not trying to get onto the property ladder at the moment, the rate house prices are increasing compared to wages means that its so much harder at the moment. All you can hope for is a crash in house prices, which I dont really see happening at all in the near future.
 
Sic said:
that's a really backwards way of presenting it. and all this crap about post grads being on big bucks is a bit idyllic too. not 1 of my friends has walked out of uni on over £16k. so basically what you're telling him is to rack up a wad of debt going back through uni, just to be a few £k p.a. better off than he is now?!
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I agree. Not many of my friends that did the uni route are on over 16k. There's so many people at our place temping fresh out of uni as there's no other jobs about and they get the same treatment as me for instance, who quit uni 1st year. Except I've had 2 or 3 extra years experience...

It's scary reading through the OP how many parallels to my own situation there are. Frankly, the only option if you want to buy is to go in with someone else, for something cheap and then build from that.
 
Rent to be honest.

It sucks, but a mortgage is no better. On a big mortgage with huge payments, which is all you'll get on your money, you will only be paying off the interest anyway without making a dent in the actual cost of the house.
 
vonhelmet said:
Rent to be honest.

It sucks, but a mortgage is no better. On a big mortgage with huge payments, which is all you'll get on your money, you will only be paying off the interest anyway without making a dent in the actual cost of the house.
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But you may find that the amount of rent needed will be the same as if you were paying a mortgage, and yes even if the mortgage is interest only the house will still increase in value, meaning that when you come to sell it you will actually have made some money that you can use to step up the property ladder.
 
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