how do you get a foot hold in life?

[shiato storm]

if it helps i'm going to be looking to buy my first house...when I'm 63...!

[Zedmeister]

The way things are going, renting is the only option open to most people. Tis a ridiculous state of affairs that the average man can't afford the average house...

[0iD]

House prices have gone absolutely nuts in the past 5/6 years. Me & the mrs purchased out house in '99 for 52k. We wanted Colchester, but we found the same size house (3 Bed Semi) a bit out of town in Brantham for 10k less so we said 'what the hell' & bought it. This week, the house opposite which is a mirror image of ours is selling for £178k. thats an increase of approx 342.5%

Now how the hell are my kids going to afford a foothold on the property ladder when they're old enough? I mean, reletively speaking, the eldest is nearly 13 so not that long. It's just fundamenally wrong.

The only other option is that we change our tradition of home owning & renting becomes the norm.

[tiggerai]

The stupid thing being that the rents that you pay are about the same as a mortgage anyway, it's just you can't get anyone to lend the money.
I've got another year and a half before i need to look into things more closely, but it's not going to be fun. (i hope that the house prices come down before then)
but being priced out of 92% of the country, having close to £16k in debt at 23 and maybe not even a state pension when i retire is making this generation seem like it's been ripped off right royally. (Expletive deleted Labour)

[iMc]

I think renting is the norm at least for the people I know. I don't think I know anyone under the age of 30 who owns a house, not because they dont want to, because it is impossible to afford. Really makes me worry seeing as I only have 18 months of Uni left then I need to start paying proper rent.

[nichomach]

I agree w/0iD; it looks as though the market may be levelling off, but I honestly think there's got to be some sort of controls put on the amount that mortgage lenders can lend. Sure, the ability to get a mortgage for 6 times your salary or whatever might get your toe on the ladder, but the net effect of that is that prices rise to accomodate the additional purchasing power, and salaries are NOT keeping pace with that. We bought ours for £65k a few years ago. It's got to be worth more than double that now, and Preston prices are still behind the national average. I'm not opposed to the idea of renting becoming the norm, but that still doesn't help if, in order to cover the mortgage on the rented property, the owner has to put the rent sky-high too.

[nichomach]

...but being priced out of 92% of the country, having close to £16k in debt at 23 and maybe not even a state pension when i retire is making this generation seem like it's been ripped off right royally. (Expletive deleted Labour)

I'd point the finger at the government that forced the sell-off of vast tracts of affordable council housing and made it illegal for councils to reinvest the proceeds back into additional housing stocks, myself. I'm not opposed to the right-to-buy, but forbidding the construction of more homes from the proceeds was one of the stupidest most short-sighted ideologically motivated cock-ups in living memory.

edit: ...aside from railway privatisation.

[Rave]

....and Labour's various PFI schemes. Anyway, it looks as if the government is finally starting to take the problem seriously according to the news over the weekend, although who will qualify for one of the new cheap houses built on government owned land I'm not sure. I hope it's not just idle posturing, because I would also like to be able to buy a house before I'm 50.

Rich :¬)

[shiato storm]

Labour has f*ed this country up nicely, robbed us blind, taken us to a needless war - still robbing us blind for funding said war, pushing 'education, education education' cause they know it keeps people off the job market (therefore unemployment SEEMS low but its in fact quite high), robbing students blind (because of education and the 'Need' to go to university) and running everyone into a debt they can't possibly repay...let alone start a life once they've finished their precious 'education'.
*two fingers...and perhaps two more*

lets summarise this into a few short words:
Get out Labour, you're wasting our money and lives with pointless ventures with little gains and huge losses.

[ArmagoN]

I know how most of you feel, im 19 and moving out to my GF's soon (luckily has her own flat) but i need to get a job in IT as its the thing i do best.

I have found looking for training jobs is probably the best thing to do, i have found a Job configuring CISCO switches. i get trained how to do it on a 1st line position and i get a 6K increase after 4 months.

Housing market is one of the most stressful things i could ever think about. its ridiculous that its like 140K for a 2 bed house and thats tiny !!!! RAR

[TiG]

stop talking rubbish, governments are just as bad as each other, tory, labour, they are all the same. I find the talk here rather depressing, are you all self defeatists?, is the glass half empty?.

You just need to work hard and want to succeed to make it. less than 5 years after uni, i've no debt, after paying for myself through uni (no i wasn't rich, neither are my parents, i worked hard before uni to pay for it as a cleaner)

Still came out from uni with 2k in debt. (after spening 15k in 3yrs, worked every summer) i'm now on loads more than the average wage and its certainly possible to do. Sure i work in application development rather than IT support or web programming. But in my time in the IT industry i've certainly seen more jobs recently then when i left Uni in summer 2000.

Pointing fingers at the government doesn't help you get jobs, or earn money to afford a house.

TiG

[Rave]

Yeah, but not everyone's as talented at what they do as you TiG. Just because you've done it doesn't mean everyone can. In my own way I'm a clever guy but I'm not good at anything that anyone wants to pay good money for.

Rich :¬)

Edit: not yet anyway

[shiato storm]

Pointing fingers at the government doesn't help you get jobs, or earn money to afford a house.

maybe not, but they've got a lot to answer for since hiking up student fees they then naff off to war...correlation>?
I could use my education to show you a pretty graph but then thats a bit over-kill.

I am fortunate enough to be well placed, in that I could get somewhere if I wanted - granted not the largest place on the planet but enough to live in - I have also been through 2 degrees, one of which I got a scholarship to do so cost was negligable...that said I don't agree with why the younger generation should be used/abused in such a way that prevents us from getting a good start in life such as decent housing. which many [read: all] politicians probably have...its a bit like pulling up the drawbridge once you're across.
Ok, so they keep announcing 'new cheap housing' but really, its housing on huge estates with a constant cold feel to it with ziltch character, walls of paper, plastic windows and dodgy quick-fixed plumbing. no thanks. oh and its not that cheap...

[Zedmeister]

Indeed, I am ashamed to say I still live at home, even though I am 25! Reasons? Not because it's cushy. I desperatly need my own space. I am in Job where I get paid peanuts and as for moving to rent my own house? Forget it...

[shiato storm]

sign of the times, you spend 3/4yrs doing degrees and such and stil end up bottom of the ladder, where as the kid who missed out Uni altogether is several steps ahead of you, earning loads, no overhanging debt and doing fine thank you very much!...

[[GSV]Trig]

I find the talk here rather depressing, are you all self defeatists?, is the glass half empty?.

Depends if your filling it up or emptying it....