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Cost of houses, Is it too much


Craig855S

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McRic I don't know how you do it..I really don't. In fact I can hardly believe that its possible to keep all bills paid while keeping food in your bellies and cars on the road on the change from the mortgage

 

With all due respect you must squander a hell of an amount of cash or have expensive interests? Neither of us smoke and we rarely drink. We do like the occasional meal out. Both our cars are paid for (58 Corsa cdti and 96 Golf Vr6 highline) we still have the running costs of both though.

 

That leaves Council tax, elec, gas, phone, tv licence, life insurance, buildings and contents insurance, broadband, sky, 2 x mobiles, kids classes (art and toddlers) food and you'll be able to relate to the addition of nappies, wipes etc on the grocery shopping!

 

It aint an easy task by any means. You earn about 3k a year more than me, if I had that things would be easier for sure.

 

If you calculated your absolute essential outgoings I bet you'd be amazed at whats left which you use as luxuries.

 

On an upnote the wife goes back to work the end of this year so things will be easier.

 

PS Little lad was born 08.01.08 and we've been on one wage since then, obviously had maternity pay initially but once she goes back we've been 2 years unpaid (through choice obviously)

 

Got a few extra bills a month to pay off mate such as a credit car (paying over 100 quid a month to get rid of it ASAP) along with the wifes catalogue which we buy stuff from, that'll be getting down to zero. Once those are gone forever we will have an extra 200 a month to spare. The RAF house rent is 100 quid or so and council tax is 120 (goes out through my pay slip as the RAF pay the council, and i pay the RAF.

 

I think there is a chance we could pay 550 a month off a mortgage and get by,JUST, there would be no annual holidays mind or any large purchases like a new car etc unless we were to get more money.. Wife is pregnant but will be going back to work once the second baby is nearly 1.

 

It all depends on how long you plan on living in the house you want to buy, if your only looking at staying there say for 5 years or so look at an intrest only mortgage, it's not ideal as you never pay off any of the equity, but it is a way on the property ladder and after a couple of years you could possibly use the increased value as the deposit for a re-mortgage.

Just as a comparison i got laid off nearly a year ago and had my mortgage reduced to a intrest only, full mortgage payments were £498 a month, interest only £203 a month, this has worked for me but may not suit everybody.

 

Bryan

 

 

This im curious about, may look into it more..Once youve paid all the intrest off does that mean you can continue paying to repay the value of the house at the time you took the mortgage out?

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The vast majority of my friends are still at home as it's virtually impossible to buy around here on a single income. And we've all got decent jobs too.

 

Problem is I'd never rent.

You could do a house share with one or two friends and get on the ladder early :thumb:

That is an idea we played with briefly but the problem is when one of us gets in a serious relationship. Selling 'your share' would be difficult because you'd both have to agree about selling up and also a price you'd want to sell it for.

 

We agreed pretty early it would get far too messy.

 

My girlfriend and I are in saving mode so we'll see how we are in a couple of years. We want a big deposit on a nice place (and need to save for a possible wedding) so it's home cooked food for a bit yet!

 

Fortunately, my parents live in a decent sized place and we're really close so it's not a problem being at home.

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McRic I don't know how you do it..I really don't. In fact I can hardly believe that its possible to keep all bills paid while keeping food in your bellies and cars on the road on the change from the mortgage

 

With all due respect you must squander a hell of an amount of cash or have expensive interests? Neither of us smoke and we rarely drink. We do like the occasional meal out. Both our cars are paid for (58 Corsa cdti and 96 Golf Vr6 highline) we still have the running costs of both though.

 

That leaves Council tax, elec, gas, phone, tv licence, life insurance, buildings and contents insurance, broadband, sky, 2 x mobiles, kids classes (art and toddlers) food and you'll be able to relate to the addition of nappies, wipes etc on the grocery shopping!

 

It aint an easy task by any means. You earn about 3k a year more than me, if I had that things would be easier for sure.

 

If you calculated your absolute essential outgoings I bet you'd be amazed at whats left which you use as luxuries.

 

On an upnote the wife goes back to work the end of this year so things will be easier.

 

PS Little lad was born 08.01.08 and we've been on one wage since then, obviously had maternity pay initially but once she goes back we've been 2 years unpaid (through choice obviously)

 

Got a few extra bills a month to pay off mate such as a credit car (paying over 100 quid a month to get rid of it ASAP) along with the wifes catalogue which we buy stuff from, that'll be getting down to zero. Once those are gone forever we will have an extra 200 a month to spare. The RAF house rent is 100 quid or so and council tax is 120 (goes out through my pay slip as the RAF pay the council, and i pay the RAF.

 

I think there is a chance we could pay 550 a month off a mortgage and get by,JUST, there would be no annual holidays mind or any large purchases like a new car etc unless we were to get more money.. Wife is pregnant but will be going back to work once the second baby is nearly 1.

 

It all depends on how long you plan on living in the house you want to buy, if your only looking at staying there say for 5 years or so look at an intrest only mortgage, it's not ideal as you never pay off any of the equity, but it is a way on the property ladder and after a couple of years you could possibly use the increased value as the deposit for a re-mortgage.

Just as a comparison i got laid off nearly a year ago and had my mortgage reduced to a intrest only, full mortgage payments were £498 a month, interest only £203 a month, this has worked for me but may not suit everybody.

 

Bryan

 

 

This im curious about, may look into it more..Once youve paid all the intrest off does that mean you can continue paying to repay the value of the house at the time you took the mortgage out?

 

It works the same as a normal mortgage, a 25 year term, then at the end of the 25 years the origonal loan amount is due in full, there are a couple of ways to go, the short term then re-mortgage with a different company for a repayment mortgage and use the equity as your deposit. Stash some money in an isa or similar tax free savings account, but this could possibly affect things like tax credit, pay lumps off the loan amount as and when you can, there probably is a few more choices as to what to do and probably the best thing to do is speak to a independent mortgage adviser/broker or a finincial adviser.

 

Bryan

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As others have said, it's all relative. I decided to do a little checking. I'm not claiming it's remotely scientific, but it helps to give a general idea:

 

In 1957 the average house price was £2170 according to a rather "iffy" looking site.

 

On the same site it says that the average UK male salary in 1959 was £190 a year

 

So using these as ballpark figures, the average UK house was just over 11 times the average salary around 50 years ago.

 

 

In May last year, the Telegraph suggested that the official UK average wage was £24,000, and this site suggests the current UK average house price is £222,000

 

Again, in ballpark terms; the average house price is now just over 9 times the annual average salary.

 

So. In reality the mythical average house price is on a par with, if not a little less expensive than it was 50 years ago.

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I can not get onto the propertly ladder myself & because Martin was registered as living abroad until recently, he was unable to either.

 

So our house is costing us £1k a month rent......... then obviously council tax, water rates, gas, lecky.......

 

So in relation to your topic title:

 

Yes it is, too Fcuking much. :rolleyes:

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Craig I rest my case about squandering cash. On your salary with the small rent etc you pay I'm amazed you've managed to run up a credit card and catalogue on top. This aint a dig I wasted a silly amount of money in my younger years aswell (not meaning that to sound like I'm talking down to you)

 

The thing I'm getting at here is you need to prioristise what's important in life. If it's your own house you'll manage it. If you like luxuries then it'll be that. Take 2 examples, if you tallied what you've soent on varies tropical fish items and your ps3 you'd prob amaze yourself how much these 2 luxuries could have saved you towards a deposit.

 

We're currently on the market to sell our house as we want a 3 or 4 bed detached. The outcome of this has been no fancy holidays last year and we won't get a holiday this year. I have lots I'd like to do to the car but again I can't afford it aswell and moving so I won't.

 

Bottom line it's amazing how far you can spread your money if you're careful.

 

BTW my wife sorts our finances, if I were left to deal with the money we'd be bankrupt by now lol.

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just bought my first house!

 

3 bed semi, with a double garage! for the sum of £117k

 

need some work, bout £10k splashing at it, would be alot more, but do the work myself :)

 

had to put a big deposit down to secure a morgage for myself! but well worth it!

 

Nice one Si :cheers:

 

I think this supports the point that wwwd made:

Depends where you live.

 

In Aberdeen I'd be looking at circa £150k for a one bedroom flat in town, or slightly less in a suburb or less desirable area. Simply an impossibility on my average single wage, even if my credit rating would allow me to get a mortgage, which it doesn't.

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just bought my first house!

 

3 bed semi, with a double garage! for the sum of £117k

 

need some work, bout £10k splashing at it, would be alot more, but do the work myself :)

 

had to put a big deposit down to secure a morgage for myself! but well worth it!

 

Bargain! mines 2 bedroom, 60k more and no garage, but needs zero$ spent on it. The joys of living in the south.

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McRic once I get rid of the credit card and catalogue then ill be saving for a deposit, and using an advance from the RAF of another 8 grand to help my deposit... But another problem would be my credit rating. I'd probably get refused a mortgage...and also. the 550 a month figure I quoted was probably nowhere near what a mortgage round here would cost. To pay off a 170 grand mortgage (say I got together a 15k deposit on a 185 house) then It would probably require a lot more than 550 a month to get it paid off... I'll be seeing an advisor once the above debts are gone
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I could move out if I wanted to live next to an 18 year old scally called 'Dave', who likes shooting up every night and playing music loudly. He also has about 14 kids.

 

The major problem is that I missed the boom. My friend bought a house (in a decent enough area) in 2001 and paid £40k for a two bedroom terrace house, which by today's money is nothing. 2 years later, he moved out and sold his house for £110k! Ever since he's been climbing the ladder and lives in a massive place now.

 

I was f*cking born about 4 years too late.

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Sold my House 4 year ago now ... Best thing I ever did!

 

Prices for Houses are just silly TBH ... Bang for Buck is very low compaired to what can be had around the world.

 

Allot of people now in Negative equity ... I wont be getting back on the Never Never here again ...

 

Next House will be On MST time :cheers:

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