Real Solutions

[Scarlett]

Young people are not going to be able to buy houses. I only just got in in time and I'm in my 30s! What is the solution to this? The government surely must have something up their sleeves, such as 100 year mortgages or sharing the debt?

I want something positive to tell my students!

[VINNY100_2]

here.

Apart from building affordable housing,I suppose a 50 year or even a 100 year mortgage might lesson the monthly payments,but then your children would have to carry on paying.Would they be willing to make such a commitment?

[Scarlett]

I suppose if a house was handed down to me with mortgage still to pay on it, I could either 1) pay it and live in it 2) Rent the house out 3) Sell the house and keep what was left after the mortgage was paid. Same that you would do if any house was left to you when someone dies! I have barely paid any of my mortgage off, but if I left it in a will, the person would still get �60,000 out of it, as that is how much it has gone up in price since I bought it.

[swindontony]

I understand the japanese do this sort of thing, they just past the mortgage onto their next of kin, not too sure if i'm right about this but its something I have heard.

[woofgang]

this is cyclical. My parents generation lived with their parents or in lodgings while they saved up to buy and (mostly) didn't marry until they could afford it. The concept of single young people owning property is new

What Goes around......

[tracymort]

Trouble is if you waited until you could afford it you'd be too old to have children then (or need to then save up for IVF).

[Piper-AK]

If I saved up until I could afford it I reckon I'd be into my tenth reincarnation lol

[BenDToy]

I think first time buyers also need to control their expectations. The media often report stupid comments like "the average house is beyond the reach of most first time buyers". Duh - of course it is. That's why it is the average, because half of the houses are cheaper than this, and these are the ones ftb should be buying, not 4 bed villas or luxury apartments. Previous generations started out with modest properties, and aspired to the average! Also the significance of absolute prices is outdated. At one stage in the late 80s I had a mortgage at (I think) 14%. Consider the implications of that for a ftb today!!

[Miss Zippy]

BenDToy makes a good point. When my parents married in the early 70s, the first property they bought was a mobile home on a caravan site!  I can't see many ftbs wanting to live in that type of property today, although they're v cheap (about �40k and that's down here in the South)!  

[Scarlett]

I also have a friend who is from Singapore, and they all live in a house with a huge extended family. There is no way she would even move out unless she was getting married.

[irisred]

How about not buying a house?

In effect the goverment will take it off you in the end anyway for nursing care or in death duty etc, so what is the point?  They make more than enough money from me already and as I won't get a state pension when i'm older I'm not planning to hand them a house or my hard earned cash upon my death!

Slighly unrealistic rant over!

[grizzly bear]

I think the solution is to vote for another government party and get Tony Blair the UK wrecker out!!  Did you know that stamp duty came about during the war to raise extra money for the government and when it was over they decided it was such a money spinner to keep it going!!  OK so that's not Tony's fault, but I just don't like the smug little so and so!!

[Woodsz]

If anyone thinks it was easy for the people that own houses today to get on the property ladder think again. The price of a house was a lot less but so were our salaries.  We had to go without a lot of things to save up for a deposit When we had found a house we could afford we had to rely on second hand furnisher and the likes We made do without Mobile phones, Cars, DVDs, PS games, Drinking binges, Holidays, Fashionable Clothes etc. etc.
to get a deposit and so will the young ones. Sorry if this sounds a bit snug but it was no easy ride for us either   

[woofgang]

well said woodsz!

[DannyK]

When we bought our first house 12 years ago, it was just as huge commitment as it is now. Although the price was a mere 52k all we got was a tiny starter home and it took almost all of our salary's to pay the mortgage each month. I do think that when ftb's buy a home now they are looing at much more than we were, they now want 3 bedrooms! Not only that but they want a car each, computer and broadband, sky tv, mobile phones.... all of which only became a possibility for us after about 5 years!

Our slicitor said something that we have never forgotten, and that was no matter what, even if you can only afford only to eat tesco value beans, you must pay your mortgage, and she was right. If you want to own your own home - you have to go without things these days.

As you get older, things will change, you'll have more disposable income. You simply can't have it all, at once.