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Before I retired I used to work 18 to 20 hours a day for up to 90 days, then take unpaid leave.
I was always taught that if you didn't have the money, you could not afford it. I have also believed that a house was a home & not an investment.
I have never been on the dole or had anything on Hire Purchase.
If I am lucky I will die before my savings run out.

Not sure I agree. The rising price of property is what enabled those with foresight to do this.



More fool the banks for agreeing to the loan when really they should have been helping people like this manage their money better. But from their point of view, the banks are in the business of making money.



You're throwing good money after bad into something you won't necessarily see a return on. Now if you're not that way inclined then fair enough but in my opinion property is both an investment and an asset. I'm very much from a property background though so I can see why you might say this.

The idea of renting to me if something you do until such a time as you can afford to get on the property ladder.

In general, there's money to be made in property if you are willing to take a risk. The people I work with on a daily basis and indeed my family have what they have today because they took risks. They didn't settle for 'comfortable' and in return for this risk they could have lost everything many times over. Many have and I've seen it first hand.

Risk is directly linked to return and the property market is a classic example.

Those of you sat in your rented houses are less susceptible to the changes in economy. Those of us who have money tied up in property, those that have taken the risks, are finding it even more difficult these days.

An example being a client of mine who owned many retail units around the country with a lot of them occupied by Woolworths.

They have commercial loans that need repaying without receiving any rent and with empty rates liabilities and other bills.

Renting is the safe, but ultimately boring road to nothingness (in the opinion of a property professional).

But my response was to whether or not renting appears to be stigmatised and I maintain that it is. I think that home owners tend to regard themselves as a better class than tenants and that should not be the case. I'm sure that most people would prefer to buy their house as opposed to renting it but this is why I started this thread. It has become almost impossible for young people to purchase a property unless their parents are wealthy enough to provide them with a deposit or they can save for one and pay rent simultaneously.

Unless they live with their parents whilst saving for the deposit?

I suppose that depends on whether the parents can afford to subsidise their keep though.

Stigma or not, those on lower incomes have to rent as they can't afford to save for a deposit. The level of income in which you are able to buy a house fluctuates depending on house price, it's always been like that, it's just higher at the moment.

I guess the stigma will disappear in time.

I think the worst part of all of this is that house prices at the moment are so very low that if you had money to one side then you could probably purchase a house for a reasonable amount, meaning a foot in the door for those looking to get on the property ladder and from Nobody's point of view also a nice little investment when the prices go back up.
But it's swings and roundabouts - if you're renting you can't afford to put a decent amount aside each month to save for a deposit (well, I know I can't!), and more than likely by the time I would have saved the prices will have gone up.
How gutted am I that I didn't put 30K aside all those years ago in anticipation of the housing crash?! lol

Its not just those trying to buy there 1st house that are frustrated with things... We bought our 1st house at the very peak of the market in the beginning of 2007, (Oh how i wish we'd waited till the prices crashed!) We would now very much like to move due to kids sharing a room etc (even if it meant going back to renting for a few years) we only ever intended to 'get our foot on the ladder' and stay about 4 years but we can't move because we are now in negative equity by quite a substantial amount! ... I don't look down on those renting, i wish i was... At least i could move when i wanted to! Haha

looks like i will still be renting for a few years after i finish uni!!!

We bought our first house in 1991 - 100% mortgage, my husband earned £12,000 a year back then - just out of apprenticeship, the house price was £29,000 - it was very basic but it was ours

<for this I mean it was a car crash>

Did it up and sold it to my parents in 2003 for £43,000 - and in return we bought their house for £110,000 - they moved abroad - they then sold my old house to my brother for £45,000 so we are all winners

I now have 6 children that I need to provide for in their adulthood so the pile of bricks I'm living in and enjoying will need to be upkept because this will be their inheritance

Its unlikely that despite Uni eduacation that my kids will be able to get themselves a property of their own without selling this old pile

Low inflation has a lot to answer for, your mortgage payments traditionally stayed the same throughout the period of your mortgage. You started off with a mortgage which was a millstone around your neck but after a few years of reasonable pay rises (due to inflation), the mortgage would become easily manageable and further down the line the payments were a pittance.

Our financial stability lay in factors like that coming into play, but this incessant low-inflation policy stagnates and destabilises everything - except the lenders whose interest rates don't move in proportion to inflation.

Aye we were on a fixed mortgage a 2.5% I seem to remember - then we were forced to take a variable mortgage - we were still quids up - given the proportion of inflation

We would have been far better off staying were we where looking back - my brother owns the house now and his bills are so low - ours are fooking magnificent - its a case of telling a cold child to put another pair of socks on or wear another jumper - we can't afford to put the heating on

Standard council mortgages used to be 6% for many many years, but even when mortgages were 12%, inflation and pay rises were greater than that.

I don't understand how mortgages used to be less than inflation, but when inflation drops they suddenly become greater than inflation - talk about a money spinner.

Maybe it was 5% I cant really remember but it was certainly less than the national rate now ...gah ..I'm such an old gimmer

NO I have just been TOLD that it was 12% by my lovely - soon to be divorced - husband - you were right Digiingdeeper - my apologies x

Not quite sure what to say about that, I'm in 2 year the process myself.

How about ...
Sorry to hear your disappointment and well done for moving forward... that seems about right.

The 12% was just an example figure from when I got my first mortgage so it was just concidental.

Im in a really lucky position where I've nearly paid my mortgage off and I an considering buying another house purely to rent. With this house I'm using it as inheritance for my kids(who are still quite young) if they want to go to uni, as they would be coming out with 30k of debt each before even trying to buy their own home.

I personally can't think of any other way to help them.