Owning your home.

blumoonrisen said:
Ok. I've been looking at this thread throughout the day, and have seen some absolute nonsense posted as to why it's impossible for young people today to get on the housing ladder. It's called a ladder for a reason, you start at the bottom and work your way up.
For the record I've been in the building trade for 40yrs, mainly renovation and buying and selling houses for myself and numerous friends and customers.
My advice is this for anyone in full time work. Buy a cheap terrace, there are many in the greater Manchester available for around the 80k mark that are structurally sound, mortgagable and need some tlc. Yes, they may not be in areas you prefer to live in.
For a 95% mortgage this will require around 4k deposit plus legal fees of 2-3k. The monthly payment is around 400 a month, a weeks wage, as it was years ago.
Learn some basic DIY skills and be prepared to rough it for a couple of years. After that you will likely be sitting on at least 20k profit. Sell and repeat. Do this a couple of times and you won't look back.
Forget buying 250k houses that require ridiculous deposits that take years of saving for that are out of reach for most.
Do it when you're young.
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Absolutely bang on blumoonrisen.

In our first house we washed dishes in our bathroom and had our 'kitchen' in our bedroom for months while we saved up and renovated downstairs.

I was away at 7am and back at around 7pm every day working and found it difficult to muster any enthusiasm to start demolishing a wall or cleaning off bricks to build a large fireplace when I got home, but most nights I had to. No matter how hard we tried, dust got everywhere, but it was all well worth it in the long run. Not sure I'd want to do it now though. Too old. :)
 
Slipper One said:
Absolutely bang on blumoonrisen.

In our first house we washed dishes in our bathroom and had our 'kitchen' in our bedroom for months while we saved up and renovated downstairs.

I was away at 7am and back at around 7pm every day working and found it difficult to muster any enthusiasm to start demolishing a wall or cleaning off bricks to build a large fireplace when I got home, but most nights I had to. No matter how hard we tried, dust got everywhere, but it was all well worth it in the long run. Not sure I'd want to do it now though. Too old. :)
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Correct mate. We also lived in a single bedroom upstairs whilst I got on with getting downstairs habitable. Took months but got there in the end.
 
blumoonrisen said:
My advice is this for anyone in full time work. Buy a cheap terrace, there are many in the greater Manchester available for around the 80k mark that are structurally sound, mortgagable and need some tlc. Yes, they may not be in areas you prefer to live in.
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I get the general point, but I've just searched Greater Manchester on Rightmove. Set it to 2 bedroom terrace, semi or detached. No buying schemes, etc. The houses that come up at that price are either a guide price for an auction (i.e. will go for way more), cash-buyers only, sold with a sitting tenant, are leasehold, or have already received an offer above the asking price. I can't find a single house on there in Greater Manchester that is a straight up freehold property available for £80k or less. And even if you can find one that's a complete shithole, you'll probably have to borrow more than the £80k to get it into a liveable state. My parents' house was £17k in 1997, but they had to get a £25k mortgage to get it into shape. And my step dad is a qualified electrician with loads of trade mates he could get to do favours for him.

And let's not forget the cost of commuting from somewhere like Wigan with the rip off trains or petrol prices in the UK nowadays.
 
I'm With Stupid said:
I get the general point, but I've just searched Greater Manchester on Rightmove. Set it to 2 bedroom terrace, semi or detached. No buying schemes, etc. The houses that come up at that price are either a guide price for an auction (i.e. will go for way more), cash-buyers only, sold with a sitting tenant, are leasehold, or have already received an offer above the asking price. I can't find a single house on there in Greater Manchester that is a straight up freehold property available for £80k or less. And even if you can find one that's a complete shithole, you'll probably have to borrow more than the £80k to get it into a liveable state. My parents' house was £17k in 1997, but they had to get a £25k mortgage to get it into shape. And my step dad is a qualified electrician with loads of trade mates he could get to do favours for him.

And let's not forget the cost of commuting from somewhere like Wigan with the rip off trains or petrol prices in the UK nowadays.
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There are plenty of houses in somewhere like Oldham that are currently available for 80k. Yes, buying at auction usually requires a cash sale so obv rule that out.
I'm currently doing some work for a young couple that have just bought their first house for 70k, they are more than happy to spend the next couple of years getting it up to scratch bit by bit as they can afford the materials, buying used kitchen units and bathrooms etc. Fair play to them.
 
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I'm With Stupid said:
I get the general point, but I've just searched Greater Manchester on Rightmove. Set it to 2 bedroom terrace, semi or detached. No buying schemes, etc. The houses that come up at that price are either a guide price for an auction (i.e. will go for way more), cash-buyers only, sold with a sitting tenant, are leasehold, or have already received an offer above the asking price. I can't find a single house on there in Greater Manchester that is a straight up freehold property available for £80k or less. And even if you can find one that's a complete shithole, you'll probably have to borrow more than the £80k to get it into a liveable state. My parents' house was £17k in 1997, but they had to get a £25k mortgage to get it into shape. And my step dad is a qualified electrician with loads of trade mates he could get to do favours for him.

And let's not forget the cost of commuting from somewhere like Wigan with the rip off trains or petrol prices in the UK nowadays.
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With the greatest respect I'm with stupid, don't sit at your computer and hope life comes to you, put your bloody coat on and get out there and see what's about. Walk the streets, talk to people and get a feel for an area and the market. Anybody selling privately?

"probably have to borrow more than 80k to get it into a liveable state"

As long as it's a roof over your head, it can be liveable. You don't need to spend all the money upfront, you can do it a bit at a time and if you are well connected trade wise (which I wasn't), then you're halfway there.

Get it up to scratch and then sell it on and reinvest in another. You'll have spent your money on a mortgage and renovations and have something to show in return, rather than pay your monthly rent for somebody else to benefit from.




 
Dirty Harry said:
I’m similar, was paying £600 a month rent, with a big deposit, invested it buying a place down the road (pretty much same style house too), mortgage is £150 -£200, so around £5,000 a year savings, makes no sense for me to rent at all.
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Renting is a socialist's dream, zero control over ones own life
Slipper One said:
With the greatest respect I'm with stupid, don't sit at your computer and hope life comes to you, put your bloody coat on and get out there and see what's about. Walk the streets, talk to people and get a feel for an area and the market. Anybody selling privately?

"probably have to borrow more than 80k to get it into a liveable state"

As long as it's a roof over your head, it can be liveable. You don't need to spend all the money upfront, you can do it a bit at a time and if you are well connected trade wise (which I wasn't), then you're halfway there.

Get it up to scratch and then sell it on and reinvest in another. You'll have spent your money on a mortgage and renovations and have something to show in return, rather than pay your monthly rent for somebody else to benefit from.
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he can then buy me a plane ticket and I’ll come over there and drink tea like a good English builder :)
 
idahoblues said:
Renting is a socialist's dream, zero control over ones own life

he can then buy me a plane ticket and I’ll come over there and drink tea like a good English builder :)
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Tea is for brickies. Wouldn't even swing the estwing if I was offered tea. Coffee is the stuff of proper chippies.
 
Everyone on my grandads Street Beresford Moss Side was offered to buy their house for 500 each if they all agreed.

Them houses are 200k plus now. You think anyone these days will ever see that kind of increase in the future not a chance. Housing market has been completely ruined by the greedy.
 
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