Whats the secret to owning your own house

[Rare Bird]

Both the wife & myself work full time but still cannot afford a mortgage?

How are people doing it?

[DSJR]

Our way came at a huge price - losing both parents. I "bought" my first house as the early 90's market was dropping and could never do it now, even with inflation adjusted wages, as the price of similar properties in Luton are now triple the value they were twenty years ago.

For us, unless we're extremely careful, the only way is down :(

[Thing Fish]

I managed to buy my first flat for £59,000 many years ago. I had a good job and was earning a lot more than I am now.

My house came later with a deposit made when I sold the flat.

These days I would never be able to own my own place.

Have you thought about part rent part buy Andre...?

[Rare Bird]

I was looking at one of those house type portable holiday home things in Lancashire, they look nice enough & cheap, they are livable on the place for 12 months now. i just need to get away from everybody if it means a new job so be it..

[MartinT]

As others have said, luck and a lump of money through a loss. I couldn't even get the mortgage I have now because they don't do them any more. As it is, I won't own my house by the time I retire.

As far as I can see, going further north seems to be the only way to get the prices down.

[DaveK]

Not being (deliberately) rude Andre' but I think you've left it a bit late now to ask this question. Speaking personally, we started very early and it meant sacrificing a lot of pleasures to put down the deposit and keep paying the mortgage, particularly when, 3 years later we had a couple of kids to add to the burden. Now retired, mortgage and freehold fully paid, we can look back at last and say all the sacrifices were worth while. Having said all that, we are still living in the same house 44 years later, never having felt financially confident or motivated enough to move.
I know it don't help but that's how we did it and I suspect many others did the same.
And topping yourself might solve your problems but will cause a lot more for Sheryl so don't evn think about it mate. :).
Dave.

[Jonboy]

A big deposit is a must now days, the problem is that the rental market is quite boyant and prices for renting are getting steep which means you are paying a lot for rent and not being able to have a bit of spare cash to save for a deposit for your own morgage so you end up stuck in the rental market, catch 22 :(

I don't know the answer really, i know a lot of the new age traveller types have given up with the coverted vans and bought a narrow boat where you get a lot of free benifits by living on a canal, or as you have already said a mobile home on a pernament site.

A down side to these is that they tend to be used down our way for social housing ie slappers with a kid or 3 by umpteen diffent blokes waiting for a council house, but best we not go there

[Thing Fish]

I do feel for people trying to buy nowdays. How the up and comming genaration will cope baffles me?

For example a young geezer leaving univercity with £30,000 of debt will need about £40,000 deposit for a flat. They are around £70,000 down before they even start and with minimal work around how is that going to work...!!!???

[Welder]

Buying a house, possibly one of the worst decisions I’ve made in my life and I've made some corkers!
It cost me a fortune and I don’t even get to live in it.
Sure, it will provide a few quid when I’m even more barking and unsafe than I already am but what’s the point of having money then. I’m already at that stage in life where I look at what can be bought and think why bother; I don’t really want it and I certainly don’t need it :mental:

[Wakefield Turntables]

Both the wife & myself work full time but still cannot afford a mortgage?

How are people doing it? If i don't get out of this place i'll end up topping myself. :steam:

Why not buy a canal boat then? No council tax, no stupid large fuel bills, no rent to pay. Space is your only problem, but you could downsize, flog everything pay your bills, buy your boat and then have some spare wonga for vinyl, problem solved. By the way, topping yourself is not the way out, think about the ones your leaving behind mate. ;)

[anthonyTD]

hi Andre,
i am also like many others here, i bought [ on a mortgage] my house way back in 1985, for years i lived on my own and didnt have a pot to p**s in for a number of years to follow, but as time went on things started to get easier, and eventualy i was able to get above things and finaly pay everything off.
However, if you look at the big picture, " do we ever realy own anything" we are born into this world with nothing, and we leave with nothing,anything we gain while we are here is a lend, unless you have children to leave your worldly aquired things to then, who gets it ? Even if you have children, chances are, they wont value things the way you did while you were alive, so my advice to you would be, find a place where you would realy like to live, somewhere that suits your lifestyle,and if you take on board my sentiments above, it wont matter wether its rented or owned.
hope this helps mate, we all get times when we feel like you obviously do at the moment, try and stay positive, and if you need to change your situation to be able to cope then do so, we only have one life here, dont let it get the better of you,try your best to get the better of it.:)
Anthony,TD...

[Covenant]

A years hard saving got me my first house deposit, moved five years later into a victorian vicarage. Lovely but run down. After five years I was fed up with renovating it but knew it would be difficult to sell, so I got planning permission to convert it into a nursing home. Flogged it and bought some land in a decent area. Designed and project managed the house we are in now. Almost mortage free but its not worth paying off with rates so low.
I wish I had done the same thing a few times, would have had a few bob in the bank.

[YNWaN]

The secret to 'owning' your own house seems to be being able to persuade the banks to lend you a large sum of money - and a lot of that is related to your credit rating and income. The biggest problem is that since the world economy collapsed, the bank's have gone right off the whole idea of lending money against property. The only way to buy a house now is to have a good percentage of deposit - ie cash in hand. Once you own the house it probably wont cost you much more than renting (unless you sign up for a poor mortgage deal). The first house I ever owned I rented two of the rooms out and that paid for the mortgage until my wage was sufficiently high, I also borrowed the deposit from family and paid that back over five years with the money from the lodgers.

I own a number of houses - sort of, The truth is that the mortgage company owns them significantly more than I do (including the one I live in!).