Getting On The Property Ladder

[munkee]

No offence but its not going to happen at all. The bills on their own will rinse you of all your money within the first quarter for example my bills on the house i own (so i dont have to pay rent on top of this unlike you would).

Electric - £290

Gas - £110

Phone - £120

Water -£400? pay yearly off meter

NTL - £55 a month

Broadband - £25 a month

Food - £50+ a week

I have 2 guys living with me who pay rent, i dont have a mortgage to pay off so their rent goes straight in to the bills and to be honest im only just going to even my expenses. Its by no means a easy thing to do and renting isnt putting you on the property ladder, its just putting you in a property. My recommendation is to live at home until you are atleast 21, parents are there for a reason and unless you are kicked out for being a dick or something then you should stay with them as long as you can. I read something a few months ago now in the paper saying how there are loads of 30+ year olds moving back in to houses with their parents just because they cant afford propertys/expenses at the minute. House prices are increasing constantly and dont look to be coming down anytime soon in the near future, if you are planning on buying a house then go to america.

Edited March 16, 2007 by Spacemunkee

[poopipe]

if you are planning on buying a house then go to america.

sounds about right - with 2 of us earning good wages we can't afford to buy anything big enough for us anywhere around here and still have money for beer and nappies.

[JonMack]

If you want to get a job in graphic design please please please go to uni. I wasnt going to but I'm so glad I did, the opportunities it's opened up for me have been huge. Chances are in 2 years time I will be thinking about moving abroad due to work. This November myself, 3 of my uni mates and 1 current uni lecturer are exhibiting our personal project in Slovenia, for Break 2.4 Festival [http://www.break-festival.org/] We're currently working on loads of different ideas for this and basically, its going to be awesome. If i had never gone to uni, this wouldnt have happened, also I wouldnt have met half of the people ive met being at uni, and I wouldnt have as much of a clue about life. Basically uni is amazing, please make the most of your youth. While you're at it, learn to spell WANT.

EDIT: I rent a house and share with 5 guys, here are our expenses per month

Rent: £173 (super cheap, next year we're moving into a different house thats gonna be £260 a month)

Food: about £20 a week each.

Electricity: £10ish a month, each. (Thats 3 fridges, 2 Tvs, 6 computers, 360, Xbox, PS2, Gamecube, SNES, Stereos, etc.)

Gas: £10ish a month, each.

Broadband: £5 a month, each.

We dont have a phone line as we all have mobiles, we dont pay council tax but when they sent us a bill accidently it was... £450 I think, for 3 months, or something like that, so it's not cheap. Also I dont drive, but my mate reckons he spends about £200 a month on insurance, petrol to get to uni, going to supermarket, etc.

Generally I cruise around with my overdraft around -£1000, I have a job where i get £40 a week, and that allows me to go out (but I dont drink or smoke), buy food, top up my phone, get the odd takeaway, etc.) My student loan gets blown and i end up rinsing my overdraft paying shit like rent and bills, then all of a sudden something happens, like we had to find a new house so we had to pay a £260 deposit for it, and then you end up completely screwed for money for a while, until you manage to sell something/take a few nights off from going out.

I'd agree with most people in this thread, live at home until youre 18, go to uni until youre 21/22, then move back home for 6 months/a year and start looking at renting somewhere.

It's not gonna be fun getting on the property ladder, that's for sure, especially not when youre in a young relationship.

Edited March 16, 2007 by MonsterJ

[OD404]

The idea of moving in together is a somewhat romantic one, but in reality is very different. Cheaper accomodation will usually mean there are more things to go wrong (cheap furniture, poor upkeep etc) which while if you are renting is not your responsibility, will make the experience less enjoyable. And going for something of higher quality will obviously leave you with less money to enjoy yourself.

That said the cost of living varies tremendously based on where you are actually going to live. For instance, I live with my girlfriend (of over 3 years now) in Coventry and we budget £400 a month each on living (rent, council tax, tv, bills, food etc) and this is more than enough to sustain a standard of living which is comfortable to say the least. This if you ask me, is bloody good value and I count myself lucky for it as there aren't many places this cheap. We pay £475pcm on our 3 bed house (off road parking and garage etc) which in many other places would barely get you a 1 bed flat. I would definately investigate prices in your area.

I think my overall advice will echo what everyone else has said in that you will find it hard finacially to live together. A combined wage of £960 would barely cover cost of living in cheaper areas and would be far better spent getting the most out of your youth.

It's a massive decision, I hope you will give it the proper amount of consideration before making it.