Why do people think they are entitled to home ownership?

[milquetoast1]

Who's going to pay for this room?

 

Eh? You've got me there.

[Guest makapaka]

Missus Gomgeg and I are two of the old timers who had it easy. 7per cent mortgages, and not allowed to take her wages into consideration. No tax credits or working tax credits. No family allowance as it was then for the first child. White goods about five times the price of what they are now in real terms compared to wages.

Worked fifty hours a week sometimes sixty. When overtime wasn't available at the weekends I got a Saturday job.

As for the jobs for life then, somebody's taking the shaving water, I lost my job a couple of times and left jobs for better jobs if the pay was better.

I was also in my 40s before I got a job with sick pay and a pension scheme. That was working for the local authority where I soon got fed up of listening to the people who'd been there for years moaning about how hard done to they were, when the chance came to take redundancy and move on the big majority went quiet and stayed in their jobs.

I took redundancy and spent the last ten years before I retired as self employed,

Took a drop in wages and again if I wasn't working due to sickness or lack of work I had nothing coming in, but at least I was responsible for myself.

So I make no apologies for our present situation as house owners, and I certainly wouldn't have had time when I was working to spend all my waking hours on social media complaining about others.

 

So would you swap your work situation / financial position back then for the same situation in 2016?

[gomgeg]

I suppose I'm somewhat in the middle (born in the mid 70's) and maybe that allows me to see both sides.

House prices have risen faster than inflation, but pretty much everything else is cheaper. Disposable incomes are much higher.

We don't generally work as hard as our parents and grandparents did.

That's progress.

You have to have a lot of bias going in to conclude that we're worse off in any meaningful way than previous generations.

 

---------- Post added 15-08-2016 at 17:03 ----------

 

 

Please elaborate.

What you say about disposable incomes is certainly true. We had more than our parents and they had more than their parents.

Our kids have more consumer goods than us and the grandkids will hopefully have even more, that's as it should be and I'm pleased about that.

Someone on here said we had free higher education, well I suppose some did but with the background me and all my mates came from university education wasn't an option. We were expected to leave school as I did at 15 and get a job.

I certainly think it's a disgrace that kids nowadays are expected to have to repay £9k a year for an education when if that education pays off they will be paying more in tax and contributing to society instead of sitting on their backsides playing the system.

[El Cid]

 

You have to have a lot of bias going in to conclude that we're worse off in any meaningful way than previous generations.

 

Thanks to the EU, education, advances in technology and socialism.

[gomgeg]

So would you swap your work situation / financial position back then for the same situation in 2016?

I certainly would. The first house we bought was about 3 times my yearly wage, we lived with our parents til we got married and paid them for our board and lodgings and in just over 2 years saved the equivalent of a years wage for me.

Paid just under 15 percent deposit and bought second hand furniture.

To save up I stopped smoking,just about stopped drinking,sold my car and didn't have a holiday for three years while working every hour I could.

I believe the average salary is now about £28k and without looking it up there are probably houses available in Sheffield for 3 times that.

When we bought our first house some of my mates were earning more than me but went into rented accommodation and one of them I keep in touch with still does.

[Mister M]

I certainly would. The first house we bought was about 3 times my yearly wage, we lived with our parents til we got married and paid them for our board and lodgings and in just over 2 years saved the equivalent of a years wage for me.

Paid just under 15 percent deposit and bought second hand furniture.

To save up I stopped smoking,just about stopped drinking,sold my car and didn't have a holiday for three years while working every hour I could.

I believe the average salary is now about £28k and without looking it up there are probably houses available in Sheffield for 3 times that.

When we bought our first house some of my mates were earning more than me but went into rented accommodation and one of them I keep in touch with still does.

 

I was interested to find out what the average salary is.... apparently the national average wage for the UK is £26,500 per year. However in Sheffield the 2014 average wage for a worker was £22,239

 

Read more at: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/average-wages-in-sheffield-drop-by-almost-2-000-since-2008-1-7036508

[Guest makapaka]

I certainly would. The first house we bought was about 3 times my yearly wage, we lived with our parents til we got married and paid them for our board and lodgings and in just over 2 years saved the equivalent of a years wage for me.

Paid just under 15 percent deposit and bought second hand furniture.

To save up I stopped smoking,just about stopped drinking,sold my car and didn't have a holiday for three years while working every hour I could.

I believe the average salary is now about £28k and without looking it up there are probably houses available in Sheffield for 3 times that.

When we bought our first house some of my mates were earning more than me but went into rented accommodation and one of them I keep in touch with still does.

 

The average salary in Sheffield is £22k. So if you earnt the average it would get you a mortgage of £66k which is assuming someone would lend you at 3 X salary. You'd be lucky to buy a place in Sheffield for £66k. you would also then have to find £6k deposit for.

[gomgeg]

The average salary in Sheffield is £22k. So if you earnt the average it would get you a mortgage of £66k which is assuming someone would lend you at 3 X salary. You'd be lucky to buy a place in Sheffield for £66k. you would also then have to find £6k deposit for.

Thanks for that. Where do you look to find £6k? If I'd known that we wouldn't have bothered saving. If the average in Sheffield is £22k an increase in working hours of 25 percent will increase the salary by the same. After all we are told there are more people in work than ever and unemployment was much higher percentage wise in much of my working life, but I always managed to find a job, as have our kids who have their own houses. Also someone else on here says it is possible to get a mortgage of 3, 4, or even 5 times salary. But again I won't be checking that as I've better things to do.

It is permissible to buy a house with no central heating or double glazing that can be done as you can afford it like we did. But then again as people keep saying 'we were lucky'.

[pmurtdlanod1]

The average salary in Sheffield is £22k. So if you earnt the average it would get you a mortgage of £66k which is assuming someone would lend you at 3 X salary. You'd be lucky to buy a place in Sheffield for £66k. you would also then have to find £6k deposit for.

 

plenty of lenders will offer 5 x joint salary if you have a deposit of 5%, plenty of decent houses around 120k

[Olive]

Yeah that is true also, I believe in other countries where renting is a lot more common though, renters have far more rights and are more able to rent long term and decorate themselves, have pets etc. Still wouldn't appeal to me financially though!

 

No, having to buy a house just so you can indulge in the wallpaper you fancy is a pretty expensive hobby, granted!

But i agree with Berberis about the security of not being moved on at a landlord's whim. Having said that, a mortgage can seem like a millstone at times.

Edited August 15, 2016 by Olive