Off-topic rant-thing

[PixieKitty]

Went to talk to the bank about a mortgage today, and 'cause I'm 16 my income wont be taken into consideration. Danny only earns 10K a year so the most he could loan is £40,000, the only house we could possibly find for that is in Skelmersdale (BAD place) and there's no way we can move there.
So looks like we're renting for a year, then having to uproot again when I'm 18. Blehhhhhh.

It makes me want to just give up and go on council housing, only the fact there are many more people that need it more than me that keeps me from doing it.

Back to flat-searching for us.

 

[nataliecn]

 

[Alexas Mommy]

 

[porkpie1981]

 

[fairywings]

I live in Skelmersdale and not everywhere is bad! I agree some places are and should be avoided like the plague, but some are ok. Where I live is quiet, which is good. Good luck though, you don't want to live in Skem if you can avoid it, lol. And I am assuming the 40k houses are in the dregs of Skem. Run!

Did I just contradict myself? lol

Good luck finding somewhere.

 

[captain-ally]

I'm renting a house and it's kind of nice. Someone else has to pay to fix everything! (I'm not sure how it is over there, I'm in Canada) It's not much bigger than an apartment, but it's got 2 bedrooms. With the economy the way it is, renting may be the way to go anyway

 

[tasha41]

Buying a house sucks.. my boyfriend and I make about double that right now (both of our incomes will count, we're both "adults"), but I've never seen a home here in that price range at all (£40,000 = about $80,000..) In fact, I've only seen AWFUL houses for anything less than $120,000!!

We also have to save up about 20K to move out; to cover a down payment and the land transfer and stuff.. not to mention get some sort of furniture, I have furniture for a bedroom and a nursery, lol, not an entire house!!

ALSO my boyfriend REFUSES to rent a house or an apartment because he says it's throwing money away that could be going towards owning a house. Ugh, men!! I have no problem living in an apartment whatsoever, but he works doing plumbing at A LOT of buildings and says the majority are disgusting here.. and renting a house is as much as a mortgage or more usually here.. and still doesn't solve my furniture issue, lol.

good luck sweetie!

 

[pinkmac85]

Awwww sorry to hear about your struggles!! Maybe in a few years time you will be able to look into buying something tho, renting isn't so bad. It is nice to own your own place but like captain-ally said its nice to have someone else paying to fix things (especially when it gets pretty pricey)

 

[pennysbored]

Capt-ally and pink mac are both right. Look at this bill I just would have had to pay for unclogging an old tub. $800 CND! It the kind of thing that had I been owner, I'd probably be taking showers at friends houses till the new year. So take heed, it hard to own a home.
And with the economy as unstable as it is, you are better off waiting as you just might get a better deal down the road.
I know that doesn't make you feel any better, though...

 

[Shinning_Star]

I don't know if it's just a London thing but here's a scheme called home buy I think and it's where government put up fifty percent of the morgage for you, this is the only way were gonna be able to get a hse big enough, BUt drawback you need 4 grand in the bank. There's also the part buy part rent schemes. But on a bright side if you get a nice place and good landlord it cd be a long term thing there and if fall on dya straights, or if you don't want to work after baby is born your entitled to apply for housing benefit.

As for councils and their housing BIG sore point for me! wld defo argue that alot of the people on the list are in the same stue as you, and those in worse, ie homeless I've been there have to fight toth and tail for even temp accom. BUT hey I won't get on my pillar box! LMAO!

 

[KatienSam]

there are schemes as shinning_star said. there is homebuy (a housing association gives a loan as a second mortgage over your property but is equity based so if you make money on the property, they get their own percentage back) and also shared ownership where a housing association owns part of the property and you just buy the remaining share, again when you come to sell they will take their percentage of any equity you make in the property! have a look into schemes in your area.

I used to work at a solicitors dealing with sale and purchase of these houses etc and it is quite good, there are certain circumstances and criteria you have to meet, but one is if you are in desperate need of housing/qualify for council housing, so you may be lucky! the housing association in my area is called Moat but there are a few different ones!

have a look into it hun xx

 

[Shifter]

There are options, but right now is really not a great time to buy, if you can even get a mortgage at all. Stick with renting for a while hun, until the market stabilises.

Renting is just like throwing money away, I agree, but sometimes it's actually the best thing to do, especially for people on low incomes.

Ideally this financial crisis will change the rental market here. In France the rental market is much better, leases are usually at least 3 years, so you have more stability plus you can choose how you want to decorate the place.