Solving the Housing Problem!

[trigger_andy]

8 hours ago, egnsean said:

full of assumptions aren't you 

 

 

8 hours ago, egnsean said:

prob never missed an episode of Benefits Street, Sad keeps coming to mind. 

 

 

Oh the irony.  

[trigger_andy]

1 hour ago, doobin said:

Typical entitlement attitude. You got lucky. That’s all there is too it. 

100%

 

1 hour ago, doobin said:

I’m sure Andy will counter that by saying ‘well move to Wales’. But who will do all the menial stuff in Surrey? It’s not correct to suggest that millions will never be homeowners simply because they are lazy.

I dont have an answer. But yes, moving to where there is still work but cheaper housing has to be considered an option of anyone wishing to get on the property ladder. No, not everyone can or is willing to do this. But it has to be a considered option, at lest for a while. Who cares would will still do the menial stuff? There will always be people who have no interest in owning their home. There will still be plenty people who are looking for extra income, ie, not the main bread winners. There is plenty of Students and young folk starting out in life to take on these roles. 

 

My Sister is a School Technician, its a low paid job. Her Husband washes Stairs for a living. They bought their first house for £130,000. Its not ideal, its not in a great area, but they are now on the ladder after years of scrimping and saving. 

 

 

[trigger_andy]

32 minutes ago, Rough Hewn said:

 

Damn, I see you removed your post.  

 

Anyway, £80-£100 is not a living wage, its a surviving wage. There is simply no way you could raise a family on that kind of money. I'll assume any family that does is heavily subsidised with tax credits in one form or another. Ie, they are being subsidised by people paying tax. 

 

The reality of a situation like that is;

 

1,You either put up with it, realising in hindsight that entering a sector that pays so little is not really for someone wanting to raise a family and own a home.

2, Your partner also has to have a full time job.

3, You or your partner goes into full time education to enable them to enter a market that pays better. 

 

 

In Norway, at least where I lived it was almost unheard of for family not to have both parents working full time. It is the only way for a family to own a home, or even rent for that matter. 

 

My Wife is studying for her degree in Maths and Quantum Physics. This will allow a lot of doors to open once she gets her degree. Even Teaching if she fancies that. £26k for the first year tax free. Thats just to train, she can just walk away from that after if teaching is not for her. Its not easy for her at all with a 2 year old and a 7 month old, in fact she was getting contractions during her end of year exam last summer, struggled through the paper and we went directly to hospital after where she gave birth later that evening. 

 

Sometimes you just need to look at the situation you find yourself in and make the changes necessary to get where you want to be. Saying the system needs to change is not going to get anyone anywhere. 

[Stere]

Quote

In Norway, at least where I lived it was almost unheard of for family not to have both parents working full time. It is the only way for a family to own a home, or even rent for that matter. 

They must have better state subsidized child care?

[trigger_andy]

16 minutes ago, Stere said:

They must have better state subsidized child care?

The point being both partners need to work full time to get by. Many use Grandparents as childminders. But childcare is super expensive. When my Wife worked full time as a Science Technician at the American School over 60% of her wage went on Childcare. She had to Pushbike to work as a second would would have made working pointless. But then many families carted their kids around on buggies on the back of their push bikes. The though of one parent not working at all bewildered them. 

 

Its not just Norway, its the same in Denmark, and my Swedish colleagues say it the same there too. I'd imagine the likes of Germany its quite normal as well. 

[difflock]

When our children were in childcare, a proper offical(and quite superbly run) local creche, it was costing us just more than half of the Mrs.'s salary, and she was the major earner on a(some say underpaid) teachers wages.

[Frett]

I wrote a fairly long post here, but I'll boil it down to this: unless you've been working and saving for your first house deposit since the financial crash (08-09), you'll have no idea of the realities of the modern rental/housing market (in the UK), and your opinion isn't worth much to anyone who has.

 

A few years ago I was doing 60+ hours a week on the saw and machine, and struggling to make any ground in saving for a deposit. If you'd have told me then I should be working harder I'd have knocked your teeth out.

[trigger_andy]

9 minutes ago, Frett said:

I wrote a fairly long post here, but I'll boil it down to this: unless you've been working and saving for your first house deposit since the financial crash (08-09), you'll have no idea of the realities of the modern rental/housing market (in the UK), and your opinion isn't worth much to anyone who has.

 

A few years ago I was doing 60+ hours a week on the saw and machine, and struggling to make any ground in saving for a deposit. If you'd have told me then I should be working harder I'd have knocked your teeth out.

 

I lost everything in the Oil Crisis when we lived in Norway. Ended up giving my house away and getting into negative equity to the tune of £20k just to be rid. We're currently in the process of buying the house we rent, been a long and slow 5 year process but we'll soon be there. So yes I do know exactly what its like.

 

I dont think anyone is saying you or anyone else needed/needs to work harder. If hard work paid Donkeys would be millionaires.

 

Thanks for the chuckle regarding the teeth.  Gave me a giggle that did. 

[Frett]

58 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

 

So yes I do know exactly what its like.

 

Nah, you don't. Unless you're being wilfully ignorant you must see that your situation is not representative of the generation that's entered the work force and been saving for a deposit since the crash. You might have been an extremely precocious 18 year old oil executive I suppose.

 

I regret the bit about the teeth, I've always thought keyboard warriors were somewhat cringey. I am tired of being told about hard work by a generation who could buy homes at 24 after a few years in a supermarket though.

[trigger_andy]

Just now, Frett said:

Nah, you don't. Unless you're being wilfully ignorant you must see that your situation is not representative of the generation that's entered the work force and been saving for a deposit since the crash. You might have been an extremely precocious 18 year old oil executive I suppose.

I came back to the UK with Suitcases 5 years ago. Wife and kids sleeping in her folks living room and a £20k mortgage to pay for a house we no longer owned. So yes, it was difficult and just because I have an OK paying job does not mean I cant relate. 

 

Who keeps telling you to work harder? Im genuinely curious? Folk need told to work smarter, not harder.