The cost of living in the south east

[Tommy2holes]

Is it me or does anyone else struggle with the cost of living in the south east.

I work for the NHS and so does the wife. We effectively haven't had a pay rise for 7 years. We earn the same in our roles as someone in say Carlisle. The main difference being that you can buy a house there for 70k and a house in our area is around 300k

For first time buyers or those stuck in the rental trap it's a nightmare.

 

[OldBlueLady]

It's always been the same though, back in my days of working for Midland Bank, I was basically on the same money in Southend as someone living in Darlington, though you could buy 10 houses for what our one down here cost.

 

[Tommy2holes]

It's always been the same though, back in my days of working for Midland Bank, I was basically on the same money in Southend as someone living in Darlington, though you could buy 10 houses for what our one down here cost.

That is true but I don't think the disparity between wages and housing to buy has ever been so big. It's also a lot harder to get a mortgage now. My mum has always worked part time but managed to buy a 3 bed house in the 90s. Essentially just had a letter from a friend who owned a firm saying she was full time. Job done. She now has two houses a flat and a holiday home In Spain.

My dad was self employed with no real proof and got a mortgage back in the day.

It was easy to get a mortgage pre the last recession.

 

[Mad Cyril]

Is it me or does anyone else struggle with the cost of living in the south east.

I work for the NHS and so does the wife. We effectively haven't had a pay rise for 7 years. We earn the same in our roles as someone in say Carlisle. The main difference being that you can buy a house there for 70k and a house in our area is around 300k

For first time buyers or those stuck in the rental trap it's a nightmare.

Have you factored in the cost to travel to home games from Carlisle?

 

[Mad Cyril]

That is true but I don't think the disparity between wages and housing to buy has ever been so big. It's also a lot harder to get a mortgage now. My mum has always worked part time but managed to buy a 3 bed house in the 90s. Essentially just had a letter from a friend who owned a firm saying she was full time. Job done. She now has two houses a flat and a holiday home In Spain.

My dad was self employed with no real proof and got a mortgage back in the day.

It was easy to get a mortgage pre the last recession.

NINJA mortgages were a contributing factor to the last recession.

 

[Firestorm]

That is true but I don't think the disparity between wages and housing to buy has ever been so big. It's also a lot harder to get a mortgage now. My mum has always worked part time but managed to buy a 3 bed house in the 90s. Essentially just had a letter from a friend who owned a firm saying she was full time. Job done. She now has two houses a flat and a holiday home In Spain.

My dad was self employed with no real proof and got a mortgage back in the day.

It was easy to get a mortgage pre the last recession.

For my first mortgage (1982) I had to have had an account at the Building society for over a year before I could even apply, and then they would only allow applications if they were accepting them. It was not uncommon for Building Societies to display signs saying "We are now accepting Mortgage applications" .
Most people had two or three Building society accounts before getting a mortgage , which were limited to 3 times the mans salary and once the womans or 3 1/2 times joint .
I couldn't afford a place in my home town when I first got married, I could just manage a 1 bed flat in Southend.

That said I do not envy first time buyers today, although the North South Gap is closing

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...first-time-in-eight-years-as-rest-of-uk-rises

 

[MK Shrimper]

I got a 100% mortgage in 1996, very few questions asked IIRC.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

What's a mortgage? :winking:

 

[* ORM *]

When I got a mortgage it was 4x salary and I had a subsidy from work so effectively capped at 5% when rates were more than double that. The biggest scam though was them getting you to pay for mortgage protection if loan to value ratio was too high. This insurance protected the banks against defaulters and the insurance companies copped it.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Oh and mortgage was roughly 1.5x my salary then. The same flat is now almost 16x that salary....and it ain't worth it.

 

[Mad Cyril]

Oh and mortgage was roughly 1.5x my salary then. The same flat is now almost 16x that salary....and it ain't worth it.

It's probably the Blue Plaque they put on the wall when you moved out that drove the price up.

 

[MK Shrimper]

It's probably the Blue Plaque they put on the wall when you moved out that drove the price up.

Very true.

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

When I got a mortgage it was 4x salary and I had a subsidy from work so effectively capped at 5% when rates were more than double that. The biggest scam though was them getting you to pay for mortgage protection if loan to value ratio was too high. This insurance protected the banks against defaulters and the insurance companies copped it.

mortgage protection - I'd advise looking into a miss-selling claim on that ala PPI

Housing is the biggest issue facing our country IMO - I don't know how anyone under 30 can afford rent let alone buying. The bank of Mum and Dad must be the source of a very high amount of deposits for first time buyers.

 

[RobM]

My son bought a place in Telford for £105,000, the same round here would be over £250,000.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Housing is the biggest issue facing our country IMO - I don't know how anyone under 30 can afford rent let alone buying. The bank of Mum and Dad must be the source of a very high amount of deposits for first time buyers.

No, my daughter and her boyfriend have managed to save the deposit and get a mortgage to buy their own house - a 3 bed mid terrace in Thundersley. She was just 22 when they got their keys. It's about priorities and having a good job and clear objective. However, I do recognise that she's been lucky and not everyone is able to do anything like that at her age. It can be done though.

 

[rigsby]

No, my daughter and her boyfriend have managed to save the deposit and get a mortgage to buy their own house - a 3 bed mid terrace in Thundersley. She was just 22 when they got their keys. It's about priorities and having a good job and clear objective. However, I do recognise that she's been lucky and not everyone is able to do anything like that at her age. It can be done though.

Many people our age and our parents bought houses with ordinary jobs. It is a basic right to be housed and for many young people no matter how they prioritise or how hard they work, they will never own a house under the current system.

 

[Shrimpers are Magic]

Is it me or does anyone else struggle with the cost of living in the south east.

I work for the NHS and so does the wife. We effectively haven't had a pay rise for 7 years. We earn the same in our roles as someone in say Carlisle. The main difference being that you can buy a house there for 70k and a house in our area is around 300k

For first time buyers or those stuck in the rental trap it's a nightmare.

If you are struggling to buy in the area you are in then far from ideal I know but I would start looking further afield. Yes it will put extra time and cost on travelling to and from work but if it can be done then it has to be better than paying off someone else's mortgage (rent) I used to live Snaresbrook/Wanstead area and had a decent deposit and work full time. They didn't quite laugh me out of the estates agents but you get my point. I've had to move four stops further out on the central line to a area I don't know so well (pubs are crap as well) but it's mine (well myself and the bank manager have a understanding) and I can pretty do as I please without checking with a landlord who could sell up whenever they felt like it.
I wish you good fortune.

 

[Another Surrey Shrimper]

Many people our age and our parents bought houses with ordinary jobs. It is a basic right to be housed and for many young people no matter how they prioritise or how hard they work, they will never own a house under the current system.

totally agree, I bought a 3 bedroom house in Kingston for £73k when I was 24. I had a £3k inheritance from a grandparent so that was the deposit. Mortgage was 3 times our salaries. Same house is now worth around £400k+ so if I one of my kids were looking to buy it them and a partner would need to be earning £67k a year each. Same property, same advantages to being there, but they need to be very high earners to be able to achieve that. Housing has to be affordable - the economy relies on people spending money and I don't see how that can happen if housing takes up so much of people's earnings.

 

[rigsby]

totally agree, I bought a 3 bedroom house in Kingston for £73k when I was 24. I had a £3k inheritance from a grandparent so that was the deposit. Mortgage was 3 times our salaries. Same house is now worth around £400k+ so if I one of my kids were looking to buy it them and a partner would need to be earning £67k a year each. Same property, same advantages to being there, but they need to be very high earners to be able to achieve that. Housing has to be affordable - the economy relies on people spending money and I don't see how that can happen if housing takes up so much of people's earnings.

The only way to do that is to build lots of houses, at least to the same level of the 60's when we built far more per year. Some of the headline grabbing quick fixes that politicians love so much have only fueled the prices of property.

We need to look at all options including green belt land and tax the big building firms for sitting on banks of land because by deliberately starving the market they drive up prices.

If you own in excess of 1000 acres you should be forced to give up say 10 acres or 1% for key workers etc, after all it has been their sacrifices that have allowed the extremely wealthy to keep all their land.

Don't forget a Duke pays no inheritance tax on an estate worth £500m. Why because its a working farm. Your children will pay inheritance tax on your one house if it is over the limit.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

What is the minimum wage? Under £8?
what chance have millions of workers got of getting on the housing ladder?
And yet some believe that £8 is too much!
And of course in the SE, Home Counties or the Metropolis it is harder still.
Tommy (and many friends/family) work in the NHS and don't get close to the £100k + salaries that many administrators and senior figures in that service get.
The system and society is bonkers and the gap between haves and have nots is worrying and dangerous for our country's development and stability.