Will I ever be able to afford my own home?
The difficulty of buying a home for first time buyers has been all over the news lately, most recently this article by Ros Renshaw, and this article over on theguardian.com. I must admit, I’d resigned myself to the fact at quite a young age that I probably wouldn’t be able to buy my own house until I was with a long term partner. Now, at 25, as the reality sets in, my prediction in my late teens couldn’t have been more true.
Three of my friends own their own houses, the rest still live with their parents. Two of those three were lucky enough to get a lot, and I mean a lot, of help from their parents, and the other received a large inheritance and is very honest about the fact that he wouldn’t have been able to buy his house had it not been for that money.
It had always been my intention to move out of my parents home by the time I turned 25. By then I figured I’d be a ‘real’ grown up and should probably start fending for myself. Luckily, 6 months before my birthday I was offered this job, and 3 months later I’d put down a deposit on my flat, paid my first months rent up front, and moved out of my family home. But let me be completely honest with you, even gathering the money to be able to afford to move into rented accommodation was a struggle. Admittedly, I’ve never been the most successful saver. I’m a ‘live for the moment, can’t take it with you’ kind of girl, or so is my excuse, so the only way I was able to move out at such short notice was also with a bit of help from my parents.
I’m very lucky to have parents that were in the position to help me move into my flat, but being loaned or given thousands of pounds is a very different matter, involving sums of money that I wouldn’t be happy accepting anyway. I had no idea what I’d be able to afford on my current salary so I took to Google and managed to find the Halifax mortgage calculator, I’m sure there are many more out there just like it, but I merely wanted it for reference purposes. Without giving you a sneaky peak into my financial situation, let’s just say that at this rate, if I weren’t to get a pay rise over the next 5 years, it would take me until I’m 30 years old, on my own, without any help from relatives or inheritances, to raise a 10% deposit. To be frank, that leaves me a little speechless. In fact, when I had the conversation with my Mother and we came to that conclusion I probably sat there with my mouth hanging open and just shrugged a few times in disbelief. I could save that much in half the time, but that would mean not having a life and I’m a firm believer that to be happy a person needs a well rounded life.
After a little bit of research I now know what my financial aim is, I know how long it should roughly take me, so all that’s left to do is start putting the money away. The saving isn’t the difficult part, although every part of my body is screaming otherwise, it’s how long it will realistically take me to raise the money I need, if at all. Housing prices are always fluctuating, more often than not they’re on the increase, my financial goal post for a deposit today will not be the same by the time I’m 30. All I can do is consistently save, keep an eye on house prices and keep my fingers crossed that I luck out somewhere down the line.
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