Alternative ways of housing / living

DavidP said

Another option and its a bit radical perhaps, but consider joining the armed forces, army, navy or RAF.

 Why?

Because while you are earning a decent wage and paying a very minimum for accommodation, you can easily afford a mortgage on a property. Rent out the property at the same time as living in married quarters, and let someone else pay your mortgage for you. If you do this in the first couple of years of joining the armed forces, over a period of 22 years..... or longer, you can either build up a property portfolio  or keep making your current property larger, or more affluent in a nicer area, increasing your capital.

Its something I suggest to my army students i teach who range in age from 17 -  32 male and female. Some of them listen, some don't but a lot of guys my age when we served, wished we had been given advice like this at the beginning.

Its not for everyone, but it would definitely work. :)

Obviously there is something of an issue with BTL mortgages generally requiring 25% deposit for unexperienced landlords, the vast majority of BTL lenders not lending to FTBs at all and of course any residential mortgage (thus potential lower deposit) specifically excluding the letting of the property without a specific consent to let which may or may not be granted depending on circumstance.   If of course that mortgage could be justified based on the normal affordability rules then the problem would not exist in the first place!

In short, it would not definitely work (as opposed to definitely not work) and mortgage fraud is, well.. fraud and not something that the lenders or for that matter armed forces would likely be enamoured with.

Tarmoo said

My step-daughter bought a 3 bed semi-detached house with her boyfriend when she was 23. She had previously lived at the boyfriend's mother's house for a few years to save up money. She refused to rent a house/flat as that was a waste of money. She works at Tesco and her boyfriend did not have a high paying job. She was frugal with money and saved up enough for a deposit. We also gave her some money which lowered her mortgage and also lowered the mortgage rate.

^ This is absolutely on the money.  To get on the housing ladder requires initial sacrifice.  Lifestyle has to take a back seat, otherwise no deposit.  When I think of my first house: mortgage rate of 14% (not a typo) and 48% of my net income on mortgage, frugality doesn’t even get close!  But it was worth it in the end.  All that ‘postponed gratification’ got me on the escalator…cos it ain’t a ladder.

Well done to your daughter and her sacrifice….and for you to giving her advice help and support.

DavidP said

Another option and its a bit radical perhaps, but consider joining the armed forces, army, navy or RAF.

 Why?

Because while you are earning a decent wage and paying a very minimum for accommodation, you can easily afford a mortgage on a property. Rent out the property at the same time as living in married quarters, and let someone else pay your mortgage for you. If you do this in the first couple of years of joining the armed forces, over a period of 22 years..... or longer, you can either build up a property portfolio  or keep making your current property larger, or more affluent in a nicer area, increasing your capital.

Its something I suggest to my army students i teach who range in age from 17 -  32 male and female. Some of them listen, some don't but a lot of guys my age when we served, wished we had been given advice like this at the beginning.

Its not for everyone, but it would definitely work. :)

This used to work, however, you need to live in your main domestic residence without renting it out to avoid capital gains tax. Depending on when you bought the property and how long you actually live in it will determine the amount of tax due upon sale. The mortgage provider would need to approve the rental, likewise Freeholder if the property is leasehold plus underlet fee, the interest rate will likely be varied because of it and buildings insurance will increase. Tax relief on interest element of mortgage will only have standard rate relief too. The property will require certification for gas and electrical installation along with energy performance cert. There have also been changes to unoccupied property liability to Council Tax....things have changed. Though still can be a worthwhile exercise.

Edited by indemnity

indemnity said

FiL said

playwithlight said

Copeland, County Durham and Ayrshire are the cheapest place to buy in 2022 according to Zoopla. In County Durham you can still get a semi-detached 3 bed property from £ 55K.

I would have previously included Plymouth in Devon but since the pandemic the prices have gone up steeply.

Penzance in Cornwall is also reasonable and parts of North & Mid Wales.

I'd be a little cautious about north and mid wales, there are pockets where communities are decidedly anti-English. There are also other areas where community events are strictly Gaelic only.

Suppose racism is fine if everyone is white.....you couldn't make it up.

At least it seems to have moved on a bit from a few years ago when, in certain areas, you could reasonably expect your home to be fire bombed. I don't believe it's nearly as bad as that still, but there's no fun in mistakenly moving into a community which basically despises you.

Houses are expensive in nice areas. In less nice areas they are cheaper.

A nice area might have better jobs, better amenities. A cheaper area might have more crime, not as well paying jobs. For example where I live, the average wage is much less than the UK average. We live in a cheap area. Me and hubby just worked hard to be promoted. Our next move will be a ‘desirable’ area and it won’t be easy, I expect a bunfight at the estate agents.

It’s a juggling act. I would say buy the poorest house in the nicest area, get yourself on the ladder and then overpay the mortgage as much as you can. It makes a difference, ours is nearly paid off in ten years which means we have a hefty deposit for the next one.

BUT don’t forget, renting might be a bit of a bind for a lot of reasons, but once you’re a homeowner you’re on your own if the roof leaks, or bits fall off the ceiling. As a renter, it’s your landlords responsibility!

indemnity

We had a holiday cottage in North Wales in the 90's and early 00's, a small village near Ffestiniog. Our cottage used to regularly get broken into, once every couple of weeks and stupid stuff like the bog roll used to get taken, nothing of any real value used to be removed.

The police said to my parents that they knew who it was, an anti English family in the area who resented the English being in the area but they couldn't do anything about it.

It tailed off in the end but I can't remember how long that was before my mum decided to sell it.

There are small pockets of very anti English Welsh people in the very small villages, or at least there were back then. I couldn't say if it was the same now.

But conversely there were also Welsh people very welcoming to us including a young family who were emergency contact for problems and who my mum still stays in contact with even now, 25 years on.

I suppose it is like anywhere that you will always get the odd one or two difficult people but problems with extreme Welsh nationlism in some small areas is well known so it is something that a buyer should take into account. You only need to buy a house next to someone with extremist views and you could have an issue (though again, that can be exactly the same when buying anywhere in Great Britain).

I'm not sure that it is racist to state a known problem (or at least a problem many years ago).

I love Wales and I love the people and I would certainly have no hesitancy in returning and living there. I think we were just unlucky to come across someone with very nationalistic views but I'm sure there are Welsh and Scottish people that move to England and come up against English nationalists so it is an issue with individuals, not a entire nation.

Edited by Sis Benedict

I have colleagues who lived on a house boat in Gloucestershire their bills were minimal :)

Other than that run over the border into wales, house prices are very very cheap on comparison :)

FiL said

indemnity said

FiL said

playwithlight said

Copeland, County Durham and Ayrshire are the cheapest place to buy in 2022 according to Zoopla. In County Durham you can still get a semi-detached 3 bed property from £ 55K.

I would have previously included Plymouth in Devon but since the pandemic the prices have gone up steeply.

Penzance in Cornwall is also reasonable and parts of North & Mid Wales.

I'd be a little cautious about north and mid wales, there are pockets where communities are decidedly anti-English. There are also other areas where community events are strictly Gaelic only.

Suppose racism is fine if everyone is white.....you couldn't make it up.

At least it seems to have moved on a bit from a few years ago when, in certain areas, you could reasonably expect your home to be fire bombed. I don't believe it's nearly as bad as that still, but there's no fun in mistakenly moving into a community which basically despises you.

Family had a slate miners cottage in N Wales many years ago, the saying was.....come home to a real fire, buy a holiday home in Wales 

indemnity said

FiL said

indemnity said

FiL said

playwithlight said

Copeland, County Durham and Ayrshire are the cheapest place to buy in 2022 according to Zoopla. In County Durham you can still get a semi-detached 3 bed property from £ 55K.

I would have previously included Plymouth in Devon but since the pandemic the prices have gone up steeply.

Penzance in Cornwall is also reasonable and parts of North & Mid Wales.

I'd be a little cautious about north and mid wales, there are pockets where communities are decidedly anti-English. There are also other areas where community events are strictly Gaelic only.

Suppose racism is fine if everyone is white.....you couldn't make it up.

At least it seems to have moved on a bit from a few years ago when, in certain areas, you could reasonably expect your home to be fire bombed. I don't believe it's nearly as bad as that still, but there's no fun in mistakenly moving into a community which basically despises you.

Family had a slate miners cottage in N Wales many years ago, the saying was.....come home to a real fire, buy a holiday home in Wales 

Makes you wonder doesn't it. Why on Earth would the locals dislike rich folks from across the border coming to buy up their houses cheaply, not paying council tax, not spending much in the community, and leaving the holiday homes empty most of the year, while driving up prices so that local kids can't afford to live there anymore. What can they possibly dislike about that, those ungrateful so-and-so's....

YorVikIng to be fair we practically lived there as we went every single weekend, Friday- Sunday and every school holidays. They used to break in during the week! 🙈 lol

Our family got on very well with alot of the locals and most said that they were not bothered about houses being used as holiday homes, there was only us and one other old lady that had holiday homes in the village. I think it sometimes just comes down to the odd person or family.

Personally I do find the Welsh very welcoming and friendly and never had any problems in Blaneau Ffestiniog which apparently is the seat of Welsh nationlism in the country (it really didn't seem like it).

This post has been filtered based on your content filter settings because it is NSFW. View reply

Sis Benedict I get it, and I'm not arguing against holiday homes. But in the area I grew up there was a boom in the holiday industry when I was a young kid. After about 10 years, 80+% of the fancy holiday homes were owned by foreign tourists who rented them out (to other foreign tourists) and took the profit home, or left empty for months on end. It increased prices dramatically, but other than restaurants and bars, there wasn't much money in it for the community - and some of the "resorts" ended up looking like ghost towns between October and March. So maybe I'm being a little argumentative, and I apologise for that.

FiL I grew up in North Wales and studied in mid Wales. The fire bombings were directed at second home owners who would buy places and leave them empty for most of the year. You would then end up with people in the community having to move out to get anywhere to live.

I have an English accent and do not speak Welsh fluently and have never ever felt threatened or not part of the community in the 20+ years I lived there. The ticket is to be a contributing member of the community, then everyone gets on fine.

I'm currently on the Isle of Islay, facing the same problem of trying to find housing. I'm a total outsider but have been met with lots of people really trying hard to help house me. Why? Because I'm a postie and find myself at the heart of the community.

Long story short, it's second home/holiday home owners that are truly the problem with housing

YorVikIng said

Makes you wonder doesn't it. Why on Earth would the locals dislike rich folks from across the border coming to buy up their houses cheaply, not paying council tax, not spending much in the community, and leaving the holiday homes empty most of the year, while driving up prices so that local kids can't afford to live there anymore. What can they possibly dislike about that, those ungrateful so-and-so's....

No different to the current situation in parts of Devon & Cornwall.

Narrow boats are great if you can get a permanent mooring on a good rent. I have a few friends who live on narrow boats. One of my friends who lives in King's Cross in London says the the rent and mooring fees are now quite expensive and almost getting to be on a par with flats as the British waterways are trying to lower the amount of people living permanently I believe. As someone said earlier you can stay in one place for 2 weeks and then have to move on. Good luck in your quest. However tough it is, it is better than being bombed as in the Ukraine now.