How can someone in their 30s afford a house - PLEASE READ MOD WARNING IN OP

f@steddie · 11-02-2019 5:48pm

Brego888 wrote: »

You need to start saving early. Anyone in their earky 20's now reading this just start saving now even a small amount. It needs to be part of your routine, something you have to do and can't avoid. I still lived it up, loads of nights out, holidays away, nice car etc. But still topping away at the savings year on year.

Before I was 30 I had a good deposit saved and bought an apartment. Mortgage repayments were reasonable and crucially I continued to save. Now in my mid 30's myself and my partner have enough saved for a 20% deposit and an upgrade to a house.

Obviously in your 30's it's not too late to start saving now but it will take longer to get there. Start saving as early as you can people is the key. It doesn't mean you have to live like a monk.

Fair play. If you can save 2 deposits without living like a monk there's no reason why others can't save for one deposit.

Pussyhands · 11-02-2019 5:52pm

DublinWriter wrote: »

..and forget all about live, live, live.

There is something bonkers going on, not just in Ireland, but in UK and US culture generally.

I don't know if many of you remember the setup for most of the 70's, but only one parent had to work outside the house.

My parents bought their own house through the Dublin corporation rent-to-buy scheme. I think the house originally cost £4000 back in 74, and it was a 30 year scheme with repayments of £5 a week right to the end of the term.

These days everyone seems to be an indentured mortgage slave, both parents working like dogs to pay off a mortgage and pay to have the kids in a creche from 8am to 6pm.

And? In the 70's you wouldn't have had Ireland v England in professional rugby games at a top class stadium on your doorstep.

Back in the 90's there was one car per house, now both adults have one.

bullpost · 11-02-2019 5:53pm

Ursus Horribilis wrote: »

How do people in continental Europe pay their rent once they retire? The ones who've rented all their lives?

Renting more the norm there and so cost of renting is affordable. I think I remember watching a programme on Germany and there the pension funds get invested back into the housing stock.

Cuddlesworth · 11-02-2019 5:56pm

f@steddie wrote: »

Fair play. If you can save 2 deposits without living like a monk there's no reason why others can't save for one deposit.

Pretty much, I blew money out my ass during my 20's. Which meant I had to live like a monk for a few years.

jester77 · 11-02-2019 5:57pm

I always put away a fix % of salary from when I started working in my 20's, wasn't saving for anything in particular. Initially it started as a rainy day fund. By the time I hit mid-30's and decided to purchase a house I had a 6 figure sum available.

I moved out of home at 17, partied every weekend, got to travel the world, worked in different countries and had everything I wanted within reason. There's no point waiting until 3 or 4 years before you want to buy a house to start saving. Save from the start, it will be small in the beginning but as your career progresses the amount will start getting a lot larger over time.

Weepsie · 11-02-2019 5:59pm

spurshero wrote: »

Just to be clear I’m in my 40 s and own my own house . It’s the people in my 20s I feel sorry for . My .....may as well be dead comment was half joking half serious . It’s not possible for everybody to cycle to work or with the amount of rain we get here to exercise outside all the time . I know owning a house is important but so is having a bit of fun in your 20s And early 30s and fun Costs money in most cases . Each to there own though

As someone else alluded to, we don't actually get that much, especially on the east coast.

People get as wet, walking a few hundred metres from their car, bus, train as they would cycling.

Rain is absolutely no barrier to running, jogging and other outdoor sports. If it were, we'd be cave people.

NIMAN · 11-02-2019 6:28pm

Your skin is waterproof.

Or the famous quote goes, "there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes".

Yurt2 · 11-02-2019 7:16pm

What I want to know is when the a*rse falls out of the market again (perhaps due to Brexit or another global economic shock), will Ireland actually move to reform how we deal with property and our property obsession? Will we have the balls to institute a land value tax? Will the state intervene and have an agency to construct affordable housing? Will the people who are in favour of rapid repossession of family homes think as much when they can't make their mortgage repayments?

Questions, questions. I'm no economist, but if there's another multi-year recession, I have very little faith in the political class and people at large grasping the nettle and dealing with why we have such an erratic 'market'.

Eric Cartman · 11-02-2019 7:36pm

DublinWriter wrote: »

..and forget all about live, live, live.

There is something bonkers going on, not just in Ireland, but in UK and US culture generally.

I don't know if many of you remember the setup for most of the 70's, but only one parent had to work outside the house.

My parents bought their own house through the Dublin corporation rent-to-buy scheme. I think the house originally cost £4000 back in 74, and it was a 30 year scheme with repayments of £5 a week right to the end of the term.

These days everyone seems to be an indentured mortgage slave, both parents working like dogs to pay off a mortgage and pay to have the kids in a creche from 8am to 6pm.

in those days over 75% of mortgages were single applicant, the wife was a dependent and people were having over 2.5x more kids. The market value of housing adjusts to whats available, we're not going back to those times unless you can wholesale convince women not to work , return to being stay at home mothers and have more children.

that and we have added 2 million people to out population, in 2016 40% of ireland was living rurally, in the 70s it was over 60% .

The real question for us now , is how do we either re-ignite rural Ireland and peoples desire to live there or how do we increase availability of affordable housing in urban areas, what do we specifically do for housing for single income applicants ?

Wildly Boaring · 11-02-2019 7:45pm

Yurt! wrote: »

What I want to know is when the a*rse falls out of the market again (perhaps due to Brexit or another global economic shock), will Ireland actually move to reform how we deal with property and our property obsession? Will we have the balls to institute a land value tax? Will the state intervene and have an agency to construct affordable housing? Will the people who are in favour of rapid repossession of family homes think as much when they can't make their mortgage repayments?

Questions, questions. I'm no economist, but if there's another multi-year recession, I have very little faith in the political class and people at large grasping the nettle and dealing with why we have such an erratic 'market'.

I'd be all for affordable housing, built at cost. For low earners. Low earners then given very low interest rate on government backed loan.

I'd be very against tax money paying for those who won't work and won't move more than 30 mins from mammy.

I'm against repossession of family homes, once mortgage holder is making repayments. I am totally in favour of repossession of houses in roscommon belonging to total chancer, scumbags who will not pay local suppliers or the taxman.

I firmly believe Dublin is in a bubble right now. Buying in such conditions should not be an aim in life. Saving like hell in anticipation of the next fall in prices should be priority.

The bubble may not be cheap credit but any developer and contractor is going to take advantage of the current low supply to drive up profits.

Gael23 · 11-02-2019 7:47pm

Not in Dublin you can’t but elsewhere with a good job and disciplined savings it is possible.

Wildly Boaring · 11-02-2019 7:50pm

Eric Cartman wrote: »

The real question for us now , is how do we either re-ignite rural Ireland and peoples desire to live there or how do we increase availability of affordable housing in urban areas, what do we specifically do for housing for single income applicants ?

Finding ways to disperse work and thereby housing nationwide is the ideal in my opinion.

Dublin is overloaded. Housing and transport are full.
Large towns and "cities" like Waterford, kilkenny, clonmel, Ennis, Westport, athlone, drogheda should be driving the locality.

Cork, galway's and limerick seem to be doing ok.

Who2 · 11-02-2019 8:19pm

I lived in Dublin for a while and worked there for a good bit and I can’t fathom the fascination with living there or can’t comprehend how anyone would want to sacrifice nearly everything just to be a home owner in it. Most half decent 3 bedroom semis are 500k plus and from what I’m seeing the ones below that will cost it by the time they are fixed up. For the same sort of money you’d buy an extremely large detached with decent gardens and have a far better lifestyle. In most cases 35k earned In the country will leave you better off than 60 in the city.

Rezident · 11-02-2019 8:24pm

bucketybuck wrote: »

Basically the take away from this thread is that if you want to buy a house you need to make it your entire life's focus, give up everything that costs money, work every waking hour and then eventually in the next decade you will have a deposit and can start looking at houses. Though you won't get your dream house, it'll be some apartment or crappy starter home.

Wonderful.

In Ireland.

There's like 200 countries in the world, most of us leave at some stage.

alexmalalex · 11-02-2019 8:44pm

Yer one earlier said that having TV and going to the zoo is a luxury, yet she drives around in two SUVs. Another poster said they partied every weekend and was able to save over 100K. Another said, well actually we don't get much rain on the East Coast.

Absolute BS. Here is the average number of days precipitation per month. Effectively it pisses rain 1 in every 3 days

J=12, F= 10, M=11, A=10, M=10, J = 10, J = 9, A=10, S=10, O=11,N=11, D=12

I'm not saying don't save. Of course you should save. Of course you have to sacrifice. But going vegan, cutting your own hair, and drinking your own p*** isn't going to make a huge difference. The order of magnitude is probably about 5k a year. The cheapest you will get a house in Dublin for is 250k, requiring a 50k deposit. It would take 10 years of frugality to make this

So, take what the folks on this forum say with a pinch of salt...which is probably what they had for lunch today.

Cuddlesworth · 11-02-2019 9:00pm

alexmalalex wrote: »

Yer one earlier said that having TV and going to the zoo is a luxury, yet she drives around in two SUVs. Another poster said they partied every weekend and was able to save over 100K. Another said, well actually we don't get much rain on the East Coast.

Absolute BS. Here is the average number of days precipitation per month. Effectively it pisses rain 1 in every 3 days

J=12, F= 10, M=11, A=10, M=10, J = 10, J = 9, A=10, S=10, O=11,N=11, D=12

I'm not saying don't save. Of course you should save. Of course you have to sacrifice. But going vegan, cutting your own hair, and drinking your own p*** isn't going to make a huge difference. The order of magnitude is probably about 5k a year. The cheapest you will get a house in Dublin for is 250k, requiring a 50k deposit. It would take 10 years of frugality to make this

So, take what the folks on this forum say with a pinch of salt...which is probably what they had for lunch today.

There are 24 hours in a day. If you travel by bike you will tend to notice that while we have lots of rainy days, you don't end up getting rained on often. So your maths is flawed.

On the topic of saving. If according to your figures, by living frugally you can save a extra 5k a year.

If your target is 50k and you can save 5k a year by living normally and you can save 5k extra by living frugally, then you can have your deposit in 5 frugal years rather then 10 years of normal living.

Its a pretty basic concept, the more you can save in the short term, the quicker you can be out of a bad situation or the better location you can afford.

Its also worth pointing out, if you are dual income one of the best things you can do is save the second income entirely and try only spend at most 75% of the primary earners net wages.

pwurple · 11-02-2019 9:13pm

Lordy this country badly needs a financial education program.

That said, any inkling my own kids get will put them leaps and bounds above the rest of the place. Silver lining eh!

I don’t drive two SUVs? Where is that coming from. We have two electrics *running on actual fresh air, charged by a wind turbine*

Yes, good grief, things you don’t NEED, like TVs and zoos are luxury items. By definition. Anything not on the hierarchy of needs, is a luxury. We didn’t have them in the 70’s, when people were able to buy houses on one income. We do have them now, and a boat load of other stuff to boot. they cost us our disposable, second income. So you’ve less left over for housing.

Geddit?

C3PO · 11-02-2019 9:14pm

alexmalalex wrote: »

Absolute BS. Here is the average number of days precipitation per month. Effectively it pisses rain 1 in every 3 days

J=12, F= 10, M=11, A=10, M=10, J = 10, J = 9, A=10, S=10, O=11,N=11, D=12

Talk about twisting statistics to suit your biased viewpoint! Those are the number of days that there is any rainfall! I commute by bike in Dublin, 30kms a day round trip, every working day and would be unlucky to get wet any more than once a week i.e. one trip in ten!

Lia_lia · 11-02-2019 9:15pm

I only really started saving when I was 25/26. I just turned 30 a few weeks ago. I realised I can save a lot more than I thought and kinda wish I started saving earlier but sure oh well. I've enough saved now for a deposit if I wanted a small house myself but will be buying with my boyfriend (who has around the same savings) which obviously gives us more choice with properties. Don't intend to buy for another year or two though as we like where we are and not in any rush.

What helped me is:

Cheap rent.
Having a partner to go halves on with rent/bills etc.
No loans.
Cheap 14 year old car that is cheap to run. Himself uses public transport.
Not living in Dublin (Cork city still pricey enough though).
Not smoking.
Luckily my salary is not too bad. But nothing major either.

Saying all that I could save a lot more if I wanted. I go out for food around twice a week, buy coffee's and eat in the canteen at work, go on about 3 holidays a year...

A lot of it depends on your salary/rent but some people I know are just desperate with money.

Wildly Boaring · 11-02-2019 9:36pm

alexmalalex wrote: »

Yer one earlier said that having TV and going to the zoo is a luxury, yet she drives around in two SUVs. Another poster said they partied every weekend and was able to save over 100K. Another said, well actually we don't get much rain on the East Coast.

Absolute BS.

I'm one poster who managed to save 100k. I did point out that this was between 2 of us. Mid 30s now.

My point was that you need to start little and often from when you start working.

200 or 300 a month is 3k a year. 10 years equals 30k.

I started at about 300 from college and was over 800 a month by the time I progressed in work.

I had a great 20s, plenty of going out, plenty holidays, plenty nice cars. Always bought lunch at work.

Btw never lived in Dublin and never want to. But lived in expensive places like London and Oxford. Cheap places like tralee and mullingar too.

coffee_cake · 11-02-2019 9:40pm

I think there is a balance to be struck between living frugally enough to save a ton and living 'normally' and saving a bit less. In fairness any of us could be knocked over by a bus tomorrow.

Pussyhands · 11-02-2019 9:41pm

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

I'm one poster who managed to save 100k. I did point out that this was between 2 of us. Mid 30s now.

My point was that you need to start little and often from when you start working.

200 or 300 a month is 3k a year. 10 years equals 30k.

I started at about 300 from college and was over 800 a month by the time I progressed in work.

I had a great 20s, plenty of going out, plenty holidays, plenty nice cars. Always bought lunch at work.

Btw never lived in Dublin and never want to. But lived in expensive places like London and Oxford. Cheap places like tralee and mullingar too.

I'm almost 28 and I have 70k in my current account. Another 2 years and I'll have 100k all going well.

Eric Cartman · 11-02-2019 9:45pm

Pussyhands wrote: »

I'm almost 28 and I have 70k in my current account. Another 2 years and I'll have 100k all going well.

put it in a savings account with a bit of an interest rate and no debit card attached. save yourself from fraud and temptation.

11-02-2019 9:48pm

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

The bigger question is who the feck will be left to pay the far too generous state pensions when normal working people can't afford to live and breed in the country.

Contributory pension isn't generous compared to the non contributory pension. Imo.

upinsmoke · 11-02-2019 9:51pm

Pussyhands wrote: »

I'm almost 28 and I have 70k in my current account. Another 2 years and I'll have 100k all going well.

Hello,

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holliehobbie · 11-02-2019 10:08pm

Ahmed Fit Hardwood wrote: »

Now though when house prices are totally crazy, a person in their 30s or 40s, unless also in a relationship (and even then there are no guarantees) or earning a very high salary (and given the limited window they have left for the duration of a mortgage repayment plan) doesn't have a great chance.

Local authority affordable housing scheme is probably the best bet.

There is no local authority affordable scheme at the moment!

Rfrip · 11-02-2019 10:39pm

I was embarrassingly bad with money from the minute I left college and started working
37 now and just bought a new build in cork.
I didn’t really start properly saving until I was about 34. For the last two years I moved back home with my parents. I was exctremely lucky to be able to have that option. Obviously it was tough going but it allowed me to save an insane amount each week and I really put the head down for the two years.
Now I’m back in cork delighted with life, and I’m sure my parents are glad to see the back of me too!!

jlm29 · 11-02-2019 10:53pm

Eric Cartman wrote: »

put it in a savings account with a bit of an interest rate and no debit card attached. save yourself from fraud and temptation.

To be fair, if they have 70k in a current account, it’s fairky obvious that temptation isn’t much of an issue

Pussyhands · 11-02-2019 11:15pm

Eric Cartman wrote: »

put it in a savings account with a bit of an interest rate and no debit card attached. save yourself from fraud and temptation.

There is never any temptation.

Completely ****ed myself over the years though by leaving it in there...been looking at investment opportunities but think I've missed the boat.

VonLuck · 11-02-2019 11:15pm

In my opinion the greatest barrier is the mortgage that's required to purchase a house. Let's say the cheapest half reasonable house inside the M50 is €250k, 10% deposit is €25k. That means you need a mortgage of €225k. At a restriction of 3.5 times your salary, you would need to be earning €65k a year as a single applicant to afford the cheapest two bed home.

I'm not saying that the mortgage lending rules should be relaxed, but there is a serious issue with the cost of houses now. 3 years ago I was earning much less and had a much smaller deposit, yet I could have afforded a two bed home within the M50 area. Now I can't afford a thing!

It's impossible as a single person to buy a worthwhile property in Dublin. You need to be applying as a couple, which is unfortunate for many people out there, including myself.

How can someone in their 30s afford a house - PLEASE READ MOD WARNING IN OP

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