Where do I go??? (Other Services / General Comments)

Member Name: woolley710

Product:	Other Services / General Comments
Date:	26/06/02 (46 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Expensive, Frustrating

The house price boom, now there is a phrase that is getting more and more familiar. I am not sure about boom, more like a huge explosion.

As a young working person, I am getting increasingly frustrated that week by week the prospect of buying my own property is getting smaller and smaller. I have a good job, with good pay yet would be hard pushed to buy a small bedsit/flat never mind a decent home.

Don't get me wrong, I am not that naive that I think I could get a large four bedroomed detached house in the country with the white picket fence and acres of land. However, I would like to be in a position where I could realistically look at purchasing a small starter home, just to get me on the property ladder.

Talking about the property ladder, whilst thinking about this issue, my imagination began to run wild, and this is how I saw the ladder. Imagine a helicopter with one of those flexible ladders hanging down. It starts off just in reach and you can just grip the first rung. Now imagine that someone is in the helicopter and is slowly lifting the ladder. You lose your grip and no matter how hard you try to grab that first rung, it is getting further and further away. This may be a little extreme, however so are the current house prices.

Now back to reality. Of course I could look at moving further north, but what would that achieve. I would be on a lower salary and although the house prices may be more realistic, the salary reflects this.

So how do we all get started? I can afford a small deposit at the moment, and of course as I can't purchase a property I am renting, which is dead money, and certainly doesn't help towards saving the pennies towards a deposit. As I only have a small deposit, I will have save some more which takes time. Of course, all the time I am saving the house prices are going up, so the bigger deposit I will need.

Seems like a vicious circle to me.

There
is one other issue about the increase in house prices that bothers me. Having recently started a new job, I now have to travel quite some distance. For this reason, I decided to look at moving nearer to the office. Of course with house prices going up, so does the rent. To get a small one bedroom flat would cost me up to £200 more per month. I know that this is partly related to the area, (and no it's not London), but of course if I do decide to move, how do I save for the deposit?

Maybe someone out there has the answers, (other than winning the lottery!), and if so I would appreciate any advice, but surely I can't be the only that feels like this.

Summary: