Over 35's - Whats Your House & Working Status

[tuggybear]

In reply to the very enlightening under 35's post I feel very left out.

I'm 40 years old, with three children 6, 12, 19. I work full time as an electronic engineer working on security products and with a lot of overseas travel and overtime, earnings are a modest ~46K, my wife works part time minimum wage with hours to suit. We live in the midlands area, so not such crazy house price's as South East but still well over priced.

I was a home owner from the age of 17, buying a 2 bed terraced at 26K back in 87, on an apprentice wage of 8K. I lived in this for the next 10 years and sold it for 38K.

Since then I have lived in and done up 4 houses with my family.

In 2003 I bought what I thought was to be my final house for 180K and spent far to much doing it up, my fault totally, I lost all perspective of money. As the house prices rose I borrowed from the bank using my house as collateral to extend mortgage from 120K to 180K.

My employer took a downturn early 2007 and offered no overtime, reality hit - wages lower than bills - we could no longer afford this fools paradise.

We sold Nov 2007 for 340K paid of all debts and were left with 120K.

we went into renting for 1 year finally buying a distress seller's 4 bed double garaged detached for 210K (2008) - asking price 2007 was 340K ~ 35% lower (after reading this site) .

It needed a lot of hard work to modernize (which i still in the process) but this time a only spent what money we could afford.

I now have a happy life work balance, but I wish house prices would still come down.

You see I have 3 daughters, and the thought of them living with me until they are 30+ is .....well I don't want to think about it!

I know it's all worked out for me (roughly) but after reading the under 35 thread (shocker) I have no dought that +35 have been hit by a simliar plight.

Anyway I'm very interested in hearing from other people of age 35+ of their work and house situation.

Edited November 9, 2010 by tuggybear

[Badger]

I'm the same age as you, bought 1994, sold 2001.

Debt free with 40k ish cash available. Working as a creative in advertising, pay is poor but I love the work & culture, renting a large 2 bed flat in a posh area of the south east

5 month old son.

[ScrewsNutsandBolts]

Self employed 36 year old (sole-trader), currently providing specialist engineering support to a German auto company. Work is interesting but the travel absolutely sucks, spending around half my time away from my wife. Situation slightly forced upon me by being made redundant from my previous engineering job in spring 2009. Pay is really good, especially with the exchange rate at the moment as I earn in Euro's. No idea really what salary it works out to be, as only just got round to sorting out a tax return for 09/10. My guess is around 70-75k. Wife got a good job this summer too... 20k ish.

Living in rented apartment at the moment in the midlands. Started trying for children. Might find myself buying somewhere if a little one turns up. Lots of savings from previous work abroad, so hopefully we could get somewhere nice even at today's overinflated prices. Appreciate how lucky I have been in many ways, especially finding something better (actually via a personal introduction from an old work colleague/friend) after losing my last job.

[dnjc]

head of it in london

household income ~100k

renting small 2 bed flat in south london - saving hard

1 child (nearly 6 months)

no debts

a lot of savings

Edited November 9, 2010 by dnjc

[Freeholder]

56 years old. House owner with no debts. Working part time for £30,000pa. First bought in 1981 for £22,000.

[jmzr]

37.

sadly on my way to a divorce :-(

split up two years ago and sold house in 2008 as forced sale.....which wasn't exactly great timing....

bought in 97.

rode the property wave, and renovated 3 places top to bottom in 10 years

got addicted to it, and basically had no social life for years due to renovations....learnt a lot doing it, but looking back, whilst i made money on the properties, i could have been using my time to actually do stuff to enrich my life

now single, living in a really nice rented house in south east - small town in the surrey hills, just outside london

work for FTSE company in marketing. earn about 75k

150k saved......earning no interest......

not sure i'll buy again....i certainly won't while they are at the levels they are at now.

i prefer the freedom of renting. and renting is much better value

i've seen the light, due to hpc website

Edited November 9, 2010 by jmzr

[felix]

Early 40s, IT consultant, just married, one child, have been living all over the world and as a consequence never bought something. I am simply against buying something as an investment, as I do not want the hassle of finding tenants, maintenance, etc., however I have been trading in (property) shares and got lucky so far.

Main objective: Just want to make sure that whatever I have now on the bank/invested (~1m Pounds) will keep its value the next 20 years. I am scared of inflation.

[200p]

37.

sadly on my way to a divorce :-(

split up two years ago and sold house in 2008 as forced sale.....which wasn't exactly great timing....

bought in 97.

rode the property wave, and renovated 3 places top to bottom in 10 years

got addicted to it, and basically had no social life for years due to renovations....learnt a lot doing it, but looking back, whilst i made money on the properties, i could have been using my time to actually do stuff to enrich my life

now single, living in a really nice rented house in south east - small town in the surrey hills, just outside london

work for FTSE company in marketing. earn about 75k

150k saved......earning no interest......

not sure i'll buy again....i certainly won't while they are at the levels they are at now.

i prefer the freedom of renting. and renting is much better value

i've seen the light, due to hpc website

Good post, one can say you've come full circle!

[The Ayatollah Buggeri]

I work full time as an electronic engineer working on security products and with a lot of overseas travel and overtime, earnings are a modest ~46K...

The UK average salary was £25,543 in July (and is probably around the same now), which means that you earn nearly double it. Modest?

[19 year mortgage 8itch]

The UK average salary was £25,543 in July (and is probably around the same now), which means that you earn nearly double it. Modest?

I still always think those figures are bunkum. Whether its the ONS being wrong or the black economy being an order of magnitude than its thought but there is too much money out there.

[The Ayatollah Buggeri]

If you stripped those who subsist on benefits, in whole or in part, out of that figure, I'm sure it would be significantly lower.

IMO the real reason that many people on £40-50k (and I write as one of them) believe their salaries to be modest is a combination of the extent to which they are taxed and unrealistic expectations for their standard of living, based on the availability of cheap debt over the last decade.

Edited November 9, 2010 by The Ayatollah Buggeri

[xux42]

If you stripped those who subsist on benefits, in whole or in part, out of that figure, I'm sure it would be significantly lower.

IMO the real reason that many people on £40-50k (and I write as one of them) believe their salaries to be modest is a combination of the extent to which they are taxed and unrealistic expectations for their standard of living, based on the availability of cheap debt over the last decade.

And who they mix with.

I'm a council house kid so this is very obvious to me, but its taken 20 years for wife, brought up in a middle class household, who only met me after I'd become 'middle class', to understand this.

Most people prefer to live and think in their comfort zone if they can get away with it - and often don't appreciate it if you confront them with the reality faced by most folk.

9% mortgage on £250k house.

Income barely pays bills for the last 15 months but have earned far more and hopefully will again.

PS have Final Salary pension + smaller pensions which will more than pay the bills but not fund cruises.

Sorry to complicate but I think that is probably more significant as having oodles of equity.

Edited November 9, 2010 by xux42

[t350chunder]

36, Married, living with wife in Surrey.

Working in IT.

We have about 30 - 35% Equity on our house which is a very modest 2 bedroom place. We literally never plan on moving as we are able to extend the house as necessary. Bought in 2008 when it was all kicking off as it was the precise house that we wanted to buy.

Still want a big drop in house prices for lots of reasons.

[silver surfer]

Born 1957, graduated in 1980 with so-so economics degree, but no student debts and one of only 15% of the population to have a degree so walked into good job with non contributory DB pension. No career disruptions from being called up for military service, unlike father and grandfather. First job paid about £5,500, bought first house (three bed end terrace in Sheffield) for £12,500 within 18 months of starting work. Moved to London a few years later and bought flat in Pimlico, then flat in Fulham, then house in Ealing. Married woman with successful career, divorced amicably, two kids at private schools.

Bought and sold during 1989-95 crash, ending up with five bed detached which then more than quadrupled in price. STR'd in 2005, renting since but looking to buy on south coast and take early retirement in 1955.

I was lucky to be born into the golden generation that had it all...but never realised it at the time. I think of the struggles my parents and grandparents went through, and the struggles my children will go through, and can't believe that one generation could have it so easy.

[Mikhail Liebenstein]

  Age 36, large  house with reducing mortgage in Surrey. I work as does my wife. Gross household income about £180k, though wife's job disappearing, but with 9 months maternity pay coming up and 1 years salary as redundancy (you guessed it she is public sector). This should clear a good chunk of the mortgage. 

Edited November 9, 2010 by Mikhail Liebenstein

[hirop]

Now just turned 38, generally pissed it all up against a wall so no real complaints. Spent the last 5 years trying to fix it. Touch and go if I pull it off. During the late 80's boom I was barely 16 when my old man was cashing in the equity gains, so i have an excuse for that time. During the mega boom, initially I worked on a short-term fixed contract that ended up spinning out for 2 years, as I started out in professional life, and then I went freelance for a bit. Back in those days I didn't know about lying to mortagage advisors so didn't consider myself eligible for mortgage - that probably scunnered me right there and then. After that I partied hard, with a party\work balance of about 80\20 - that predictably turned into a car crash which I've worked my out of.

I know I'll manage somehow, but I fear for my younger sisters - just starting university this past year - hopefully the worst of the job malaise is past by the time they graduate, and some sanity has returned to starter home prices.

[feed]

37, just.

Essex based, work IT engineering/automotive, looking at automation and offshoring/outsourcing.

~£150k in the bank, base Salary ~ £48k + £6~8k from second jobs. Have job benefits, inc. pension / paid sick leave etc that people say are very good. I'm not sure what they are though. Job is as secure as any can claim, we don't have compulsory redundancy and I'm at the bottom of a very long list for the voluntary. Also we start recruiting this year for the first time in 6/7 years.

Rent very cheaply, always have, and spend about 1/3 of my post tax income. No commitments, no family and have nothing of value.

Never bought a house as I've never really needed one, still don’t. Rarely spend more than 10 hours a day in the place I'm in today, and then it's mostly in one 10 by 10 room. May buy soon partly to bury my money and partly out of boredom.

Appreciate that this is a better position than many, and interestingly 35 does seem to be the cusp, fall one side and you're probably okay, fall the other, and probably not.

It's all luck.

[gilf]

37 - Computer programmer, earning £45k, wife earns £28K but is taking it easy in the NHS having worked in the City on close to £40k. No kids.

Just bought a house, STR'd back in 2005 made a half decent profit at the time which we have kept but only slightly built on.

Got what we consider a bargain on the new house, paid £225k on a road where the average has been closer to £300k, it needs a little work but mainly superficial and has a few things which would be a complete turn off for most family buyers, for example it has no bath just a shower.

[Normski]

35, electrical engineer working in car industry, wages with overtime and shifts is £40k.

Sold 3 bed house last year for £193, which I bought for £78 in 2001. Mind you I lost 2 years of my life doing it up (not to mention the £20k and a back operation!).

We are renting a great house, with a superb landlord - it's perfect for us. But the missus's nesting instinct will not subside (we have a 3 year old as well) and she really feels the need to buy our own house.

We've looked at maybe 6 houses over the past year and have been really disappointed what £250k - £275k will get in north-east Cheltenham (Cotswolds, basically).

We've got £120k deposit.

I talked to First Direct only yesterday and have secured a £165k mortgage. This deal will be available to us for 6 months (3.89% fixed for 5 years, £792 per month, slightly more than rent).

Although I read this site for an hour a day, and agree with most sentiment, and agree passionately that housing is terribly overpriced I want to please the missus and buy a house. I feel house prices will slide by as much as 10% over the next 12 months. I feel interest rates won't go much above 1.5% even within 3 years. My money in the bank is dying (although buying that silver through bullionvault last year turned out alright in the end). I am fed up with being obsessed with bloody house prices and peoples [Daily Express] view on them.

I have signed up to all local auction house detail distribution, and am in discussion with EAs about repo's. I am gearing up for aggressive dealing, in the nicest possible manner, of course.. Doing up a house doesn't worry me at all, especially as I've factored in 6 months extra stay in our rental once a house is found.

Compromise is something I'm learning fast, and a 4 bed detached with a paddock was never reasonable anyway!

Good luck everyone.

[Milton]

I am in Yorkshire. 37 years old. Studied engineering as a teenager. Left the tools years ago. [Now a mixture of sales/consulting/design work]

Earn £20-£30k pa. [All the people I grew up with, all earn between £18-25k.]

[A Landlord, service engineers, sales reps, warehouse staff, a FLT drivers, a bank teller, a mortician, hairdresser, spray painters, recruiter, cabinet makers, nurse, etc etc etc.]

Had a look at an apartment in an old mill, in 1997, which was about £70k.

Went to have another look a year or so later. They had shot up to around £85k!

At that point I thought WHAT?! WHY has it gone up so much?! WHY is it suddenly worth that much?!]

An 13% increase in a year!?! [Each subsequent year getting higher and further out of reach]

In the TEN years previous to 1997, house prices had increased by just 33.3% !! [From 1997 to 2007, they rose by an insane 245.5%]

At that point i was priced out.

Of course none of us knew what was about to happen, otherwise I would have gotten onto the ladder.

But also, 1997/1998 was before liar loans, and after a couple of exploratory mortgage phone calls, the banks I contacted at that time, would not have lent me stupid multiple amounts of salary...........

[i Was on about £12-14k PA back then. Early twenties. Which was average for someone of my age working in Leeds]

So then spent years, paying off someone elses mortgage.

Sent my local Labour MP 3 emails years ago, [through theyworkforyou website asking what they were going to do about house prices, etc.

NO RESPONSE.

Sent other Labour offices all over the country the same questions.

NOT A SINGLE RESPONSE

Started to get f@@@g angry.............Still am.

[My Local Labour MP ended up on the front page of the Telegraph for flipping houses making over £200k. Thieving scum. No wonder they completely ignored us. Was obviously voting on policies to keep IR too low for too long, fiddle the housing inflation figures etc etc, so they could make a mint in a criminal secret expenses system. And purchase some BTL]

I would say it has a massively negative effect on your life. Working for nothing. No capital. Forced to pay off a liars mortgage. Paying for his lifestyle, so he doesnt have to work. You do feel pretty worthless. You are forced to put your life on hold.

Now of course we know, it was all THE LABOUR PARTY'S fault and could have been avoided.

Present situation. No work for 18 months. Because of recession. Again, engineered by LABOUR. Living off savings.

MAIN THING IS I HAVE NO INTENTION OF WORKING FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS FOR NOTHING.

My taxes stolen, and wage devalued, to pay off this toxic mortgage debt, in effect FORCED to pay for other peoples houses, after having already wasted tens of thousands in rent, whilst keeping houses massively overinflated, ensuring I can never afford mine own?

AN INDENTURED SLAVE.

[Why not just come round my house, and rape and rob me? At least that would be honest.]

IF HOUSE PRICES DO NOT COME BACK DOWN TO AFFORDABLE LEVELS, THEN THE GOVERNMENT CAN ****** OFF.

[And I dare not post what I would like to see someone do to certain individuals in the Labour Party for fear of being arrested]

If the C@nt5 in Labour had not inflated the bubble I'm sure I would have got a mortgage years ago, paid off a substantial sum, probably gotten married, and had kids by now.

Edited November 10, 2010 by Dan1

[geezer466]

Born 1958 left school 1974 had a spell in the Army. Bought my first house (3 bed terrace in London UB4) in 1984 £43,500. Marriage fell apart in 1992 (was all my fault (affair)) so passed the house and the endowments (which by that time had built up two thirds of the mortgage redemption to the ex wife for a £10,000 payoff.

Used that to buy another 3 bedroom in the UB3 postcode in 1997 £85,500. (had a £50k repayment mortgage upon it). Nose to the grindstone managed to pay the mortgage off in 2006 the same year I was made redundant. Sold in 2007 and moved to the North West of England upsizing at the same time.

Now self employed on around £40k a year and mortgage free in a much larger house. I also have 3 kids and yearn for a time when property values return to the mean and are much more affordable.

[enrieb]

The details of my life are quite inconsequential ... Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a 15-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize; he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes, he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament ... My childhood was typical: summers in Rangoon ... luge lessons ... In the spring, we'd make meat helmets ... When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds — pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first scribe. At the age of 14, a Zoroastrian named Vilmer ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum — it's breathtaking ... I suggest you try it.

[VeryMeanReversion]

Age 40'ish.

Full-time employed, some evening contracting, wife home with the kids.

Came back to the UK in 1997 when houses looked cheap (had been watching them fall for years, waiting for the right time to return)

Sold in 2003.

Now buying in 2010 at £53K lower than I sold for

Will have 2.19% mortgage of around 1x income (net debt). Could clear it in 4-5 years or extend house.

Two young kids

[xux42]

The details of my life are quite inconsequential ... Very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a 15-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize; he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes, he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament ... My childhood was typical: summers in Rangoon ... luge lessons ... In the spring, we'd make meat helmets ... When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds — pretty standard, really. At the age of 12, I received my first scribe. At the age of 14, a Zoroastrian named Vilmer ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum — it's breathtaking ... I suggest you try it.

Oh, behave!

[Mickey]

37 and earning £30k for a 3 day working week. Full time salary equivalent would be around £52k.

I bought a 1930s 3 bed semi for £61,500 as a FTB in 1999. Husband to be then moved in with me. Started reading HPC in 2005 after we were married and looking to buy a larger home.

Finally traded up in 2009 at 15% off peak to a 5 bed detached - £305k. We felt that with interest rates so low, there was no longer any point saving. Sold for £140k and plowed all our savings except a £20k warchest into the new house. Have a big mortgage but it is affordable on our income and we have no other debts. Looking to start paying off mortgage faster after kids start school. Currently shelling out £800 per month in nursery fees.

I think we are lucky in that we didn't pay through the nose for our Uni education.

I find it amazing how much a woman needs to earn before it is economic to work with kids under school age. It is hardly worth it for me and I am on a good salary.

I still want house prices to drop 30% so we can buy a holiday let to provide some equity for the kids when they start out as FTBers.