I live in the "new mayfair"

[0103media]

Have you guys seen the new monopoly?

St albans has replaced mayfair!

Its spot on in many ways as i'm looking for my first home and its a bit of a joke for a first time buyer!

[Funkyhand]

I feel for you Mr Media, I bought my first place on my own quite a few years ago when prices were realistic. Now you have to be on a Directors salary to buy a one bedroom flat..it's a disgrace.
Anice xx

[caketopper]

I feel for you Mr Media, I bought my first place on my own quite a few years ago when prices were realistic. Now you have to be on a Directors salary to buy a one bedroom flat..it's a disgrace.

Totally agree with this. Luckily our flat gets paid for by OH company otherwise Id probably be homeless, cant imagine being able to afford a house anytime soon

[Tip Top]

I don't know how I'd get on the property ladder these days. When we moved from our first home 8 years ago we bought the biggest we could afford at the time although it meant moving nearly 20 miles but it was a better area and transport links were a lot easier (my work at the time took me all over the country). The house opposite us is exactly the same and they are asking more than 1.5 times what we paid......

Very scary

[indri]

We've only owned our home for a year and the prices round us have already started creeping up (by up to £25000). On my own I'd be living in a cardboard box.... luckily I had someone to buy with.

[MrSwirl]

Our first flat went up 97% in four years.

This house has gone up 152% in five years.

I do wonder about what the girls will do when they get older - that's a lot of chickens to sell!!

Japan and the US are now looking at 50 year mortgages and more, so you essentially buy a house for your family, and saddle everyone with the mortgage. I can't really see a way out of this.

But hey - EuroMillions is £88million this week, and it can't roll over again!!!

[indri]

But hey - EuroMillions is £88million this week, and it can't roll over again!!!

Thanks for letting me know... I'll have to have a dip into the bottom of my purse and see if I find something more than buttons to get a ticket.

[MrSwirl]

Thanks for letting me know... I'll have to have a dip into the bottom of my purse and see if I find something more than buttons to get a ticket.

I don't know what made me check the website today, but I happened to go there and it's on the front page!

Hands off - it's mine, all mine!!

[JBJB]

We're in a really fortunate position. We bought our first one-bedroom house when we were 21. We've only moved twice since then and I'm happy to stay in this house at least until DS flies the nest. We only have 7 years left to pay on the mortgage and we've dilligently never borrowed against it. Would loved to have a conservatory put on for extra space but each time we look into it, we just decide to get the mortgage paid off as soon as we can and still be young enough to be earning money.

I've no idea how anybody is meant to do it these days - ridiculous prices they're asking. There's no way we could do it if we were starting now.

[swirlyarts]

I've no idea how anybody is meant to do it these days - ridiculous prices they're asking. There's no way we could do it if we were starting now.

Mr Swirl and I have often said that if we were buying now we would only be able to buy a tiny house - there's no way we would be able to afford this house now if we were buying!

[JBJB]

Our first house was a teeny-tiny 1 bedroom house on a new housing development. We went to see it when it was just walls and I can remember saying "It's not much bigger than a garage" !! We had a 100% mortgage back then and made a loss when we sold it 5 years later. I can't believe we managed in a one-bedroom house for 5 years! We used to eat our tea off of an ironing board because there was no space for a table! I used to do a bit of painting and faffing about squashed in the cupboard under the stairs! Eeeeh, the things you're happy to put up with when you're young and newly married! We got lucky on the sale of the next house and made a fair profit which meant we could buy this one.

[MrSwirl]

We were incredibly lucky that I had cash to put down as a deposit when we bought our flat - I was 23 but had some inheritance money to spend. Without that we couldn't have bought, and would never have been able to do it.

Moving from the south to the north helped - but the prices where we are now have gone up more than in the south, so we couldn't do the same move today.

Next move will be into my parents house, once they are no longer with us...