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

pwurple wrote: »

Sorry, what on earth do you think my “argument” is? Are you reading something I am not writing? Yes, obviously nobody had mobile phones, that is my point, you asked what stuff you have now, that people in the 70’s didn’t.

So, Your dad had a job, 3 decades ago, and bought a house. Did he have a mobile phone and was paying an internet access bill at the time?

And cry me a river about not being able to rent on your own. I never ever lived alone. Did your dad, or did he go from home, to digs maybe, to family life. That is exactly what I mean by crazy expectations.

Are you honestly still trying to imply that a mobile phone and internet access somehow makes up for not being able to afford a home to live in? Yes, we actually did have the internet in the nineties, AND a nice semi-detached house! Imagine!

You seem to be stuck in some warped mentality that phones and internet are expensive luxuries. They are not. My point, which you missed spectacularly, was that people 20-30 years ago might not have had the SAME things we have now, but they had things which were considered new and extravagant *at the time*. And those things didn't prevent them from buying houses. You can get a phone with a data plan for about 15 euro a month. Let me just live without my phone, which we now basically need for daily life, and stick that 15 euro a month into a savings account and see how quickly I can buy a house with it. :rolleyes:

Yes, my dad lived alone in a studio apartment in his twenties, just like plenty of people did. Then he bought a house at 26. 'Crazy expectations' to have your own modest living space as a professional adult working full time? Really? So anyone who doesn't have a romantic partner just has to flatshare in their thirties, forties and beyond, and you think that's grand?

Right.

Some random thoughts -

The hopelessness of your home-ownership situation should not deter you from saving. You will always need savings, and you might just get a lucky property break. Especially when the next crash comes and you have cash. But saving is a good habit and a must.

I gave up fags and booze in mid-thirties. I find pubs over-rated now and avoid them. If they're a big part of your lifestyle, try it for a year and stash that cash. If you can't hack twelve months of your thirties without pubs and clubs, you're a superficial loser in life, I'm afraid.

The three lads I know had their mortgage paid off within ten years, and are still in their mid-to-late thirties, are tradesmen. Working all the hours, working on the side, working away from home.

Go where the work is. Home ownership is great, but I'm glad I left it until my early forties. Being footloose meant being able to go where the work was, including abroad (The eighties were sh*t). Emigrating for a few years might be worth doing financially, and might cure you of the Irish property ownership bug altogether.

I personally wouldn't like to take on a mortgage with a large LTV, in a private sector job, in a volatile economy like ours.

If you are considering the rurals in a desperate move to be a home-owner (we bought on an acre in the country and we were ready for the country after many years of city living) there is huge bang for your buck, but -

1. there are houses that we viewed 7+ years ago in rural parts, that are still on Daft today. Nightmare stuff.

2. where I had a twenty minute walk to work, I now have a thirty mile each-way drive. Don't underestimate big shillings for diesel, servicing, repairs esp. shocks. Worth it to me for unreal quality of life, but it's no joke. You can not survive in the rurals without a car.

Remember that the word 'mortgage' means 'grip of death', and realise this - if you buy a house and it loses half it's value, the market has to rise by 100% for you to get back to square one.

Pussyhands wrote:

Yeah and then Dublin attracted higher quality jobs to raise the standard of living. Standard of living is much higher than in early 90's. Even the worst off in society are heading off on holidays abroad for a week at least.

I know some people who haven't been on holidays since before the crash, so maybe we mix with completely different worse off people

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

It isn't though, is it? That's the point.

There are many, many factors beyond 'saving' which give people a head start over others in that marathon.

Stayed at home for college? Head start.

Parents paid for college? Head start.

No major health issues? Head start.

Got a stable long term partner? Head start.

And so on and on and on. Funny how so many people have such a hard time accepting that luck played a huge role in their ability to buy a house. Sure, they might have worked hard, but lots of people work hard and don't manage it, through no fault of their own.

OP sounds like an immature waster, but not everyone is like that.

All those head starts become irrelevant pretty quickly if, like the OP, you spent your way through your twenties.

Those things are certainly a large benefit, but they are not a requirement.

Some think that they are entitled to live in Dublin because, well, they want to. Life isnt like that.
"Everyone" wants to live in Dublin, so the house prices are irrelevant, there are not enough houses for everyone who wants one, so of course the price is going to go up.
To just expect your wages to magically go up to match them is insane.

Pussyhands wrote: »

If people want to complain and whinge about things then let them off.

People can take the advice or not. If you're new iPhone 10, multiple concert festivals, 4 or 5 trips abroad every year, eating out every week and scalp of 6 euro pints every weekend is your thing, then fire away, don't come whinging on here claiming you can't save.

Harsh, but fair.

Wanderer78 wrote: »

There's clearly something highly dysfunctional about the cost of housing and overall accommodation, and we re not the only country experiencing this, compared to previous generations

It's only dysfunctional if everyone thinks they are entitled to live in the same place, i.e. Dublin.

Would you consider a shop to be dysfunctional if it was always so full that no one could move or buy anything, even though there were other empty shops nearby?


BTW
https://www.myhome.ie/residential/dublin/property-for-sale?maxprice=200000

233 properties for sale in Dublin for max 200K, a mixture of houses and apartments.

"ohh but I want to live near my mommy in Dundrum...I'm not living in Tallaght!"

26k is a first year graduate salary in most professional industries in Dublin (or perhaps a year 2 or 3 position in the civil service where one has to accept low wages as the opportunity cost of belonging to a public sector union imo - why urban members haven't insisted on the union fighting for an Irish equivalent of the "London Allowance" their UK counterparts have baffles me). 26k is a fine salary for someone in their early twenties. Most grads with a useful degree (business, IT, law or engineering) would be earning more than that 3 years after leaving college or by their mid-twenties.

For someone in their 30s it's a sign they've either wasted a lot of time studying for qualifications that aren't any use in the employment market (I'm thinking masters courses in humanities that have no application outside of academia), chopping and changed their area of study or career path or spent a large amount of time outside of the workforce / travelling etc.

If you want to buy in Dublin you need to be earning 40k or more. That's a fairly modest salary in Dublin and the likelihood will be that you'll be looking in working class areas at that level as you'll be priced out of anything else.

Those using national salary averages are being rather disingenuous here imo: most of us working in Dublin would take a large salary hit if we moved outside of the major cities. TBH, most of us would even take a hit moving to Cork or Galway.

So, what should those that are uninterested in doing degrees related to pursuing careers in STEM, business or Law do? My advice would be to aim for a public sector position outside of the cities. A teacher on year one of their salary scale (€36,318) would pass the LTI rules to buy a 3 bed property in large parts of Mayo, Cavan, Tipperary, Longford, Sligo, Wexford, Laois, Donegal, Clare etc. Even a Clerical officer in a Local Authority (starting on €23,587) would be able to afford a 3 bed in many parts of the country.

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Ahh come on though, if youre from darndale, ballyfermot, finglas etc.. you can buy a house near your ma no bother, theres a lot of estates in that under 200k list that if youre not fron there you’ll be singled out and targeted. The vast majority of those properties have a reason theyre affordable.

Nice exaggeration.(like your signature)

There are some quite nice areas/estates in the suburbs that you mention that have no anti-social problems. Only snobbery prevents so called "middle income" earners to live there and then they end up moaning about the commute in some commuter town 100 miles down the road.