Will Our Kids EVER Own Their Own Home

The other day I read an article in Grazia magazine about the 30 year old who earns £30-£40k, lives at home with her parents and is always borrowing from the bank of Mum and Dad.

She wasn’t a big spender, rarely went out and didn’t buy fancy clothes. And of course she doesn’t have a mortgage. Yet she was really struggling to make ends meet.

This is a common story. Young people who, through no fault of their own, can’t get on the property ladder, have no chance of saving for a deposit and sometimes struggle to pay an unexpected bill each month. So they have to live back at home with their parents.

It makes me wonder what will happen with my own children. They’re a little young right now, just 14 and 12 but the time will come in the not too distant future when they want to live an independent life.

They have big dreams, big goals and aspirations and as their parent, it’s my job to support them, not quash their romantic notions of what life might be. I’m certainly not going to tell them that when they leave University with around £30k of debt it will be unlikely they’ll ever be able to afford to buy a house.

They don’t need to hear that right now, they’re a little young and I certainly don’t want to be dampening their enthusiasm with tales of young people who can’t afford to pay for their food shopping.

So what can I do to help them?

Well I’m in a fortunate position in a lot of respects. I’m well aware of that. We’ve created a life where we earn more than the average salary AND we bought our home many years ago when property was affordable and mortgage rates were low.

My husband and I were in our 30’s when we got together and already owned our own separate properties. Selling them and pooling our resources meant we could buy a family home at a great price in a good area.

Over the years we’ve renovated the house, added a loft conversion, new kitchen and bathrooms as well as decorated top to bottom and revamped the garden. It’s been a labour of love.

In that time, property prices in our area have soured. The schools are exceptionally good, driving up demand for our homes and so we’re able to use tools like this one at Sunlife to identify exactly how much money our house has made us. 

Whilst we realise that we’re in a great position and not everyone is, this does mean we can do some planning as we hit our 50’s to help the children get into a better position for the future.

How We Might Help Our Kids:

One of the things we’re considering is to invest in some property on a long-term basis.

I’d love to hear from anyone else who has done something similar.

The plan would be to buy a nearby home, update and renovate if necessary and then let it. We don’t want it to make lots of money during the letting period though, just cover the costs. 

We’d hope that the house price and mortgage would be at a good enough value that we pay it off quite quickly and then have a property worth X amount that grows in value over a 10-15 year period.

Then in a decade or so, once it’s then sold, we can use that money to help the girls get on the property ladder, pay off any education costs or really anything that they need in life to get them started.

I know it will take a fair bit of research but we’ve started. I have several friends who manage property so have the benefit of their wisdom and experience but I would also really love to chat to anyone else who’s done the same or is thinking of it. 

Perhaps we can share experiences and knowledge.

And maybe, just maybe we’ll be able to give our kids a hand, benefiting from the unfortunate situation lots of young people find themselves in at the moment.

What do you think to the idea? Do you know anyone else who’s done this?

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