Is there any way the OP can use their $ to get a foot into the property ladder at the moment without actually buying a house to live in.
One thing I didn't really click to early on was that ' a house is a house, dosn't matter where it is'.
I was thinking of a house to live in only, really I should have got a house a lot earlier on & just rented it out, taking in the rent $ to pay the mortgage, While it gained in price.
My money was just sitting in the bank, not earning interest, while I paid rent, while house prices went up, while I also paid for storage elsewhere.
I could ( it was suggested to me at the time ) have bought a 8 bedroom 2 story brick house with sheds out the back ( to store my stuff ) & rented out the 4 units, for $70,000 or $7,000 deposit. By the time I bought my house, it's price would have risen enough to take my $ back out & still keep it, along with the rent increasing & paying off the mortgage. While I rented ( onecroom, shared house ) in a different city short term, but wouldn't have paid for storage either. In reality, I don't think it's much harder to buy a house now than what it was then. Higher deposits needed, much less wages, far lower quality of house, lower rental income back then.
Some people think that they should be able to buy @ 20 & have a freehold house by 30, in reality, even back then, if you did it on your own, you couldn't afford to buy a house before 30.
Yes there's exceptions, better wage earners, good investments made, no social life = better savings, windfall $ & inheritances, double income, extra income from flatmates, but that was the case back then too. The best time to buy a house is always Right Now. It's how you do it that makes the big difference. Having the guts to make the big jump early on helps.
I think the key thing is, is to lower expenses & improve income by having flatmates/borders. Expensive car & having a loan for it? That might be their social life & status & intrests in one.
It's relative, a cheaper car can cost you the same to run as a expensive car, it's less reliable & much less impressive.
I fix my own cars. While my neighbour calls me over to show him where the Oil goes in.... Not that he needs to put oil in, it's a new car, it gets serviced, he just wants to know... Edited by marte at 9:17 pm, Mon 8 Mar marte - 2021-03-08 21:08:00 | 