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How old were you when you bought your first home?

4 years ago

For many looking to buy nowadays it feels a world away, but once upon a time buying your first home wasn't the extravagantly priced procedure it is now!

So, how old were you when you bought your first home? Tell us below!

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Comments (119)

Tess Wijy
4 years ago
19
PRO
Linda
4 years ago
27 - 3 bed end terrace house in slough
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Angelboyman nails it for me. We have been in this house 32 years and have done everything at least once from renewing the roof and windows to digging out the floor, putting in a damp course and installing central heating. The ensuing recoration has been a "classic" traditional colour-scheme of soft barley and sage green to suit the era the house was built. It suits us down to the ground and we are not distracted by outdated decor. We give it a lick of paint when it needs it. The house is the only one in this Victorian terrace to have retained many original features such as picture rails, dado, marble fireplace and ceiling rose, but internal doors were sadly a victim of the dreaded Fire Certificate and other "improvements", which also mean all the features inc. windows and front door were not retained as we would have wished and we have also had to cover the pine floors we so lovingly restored with carpets and vinyl because they needed protecting from high-heels and countless sandy feet. We also dopted the German fashion for wood-chipping and painting what were pretty uneven walls. They have been over-painted so often, the texture is barely visible and it has withstood the test of time. We are in a seaside location, so there has been heavy wear and tear from a couple of generations of holiday making friends and relatives as well as our own family. The kitchen is the biggest challenge being north-facing with practically no light and whilst it was being excavated we made the bathroom into a temporary kitchen, but never restored it, so now we have two showers and three toilets in the house, but no bath! The room is a designated "laundry room" which is also a tool store, boiler and hobby room. The house will soon be on the market, so redecoration will not be our choice. The new caretakers of this happy home will have a blank canvas. Good luck to them! I just hope they retain the features and the character.
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How do you maintain your garden when you're short on time?
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Weekly? Oh, how I wish it were only weekly. I'm out there nearly every day culling the three-cornered leek that has reappeared as a thick blanket despite me culling it in the first spring I was here, in my new house, then finding it had reappeared hugely aggressively last year and now, in my third spring, it's even thicker and even more widespread - and is now not only in the flower beds but also in the lawn, thick along the edge, scattered within it. Front and back. It takes about two hours to clear about a square yard - digging under the bulbs; banging off the (very good, I've been told) soil in which there are always several earthworms which I need to hang on to (obviously); then picking out the tiniest bulbs left behind. I don't think I can ever finish it this year - as happened last year - which means the problem will go on for decades. I don't really have the time (I need to work, I need a life beyond digging and clearing). The only solution I can think of is to bring in help but my budget won't allow that. I value having lawn so paving it over isn't an option. I will have less planting space, which will eventually mean less weeding, but it's not something I can do right now - I've too much to do to bring the indoors up to date. I disagree with Jo DP. The previous owners had a keep it wild policy and now I have this big problem with a massively invasive plant. And, yes, I have tried using it in recipes - it really isn't worth the effort of keeping it under control (to have a limited supply). I'm an experienced and adventurous cook and three-cornered leek is an overrated ingredient, even though it's free and in my garden.
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I only remove fresh items from fridge but leave jars etc I tidy but don't clean I usually put fresh linen on bed day before we leave so come back to a nice bed I arrange all the blinds / curtains so open but not fully open I set all the light timers I leave a key with neighbours and let a SMALL number of neighbours know As we are about to leave I put bleach in all the toilets If it is a taxi firm we don't know ( try to use same one each time) as I leave I talk to and wave at imaginary children and then discuss imaginary children with husband when we set off "will they remember to ...hope they visit .....etc" As we are about to leave I put bleach in all the toilets
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How old do you think this house is?
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Comments (18)
Apologies, I meant to say that the land registry information is publicly available and you've got access to it yourself, i.e. It's not only available to solicitors during the house selling process. Anyone can look any property up as long as they've got the address. As to the house' age, I couldn't hazard a guess but can tell you that our house we bought couple of years ago was built in 1923 and it was largely left unchanged (until we got our hands on it ha!), I've attached a photo below for reference x
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Roxane Romero
4 years ago
50. Bought 3 bed semi in Wimbledon. Needed £300k to get in and make it liveable. Given it is a 25 year mortgage, I will be working until I am 75 if I expect to ever own it outright.. Took forever to get that kind of cash together with student loans and dealing with layoffs taking up all savings. I guess this is what is in store for our young people today.
Kailani Knight
4 years ago
32, we complete on friday! Couldn't have done it without the help of our generous parents and a lot of saving!!
Adrienne Shaw
4 years ago
21 - a new build by RB near Manchester in 1981. Total lack of character lol
I'm now in a 1930s home where I'm trying for an art nouveau inspired home but keeping it relatively authentic - I think I'm just confused but happy
k11agl
4 years ago
30, thanks to an economy crisis at the time
Rachel Oakes
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
20, just before house prices went crazy. We bought a modern 1990's 3 bed house. Bought for £40k and sold for £136k. If we hadn't bought so young, we would never have been able to afford our current 1930s 4 bed; a nice house in a decent area. Feel so sorry for friends who bought their first home later on and who are now in negative equity in rubbish areas. We still have around £80k in equity in this house.
Tsara Taylor
3 years ago
22, in 2003. 2 bed terrace with a cellar that I later converted.

Getting on the property ladder is still doable if you're careful in choices, I am not from a well off family and have worked since a paper round at 13. Now own a 2 bed garden flat in London...can only dream of a house here at the mo' but extension plans underway so fingers crossed it's next step!!
shari39
3 years ago
23........with a 100% mortgage. Makes you feel quite old!
PRO
ownessence
3 years ago
Wow times were sure easier in the 70's and 80's. 34 and still renting:(.
clwyd
3 years ago
Bought our first home at 21 years old. It was £5,300!! A largish 3 up 3 down!
Irene Spinks
3 years ago
27. We bought a small terraced house for £21,000 our parents thought we were mad to pay that much for a terrace, we had to scrape together a deposit and bought it with an endowment mortgage. We sold it 2 years later for £40,000. The endowment was never worth the paper it was printed on thank goodness they don't do them now.
sanbak
3 years ago
18, 1981 one of the first Equity Sharing deals - worked brilliantly for us.
Sara Foster
3 years ago
23 in 1997.
dancespin
3 years ago
23 years old in 1985-2 bed maisonette flat in East London. Sold it before the property crash. Best decision ever. My 23 and 25 year old still living at home!
Louise
3 years ago
24, bought a two bed flat in London (thanks to 100% mortgages in 2006) have moved three times since then but we are absolutely in our forever home (until we retire and move out of London!)
Dundrum 16
3 years ago
I was 25 - bought a 2 bed terrace for £6850. Sold 2 years later for £15,000... My daughter (with my help) bought her flat in Glasgow at 20 in 2011.
Karen Mason
3 years ago
25
PRO
AlenaCDesign
3 years ago
29!
verdigrisjane
3 years ago
21 in 1974. We bought a 2 bedroom flat in north London for £9,750.
Doe Stewart
3 years ago
21 in 1974, bought a 3 bedroom terraced house on the Wirral for £6750 !!
herbie19730
3 years ago
22yrs old mid 90's 2 bed house £59950 moved 18mths later to a 3 bed detached £79000
Roger Ramsgate
3 years ago
25... 10 years on and still not broken even putting it on the market this month. Was probably the worse decision i ever made
Louise
3 years ago
19 in 1983 - two-up, two down Victorian semi Suffolk/Essex border, cost £22.5k. Sold 3 years later for £46k.
Tess Wijy
3 years ago
bought mine in 1993 in Edgware 52000, sold 3 years later 130000 not bad at all!
rona7770
3 years ago
24 - one bed £36.5k in Watford 100% mortgage sold 18 months later moved to two bed Hendon 80k moved after 5 years £100k Woodford
angelavdavis
3 years ago
27. 3 bed semi in North London for £92k.
louisecampbell09
3 years ago
I was 23 (19 years ago) and now my monthly council tax bill is the same as my mortgage!
Geoff Lewis
3 years ago
19. £52,000 end terrace ex-council. Sold 2 years later for 92K. Bought at 103K sold 7 years later.... 103K! FYI 1st house was about 8 x income. Mortgage was about 5 x income.
clairef09
3 years ago
I've just bought my first house at 25. A 3 bedroom bungalow with a sea view :)
Daisy England
3 years ago
I was 20 and the house cost a small fortune of £5,500. It was a lot of money in 1974.
Vickie Bracken
3 years ago
21-straight after I graduated from uni as I worked hard throughout saved my student loan to use as a deposit.
hrhjoie4
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
25 - Early '80's. Terraced house, paid 11K. Was made redundant late 90's paid off the Mortgage. It has been totally renovated throughout. Lovely house, beautifully decorated; still have it today, wouldn't part with it.
Sandra
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
19 when I married in 1973 a new semi at a Very Expensive £7400
PRO
Adaliza
3 years ago
23 - a Victorian cottage in Winchester, bought for £22,500 in Winchester in 1983. It was on the market recently for £400,000. Fortunately we managed to move up the chain a couple more times in Winchester, to our present home. We wish our kids could afford to make property investments themselves instead of just paying rent.
Lucy Mackie
3 years ago
23, 5 yrs ago we bought a 2 bed semi in SE London, luckily we bought at the right time and were able to up size to a 4 bed semi in a nicer part of the same area 4.5 years later.
Both times we've had to buy places that need a total refurbishment, stressful but at least you get to pick everything brand new!
liafruit
3 years ago
35, in London, 2007. Smallish yet gorgeous, held its value all through the 2008 crash, then soared again - nuts really. 8 years later it enabled me to buy a 4 bed semi-D Victorian house in Dublin! Refurbished almost entirely from salvage, by my own hand. Loving it even more than the last place :)
hortonhearsawho2013
3 years ago
23 in 2008. 4 bed detatched that needed total refurb!
amandajones0510
3 years ago
32
PRO
fiftypointeight Architecture + Interiors
3 years ago
19
aoibheann1
3 years ago
Just before getting married, I was 23 and he was 26.
PRO
Peden & Pringle Ltd
3 years ago
27
Kelly Dowd
3 years ago
we were 19 when we bought it and 20 when we moved in.
Heather Toal
3 years ago
25. A new build garden flat. Sold it on less than 4 years later for more than double the price originally paid. Obviously this was pre 'economic downturn'.
K Fitz
3 years ago
Just turned when 23 signing contracts and finally completed 18 months later (new build). Finished self build of 3rd and hopefully last home at 37.
Claire Robertson
3 years ago
I was 24 and my husband to be 32, back in 1978, we paid £19,500 for a 3 bed terrace in south London. Our eldest son bought in 2001 when he was 19 and on a small Royal Navy salary whist at university, sadly he sold it to pay for his wedding and hasn't got back on the ladder since. Our middle son bought aged 23 and our daughter with her then boyfriend bought their first flat at 21 and 22 straight from university in 2008 with one of the last 100% mortgages, they move next week into their third property aged 29 & 30. It's always difficult to get on the ladder but the sooner you start the better. We all live in Surrey by the way and nobody has been funded by the bank of mum and dad.
Marych O'Sullivan-Sanford
3 years ago
63! We moved in just three months ago and are having our House Warming on Sunday. So far 70 people have accepted. We intend to celebrate our socks off!
acew1234
3 years ago
28.... A year before the 14.5% interest rate in 1989.... Interesting times!
Steve Smith
3 years ago
22 days before market collapse on 2008 whilst at uni struggled for 3 years on a fixed rate. now much more financially stable and looking to move up property leader on 2017
westcorkfarmhouse
3 years ago
28 - it was in 1998, about 6 months before we got married, a small 2 bed cottage in Dublin 7.

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