Alexandra Jones is attempting the near impossible - to buy property in her twenties (without a huge handout from parents or a job in finance). It's not easy but after many meetings she's found there are ways to do it...
It has taken me a little while to build up to writing this. I've circled it and stared at it, started, stopped, deleted, re-wrote. The subject is the raw, itchy scab in the middle of the sore spot that has become my living situation. I'm desperate not to think about it, as if the not thinking might somehow make it resolve itself. But like an unpleasant-sounding disease you'd rather not have, ignoring it isn't making it any better.
So - here's what's going on: recently I've really been questioning this whole renting thing. It's the instability of it that bothers me - the fact that on a whim someone whose first name you might not even know could, literally, whip the rug out from under your feet.
With this truly horrifying rug-whipping scenario in mind I've been looking into buying a place, and this is where things have begun to get particularly itchy and uncomfortable. Realistically, I can't actually afford anywhere. Here's are the issues:
Deposit
I need one. I have some savings and have been making various plans (save X amount each payday, sell X body part to medical science, implement X ingenious money-making scheme) but given an average deposit in London is £64,000 it might take me a few millennia. There are, however new government schemes where if you have a 5 of the value of your flat or guarantee part of your mortgage so the bank is more likely give you a 95Slideshow-122679%