Why I’m Taking So Long to Buy a Home

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I turned 23 in 2014. I was working full-time for a digital marketing agency in London, studying at university part-time, and I was juggling a couple of different ecommerce operations. Those times were survival mode. We were living good, but we wanted to live better, so we were putting in hours, so we could save up for the life we wanted. We wanted to be homeowners.

Our team at work was small. There were the two owners, and four young execs that were all in their first office job. I was two years older than the rest, so no real age difference at all. We were all essentially in the same situation. Or so I thought. The one I knew the least about had been working on something.

Out of the blue, one of those younger colleagues bought a flat around the corner from our office with her boyfriend. I was baffled. And before I even had time to process it, she hit me with: “Come on Chiino, what’s taking YOU so long?”

Again, she was 21 and I was 23. A mortgage wasn’t part of my 2014 road map, but it made me question why I was behind someone that I was training. Why hadn’t I saved up that much? Why were we renting when someone younger than me and getting paid less than me, is buying? What do I need to do it catch up?

It prompted me to look into it a lot more seriously, and with more intent of actually buying in the near future (as opposed to whenever we finally had a deposit we were happy with). I looked around for helpful resources at the time. Things like this Mortgage Calculator would have come in handy to give me more perspective on how much I can expect a mortgage to cost me, based on the value of property I want to invest in.

The next step was to build up the funds to actually do it. As time went on, the life situation changed. New job. Then a baby. Then moved city. Then self-employment. Then another baby. All of it taught me that I shouldn’t be racing against others (especially ones that own horses, so most likely got family to contribute towards their first home deposit).

2020 was meant to be the year that we bought, but again circumstances such as Coronavirus have forced us to reconsider our plan, as it has altered the work situation and the direction we hope to go with our finances. This stamp duty holiday sounds great, but it’s yet another thing tempting me into applying for a mortgage before it actually makes sense to enter the real estate world.

I’m currently ticking off so many things off my list to ensure that we have the best possible chance of securing a home in 2021. Dealing with debt, increasing cash flow, getting rid of unnecessary expenditure is all up there on that list, and time will tell whether it goes to plan. Who knows what will happen between now and then though.