Getting on the Housing Ladder and Mortgages

I've been helping my colleague R look at houses for her and her boyfriend to buy via a 90% mortgage (they have a reasonable deposit for their ages) today and I have to say even though I write things about how difficult it is for young people to get on the housing ladder and get mortgages I didn't realise to quite what extent this is true in the aftermath of the credit crunch/recession!

For example the first place we looked at was little more than a box and it was £130,000. The next place was better and actually reminded me of the place I used to rent before my present home which was a funny feeling. But even that was £136,000 which they would have trouble getting a mortgage for with their current circumstances/income.

It all looks a bit depressing for wannabe home owners.

Still after that we went to a nice resturant where we had a full vegetarian breakfast which was just what we needed followed by a drive to the sea and a brisk walk along the beach to forget about home hunting and mortgages.

Overall it has been a really nice day.