I saw a statistic today that stated to be a first time buyer in London you have to be earning £77k. Clearly this would be dependent on the area and house size but this is still a staggering fact. Well maybe not if you are earning in excess of this amount. We don’t live in London but still we can’t afford to buy our own property. I don’t believe this is a consequence of our lifestyle choices and even if a financial adviser & lifestyle manager wanted to tell me so, dwelling on these does not change the situation that myself, my husband and three sons find ourselves in. We both work with children and the care profession is not high on the pay scales but we love our calling to work with these children.
We moved many times when our eldest son was pre-school in age but once school entered our considerations we opted for a village school and found a beautiful house to live it. This house has most definitely became our home and I am truly thankful that I have been able to put my stamp on our family home. We have lived her for over six years and our two youngest sons have known no other home or village. We have invested our finance, efforts and passion into this home and the memories that fill it are ones of joy, hope, security and stability within the ups and downs of all families. This slightly exaggerated idyllic image was rocked by the call that a valuer was visiting for remortgaging purposes, as an aside our neighbour’s house had just sold. A week later I am contacted to say the house is going on the market. I think in the past two weeks I have been through every emotion on the spectrum, good and bad, that is possible from self attacking ‘get over yourself so may people are worse off’ to ‘what a lovely opportunity, it will all work out fine’.
I primarily feared my children would find the disruption and information that they will need to move house hard to take. Having not yet told my youngest son (aged 4) beyond that a photographer was coming and your bedroom needs to be tidy (a challenge in itself!) Z announced to me in a very matter of fact manner that “we don’t own the house, the people who lived here before do and they are going to sell it, we need to move to a new house”…he continued to need reassurance that I would not break his Lego in transit (this may prove tricky!!!) I know children are far more resilient that we wish to believe (the baby that survived 22 hours trapped in the Nepalese earthquake disaster, a very real and recent image).
I cleaned and de-cluttered the house to the best of my ability for the photographer; to honour our homeowner and to honour the effort we have invested. I wanted it to look as sale-able as possible, which feels skewed when we don’t
actually want to leave. The photos look good, my families personality is stamped on each and every one (what would Kirsty Allsop think!)
Renting creates an uncertainty that only owning your own house can relieve however the housing crisis both in terms of housing costs and lack of housing means that owning your own home is becoming less of a reality. I feel sad that I cannot provide the stability that my parents were able to provide for me and my sister.
In the meantime, I await the next few months of challenge; keeping our home clutter free, we are always abound with mountains of laundry and Lego creations. I hope the next family to make the house their home will embrace it with the same passion as us.
I know that I can take my precious belongings and memories with me, it just means I have lots of sorting and de- cluttering to commence; approx six and a half years of it.
But If only I could take my Farrow and Ball living room walls with me, humph!
justwanttobeayummymummy 