THE TRUTH ABOUT OWNING A HOUSE IN YOUR TWENTIES
“Enjoy life whilst you’re young”,
“Growing old happens before you know it”, “The older you are, the quicker the
time goes”. These are some of the most overused phrases by the older generation
– they love telling you what life was like in their day or how much harder it
was when they were young. Society faces entirely different challenges now than
30 years ago, house prices are rocketing, the world seems to be facing against
rather than with us, and the looming crisis of future world leaders is
encroaching on our news apps every day. It seems as if somewhere in the
universe, we aren’t supposed to grow up, or at least we are being told we’re
growing up later. Most of my friends in their 20’s still lives at home, or in-house
shares with other young people their age, it’s not the same as finding your one
true love when you’re 16 and being together for the rest of your life. Social
media is always to blame, the rise of the internet and constant communication
is always barricaded by the media, reluctant to add that they are also part of
a growing epidemic to take longer to grow up.
I live the kind of life that
everyone thinks is great – I own my own house, company car, company paid flat,
and all without university debt. I have been through an Apprenticeship scheme,
lived in hotels for nearly 3 years and enjoyed nights out, meals and surrounded
by other young people with money. It’s like the life of Riley from the outside,
how am I expected to be struggling when I’m employed by one of the biggest IT
companies in the world? Surrounding myself with the kind of young people that
didn’t go to university changes your view of the system – as in, the real
project experience you get working in a fast-paced client environment is more
valuable than most people recognise.
Besides, it means you grow up far
too quickly. Having the deposit to buy at 20 was quite an achievement and one I
constantly pride myself on. It’s one of those status symbols whilst you’re
young – if you own then you either have a lot of money or you’ve had help from
the Bank of Mum and Dad. However, buying a house was the best decision 20-year-old
Louisa could have made. I spent 7 months not having a clue what I was doing,
and then suddenly it all came together, but at the same time my life fell
apart. Having a mortgage, furniture of my own and (the most adult thing of
all), sitting with your friends on a Saturday night constructing a flat pack
spare bed, somehow makes the entire “growing up” thing worth it. I have a great
group of friends but that was questionably out of cheer luck when my neighbour
happened to walk out his flat at the same time as me. But it has encouraged me
to grow rather a big network and I’ll be forever grateful for that.
Was I going to sit back and let
this life wash over me? No, but as life has progressed, it’s been over a year
and I’m still no further to figuring out what I want to do next. I went through
Shared Ownership so I could buy the other part of the flat, or move somewhere
entirely different. I thought that buying would settle me but it seems to have had
the opposite effect. Living a consultant lifestyle does get old, but they
always tell me that the grass is greener on the other side. I am starting to
get mixed in with the same age as Graduates, as I would have graduated last
year. They understand what I’m going through – although perhaps with more student
debt and less mortgage debt.
The point I wanted to make – was that
although buying a house at 20 was great, it was one of the biggest stepping
stones that is getting later and later in this society and I believe, less of a
status symbol to those my own age. I don’t believe that it is on their priority
list any more, and people are much happier renting and being able to have the
opportunity to hop off travelling at the drop of a hat. The stability and fun
of doing these things with a partner is being left later and later, and it’s
going to be interesting to see how that changes as the years go by.
Louisa
