Which would you rather buy?
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Monday, March 2, 2020
Sunday, March 1, 2020
I can't afford a flat in London even though I've saved a deposit
I’ve lived in Wanstead all my life and my hopes were raised by an ‘affordable’ development
Q Since graduation from art college in 2009, I’ve been able to live at home rent free so despite being on a lowish salary of £20,000 as a trainee teaching assistant, I have managed to save a total of £35,000. By the end of June when I graduate from teacher training, I will move on to a salary of £28,000 which will go up to £30,000 after a year.
I’ve lived in Wanstead all my life and never assumed that I could afford to buy here but recently read that Pocket Living will be building 20 one-bedroom flats near Wanstead station. The flats will be priced at £275,000 in an area where flats are normally priced at upwards of £300,000. I fit Pocket Living’s eligibility criteria for buying as I will be a first-time buyer and I already both live and work in the borough.
Sadly, because my salary will be £28,000, the biggest mortgage I can get – if I borrow five times my salary – would be £140,000. I’m unsure of what to do for the future. If I don’t buy now, I will carry on saving – probably more than now after my salary increase – as my mother has no intention of moving or charging me rent. But I feel that for every year I save flat prices will increase and I will be forever playing catch up unless I take out a help-to-buy equity loan but I don’t know if that’s a good idea. I have no desire to live or buy in another part of London either and I wish to buy alone. I understand that I’m striving for the impossible but would be grateful for any advice or insight.
EP
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Country diary: a jewel-eyed destroyer infests the knapweed
Romaldkirk, Teesdale: One common name for this plant is hardheads and thanks to picture-winged fly larvae some heads are harder than others
When I walked this stretch of the Tees Valley railway path last summer, the purple “shaving brush” flowers of common knapweed, Centaurea nigra, swarmed with bees, butterflies and hoverflies. It’s an ecologically important element of our native flora, so familiar that over 50 local names have been recorded for it, from iron knobs (Cheshire) to lady’s cushion (Kent). It’s also a useful plant for a wildlife-friendly garden. So, on a bitterly cold February day, I went back to collect seeds.
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Country diary: a jewel-eyed destroyer infests the knapweed
Romaldkirk, Teesdale: One common name for this plant is hardheads and thanks to picture-winged fly larvae some heads are harder than others
When I walked this stretch of the Tees Valley railway path last summer, the purple “shaving brush” flowers of common knapweed, Centaurea nigra, swarmed with bees, butterflies and hoverflies. It’s an ecologically important element of our native flora, so familiar that over 50 local names have been recorded for it, from iron knobs (Cheshire) to lady’s cushion (Kent). It’s also a useful plant for a wildlife-friendly garden. So, on a bitterly cold February day, I went back to collect seeds.
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The stamp duty reduction claim HMRC is cracking down on Nottingham Estate Agents
The temptation to try and claim for reduced stamp duty liability is great. Residential Stamp Duty Land Tax runs on a sliding scale up to 15 per cent, whereas the non-residential rate scale is pegged at a maximum five per cent of the whole purchase price. A new ruling has established that residential property buyers […]
The post The stamp duty reduction claim HMRC is cracking down on appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
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For flowers that last, the answer is cut and dried
It’s easy to grow your own flowers to dry – an affordable and sustainable way to create beautiful arrangements at home
My first exposure to dried flowers was as dusty, pastel-shaded posies on doily-covered tables. So when my floristry-expert mate Chanel told me that dried flower arrangements were back in vogue, my reaction was a judgmental eye-roll.
However, in their latest incarnation, dried flowers are simple and structural, in displays often of a single species, celebrating the forms of nature. The look is more “wabi-sabi” (the Japanese aesthetic appreciation for age and imperfection) than “potpourri” tweeness. Lasting for at least a year before they need replacing, they are, of course, far more sustainable, more affordable, and frankly less faff than buying fresh-cut flowers. I am now fascinated by the concept, especially as many species are at their most beautiful in their dried form. While the majority are bought ready-cut, most of them are easy to grow and dry at home, providing a steady source of new material with which to express creativity.
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For flowers that last, the answer is cut and dried
It’s easy to grow your own flowers to dry – an affordable and sustainable way to create beautiful arrangements at home
My first exposure to dried flowers was as dusty, pastel-shaded posies on doily-covered tables. So when my floristry-expert mate Chanel told me that dried flower arrangements were back in vogue, my reaction was a judgmental eye-roll.
However, in their latest incarnation, dried flowers are simple and structural, in displays often of a single species, celebrating the forms of nature. The look is more “wabi-sabi” (the Japanese aesthetic appreciation for age and imperfection) than “potpourri” tweeness. Lasting for at least a year before they need replacing, they are, of course, far more sustainable, more affordable, and frankly less faff than buying fresh-cut flowers. I am now fascinated by the concept, especially as many species are at their most beautiful in their dried form. While the majority are bought ready-cut, most of them are easy to grow and dry at home, providing a steady source of new material with which to express creativity.
Continue reading...from Home And Garden | The Guardian https://ift.tt/32CqmOu
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