Houses

Ahh well, the long weekend begins tonight. I'm not sure what we're going to do, but it might involve me trapsing round banks and building societies making appointments with mortgage advisors, which, I'm sure you'll agree, doesn't sound entirely thrilling. We're going to speak to mortgage people to see what we can borrow, but all the signs are that we could only get about half a terraced house in the dodgy part of town, due to our low salaries. The theory is that at least if we're told this by an expert we will know where we stand, rather than relying on my dubious calculations on various banks' websites.

People keep telling us we're wasting our money renting, but I think it's unrealistic to think we can afford to get a mortgage on our salaries. Most of our friends have finally realised that this is the case since I have been doing the test things on websites, but they think we should go to speak to some advisors, just so we do know what the situation is. People have suggested things like shared ownership and part-buy, part-rent (?), which might be better, but it depends how these things work. I have absolutely no idea what all the different types of mortgage mean, which is another reason we should go and speak to a mortgage advisor, I suppose.

We live in a very expensive part of the country, which doesn't help. If we lived in the North we would be able to buy something I think, but down here in the Saath it is not so realistic a plan.

At the moment, I'm not too bothered about buying something, although it would be nice to be able to do our own thing in the house decoration-wise, and have pets, children (if appropriate) and be able to plant stuff in the garden. The house we have is nice, and in a nice-ish area near to the railway station. I don't think we would be able to get anything near as nice or convenient for the amount we could afford to borrow.

I do worry slightly about what will happen if we never earn much more than we earn now, but need to have our own house, e.g. if we have children. (This isn't even on the horizon yet, but I'm good at worrying about non-existent things!) Even if we reach the top of our pay brackets I'm not sure we would be able to afford anything nice in the area we live in.

I suppose the answer is either to move to another area or move jobs. The difficulty is that Mr C's job is his ideal job, which is very specialised, and I wouldn't want him to have to leave it. Although I like my job I can see that one day I will have to leave in order to earn enough to continue living the extravagant lifestyle to which I have become accustomed. There is more scope for me to find a new job, because there are libraries everywhere, but the thought of applying doesn't fill me with pleasure. I almost always get an interview, and almost always fail it. Anyway, that can be left for later 'discussion' in another post, perhaps.

However, there is urgent need for us to buy a house and/or move jobs at the moment, I'm just thinking out...loud? (What is the writing equivalent of that?). I think a lot of this is triggered by other people's expectations of what we should be doing. Just because they've been fortunate enough to be able to afford to buy their houses they think we should be doing the same, and don't see that it's not actually a realistic option for us. I think they find it hard to believe how little we earn! This does make me quite cross.

I hope all this doesn't sound like all I think about it money, but I do take issue with the low salaries that people in the library profession are paid. As far as I know, I earn more than the rest of the people in my team, and I do wonder how they manage if I am struggling to save. Six years after graduating I'm still earning below the average graduate starting salary, which I believe is £18,000 (?). My job asks for a professional qualification, by the way. I know, I know, I shouldn't apply for jobs if they don't pay enough, but I'm in it for the love [and the fact that this was the only job I got offered in 18 months of trying escape my last, horrible, job*], not the money (although the pay is better than my last job!).

*I, as I have said before, do like my job (most of the time), which is an added bonus. I'm not sure whether I should have shared that part about it being the only job I was offered. Oh well, too late now. There was also the fact that it was in vaguely the right location to be able to carry on my relationship with Mr C and everyone I met at the interview was very friendly. I wouldn't have taken it had I thought I wasn't going to enjoy it and like the people I would be working with.

Generally, if you're going to be a librarian, don't expect to get paid enough. Well, I suppose I do get paid enough, just not as much as I would like. But I can live comfortably enough with what I earn so really I shouldn't be complaining. Having said that, library professionals are badly paid compared to other professions, and I think it is something that has to change, especially if we want to encourage new people into the profession. Maybe this is another discussion I should leave for another post...