‘I’D PREFER TO PAY FOR A MORTGAGE’
TRAINEE lawyer Doran Mitchell, 27, has been renting for eight years. He lives with his 25-year-old housemate in Edinburgh’s New Town and says owning his own home before the age of 30 will be next to impossible.
He said: ‘I want to own my own place because that represents independence – it is your first step on the property ladder and, by definition, that is you getting started.
‘I would feel a bit more of a success and a bit more like an adult, but I am not at the point where I can put away a lot of money for a deposit.’
He said there are ‘a lot of people in the same situation as me – it has become the norm’.
Mr Mitchell, who has worked at Edinburgh firm Murray Beith Murray for almost 18 months, rented during his five years studying law at Dundee University but expected to have his own home when he began work.
However, he is in a two-bedroom flat, paying £350 a month in rent, and likely to remain a tenant for the next few years at least.
He said: ‘When you are paying someone else’s mortgage, it is a bit annoying and it does grate a little bit. I would rather be spending that money on my own mortgage.’
His hope is that when he qualifies, he will be able to put ‘a couple of hundred pounds aside every month towards getting a mortgage’.
But he added: ‘I would think it is unlikely I will have one by the age of 30.’