BOMAD - property loans with 0% interest; infrequent repayment requirement (if any) an

BOMAD - property loans with 0% interest; infrequent repayment requirement (if any) and in the small print… please choose a nice nursing home if in 20 years time there is no alternative…

New Year, new start… convincing yourself that the green sludgy pulp of “goodness” that you’re shovelling down your throat daily is benefitting you greatly; that the 5:2 diet WILL prevail: 2015 will bring a new You!

Parking the latest health fad and realising that the old Me wasn’t too bad anyway, my aim this year is to finally depart the parents' house and move into my own home somewhere in the vicinity of the capital in some form of shoe-box.

When previous generations hit adulthood, asking parents for “hand-outs” was beyond a faux-pas; the embarrassment of not being financially independent, was a pain that my parents’ generation would not have suffered; the answer was to save harder, do without luxuries and work harder.

Conversely, the phrase “Bank of Mum and Dad” is something that my generation knows only too well, (whether or not they are fortunate enough to benefit). What has changed so drastically that the toe curling, shameful embarrassment of going to your parents and saying “Please Sir, I want some more,” has become acceptable? Having paid for approximately 20,000 meals during childhood, numerous excursions, holidays, new clothes whenever you tore your best dress climbing a tree, or experienced yet another growth spurt, surely when they planned parenthood they expected these outgoings to stop at some point?

RICS have announced that property will on average, increase by yet another 3% this year across the UK, with regional differences. The Telegraph have written an article explaining the guilt of the older generation, equity rich, often in an oversized home, waiting to release equity for their “little darlings” who cannot afford to get their sticky little hands on the bottom rung of the property ladder. With pension pots now becoming easily accessible, this could form another source of finance to help out their children (who are now thirty something, yet still relying on Mummy and Daddy to wipe their snotty noses and clean up whatever other messes they leave in their wake).

The obvious answer on the lips of many is that in the UK, we should follow the example of our continental neighbours, the majority of whom are renters.

Considering that the majority of my friends and I recognise that rent is expensive, and according to RICS, is set to continue to increase; the more stable option is to purchase a home to live in, and possibly let out a room, (if you can afford the luxury of an extra bedroom).  As for the guilt associated with being financially dependent on one's parents, the embarrassment? In the most part, it’s gone.

No one subscribing to BOMAD can be proud of taking money from the aging generation, however few would say no. With Savills predicting a 19.3% average property price rise until 2019, and rents set to increase as demand continues to outstrip supply (RICS), it is the safest option. Whilst some voice anger at how “easy” our parents' generation experienced life, few could say that they would not do the same given the opportunity.

When playing the game “Snakes and Ladders”  with my parents as a child, I was the frustrated one stomping their feet when their Mum or Dad continued to climb up the ladders, whilst I landed on another snake, them both chuckling at my petulant reaction. I never thought that getting onto the property ladder for my generation would require being the snake for our parents’ generation…  Alternatively, it could be seen as a big relief for parents across the nation, to know that their snotty nosed, sticky handed children are out of their now quiet, tidy house… whilst their children can begin the process all over again for themselves; who really has the last laugh?