The home-buying tip shared by these 20-something siblings will be living rent-free in all our heads
Siblings George and Jess Robbin have recently bought a four-bedroom flat in Clapham for the princely sum of £511,250. Well done to them.
They then gave an interview to the Times on how they managed to pull off this difficult feat in such a tricky time for house-buyers – and at the ages of 23 and 25.
You’ll never guess how they did it.
“Both had saved up about £13,000 each — Jess used a cash Isa while George used a stocks and shares Isa — for the deposit. They didn’t use a Lifetime Isa, which is a tax-free savings account designed for first-time buyers (and for those saving for retirement) because these accounts can only be used to buy a property worth up to £450,000 and they knew that they would exceed this limit buying in London.
Their parents gifted £82,000 towards the deposit as well.”
Oh, okay – you probably did guess that, since the bank of mum and dad or rich grandma is the secret formula in just about every Times and Telegraph ‘How we bought a house at a stupidly young age’ article.
Tweeters rolled their eyes and posted their thoughts.
1.
please, my blood pressure pic.twitter.com/ApK6YDoPCu
— Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) May 12, 2025
2.
say the line! pic.twitter.com/BBoXYYcjbT
— Alex Chalmers (@chalmermagne) May 12, 2025
3.
Yeah it’s insanity that they think this is even article-worthy. There is no story here at all, it’s just regular wealthy people life and it’s a spit on everyone who can’t afford it (most people) to say “here’s how we did it”
— Josh Hughes (@JHughes4196) May 12, 2025
4.
— Jamie Hogarth. (@jamiehogarth) May 12, 2025
5.
Jess and George won the half marathon after training for almost a month running up to two miles everyday until race day, on the day their dad gave them a lift in his Range Rover for the last 10 miles.
— Groovy J (@groovy_chi) May 12, 2025
6.
https://t.co/9p5IFYheuZ pic.twitter.com/eNdrhpLLzq
— RopesToInfinity (@RopesToInfinity) May 12, 2025
7.
like it’s ok to get help from your parents, but why are we writing a “how-to” news article based on them as if everyone has this same access to resources
— pastel ← leo ꓽꓽ) (@pastelETH) May 12, 2025
8.
Genuinely are these articles intentional rage bait? Like with the focus on getting the most clicks possible I do wonder .
— dave ☕️ (@fulltimeh8) May 12, 2025
9.
Growing up is realising way more people than you could possibly imagine were helped by parents to buy property, and a large portion will try to pretend like they weren't. https://t.co/Dpwgzh8s5o
— Brendan McLoughlin (@Brendo91) May 12, 2025
10.
In fairness, "Here's how the Smith Family bought themselves a second home" is probably a less catchy headline
— Colm Nugent (@Wigapedia) May 12, 2025
11.
— Mr Ken Bastardos (@Ken_Stonger) May 12, 2025
12.
it does make me wonder – are they even going to be paying the mortgage on their own? Or are their parents helping them with that too? Saving £13k doesn’t indicate an ability to pay monthly costs at London prices
— Sharon (@Twistdmetaphor) May 12, 2025
13.
Like clockwork https://t.co/t0zwcoGQtC pic.twitter.com/09cI3dgxTM
— Pistachio (@HarleyShah) May 12, 2025
14.
I love how they casually drop in that the parents gifted money towards the deposit that is about four times the amount of their combined savings, like it's nothing.
— Evan O'Quigley (@EvanOQuigley) May 12, 2025
15.
The funny part of these stories and how they keep publishing them is that to those people a gift of 80k pounds is legitimately a footnote something barely worth mentioning. They're not hiding it, they just think it's not a big deal and that most people have access to that. https://t.co/T9Nliat5nK
— André Lopes (@realandrerlopes) May 12, 2025
16.
For the love of GOD please stop writing these fucking articles https://t.co/Qy5YbgiEO2
— Theo’s mom (@chocobubble12) May 12, 2025
17.
"Here's how we did it"
Huns if your parents gave you a massive lump sum towards the deposit literally no other information is relevant to me. https://t.co/LDE8moq8Gc— Hannah (@teaforpterosaur) May 12, 2025
This delightfully tongue-in-cheek comment summed up people’s feelings on the matter.
Amazing what's possible when you cut out the avo and toast
— Dec McLaughlin (@decmclaughlin_) May 12, 2025
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Source The Times Image AS Photography on Pexels