"Affordable Housing": if you can afford it!

Having spent three months living back at home, I've hit the ground running with the house-hunting.  I've found a few places that look awesome, but the problem is, of course, money!  I've got a criteria and I'm slowly starting to realise that I can either bend to public opinion and accept the perfect house will not come along, or wait and hold out for the best... Hang on, there's a pattern here - who'd have thought men and houses had so much in common!!

• Space - I need space, places to get lost in. I don't want to sit in one corner and be able to see every single cm of my home.  Either a 1bed house or a 2bed flat, I don't mind which.
• Bathroom with a window - it sounds crazy, but there are a million houses where the bathroom has no window. I hate stepping out the shower and can't see a thing because of the steam!
• Kitchen with a window - steam issue again.
• Somewhere to park - allocated, garage, space, anything as long as it's not permit only.
• No pubs within 100m radius - in my last flat I had a very drunk man decide to run around my flat banging on every window on his way home at 4am.  I thought about getting a BB gun!!

I don't mind about the rest.  I'm a snob (I know, shocking), but as long as my home looks like me, not literally, I don't mind where I live.  I've found one place with a galleried bedroom - sounds strange, but I love the idea of having a balcony inside the house.  I've found another with a spiral-staircase.  Both of these are £10k above my budget.  Then there's the beautiful apartment overlooking an old church (churches either creep you out or you love them - I love them).  It's part of the shared ownership scheme and while there's no stamp duty until March it's a bargain.  I'm in the unusual position of having a deposit, but I can't get a mortgage big enough.

So the position I'm in at the moment: I have a deposit for a really good shared ownership scheme, but the rent, ground rent and mortgage will kill me financially every month.  Alternatively, I need more of a deposit, but can get the mortgage and be better off each month.  The shared ownership scheme is a great idea and I have several friends who are benefiting from it, but they're in couples, I'm buying on my own.  I'm a professional person, I have a good income, a sensible lifestyle, and yet I'm back living at home.  A friend of mine has bought a place and his girlfriend is living with him and paying rent.  Problem is, he doesn't love her, but he can't afford it without her... if I every get myself into such a ridiculous situation, you may track me down and punch me!  People keep saying I can't do this on my own... I disagree.  I don't particularly like being on my own at the minute, but I sure as hell prefer it to being tied to someone I don't want to be with.

I can do it on my own, it just might take a while!