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FIRST TIME BUYERS - What did you save?

Hi,


Just out of curiosity, I am looking to buy a property up to max 175k with 10% deposit over the next 6 months, hopefully complete end of summer...


How much did you save before buying to account for things such as deposit/emergencyfund/whitegoods/furniture/costs etc.


Thanks
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Comments

  • Cakeguts
    Cakeguts Posts: 7,627
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
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    Don't worry about white goods and furniture. The traditional way to deal with this is to buy second hand or to get it from freecycle. The house or flat is the most important thing.
  • Always have more than you think you'll need. Plus a contingent fund.

    Even if worst case scenario that's access to viable credit, i.e overdrafts and CC balances.
  • cheers people
  • Our first purchase we had a deposit of £40k, plus £5k for costs associated with the purchase etc. By the time we'd purchased, we had about £3.5k left over from our savings, which we used to pay for some of the work that needed doing on the property.

    We didn't have any money put aside for furniture - we just took most of what we had in our rented house and most of that was 2nd hand. Anything else we needed, we bought over time. I think it's actually better to get cheap 2nd hand stuff and live with it for a bit (especially if you've never lived alone before) because otherwise you'll end up spending money on furniture you may not even need, like or want after the first year. I'm really glad we did it this way, as otherwise i'd have spent a lot of money on stuff that I now wouldn't like. You'll be surprised how much your tastes and opinions can change in that first year of living in a place.
  • sulphate
    sulphate Posts: 1,235 Forumite
    We bought a £137k house 4 years ago and put £30k down as a deposit. We already had white goods etc from when we rented so took them with us and bought extra when we could afford it.

    If we were to buy the same property now we'd need a much bigger deposit because house prices have increased a lot since but our wages have not.
  • ashp_2
    ashp_2 Posts: 416
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    We saved absolutely noting. Took out a 29k loan for a 290k house. We are just paying all the fees ourselves.
  • kilby_007
    kilby_007 Posts: 738 Forumite
    ashp wrote: »
    We saved absolutely noting. Took out a 29k loan for a 290k house. We are just paying all the fees ourselves.

    Sound financial advice there.... how to save nothing and then pay a bank as much interest as possible...
  • ashp wrote: »
    We saved absolutely noting. Took out a 29k loan for a 290k house. We are just paying all the fees ourselves.

    Bl00dy hell!

    That's a very generous bank!
  • ashp_2
    ashp_2 Posts: 416
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    edited 5 February 2017 at 4:40PM
    sparky130a wrote: »
    Bl00dy hell!

    That's a very generous bank!
    Sound financial advice there.... how to save nothing and then pay a bank as much interest as possible...

    2.4% interest fixed for 2 years. I bet many are paying more. I am not providing advice im just stating a fact. There is 2 highstreet lenders who quite clearly state in there lending criteria that they accept deposits sourced from a loan. I'm not quite sure on the acceptance rate using this method but it worked for us, Had mortgage offer in 7 days.
  • After deposit/solicitors/stamp duty we had £15k when we moved in. It wasn't enough - our boiler died in the first month and it demolished our emergency fund. Always expect the worst!
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