A first-time buyer's story

neverdespairgirl

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

A bit like me really (maybe not the nappies).



GG

OH had some padded shorts he wears when cycling - our son calls them "Abba's by-kick-cul nappy"

Loose_Cannon

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I hope you've put several holidays, regular playstations, etc into your budget - what with those things being essential.....

Of course! I also need a new Ferrari, and my Rolex got a bit of dust on it last week, so I think I'll replace it. It's only reasonable to expect help from the Government for such basic needs...

Actually, I've just paid off my new sofa - the purchase of which helped make my last holiday cheaper through the wonder of the British Airways American Express card - and I'm now saving for a new TV and an engagement ring (:o shhh, she doesn't know! and fortunately doesn't read these forums :cool:).

sympatex

in my eyes engagement rings are a luxury, you can cut that out immediately. save yourself 2xmonthly salary!

poppysarah

sympatex wrote: »

in my eyes engagement rings are a luxury, you can cut that out immediately. save yourself 2xmonthly salary!

LOL my BF seems to agree with you.
*sobs*

pollyanna24

sympatex wrote: »

Thanks for that info polyanna, our first mortgage will be about 185,000, with a joint income of 51k, we've saved a 10% deposit and some additional (6k) for fees, tax and moving costs (taken us about 2years). The multiplier and ltv we are looking at are not too different to yours when you first started, we've got about 3.6x though which given the house prices are(were?) accelerating faster than incomes is not surprising. We're going to continue to save and hope a combination of falling prices and increased savings will return our multiple to 3x joint, can't see it happening though. The 185k seems an absolute mountain, especially if we lost an income, a great deal of planning is required!!

When we bought the second house in 2006, the mortgage was £185,000 on a £210,000, so again, similar to what you're looking at I guess. Our joint income is £56K at the moment, but was probably £51/£52K when we took the mortgage out and we did okay.

I did think £185,000 was a very high amount (esp compared with our first mortgage), but now I just think about it as something that has to be paid each month. We overpaid as much as we could for a while (which wasn't much), but then decided to try for a baby, so ploughed any extra money into savings instead.

LandyAndy

sympatex wrote: »

paragraphs are for wimps!

duley noted.

Spellchecker is your friend as well;) .

redrabbit29

I'm 24, my GF is 25. Joint income of about £50K per year.

I currently have £3000 sitting in an isa, and aim to save another £3600 this year to fill the ISA. I am saving in the long term for a house of my own. I've lived by myself (in shared housing) since I was 17, and moved in with my GF two years ago who used to live with Mum and Dad.

We are lucky as our rent is still the same as it was 2 years ago, paying £750 per month. I'm in no rush to buy a house, although I'm looking forward to it more and more. Hopefully in about 2 years, maybe by 2010 I'll be in a position to buy.

Hopefully I can have about £10'000 saved, and my GF about £8000. Some of which will of course go to fees and whatever else you have to pay for, so we may have anough for around a 10% deposit.

Things will change though, as the housing market is in limbo at the minute, but as I said, we are in no rush.

sympatex

LandyAndy, i thought it was probably wrong but spellchecker is also for wimps!

Poppy - apparently a gucci handbag and a pony will appease her in the mean time but i'm not convinced it will keep her happy for as long as i would hope for!

clk299

This week, my savings went over to £21,000 :beer:

I am a midwife. I earn about £30k or thereabouts. I take home about £1700ish after student loan payments, tax, NI, pension payments. I am saving for a deposit, I've been working for nearly 3 years and paid off a LOT of debt and I don't understand how, on a joint salary, you cannot save £40k for a deposit, when I've saved half that amount on my own in two years. The couple in that article only live up the road from me; you can buy for less than they paid, you could ahve done even when they bought! It's why I haven't bought yet!

As for needing holidays, I don't think I've ever thought I 'needed' holidays but then I have been officially homeless and unable to buy food as I've been that poor before so maybe I just understand when to be grateful that I've got 'enough'.

sympatex

clk - thats great well done with the savings.

Everyone's different and therefore different spending habits. For some a holiday is essential, others shoes, car, phone whatever it is. Some won't spend anything on those 'luxuries'. Those people ought to have whopping savings instead! However the cost of housing is s high comparative to wages at this point that those who save have nothing, those who don't save have debt!

It seems its a far easier option to get the government to pay for your fags, sky and booze, you just have to put up with living in a grotty area.... or new build flats!