The cost of owning your own home?

fiodyl

We are thinking of buying a house withinh the next couple of years and are looking for some rough figures of how much more a month it will be than renting so we can draw up a budget to make sure we could afford it.

First of all would be the cost of the mortgage. We would probably take out a £60k mortgage and Ive guessed the repayments to be around £400-£500 pcm. Is this close or am I way off?

Council tax seems to be the same band as we are now so that would be £126 a month(10 months)

What would the increased utilities bills be based on a 3-bed house?
Currently we pay £23 on gas, £25 on electric and £29 on water per month in a 2-bed maisonette.

Also what would the cost of insurance roughly be?
At the moment we just have contents insurance, which is £129 a year, but I know we would need building insurance too and also I think life insurance/mortgage payment insurance.

Finally what sort of amount should we put away for upkeep/maintenance on a house per year as at the moment we are not reponsible for this renting.

Is there anything else I havent thought of?

Sorry if I sound really clueless, we don't know anyone to ask this stuff and want to be really sure we can afford it before we make such a major purchase.

Andy_Hamilton

If I went on holiday, it would cost me £790 per month to leave my house ticking over by itself. Roughly the same as yourself plus around £50 for all the extra insruance would be a good indication.

missile

Some over heat their homes and waste, some are more frugal.Your new house may have better insulation, double glazing, less draughts which may reduce your bills. However, I would suggest, your living costs are likely to be much the same as they are now.

Seems you have not even spoken to an independent morgage advisor?

within the next couple of years

things may change. One thing for sure you will be paying a LOT more than

£23 on gas, £25 on electric

Prudent

I pay a combined amount of £69 for gas and elec on a three bed semi. Combined insurance also at £187 per year.

andrewmp

You'll be looking at £400 per month or thereabouts for a mortgage at £60,000 over 25 years.

poppysarah

You should have a cushion of money for repairs. Two Grand might sound like a lot but if your boiler breaks then you'll be glad you've got it.

mlz1413

You can go into most insurance websites and get rough quotes for life, home and buildings insurance - but remember these will change within 2 years.

Utilities shouldn't change much between renting and buying, but again will change over 2 years.

When you own your own place you will need some money to be able to repair, replace and update things like: cookers, washing machines, boilers, even bathrooms, kitchens and carpets. But a bit of left over money per month is the best thing - if you need to buy it quickly you may need to use a credit card - but having the slack in your budget to pay it back is the main thing.

dander

The change in your heating costs will vary a lot depending on what kind of system your new place has installed - and what you've got at the moment. There's a huge difference between running an old inefficient boiler and a modern one. You'll probably find the type of system has more impact than the size of property.

Electricity, if you behave in the same way using the same amount of lighting and appliances, it shouldn't be too different.

Of course fuel price rises will confuse the matter massively.

pickledpink

Gas/electric/water/council tax bills will be exactly the same as when you are renting. Same as telephone bills, contents insurance etc......

Of course, if you get, say, a leaking tap or your loo blocks then you'll have to pay for that to be repaired. But they're rare events.

You can take out insurance policies for gas appliances (boiler for example) but most good, serviced boilers seldom break down.

Your buildings insurance (which your mortgage provider will insist upon - and would be very low - maybe just £10 a month depending on the property) will cover things like damage to the roof/guttering/windows/walls/flooding etc).

The only thing you would need to pay would be for decorating etc.........and most people only do that every few years.

logie28

I think boiler breakdown insurance is important for two reasons,,
1. The cost of a call out alone is really expensive, Then parts on top of that, some times talking serious money,

2. British gas Will service your boiler once a year , included in the price of your cover plan, Peace of mind ,

I got my insurance via, top cash back and received £40.00 cash back, i pay £13 a month, which is little to pay really , if your boiler is going to go , more than likely in the winter when you need it the most,

hostman

Here's my own calculations based on the value of the property we're hopefully in the process of buying atm:

Mortgage £711
Council Tax (25% discount for one year, due to partner being a student) £87
Water £26
Electric (inc heating) £100
Buildings & contents insurance £30
My life cover £40
Partner life cover £40

Estimated monthly running costs £1,034

When it comes to water and electric I googled for "average water and electric bill" and came up with that, the house we're buying has electric storage heaters, so I doubled the electric bill to form that total. Could well be less, but most likely more. Also the life cover is quite a bit higher than I would expect to take out, it will be a bit cheaper than listed, but I have done a "worst case".