My Journey as a First Time Buyer!

Saver-Rob

Karinalou wrote: »

Hi Rob

Firstly I thinkits fantastic that you've managed to save so much and are in a position to buy at such a young age. I am 25 and hoping to buy with my bfriend later this year

How have you managed to save so much so quickly? I know you mention your salary and bonus etc but cant see any kind of breakdown etc of outgoings and how you are able to put so much away. We are currently trying to save 3k a month, but would love to be able to put away more and get to our target quicker. Any tips would be appreciated

Thanks

K

Thanks for your post. I replied to your PM.

In answer to the question about how I/we managed to save so much it has been purely down to spending very little each month. I have a small car that uses less than £30/month petrol and work isnt too far away anyway.

As for tips I dont really have any - I have still managed to buy all of the things I need along the way - I'm not sitting in a bare room. I have a good PC, flat screen TV, mobile phone etc so I havent completely gone without, I just havent spent money on things I really dont need.

One thing I will say though is that I hardly spend a penny in actual shops anymore, almost everything I buy I get online.

Saver-Rob

Well everything has changed again!

I today phoned the estate agent and asked for any update on the property. He said that he was planning on phoning me back today anyway as an offer HAD gone in today. He said he could not tell me for how much but that they were in a similar position to us - FTB in a position to go for it. He told me all I could do was put an offer in or wait until the local paper comes out where the price is advertised.

I said I would wait and see in the paper and let him know if we wished to put an offer in.

I got a call back 15 minutes later saying he had in fact spoken to the people who had put the offer in and they gave him permission to disclose it to us - it was £140,000 which is what we were going to offer as this is what he said the bank would accept no less than (it is advertised @ £150,000). He said basically he did not want anybody getting gazumped and it would do nobody any good to get in to a bidding war and he did not want them to get a survey etc only for us to put a higher offer in (just as he would do the same for us). He said it would not be fair or useful to now put an offer in a couple of hundred quid higher than the other peoples offer as they would just up their bid too. Basically he asked me if we are still interested as he wants somebody to pull out before the other starts getting surveys etc done as he does not want anybody to loose any money.

After a chat with the girlfriend we have decided that we should pull out of this one as costs could well spiral.

I know some people may say this is classic behaviour from an agent who is making up an offer in order to get you to raise yours. Perhaps - we will see in next weeks paper if it was genuine or not. However we now feel that with costs going up and the work that is required in the repossession that we should sit tight for a bit and wait for a couple of fixed rate accounts to run their course which will give us another £1000 to play with; not to mention a few more months of savings from my pay.

So in another few months will another £10,000 +/- to play with we feel that we will be in an even stronger position. We are disappointed, yes, but sometimes you have to go with your head rather than your heart I suppose! :money:

Zandoni

Don't forget to live a little, you are only young once.

neas

sounds like EA is trying to play you..

you didnt bite first,, so he found out the other buyer would 'disclose' their offer.

Why would a buyer offer to disclose price to another buyer?

Btw, you must be on a pretty good salary to amass 56k in such a short time. We save about 1.5k a month at the moment and are near the '40k' ish mark.

We however are moving from a 1 bed furnished to a 2 bed unfurnished flat next door to my work (more savings from gettng rid of a car lol).

Houses are a bit cheaper in this area... 150k would get you a 4 bed or a really nice 3 bed house atm.

MrDT

Saver-Rob wrote: »

There seems to be a distinct negative feeling towards buying now with lots of people attempting to throw figures around that they have read somewhere or come up with at home. Has anybody worked out the (non financial) value to living with somebody that you want to live with?
....
I dont know your individual positions but for 2 people both living with parents and paying housekeeping renting IS dead money, whatever anybody says. Why on earth would we want to move out and pay out 4 times as much as it costs us now to live somewhere else?! It makes no financial sense whatsoever.

Which one is it Rob?

Is it ok to shell out wads of cash on a depreciating asset just so you can live together OR is spending money on rent so you no longer have to live seperately in your parents back bedrooms a stupid waste?

Your argument that buying in a falling market is fine and dandy on the basis of "what price a happy life as a couple" seems to be totally at odds with your argument that renting is dead money

Well done on not falling for the Estate Agents double talk by the way

Just like to add, there's no chance I'd be buying a house with my girlfriend without first having rented for a year or two together. I'd still be saying that if she was putting in three quarters of the deposit and had the higher salary. It just seems a bit backwards to me.

Saver-Rob

MrDT wrote: »

Which one is it Rob?

Is it ok to shell out wads of cash on a depreciating asset just so you can live together OR is spending money on rent so you no longer have to live seperately in your parents back bedrooms a stupid waste?

Your argument that buying in a falling market is fine and dandy on the basis of "what price a happy life as a couple" seems to be totally at odds with your argument that renting is dead money

Well done on not falling for the Estate Agents double talk by the way

Just like to add, there's no chance I'd be buying a house with my girlfriend without first having rented for a year or two together. I'd still be saying that if she was putting in three quarters of the deposit and had the higher salary. It just seems a bit backwards to me.

Thanks for the post. I wont go into why renting is an absolute waste of money for us, seeing as we both live at home. Its clear.

However my argument about the value of living together in itself (non financial) holds water and I stick by it, but only when it concerns living somewhere that you own - an investment. You may not be making money in terms of house value year on year (although that will all change and go the other way again) but you are investing in it in other ways.

You will find that many people who rent are unable to save any money for a deposit or at best it would take an extremely long time. This is something we just dont need or want - our money is going to be spent on us, not a landlord.

If our plan works out then we should have a fairly small mortgage for the size of property we hope to start out in.

Peoples arguments about splitting up may be founded from regular bad experiences, but what of all of the people who lived happily ever after? They dont come here posting too often - they are probably out with their OH!

Backwards to me would be moving from my parents home into renting, spending more money each month, saving less and ultimately having a smaller deposit, bigger mortgage and less of what we want in a first house. :T

VKay

hi Rob,
Interesting to read your 'journey'. Well we have pulled out of a purchase today (construction issues) and feeling a bit gutted by it all, hope we'll just feel relieved in a few days. The EA made me feel like a cow for 'disappointing' the vendor -an old lady. Now i feel so mean!

Anyway houses around our budget £140-155k are selling the day they go on the market around here and have been since mid January so we will plunge back into th 'game' I suppose!

On the plus side, like you, we have an increasing deposit, despite having wasted a few hundred on the house we've pulled out of. Each month we are squirreling away another grand or a bit more and have about £45k now. Just wish I didn't feel so old on here- about 10 yrs older than you!

Good luck

geoffky

Vkay ...what Area Is This ?

vixarooni

Surprised at the negativity with this man buying a house with the other half.

Im 22 also, were trying to save for a mortgage and i do get what some people say about being young ect but im sure your mortgage will be cheaper than our rent in the south east! My boyfriend pays for nigh on everything, i only chip in for the tv license, and most of the savings are his too. The way i see it is that relationships are about peaks and trofs, my boyfriend is chipping in an unfair amount really... but im sure i will be able to match him when ive found a career after uni, and i'll let him buy that sodding 42 inch tv he so desperatly wants.

I say go for it.. my boyfriend and i wouldnt be renting if we didnt have to but thats the situation were in. He was no different to live with than he was when i travelled to his house all the time.

VKay

geoffky- we are in the south West.