first time buyer - list of expenses to account for?

Hectors_House

moneysavinmonkey wrote: »

I can see one MAJOR thing missing: your 1st mortgage payment!!
I can't remember exactly how they work it out but depending on your
completion dates it can be nearer 2 months worth rather than 1, ....hopefully someone can explain this better, or just ask your mortgage lender.

Good advise here.

We are buying a repo so have had to take into account a lot of extra cost (needs a kitchen, fully redecorated, have to swap existing electric fires to gas, may need a new boiler etc. etc.) but we've had to also take into account a potential first mortgage payment of nearly double what we were expecting.

I'm not sure how this gets worked out to be honest so I'm hoping someone else comes along here that can help us make sense of it! LOL!

It pays to have some funds set aside that you haven't allocated to anything really. Luckily, through changes at work I've had to pull out of their sharesave scheme and it turns out I'd squirreled £1700 away that I'd forgotten about. :T

Also, if you are ordering furniture and stuff pay your deposit on a credit card if you can. We ordered a sofa through Land of Leather three weeks ago and we've been reassured our money is safe but we're glad it was paid with the card nonetheless.

SavingSteve

You usually pay mortgages in advance.

So, if you complete on Feb 2nd and your first mortgage payment isn't until March 1st they will charge you;
1) Feb 2nd-28th back payment
2) March 1st-31st in advance.

So yes, the first payment will often feel like 2 payments, in the above example your april payments onwards will be singular.

brixham

If you've lived in the area for years then why bother with the environmental seach. Can't you just ask around about schools/ crime/ has it ever flooded ?

£150 saved !

ajksaver

SavingSteve wrote: »

You usually pay mortgages in advance.

So, if you complete on Feb 2nd and your first mortgage payment isn't until March 1st they will charge you;
1) Feb 2nd-28th back payment
2) March 1st-31st in advance.

So yes, the first payment will often feel like 2 payments, in the above example your april payments onwards will be singular.

I am not sure all providers charge in advance - I completed on 08 Feb and my first regular payment to Nationwide was on 28 Mar (I asked for the 28th of the month as I am paid on the 22nd which gives me just enough time to sort out a payroll problem but not so long so that money was sitting around in my current account).;)

The payment was 'interest only for month of completion' £450 and then normal repayment £800. As such they wanted a total of £1250 on 28 Mar. They then wanted the normal £800 from 28 Apr onwards.

Interstingly they gave me the fixed rate for the interest only month and then the 24 months afterwards so I will be at fixed rate for nearly 25 months before it then goes on at the lender's variable rate (currently more favourable than my fixed rate).

moongarden

moneysavinmonkey wrote: »

Your mortgage fees estimate might need to be widened a bit as you only have 10% deposit, fees could be upwards of £1k??

I can see one MAJOR thing missing: your 1st mortgage payment!!
I can't remember exactly how they work it out but depending on your
completion dates it can be nearer 2 months worth rather than 1, ....hopefully someone can explain this better, or just ask your mortgage lender.

Thanks, I've added the mortgage payments to the list in the earlier post. We are currently looking at a choice of 5 lenders with payments ranging from £0 to £995. Cheltenham and Gloucester are offering a no fee mortgage at 90% LVR at 6.19% fixed for 2 years or 5 years.

we have gone for one at 5.69% costing £895 fee (£100 discount for completing online). we are only putting 10% deposit because we are keeping some capital back for building an extension and will then want to remortgage asap based on the increased property value giving us a much greater LVR.

moongarden

alisonp wrote: »

Chancery a year £100??? If you mean chancel, this is a one off payment (if you need it) not an annual payment. You've saved a bit there !

I found that the chancery search was £17.50 on its own. If the search shows you have no liaility to repair the local church there is nothing more to pay. If you do have a liability the insurance incase the church roof falls in and you are liable is anything from £60 to £100. As its an insurance policy i would have thought this was for a year as how would it be the same cost if you lived there for 2 years as 20 years?

moongarden

brixham wrote: »

If you've lived in the area for years then why bother with the environmental seach. Can't you just ask around about schools/ crime/ has it ever flooded ?

£150 saved !

In quite a few areas the lender insists on this. We already have most of the information - flooding info is on DEFRA website. We live in the area and know the schools/crime rate etc.

janey_uk

Also actual removals if you need to rent a van etc (usually £50+ per day). If you have a lot to do on the house you may need to consider storage which can be double the advertised rates as lots of companies insist you take their insurance (big yellow for eg only £20 ish per week for a 50 sq ft unit but another £20 per week for insurance)

Cost to redirect mail from where you currently live (varies depending on how long you do it for).

Telephone and internet connections etc can rack up fast as the rates seem to vary wildly depending on what promotions are going on with the companies, but can easily cost over £100. (We were quoted £170 to get a BT line in plus about £100 for sky install last summer).

The big one could be a deposit at exchange - we bought on a 100% mortgage a few years back and were told we didn't need to until about a week before then were asked for nearly £20k. (We refused and suprise suprise no-one pulled out).

alisonp_2

moongarden wrote: »

I found that the chancery search was £17.50 on its own. If the search shows you have no liaility to repair the local church there is nothing more to pay. If you do have a liability the insurance incase the church roof falls in and you are liable is anything from £60 to £100. As its an insurance policy i would have thought this was for a year as how would it be the same cost if you lived there for 2 years as 20 years?

The policy is purchased for a term of 25 years or in "perpetuity" and the latter is the one which most lenders would require if a liability is shown.

The policy is then put in place and a "one off" payment is made to purchase the policy - it is not a yearly premium

milkybars

Can confirm, as alisonp wrote, chancel repair liability is a one off fee and lasts upto 25 years that you stay in that house. If you move to another place you can not transfer it, equally you can not transfer to the buyers of your house. But it is a one off.