How did you start out?

chunkymonkey2144

My other half and i are looking at moving in together, maybe via council house or renting, i have said everyone starts out with hardly anything money wise and everything else, and they work their way up. I was just wondering to all of you with your own place... how did you start out and did you do it with loads of savings behind you? and if not how did you cope?

PasturesNew

I bought an old cheap mobile home to live in when I was 30. You get these on personal loans, so I had to save up 20% deposit.

Bought a bed and got a sofa from somebody's grandma that had gone into a home and they were clearing her house.

That was it.

Oven was broken so rather than fix it I bought a microwave/combination oven.

Lived like that for about 3 years or so.

Next was a SO council experiment (they only built 2 to see what would happen), in a council road X miles out of town... it was all new, so needed new stuff. Bought 2 cheapo sofas and a coffee table and this time an oven. Already had a bed and the place had a built in double wardrobe. So all sorted. Paid cash for that lot.

Then I sold that back to the council about 7ish years later, still in negative equity by 5%, I wrote a cheque out to cover the NE... couldn't/didn't buy again for 3 years.

Next one put down a 22% deposit on an actual house. Still had that same bed, sofas, combi oven, coffee table. Previous owners left old fridge/freezer and it had an old gas oven in, that I kept (didn't use it, but it filled the space). Didn't need/buy anything new.

Edit: Oh, I needed curtains in the SO house. Two pairs, £5/pair new. Brilliant.

elliebobs

I personally didn't have loads of savings but I had a healthy ish amount. In a nutshell I was lucky in that I lived with my mum and paid nominal rent and cut right back on buying clothes, holidays etc for a few years in order to afford it. Boring I know but it was the only way. I work full time and my wage isn't too bad but as I was buying on my own I had no one else to help fund it. (the rich boyfriend didn't come along until later unfortunately!)

It's paid off now as I now own my own home and I'm still in my 30's and the memory of living with my mother has nearly worn off although I still get the occasional flashback !!!!

Good luck anyway

chunkymonkey2144

elliebobs wrote: »

I personally didn't have loads of savings but I had a healthy ish amount. In a nutshell I was lucky in that I lived with my mum and paid nominal rent and cut right back on buying clothes, holidays etc for a few years in order to afford it. Boring I know but it was the only way. I work full time and my wage isn't too bad but as I was buying on my own I had no one else to help fund it. (the rich boyfriend didn't come along until later unfortunately!)

It's paid off now as I now own my own home and I'm still in my 30's and the memory of living with my mother has nearly worn off although I still get the occasional flashback !!!!

Good luck anyway

Thank you sounds like i have to get right into the savings. I have about £1000 put by at the moment.... slowly getting there... got debt to pay off first.

chunkymonkey2144

PasturesNew wrote: »

I bought an old cheap mobile home to live in when I was 30. You get these on personal loans, so I had to save up 20% deposit.

Bought a bed and got a sofa from somebody's grandma that had gone into a home and they were clearing her house.

That was it.

Oven was broken so rather than fix it I bought a microwave/combination oven.

Lived like that for about 3 years or so.

Next was a SO council experiment (they only built 2 to see what would happen), in a council road X miles out of town... it was all new, so needed new stuff. Bought 2 cheapo sofas and a coffee table and this time an oven. Already had a bed and the place had a built in double wardrobe. So all sorted. Paid cash for that lot.

Then I sold that back to the council about 7ish years later, still in negative equity by 5%, I wrote a cheque out to cover the NE... couldn't/didn't buy again for 3 years.

Next one put down a 22% deposit on an actual house. Still had that same bed, sofas, combi oven, coffee table. Previous owners left old fridge/freezer and it had an old gas oven in, that I kept (didn't use it, but it filled the space). Didn't need/buy anything new.

Edit: Oh, I needed curtains in the SO house. Two pairs, £5/pair new. Brilliant.

Good for you, i bet your so proud now

PasturesNew

chunkymonkey2144 wrote: »

Good for you, i bet your so proud now

Well, not really... life's been one long struggle of trying to save money to pay bills and overheads, always trying to get "a nice house"... finally bought a house when I was about 40, a year later and the market changed and there was no more work in what I do... so had to sit in for about 5-6 years with the lights out, eating beans, just to survive.... then flogged it and banked the cash.

Now feeling "free" renting a bedsit. Oh the joys of not having to do housey things like spotting work that needs to be done, or things that can be improved.... marvellous.

Also, able to not be a wage slave. There's a lot more to owning a house than paying the mortgage, what traps you is the cost of the basics when things turn for the worst.... and the overwhelming feeling of responsibility for it. If I go away and it burns down, tough as I've lost my stuff, but at least I don't have to worry about rebuilding! I just rent another one.

Doozergirl

We bought a tiny flat in London when I was 21 with help from the grownups for a deposit. It was a tip and the cheapest place on the market. We slept on a futon on the floor (the feeling of the slats is ingrained in me) and had an upturned bin for a chair. The kitchen was an old fridge and a microwave. We ended up being given a sofabed and an armchair. Did the place up over a year and the carpets went down two days after our DS's due date! We loved that flat.

Because I was pregnant I managed to save virtually everything I was earning - the mortgage was really cheap, even at 7.5% because we were sharing. I was so proud when I bought an expensive sofa and chair for us - they are great quality and still live with us

Kept fixing houses and moving house ad infinitum...

chunkymonkey2144

PasturesNew wrote: »

Well, not really... life's been one long struggle of trying to save money to pay bills and overheads, always trying to get "a nice house"... finally bought a house when I was about 40, a year later and the market changed and there was no more work in what I do... so had to sit in for about 5-6 years with the lights out, eating beans, just to survive.... then flogged it and banked the cash.

Now feeling "free" renting a bedsit. Oh the joys of not having to do housey things like spotting work that needs to be done, or things that can be improved.... marvellous.

Also, able to not be a wage slave. There's a lot more to owning a house than paying the mortgage, what traps you is the cost of the basics when things turn for the worst.... and the overwhelming feeling of responsibility for it. If I go away and it burns down, tough as I've lost my stuff, but at least I don't have to worry about rebuilding! I just rent another one.

but at least you can look at your life and be like, i'm doing alright and you have worked for everything you have and have had thats an amazing thing.

JoolzS

First home - a two-bed flat bought with my then boyfriend. It was slightly over the 3x joint income that was available at the time, but after about 12 weeks or so (agonising at the time) a lender finally came through. We were actually gazumped twice in that time, but still ended up buying it. My ex boyfriend, as far as I know, still owns it. He bought me out at a very fair price when I needed to leave.

Second home - a three bed house in South Wales. I met a welshman in england, fell in love, and moved to his home town because at that time property in england was completely beyond our reach. We lived with his sister for a while and then finally bought a house - using a bank loan my mother got in her own name as a deposit. I will say that we completely overstretched our income and it was just absolute misery living payday to payday without ever having any money to really live. I'd never recommend it. I'd rather live in a bedsit than in a house that is eating every single penny, every month - it's just not worth it.

Third home - bought in 1993 with my now husband. At the time he had a repossession in his name so couldn't get a mortgage. I was fortunate that
I was eventually (after a couple of months) able to get a mortgage on my salary to buy our little two-bed flat. I think that I was incredibly fortunate to by buying at the absolute bottom of the housing market. Eighteen months earlier the flat I currently live in was on the market for nearly £20K more than I paid for it, and that was 16 years ago! After living here for around 13 years we did remortgage and replace the kitchen, rewire, get nice carpet, etc. The bathroom, however, is still pretty much how it was when we moved in.

If you are getting anywhere near close to buying a place - try to buy something that feels like, or could be, home as soon as you walk in.

My flat doesn't have a garden, that I would love, or a garage, that DH would kill for, but it is home. I would hate to pay good money every month for somewhere I just sleep. Home is important - even if it's tinier than most people's homes.

Julie

Guitar

[FONT=&quot]I left University about 7 years ago, had no job and was heavily in debt. Didn't get any help from my parents so I was facing living on the streets when my uni accommodation contract ran out.

I couldn't afford private rental and the council wouldn't help unless I was actually homeless.

I signed up to a short and cheap University course so I could claim to be a student and rented a dingy, damp filled room with some other students, the flat was above a warehouse that was also owned by the landlord. It's wasn't a registered flat, nobody but the landlord knew we were living there.

My wages barely allowed me to live paycheck to paycheck. Got made redundant just before Christmas and was facing homelessness again by New Year, I was living on microwaved potatoes and beans. Managed to avoid the landlord until I got a new job and could pay him the outstanding rent.

Eventually moved into private flat with one of my old flatmates and began paying off debts. Old flatmate turned out to be a massive loser, was cheating on his girlfriend, cut his work hours because he was lazy and suddenly announced that he wasn't going to be able to pay his share of the bills for the next two months.

Unfortunately since most of the bills came out of my account I was stuck paying for both of us. Eventually ended up going back into debt in order to afford moving out and got a flat on my own.

I've been able to get all debts paid off and I've just about finished saving up a deposit. Except, I'm not sure I really want to buy a house, the idea feels like a millstone around me neck. So for the moment I'm fairly happy renting.[/FONT]