Buying a home Advise

Pee

I don't think the time is right for you to leave home now, but I think you should be preparing for when the time is right. You say if you should be lucky enough to meet someone, are you actively looking for a girlfriend? Could you do something more positive about this?

I have to say that I do think you should live alone before you move in with a girlfriend.

Since your mum does not enjoy cooking, could you get a magazine like Good Food or a cookbook and then you could just follow the recipe. I like Good Food magazine and they rate how hard the recipes are. Cooking is a mixture of reading and experience.

If you are working all day, you might even look at slow cooker recipes.

Ask your mum to show you how to work the washing machine, and then off you go, either do yours separately or probably better for her, put a load on sometimes, following her guidance about what goes with what, hang it up, iron it etc.

Worrying about a flatmate stealing your possessions... I have lived with students and then had a lot of lodgers and I have never had any problems with people stealing. You can usually have a lock on a bedroom in a shared house.

Save as much as you can for a deposit. I suggest when you feel ready you look at a shared house for a year with a view to buying at the end of that year.

If you don't move out you may find that your parents become more elderly and rely on you being there, especially if one of them was to die leaving the other lonely, and then it may be impossible for you to move out.

The good news is that if you are able to live at home easily you will probably be fairly laid back and good natured as a future flat sharer.

schueys_girl

Hi there!
You sound like a lovely guy and a lot like me! I am a worrier too and to be honest i have let it hold me back - because you worry so much about all sorts of things in the end you end up hardly doing anything! I think it would do you good to move out and just DO these things that worry you - knowing that you have a loving family there to help you.

I think unfortunately on your salary you would struggle on your own to OWN a house and run it with all the things that can break etc...but I would consider renting even if its short term for a bit - take a 6 months lease or something just to get you on your feet? The good news there is if you do lose your job in nov/dec then you would be out of the 6 months lease near enough.

I thnik if you worry TOO much all the time about losing your job and other things then you will never do the things deep down that you really want to do.

Sometimes it is good to take the plunge and build your confidence. Things will go wrong - they always do - but you will work it out -m thats the way i have had to look at things otherwise I would still be at home with my parents, I wouldnt be doing the job I am and I would never of had the courage to do a lot of the things I do - worrying holds me back if I let it - but i try and think sod it i'll do it anyway and if somethnig happens i'll deal with it..

...worrying doesnt stop things from going wrong...it just stops you enjoying time when things are good!!

good luck x

kev2009

Hi all,

Firefox - no i have nevr lived away form home. When i went to uni, i couldnt' realistically afford to move away to a university so i went to a local university and commuted each day. I used to use my car for work but now i use the tube. I keep the car because it is useful for going out in at weekends with a mate of mine plus my parents have the use of the car so they can use the newer car as opposed to there old car. in fact my dad now uses my car for work.. and i seem to always end up using it when the fuel is low!! and he says i cost him a fotune LOL...

hethmar - the thing abotu renting is i look at it as if i'm basicalyl paying somene eles morgage and i have nothing to show for it at the end of the period of time i rent so i'd sooner get a morgage and know that the money i'm paying out is goign towards eventually owning the property...

Pee - depends what you mean by ctively looking for a gf... i don't tend to go out of my way i tend to just take each day as it comes and if i meet someone and get on well, then go from there. I'm not the sort of perosn who enjoys night clubs etc, i think the cost in those places is soo exptensive, its not worht it plus the music is generalyl so loudl you can't talk to anyone anyway.

I guess i probably coudl do more but its knowing how to do that. Things didn't go particularly well with my last gf, so i'm a little more caustious now whcih may be holding me back... can't say i'm overly keen on getting hurt again. i dont see my ex gf at all since a few years back. I guess i tend to take things inwardly.. anway i'm rambling now..

i understand what you mean if i leave it tooo much longr then yes i'll end up probably having to help parents etc.. they are around 60 years old now so i suspect they will be ok for another 5 or 10 years beofre thigs start to become more problematic for them. Thats why i'm thinking why not treat them now to holiday etc whilst they can enjoy it beofre they are too old they might not be able to plus as my dad said his worked all hs life and doesn't really have much to show for it in terms of money in the bank. We havn't fully paid the morgage on this house yet so don't own that yet but only a few years left now i beleive but the property has gone up soo much since they bought it, its amazing...

cooking boosk are a good ide abut some onf the instructiosn i dont get what they mean liek say say half a tea spoon - is that half a level tea spoon, half a heaped teaspoon? no idea....


schueys_girl- why that you schueys_girl, never nice of you to say! i understand what you mean, i don't tend to let worrying prevent me form doing things in general but when it comes to big things such as buying a house, car etc then i try to think practically.. i mean i know generally there is always a risk of looisng your job etc but wit the economy and the rumours in work, it is almost a certainty that by the end of the year i'll be out of work hence why i'm not considerign movig out right now, just tryign to get some ideas of costs associated with moving out, what morgage i coudl realistic get and afford as opposed to what the bank will give me, what the bills will be each money, and basically work out how much money i'd have left fomr my wages. What do you thik i shoudl be looking at in terms of salary to be able to afford a place realistically schueys_girl?

Generally, i have to say i'd be more happy to buy somethign if i know i have the money in the bank, even if i wa to get a loan for the some money, i'd knwo if all went wrong, i have the monry to pay it of so doesn't matter.

Where abouts are yo from schueys_girl?

Pee

I always assume it's half a level-ish one and that works fine. You might prefer a bit more or a bit less - try it and find out!!!

schueys_girl

I'm from Staffordshire mate Dont get me wrong - you could probably get by OK on your salary - but as I said I am a lot like you and I would worry that the commitment of buying a house and interest rates and costs going up may mean you are spreading yourself a bit thin. Me and my fiance are renting at the moment - mostly because he is on a training wage in a school of £80 a week - criminal when he works a 40hr week (yes 40 hours for £80 - thanks a lot government!!!) anyway sorry lol, so we do not want yet to commit ourselves to a house, even tho my salary is not THAT bad just for at £19k ish.

So on your salary you could do it...as ours combined is about £23k as fiance works two jobs at the moment and we are trying to save for our wedding (thanks again government for no interest on our hard earned savings oh and taxing me on those I cannot put in my ISA!!) Geeeez!

I understand what you mean about paying someone else's mortgage, but at least with renting, all the expensive things such as central heating, boiler breakdown, house problems etc are covered by the landlord, and i think this is what sometimes ppl can forget when buying a house. Two of my friends have recently struggled when going from renting to buying as things were not up to standard and boiler, pipes etc had to be replaced so they are struggling at the mo.

At the end of the day, if you are happy at home thats fine, but sometimes maybe it might be holding you back from living more of your own life - and im sure as much as your parents love you and you love them, they might want their own space a bit? I guess if and when you meet that special someone things will change - thats what happened to me, I knew it wasnt fair on my parents to have me AND fiance living in their house - at some point you have to make it on your own - and i think, it would really do you good -

You could rent on your salary, live quite well and still save - yes it would be slower - but i think it would be a good thing for you to do - prepare you a bit for actually being on your own - before going thru the whole thing of buying a house...

kev2009

hi,

thask for replied.

Pee - yeah, i'll take a look for some books and give it a go what can go wrong, i can only burn down the kitechen LOL

schueys_girl - staffordshire - niice bit of the country yeah i knwo what you mean, i think oin my salary i'd struggle so thk will keep saving and see what i can do. i thik the best way woudl be to get a payrise and increase my earnings this way it will give me more money and also enable me to afford a place without having to worry about oh if iterest rates go up, that will cause me problems etc...

Plus with ahigher income, i could save more as well and obviously afford somehting maybe a bit better.

No idea hwo will acheive that, especially in current climate as all job salaries have gone down cos companies can pay low due to the market conditions...

Yeah i know what you mean by low interest rates... i was hoping to start actually making some money with my savings but noe.. interest rate plumeted athough mine at fixed at 3% or 1 year...

wow 80 quid for 40 hours.. is that below minimum wage????? thats like £2 per hour.....

Congrats on the engagement, when ur wedding planned for, all things being well?

i jut dunno, the problem for me is when i'm out of work, it seems to take forever to get a new job.. last time was about 6 months... i'm just not that great at interviews and always wonder what is the best thing to answer, hence i'd be worried if i get a house and had to find a new job, i'd struggle and probably end up a wreckk while tryign tp pay stuff... dunno if i could do it......

hethmar

Kev, spoonfuls are always based on a level one. But if you go in a cook shop or department in a store you can buy little plastic spoon measures, half a spoon and so on. No prob.

Oh and there are books about answers for interviews

Lifes a challenge Kev, if you are worrying about what ifs, you will never do anything. Make the most of being young, it goes very quickly. BTW Im your parents age nearly - Im off to the states soon to the wilds of New England and Ive been to China on my own. Your parents will manage without you - even Aus is only a day away and Im sure you wont be moving that far

kev2009

Hethmar - ah ok, didn't know that.... all these gadgets around ...

Yeah i know but i always unsure what is best for itnersviews liek for instance i have one interview for a job and she asked me abot prioritising work etc and the scenario put forward was - "if you have a VP who has no access to emails and requires access and you have the telephone not working, which one do you do first?" Now, i'm always a little unsure because i would assume that telephones are first priority until i got my current job where they seem to prioritise based on who the person is so if its a VP, they get priority no matter what but again there is usualyl more than 1 person aroudn so 1 person wod do that whilst another does the telephones... so i asnweeed VP first because Vp brings the business in and wine/dines client setc as well as obviously sales dept. but quiet a bti is done via VPs... but then also telephoens equalyl important as if you cant' make/recieve calls you cant' do much business or answer custoemr queries/problems...

Yeah, i know life is a challenge.. i guess i just tend to worry too much and fear that if i did these things and it went wrong, i'd end up with no home and have to move back home and end up a failure cos i couldnt support myself...

i think the best plan at the moment is to save up furhter and maybe try and put down maybe 20 or 30k as depositing, and have maybe 10k in the bank to cater for initial costs, fees for buy property etc and hopefully have a fair bot of the 10k left so that coudl be my safety net if things went wrong and obviously whilst i'm working add to the fund so that the safe net gets bigger

i heard you can get insurance against redundancy etc but i havn't look into it much in terms how much you get paid whilst you are ot of work and for how long for etc as well as what the costs are per month.

londoner1998

kev2009 wrote: »

Thansk Charliee, i wish i had your confidence...

maybe eventually, have to see - i think its definately better to buy with someone than on your own. purely so you can split the bills and also if one looses there job, you can rely on the other until you find a newone etc..

I agree with a earlier post, saving up for a bigger deposit is a good thing and i hear form April next year you can put around 5k in a cash ISA so thats certainly something i am going to see if i can acheive or at least save as much as i can into it. This way in theory it will benefit for tax free interest, albeit that i know the interest rates are useless at the moment but i've got mine currently locked in for 1 year @ 3%, so have to re-assess that next year for the best option, i'm hoping the Halifax have a similar deal goign again so i can just change to that rather than transfering it to other place.. more hassle

so, how much woudl you say you woudl need to furnish a place assuming i woudl need...

sofa
washing mahcine, tumble dryer, micro wave, toaster, kettle, cuttlery, bed, dinner table 7 chairs, warddrobe, lamps as opposed to having main light on in living room ummm sure there is plenty more but i can't tingk of anyting else...

How does home insurance work? how do they evaluate how much you pay? do you have to give them a complete list of everything in your home?

I moved out of my dad's at 23, to come to London from Spain with my best mate. We didn't have a job or a place to sleep the night we arrived, but somehow, we made it and it was very exciting... a few tears and shocks along the way, but many more laughs, incredible adventures and fantastic experiences...after sharing first a room with 5 other people, the a flat with my friend and after a maissonette with another two girls, I had the opportunity to move by myself. And let me tell you, I didn't have a microwave, washing machine, tumble dryer, dinner table or sofa... I had one room, that doubled up as living room/bodouir/meeting space/work area, with a foldable futon, a tiny fridge (and I mean tiny), a toaster, a kettle (Argos, of course), 2 sets of forks and spoon, two plates (for visits) and ONE knife (my boyfriend still teases me) plus my 10-year old stereo/cd player. No wardrobe, a mate got my some railing they used at Selfridges for carrying the clothes into the store. But it was MY place, my single girl place and for the first time, it was me and the world. It was the time when I had less but I was happiest and I had so much fun trying to make it better. I met my partner then and the we moved out together, starting to slowly improve our situation together. We had no money (still don't but we have a much nicer flat now), but all the energy to make it. Don't worry, just jump at it, move out and start living your live. I think everybody should do the sharing a flat bit and then the living alone for a while. I would rent first , to find out how you like things in your home home, but if you can, why not? Go ahead! It prepares for life in ways that nothing else does.

hethmar

Kev, yes you get income protection insurance, there is info about it on here.

Would add my youngest boy - 23 has just today moved out and is sharing a house with 2 others. He fretted a bit about money but has decided between three of them they have more than a married couple So he is quite excited.