First time buying.

Hayz

Hi,

Me and my partner moved out of our parents home and into renting 6 months ago. We are now living back at our parents (Not together) as renting was just way to expensive. We managed to pay every month but ended up with no money to save at the end of the month. We took the desicion to move back home for a bit and save some money.

We are saving lots more than we were but feel we cannot save enough to ever get our own place.

He works full time and I work part time. We have been looking into the housing options from our council and are appliying for the part buy part rent scheme but don't know if we will ever get anywhere with that.

We live in London so obv it's a very expensive area. I love my parents but being back at home is too much. I loved having our own place.

Any advice for us?

Cannon_Fodder

If I was you, I would save patiently for at least a year. Then see what state the economy is in.

There is great uncertainty over recovery from recession and where interest rates are going to head. It won't all be sorted in a year, but we might know the direction and speed that they will change with.

Having already struggled to pay one form of housing, it would be rash (imo) to jump into buying 6-12 months before what might turn out to be a very painful period in mortgage paying.

If it doesn't turn out that rates jump up, great, you will have improved your deposit anyway, which will get you a better deal and lead to a lower overall cost over the life of the mortgage. Very MSE.

Meantime, consider trying to improve your income?

JellyIcecream

hi there
totally sympathise with you situation - it isnt easy!
i would say that you have to just be patient now and work towards your goal of saving up a deposit
regarding council schemes etc, i went thru this avenue myself a couple of years back. from what i remember, u can register at the council(s) u live in and also the one(s) u work in for any schemes they may have. i also found the notting hill housing association quite useful.
u may be accepted for one of those schemes - just keep trying them all.

good luck!

morg_monster

where do you work? Whereabouts have you been looking to buy?
Is it possible to buy a bit further out of London? prices drop quite a lot as you go out into the zones and even beyond (but still with a reasonable travel time) and it isn't all cancelled out by the higher travel costs. This is what we did, we could just about afford a 1 bed flat in zone 2 where we were renting, so instead moved to just beyond zone 6 and have bought a 3 bed semi with a big garden, and only 10 mins more travel time (and most of it on a half empty train instead of a packed tube!)