Buying our first house - Would you wait?

SG27

If I were you I would not even bother viewing yet and to be honest I would wait to save up more of a deposit. Dont rush yourselves. My girlfriend and me have more than a 40% deposit now (:))after saving for around 6 or 7 years but we are not in any rush as the longer we wait the more we save and smaller our mortgage. A 10% deposit will get u a very bad rate. House prices won't go up anymore so the longer u wait and save the better!

We nearly bought a place a few months back but our offer was refused so
It's back to more saving and waiting for a perfect house to come along.

kford224

SG27 wrote: »

If I were you I would not even bother viewing yet and to be honest I would wait to save up more of a deposit. Dont rush yourselves. My girlfriend and me have more than a 40% deposit now (:))after saving for around 6 or 7 years but we are not in any rush as the longer we wait the more we save and smaller our mortgage. A 10% deposit will get u a very bad rate. House prices won't go up anymore so the longer u wait and save the better!

The trouble is, is that until we have a house, marriage and babies also gets put on hold!! I am nearly 27 and my boyfriend is 30 this year, so we really want to settle down!

We can comfortably afford the monthly payments, it's just getting the deposit together that's a pain as it takes so long :mad: That's the most frustrating part!!

SG27

kford224 wrote: »

The trouble is, is that until we have a house, marriage and babies also gets put on hold!! I am nearly 27 and my boyfriend is 30 this year, so we really want to settle down!

We can comfortably afford the monthly payments, it's just getting the deposit together that's a pain as it takes so long :mad: That's the most frustrating part!!

What is your situation currently are you renting or living with parents? We are both 28. I had a mortgage agreement in principle a few months back and it said that for every pound borrowed you repay £1.81!! So for every pound you save now you save almost another pound in interest too! I understand it's like putting your life on hold. We would like to start a family too but a another year or two down the line is nothing in the grand scheme of things and when it will save sooo much more money in the long run!

kford224

SG27 wrote: »

What is your situation currently are you renting or living with parents? We are both 28. I had a mortgage agreement in principle a few months back and it said that for every pound borrowed you repay £1.81!! So for every pound you save now you save almost another pound in interest too! I understand it's like putting your life on hold. We would like to start a family too but a another year or two down the line is nothing in the grand scheme of things and when it will save sooo much more money in the long run!

We are both back living with parents, which is the only reason we can put £1000 a month into house savings. If we were renting it would be better as at least then we would be together, but there is no way we would be able to save a decent amount a month and rent a property. We would rather pay more back long term and have a house sooner, once the monthly payments become routine it doesn't really make that much difference as you just get used to it coming out each month.

laura19

I applied for a mortgage with the Post Office and I had to show I had the full deposit in my bank account immediately, which meant moving the money from savings and ISA's into my current account to send them a copy of my statement before they would consider my application.

kford224

laura19 wrote: »

I applied for a mortgage with the Post Office and I had to show I had the full deposit in my bank account immediately, which meant moving the money from savings and ISA's into my current account to send them a copy of my statement before they would consider my application.

Ah OK thanks, Laura - that's really useful to know

I think we'll save as much as we can and just set July/August as our target for looking. If we have a bit extra then it can go towards the two most important things to buy - massive tv and a massive bed! :rotfl:As long as we are in a house by the end of the year then we'll be happy!!:D

property.advert

SG27 wrote: »

If I were you I would not even bother viewing yet and to be honest I would wait to save up more of a deposit. Dont rush yourselves. My girlfriend and me have more than a 40% deposit now (:))after saving for around 6 or 7 years but we are not in any rush as the longer we wait the more we save and smaller our mortgage. A 10% deposit will get u a very bad rate. House prices won't go up anymore so the longer u wait and save the better!

We nearly bought a place a few months back but our offer was refused so
It's back to more saving and waiting for a perfect house to come along.

But in many 6 or 7 year periods your idea would see people left behind and unable to even contemplate getting on the property ladder.

To give you an example, I bought a place off plan in 2008 for 209k to move into in 2009 then valued at 300k) which was over 500k within 5 years. Had I subscribed to your thinking, I would have lost out nearly 300k though I accept I would have saved a few pennies in interest !

SG27

property.advert wrote: »

But in many 6 or 7 year periods your idea would see people left behind and unable to even contemplate getting on the property ladder.

To give you an example, I bought a place off plan in 2008 for 209k to move into in 2009 then valued at 300k) which was over 500k within 5 years. Had I subscribed to your thinking, I would have lost out nearly 300k though I accept I would have saved a few pennies in interest !

You bought a place for 209k in 2008 and 5 years later it was worth £500k? What in 2013???Lol


House price are going down at the moment and I don't think they will be going up anytime soon! There's no rush at the moment saving as much as possible is the best option!

SG27

kford224 wrote: »

We are both back living with parents, which is the only reason we can put £1000 a month into house savings. If we were renting it would be better as at least then we would be together, but there is no way we would be able to save a decent amount a month and rent a property. We would rather pay more back long term and have a house sooner, once the monthly payments become routine it doesn't really make that much difference as you just get used to it coming out each month.

I know how you feel it's awful living apart! Its a 1hr 30min round trip to my girlfriends which is so annoying. But you have to make sacrifices and we know that when we buy we will have the rest of our lives together and much more spare money and can really enjoy our lives together. I couldnt afford a 10% mortgage as the repayments are just too high!

What sort of mortgage rates/ repayments have been looking at? At 10% that are very expensive. If you can get it 20% you have much lower rates to choose!

DizzyDasher

I think we also had to show the estate agent proof of funds before they took it off the market ... so I wouldn't expect you to be able to spin it out while you do searches etc.

Hard one to call when to start to view. I would say definitely worth doing web research already, starting to make a note of properties you like and watching out for them to come up on the land registry (that way you can have all the floor plans and the pictures if you download the brochure now, and also the final selling price from the land registry - which is very useful when you start negotiating prices later! If you wait too late to do this the property brochures will have come off estate agents' websites, so you won't know the details of what condition things were in, how they were laid out, etc.) Personally I would not go and see anywhere in person until I was ready, just in case I fell in love and then couldn't find anywhere to match it later!