FTB - How much deposit?

jezebel

Firstly, thanks to everyone for your comments - it's always good to get some advice and different people's points of view.

I actually hadn't considered taking in a lodger, but it would probably be strange for me to live with people that I don't know, although I've done it before.

Alan, obviously I am working at improving my income too but at the moment I'm just concentrating on getting some money together because I know that as you said I need to be realistic about what I can afford. Thanks for your figures help, that is useful to give me something to aim for. I know it's going to be a struggle but my one dream is to own my own home, and whatever it takes I'm going to get there.

Rachman_2

jezebel wrote:

Firstly, thanks to everyone for your comments - it's always good to get some advice and different people's points of view.

I actually hadn't considered taking in a lodger, but it would probably be strange for me to live with people that I don't know, although I've done it before.

Alan, obviously I am working at improving my income too but at the moment I'm just concentrating on getting some money together because I know that as you said I need to be realistic about what I can afford. Thanks for your figures help, that is useful to give me something to aim for. I know it's going to be a struggle but my one dream is to own my own home, and whatever it takes I'm going to get there.

Being blunt, you should not be buying a flat until you can comfortably afford your mortgage and living at much higher interest rates on your wages (unless you have bigger cojones than I) - you earn a grand a month, give or take, and you save £250 a month - I suggest once you add in £175-200 a month for bills (council tax, gas, leccy, phone) - you ain't going to have much at all. So how confident are you on wage rises ?

On that money, I spent £50K on a house (£5K down) - and I was brassic.... doubling it (even with slightly lower interest rates) is not a runner in my book.

I'd keep squirrelling the deposit and find a way to increase income then check it's secure and I should not be buying with a £100K mortgage till I was on somewhere over £25K a year....... I am sure someone will lend you the cash, but all you can realistically afford is interest only and beans for tea at the moment (We've all been there, well, the beans at least).

Good luck with saving hard....

jezebel

Rachman wrote:

Being blunt, you should not be buying a flat until you can comfortably afford your mortgage and living at much higher interest rates on your wages (unless you have bigger cojones than I) - you earn a grand a month, give or take, and you save £250 a month - I suggest once you add in £175-200 a month for bills (council tax, gas, leccy, phone) - you ain't going to have much at all. So how confident are you on wage rises ?

On that money, I spent £50K on a house (£5K down) - and I was brassic.... doubling it (even with slightly lower interest rates) is not a runner in my book.

I'd keep squirrelling the deposit and find a way to increase income then check it's secure and I should not be buying with a £100K mortgage till I was on somewhere over £25K a year....... I am sure someone will lend you the cash, but all you can realistically afford is interest only and beans for tea at the moment (We've all been there, well, the beans at least).

Good luck with saving hard....

Saving is my current plan, at least for next 12-18 months, I have some money put aside already and am aiming for as much as possible before I either get sick of living with parents, or they get sick of me! At present paying £200 a month rent, a little more on bills and paying the rest into savings - this averages out anywhere between £250 and £500 a month - so £250 is my lowest estimate as like you said I'm trying to be realistic. I estimate being able to make repayments of £400 a month, and then £200 for bills but as I will be buying in an area closer to work will be saving £50 a month on travel expenses. This will still leave me about £300 to live on.

Alan_M_2

Good for you, you seem to have your head screwed on! Keep saving hard and do what you can to increase your income.

Your figure for bills might be a little tight, especially for a flat, remember there will be maintainance charges and it's likely you council tax alone will be in the £100 a month region. So £300 would be a safer bet.

Get yourself in the low £20Ks salary range then reacesses the market and see if it's possible to make the figures add up at that time.

Good Luck.

kiwigirl

Hi - I'm living with parents currently and saving up for my own place.

I saw a mortgage advisor who told me what I could afford house wise and what my mortgage would be on that, so I've been trying to save that much since and anything extra for things such as council tax, utilities etc. Unfortunately, things changed and I was made redundant so currently I am in a lower paid and wouldn't have managed to keep paying the mortage on new wages :eek: so glad I didn't buy at time (would've probably rented place out though after being made redundant and go back to live with my parents).

The more you can stick into savings before you buy the better. Good luck.

I was recently asked in a phone interview why had I been living at home so long and wouldn't my parents miss me? At least I must've impressed them enough to warrant another interview which I can explain that I've saved a deposit for a house and when I do get a nice job (will have to relocate if I get any good new job) and explained that I would rent somewhere until I had passed my probation in a new job before I'd contemplate buying.

Keep saving as much as possible then it won't be as difficult to make ends meet when you do get your own place.

KG

jezebel

Kiwigirl, keep at it and eventually you'll get a job that you deserve - I have to say that I also surprise people when they find out I'm saving for a deposit on a house, I never thought this was rocket science but apparently a lot of people don't realise how much houses cost these days.

Good Luck to you too.

zag2me

You need to improve your wage really, 16k is very low for the south east. Have you thought about re-training or changing jobs?

Saving for a deposit is all well and good but house prices are going up faster than you are saving money, in this situation its best to buy a house at the earliest possible time you can. If of course house prices start to stabilize or go down then it would be much better save.

Personally I bought a studio with 5% deposit, and kept the rest of the money I saved as an emergency fund. Also invested some of it in the stock market and have got better than inflation gains from that.

pavlovs_dog

im in a similar sort of situation jezebel - saving for a house on low income, in the hope that one day i might own a home of my own.

if i've learned anything through doing my research into what we could afford etc, is that it would make more sense to bide our time, save save save, and go for delayed gratification, than rush in because you are so desperate to have your own place, and end up being uphappy, or having to move again in quick succession because the place you've ended up in isnt right for your needs.


make the most of the cheapest living costs you'll ever know and but the house of your dreams when the time is right for you :beer: