Is there any hope?

cleas001

Hi All,
I was hoping for some advise on wheter you think its worth me saving to buy my own place or not....
So I've had a look at the Market and in the area I live in I would need about £250k to get myself a comfortable 1 bed flat.

Im curetly earning about £35k a year and have to date saved £12k (I now save about £1k a month, £200 rent, £100 petrol and approk £100 on other bills).

I'm currently living with my parents, hence the cheap rent! However I'd like to move out in the next year or so but it just seems like it will take me forever to save up a decent deposit :-(

How much deposit would I need for £250k flat, what would montly repayments be like and would anyone even offer me a mortgage? (I've tried working this out but it's just so complicated!)

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks

girl_withno_name

I'd imagine that you'll need at least a 10% deposit.

There's a handy calculator on here which will give an idea of how much you might be able to borrow and also how much repayments would be (you'll need to input amount, term, interest rate..)
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/mortgage-rate-calculator

There's also a savings calculator, which will help you determine either:
how long it'll take you to save the rest at £1k a month and a certain interest rate... or
how much you should save per month to reach your deposit amount within the next year
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest#calc

If the results put you at purchasing a house further in the future than you'd like then there's a budget planner and the money makeover which might suggest some ways in which you could save more
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Budget-planning
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help

I hope that some of these are helpful to you!

FireWyrm

£250K is a very heavy burden to carry on just £35K. When you move out, you'll have other annoying things like council tax, utilities, food, car etc to pay. Most banks are only lending around 3 times salary, so even if you were really really lucky and found 5 times, you would still be over £100K short of a sale price. It's not realistic.

Why do you want to pay £250K for a shoebox anyway? I'm guessing you're in London? Have you considered other options like moving out of the City? There is life outside of the M25 and I promise the natives gave up cannibalism some time ago.

vivster

You must be in a pretty posh bit of London if one-bed flats are £250k. Look at cheaper areas. They do exist, even within the M25.

zcrat41

I live within a 1 hour commute of Kings X - for £250 you'd get a 3 bed family home within walking distance of the station. I'd look elsewhere, 250k on 35k is not sustainable.

BitterAndTwisted

On your current salary a £250k property, most especially a one-bed is too ambitious, and very possibly out of reach. There are many, many areas where properties are substantially cheaper than that.

What I would advise is to continue to live with your parents and stash away that one grand a month in savings for as long as humanly possible.

To get a decent mortgage-rate the higher the percentage of deposit means a much better lending-rate. And don't forget that you will require about a grand for a survey (and that's if you do proceed to buy the first place you have a survey on) and about another grand for conveyancing. Plus moving costs, furnishings and a pot of savings for any necessary repairs. There are alway some when you own a property.

I would advise you to consider buying in a much cheaper area and looking at two-bedroomed places. That way, you could take in a lodger to help with the mortgage-payments and utility-bills for the first couple of years.

vivster

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

And don't forget that you will require about a grand for a survey (and that's if you do proceed to buy the first place you have a survey on) and about another grand for conveyancing. Plus moving costs, furnishings and a pot of savings for any necessary repairs. There are alway some when you own a property.

And don't forget about the Stamp Duty; which would be £2,500 on a £250k property.

cleas001

Thanks for the advise!
I guess I'll have to look at this as a much longer term target - quite a few years of saving and hopefully by that time a partner to help me out!
thanks

vivster

If you are in London have you looked at

http://www.firststepslondon.org/index.asp

for shared ownership/equity options. Might be a good alternative for you. Do your research though, as there are drawbacks to such schemes.

cleas001

Thanks... everything seems so unreachable, I'm 25 I don't want to be living at home forever!

I know I could look to mve further away but that means I'm away from family and friends and also future job opportunities.
Sometimes makes me want to give up saving for a deposit - why save for so long to live in a horrid pokey flat when I could rent a nice big apartment and enjoy myself with holidays etc. I know a house gives you security (and deep down thats what I really want!) but I have to ask myself is it worth it?

Vincent.waldorf

wow just read the above. you guys dont think that a a 250k property is possible on a 35.5k salary?

how come? he should be raking over 2k a month and a mortgage is usually about 1k?