10 or 15% deposit?

hanvyj

We've gotten to the point of making an offer. We were hoping to get the house for less than the asking price but it looks like we are going to have to stretch to 140,000.

I was really hoping for a 15% deposit, but our savings (currently 23700) would leave us with only 3000 for fees and everything. (assuming 138k offer is accepted)

Is this enough for the extras? We were looking at getting a mortgage with Santander, who would pay for a survey (though we might want to pay £250 or so extra for a better one).

At 5 years fixed we would be paying 740 instead of 670 a month dropping the deposit down to 10% but it would leave us with savings and a good buffer for fees etc.

Is 3k enough? What will we need other than stamp duty, 1400, survey £250, moving expenses (£200 van hire - it's not a long distance). How much are solicitor fees?

Thanks!

Conrad

Solicitors fees I would say would come in about £1200 or so with vat and dispersements.

£3k is cutting it fine - personally I'm a big believer in having a slush fund as it is this that enables many people to get through a crises and not end up in arrears.
For a FTB with 10% deposit, a 2 or 3 year fixed rate might turn out advantageous because they might be able to remortgage later on and if they have more equity due to the rising market and any improvements made, then there might be better mortgage deals then.

There are 90% 2/3 year deals out there.

hanvyj

Conrad wrote: »

Solicitors fees I would say would come in about £1200 or so with vat and dispersements.

£3k is cutting it fine - personally I'm a big believer in having a slush fund as it is this that enables many people to get through a crises and not end up in arrears.

Yeah, this is my thinking - even if we managed to scrape through and be able to pay for everything... The risk of having zero fall-back :S

We could extend the term of the 10% mortgage to lower the monthly payments - paying off larger sums when we can.

I hadn't put much thought into a 2-3 year deal... My worry was that interest rates would go up and we'd regret it.