Bank of Mum and Dad

Idiophreak

I bought 4 years ago with my wife using shared equity..didn't really have any savings, but quickly scraped together a 5% deposit by spending on CCs etc for a couple of months. Since then our home's gone up around 10% in value, so we could now remortgage to 85-90%LTV if we were so inclined...But the mortgage payments are so low right now (£400 less than equivalent rental) we're just going to keep saving the cash til we move on...

We did have a little help from the Bank of Mum and Dad - I think one set of parents bought our TV, the others bought a hoover and stuff...but nothing that contributed to the house itself.

MrsHappy85

Hello

I know how you feel!

I live in the South East. Very expensive to buy. Im 28 and so is my husband. We have managed to save a 10% deposit on our own in about 2 and a half years.
We also privately rent a house and both have car loans to pay for.

We havent been given a single penny by anyone and although we still have a life, we have deffinately cut back in order to save, we havent had a holiday abroad since 2010. Holidays were our major expensive before saving. We just do cheap weekends now.

Someone we know has just been given her entire deposit and a further 10k to do their new house up. Another couple, just been given 100k deposit and are up to their eyeballs in credit card debts. No idea how to manage thier money. Neither seem very grateful for the generous gift and not even that excited about their new house.

We on the other hand, having just had an offer accepted on a house, have saved for so long and so hard we are beyond excited....!

I do think, in most cases, if you take the time to save your deposit, when you finally pick up your keys you appreciate it much much more.

Goodluck!

englishrose19

I (21),live in the south with my boyfriend (23). I'm just out of uni so looking for work and he has had his full time job for 2 years.

We have been lucky, both had trust funds when we were younger and were given money for uni (boyfriend) and I was just given a chunk from my grandparents or furniture. We were expected to spend the money gifted to us (during uni I had nothing and lived on little more than 10 a week!) but unlike friends we have saved almost everything. My boyfriend set up a save to buy account last year and saves a certain about for commuting fees and the future each month. Hopefully I can find a job and do the same!

We have about 25k between us, without saving the money given we would have about 10,000.

So yes it's possible and although being lucky personally I completely understand what it's like to scrimp and save for a house!

tukka123

It's nice to see a lot of others have actually started off in the same position and managed to get a place. TO be fair I am prob in a better position than most with no debts and extensive research into MSE. Thanks for all your tips and suggestions and I will try to do another money makeover and see what extra pennies I can save. I think I we will be there in 2 years with a little effort and luck....

GoldenShadow

It is tough, I'm 21 and my OH is 24 and its quite depressing the way prices are rumoured to be going up again and how expensive properties are. I am originally from Lincolnshire and now live in Essex, and its crazy the prices of property here compared to Lincs!! Now I have friends etc here as well as all my Mum's family I am more reluctant to move further away, but am fully prepared to if its what it takes to own our own home.

We are lucky in that we live with my Mum. I say lucky, its cramped, not overly fun and we are rather restricted but it enables us to save. We hope to be in a position to be in our own home by Christmas 2016, so are looking at a good three years of saving. We're aiming for at least 30K plus, currently have about 8K. I am still a student until Christmas 2013 though, so hopefully saving will increase dramatically if/when I can secure a full time job.

My BIL and SIL were loaned money for a deposit and SIL's father is an ex builder type man. They put an offer in on their house before it was even on the market and snagged it that way, they've done fab. Worth so much more now they've gutted it as well. Does make me envious, we have no one who could help us out in that regard (certain limitations as to how much DIY you can do if you work full time), but its just how it goes.

I have no intention of falling out with my Mum in the next few years, its living with her which is enabling us to save, otherwise I have no idea how long it would take.

SG27

Basically I think the problem is renting. If your renting and trying to save its extremely difficult! We didn't have any help but we were both living with our parents paying relatively low keep while we saved. Our problems wasnt saving the deposit it was saving a big enough deposit to get an affordable mortgage! At 80% LTV we simply wouldn't be able to pay the mortgage each month! We saved for around 8 years and moved in in February it was well worth the extra saving to get the mortgage down to a comfortable level. My advice would be save for as long as possible not just the minimum deposit you think you will need.

Jaybo10

We are doing it (check out that signature :beer:) without being gifted any money. But, we did move back home for the last 3 years to do it - which has been a bit testing to say the least!

If you really want to own your own place you will make sacrifices to do it.

I wish you the best of luck

olias

What about this?

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-39970133.html

£900 including all bills - there you go OP, just saved you an extra £500 pm! And just round the corner from the station!

Olias

englishrose19

I agree with those saying living at home helps a lot - the cheap rent is itself a gift each month! However it's just not possible for everyone, especially those securing jobs after university in their uni towns/ cities. That's what happened to us (very grateful!) but now 150 miles from home we are from villages an hours drive to the closest city so moving to an urban area was pretty much essential.

Hope to buy back in a more rural area closer to home, when the time comes.

Lizling

I saved up my own deposit for a flat in London zone 3-4, but I did have some help from my parents with the stamp duty and solicitors fees. I wasn't buying as a couple though, which I think more than cancels out help from parents.

The deposit was 10%, and I do appreciate that I was lucky to be able to get that. I don't think I could have done 25%, with rent going up the way it is.

I'm 32 and had been renting since 18. Living with my parents wasn't remotely an option. I'd been attempting to save for a deposit since I was about 23, but there were times I had to live on my savings or couldn't put a penny aside. Most of it was saved in the last 3 years, at about £600/month.

Still saving, though. Got a list of renovation jobs to pay for now. That's because, frankly, the flat was a dump, but it was the biggest I could afford and I like the location.