Bank of mum and dad

brenda10

leccyblue wrote: »

Help doesn't always come in the form of money...

We were helped by my wife's parents, who 5 years ago purchased a repossessed, run-down property for us to live in rent free. Over the first 3 years, we renovated the property throughout. Luckily we were able to do the majority of the work ourselves, saving a fortune. Over the last two years, we have been saving a £20k deposit to buy the property from them. We completed in January!

The purchase price took into account everything they had invested into the property, including all legal fees, buildings insurance etc. I guess this type of arrangement involves a lot of trust from both sides - for them, that we would be in a position to buy the property from them - and for us, investing money in renovating a property we didn't at the time own. But we were all comfortable with this and we are, and always will be really grateful for their help.

Living rent free was saving us circa £500 a month in rent, which helped massively with the renovation costs and subsequent saving - this, in conjunction with doing the renovation ourselves has meant we are now living in a property of a size and condition that we would have otherwise been unable to afford.

My parents aren't fortunate enough to be in a position to afford to do this sort of thing - however my Dad gave up a lot of his time to help with renovating, especially when fitting the new kitchen. We're also really grateful to him for this.

I wish there were more run down available properties in the London area as property is out of all buying, in order to get started the property needs to be bought so money is always needed in some form or another, I cannot find a property to do up nor would I have the money, things 5 yrs ago were different, present day this is unlikely to be possible in London area, maybe other areas but not London. Good Luck and well done. I don't live in the same country as my daughter so am unable to let her live with me, work dictates where she lives.

brenda10

choccyface2006 wrote: »

Our parents are mortgage free and have money but we didn't have nor expect any financial help towards our house purchase, our deposit was saved over 8/9 years whilst renting a house.

We did get a £50 gift card as a moving in present though!

My sister was given £150k to buy her first house and my friend was given a house by her in laws, are they any happier for it? I don't think so!

I think we love our house all the more because we saved hard for it ourselves.

Sarah x

Well done Sarah,
Both my husband and I saved for our own deposit and are now mortgage free nearly and helping out our daughter and son in law with a small amount to help with down payment for a mortgage but my only child/daughter is a very hard worker who appreciates every thing and is not selfish and has encouraged her boyfriend to start saving, they are both saving well, we are proud of them. Good Luck.

brenda10

Abbymoo wrote: »

Not a penny from anyone, gifted, inherited or otherwise. Nor did we have the luxury of living at home and saving a deposit. In fact we both supported our parents from a young age. All we got from our relatives was premature grey hair and a selection of nervous breakdowns. Weirdly, I wouldn't have it any other way now. It's massively satisfying knowing we've done it all ourselves.

Well Done.