First Time Buyer Advice Appreciated

AnotherJoe

gohan2091 wrote: »

I haven't done all the sums because I am in the dark about some of the costs. What I know is I have £18k in savings which is rising by £800 each month and that has to help somewhere. I don't go on holiday, I don't dine out, I don't have car expenses, I have no dependants, my costs can be kept to a minimal.

So I need to talk to someone to go over my earnings and costs in detail, who would be the best to contact? I am looking on the NHS website for jobs and will be applying for a few that are higher band but I don't think I would get anywhere. I have a BSc in Computing and don't want to go through more education. Training I would be happy to do if I could find a job that could offer me on-the-job training. I don't want to relocate, my family is here and I don't want to be too far away.

I take it you aren't working in IT ? Can you get a job in that area as it ought to pay substantially more than what you are on now.

gohan2091

My grandparents live with their 2 sons and then me their grandson. It would not be an accurate valuable of bills when compared with just myself living alone. It seems everyone here is suggesting this is not a good idea based on my income which is disheartening. I will speak to a mortgage broker to get some further advice as I am not really getting much on here. I work in administration. A job in IT would be great but I don't have the networking skills needed for most jobs I see advertised. I will keep my eyes open, especially on the NHS jobs website but for now, £13800 is my income.

ViolaLass

I don't know what advice you were hoping to get.

You shouldn't buy without knowing what it will cost to live on your own. Do you have any friends who live on their own? Could you ask them about their bills?

csgohan4

gohan2091 wrote: »

My grandparents live with their 2 sons and then me their grandson. It would not be an accurate valuable of bills when compared with just myself living alone. It seems everyone here is suggesting this is not a good idea based on my income which is disheartening. I will speak to a mortgage broker to get some further advice as I am not really getting much on here. I work in administration. A job in IT would be great but I don't have the networking skills needed for most jobs I see advertised. I will keep my eyes open, especially on the NHS jobs website but for now, £13800 is my income.

You have to be realistic as well, on such low paid income you will find it hard to get on the property ladder without a large deposit.


The fact you have not researched the full cost of living alone as well as non mortgage costs concerns me.


Why the rush to buy a house? Please don't tell me 'it's cheaper than rent' if you do your very mistaken

AnotherJoe

gohan2091 wrote: »

My grandparents live with their 2 sons and then me their grandson. It would not be an accurate valuable of bills when compared with just myself living alone. It seems everyone here is suggesting this is not a good idea based on my income which is disheartening. I will speak to a mortgage broker to get some further advice as I am not really getting much on here. I work in administration. A job in IT would be great but I don't have the networking skills needed for most jobs I see advertised. I will keep my eyes open, especially on the NHS jobs website but for now, £13800 is my income.

When you say networking skills, do you mean networking as is computers, or networking as in knowing people? If the former, get some training. You've got a degree, you can learn. (And FWIW I'm in IT its a constant learning environment things are changing all the time you'll be able to manage it if I could. )

So I think you need careers advice not mortgage advice. Someone with a BsC in computing should be on significantly more than you are. As in several times more. Buying the very cheapest tiniest share of a property on your current salary is putting a sticking plaster on the symptom not fixing the cause.

If you post in the employment forum here I think that will be far more useful to you than attempting to square the circle with a mortage on such a low salary. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=141

P.s. If you need to move for personal circumstances, eg get out of an overcrowded house, maybe a house share nearer to work is a better plan for the next year or two.

Kynthia

You need to understand all the regular monthly costs of living on your own and then what buffer you'd need fir one off costs like repairs, maintenance and other unexpected bills.

So do some research on these costs and what others there may be over a year:
Gas
Electric
TV licence
Council tax
Water
Mortgage/rent
Service charge and ground rent
Phone/Internet
Food
Travel
Haircuts
Gifts
Holidays
Clothes
Social/entertaining
Contents insurance
Car running, mot and service, parking, insurance, breakdown cover, etc.
Buffer or initial costs for boiler repair, decoration, furniture, bedding, kitchen utensils and appliances, bills for ad-hoc works to the building, etc.

When you understand these then you can think about whether you can afford to live kn your own, whether renting or buying. Otherwise renting a room from a landlord or a shared house might be the best option for moving out.

gohan2091

I have a rough idea on the cost of bills, my sister lives with her children and she can tell me what her bills are. I am budgeting half my income on bills/food and the other half on mortgage. I don't have haircuts (I am bald), I don't travel, I don't dine, I don't drive, I don't buy gifts, I have enough clothing, I have plenty of entertainment, most of those things are material items that I don't need for now.

My income will go up each year until I reach £17,978 in a few years time because I am on Agenda for Change pay and it was mentioned at my interview 6 months ago that the 34 hours would turn into 37 eventually. I am always keeping an eye out for IT jobs but I don't have IT networking skills (think LANs, WANs, IP addresses, configuring networks and network access) but I am very good at troubleshooting and I can build PCs from parts. I don't want to learn networking, I've done enough education in my life and it hasn't gotten me anywhere. I came here for mortgage advise not career advice but I will keep my eye open for higher paid jobs.

I want to move out because it's not fair on my grandparents to keep me here when it's already overcrowded. It is super cheap though. I can rent a room for £300-£400 a month close to work including bills which I might do but that doesnt' actually help me get my own place, it just raises my expenses and slows down my rate of saving.

ViolaLass

Half income on bills/food and half on mortgage.

What if interest rates increase? What if the roof leaks?

gohan2091

I will have a few grand left in savings after a deposit and hopefully be earning more money via a 2nd job, increased hours or a better paid job. I would select a fixed rate mortgage so no nasty suprises for a least a few years.

yessuz

gohan2091 wrote: »

I have a rough idea on the cost of bills, my sister lives with her children and she can tell me what her bills are. I am budgeting half my income on bills/food and the other half on mortgage. I don't have haircuts (I am bald), I don't travel, I don't dine, I don't drive, I don't buy gifts, I have enough clothing, I have plenty of entertainment, most of those things are material items that I don't need for now.

My income will go up each year until I reach £17,978 in a few years time because I am on Agenda for Change pay and it was mentioned at my interview 6 months ago that the 34 hours would turn into 37 eventually. I am always keeping an eye out for IT jobs but I don't have IT networking skills (think LANs, WANs, IP addresses, configuring networks and network access) but I am very good at troubleshooting and I can build PCs from parts. I don't want to learn networking, I've done enough education in my life and it hasn't gotten me anywhere. I came here for mortgage advise not career advice but I will keep my eye open for higher paid jobs.

I want to move out because it's not fair on my grandparents to keep me here when it's already overcrowded. It is super cheap though. I can rent a room for £300-£400 a month close to work including bills which I might do but that doesnt' actually help me get my own place, it just raises my expenses and slows down my rate of saving.

sorry, but this is just plain silly.
Firstly, you do not have a rough idea how much it costs.
Just do simple maths. put everything on excel, and see what it is left.
if you do not need clothes, because you have.. well, you'll have to renew at some point anyway.
most of the material things what you do not need now - you will need/want later.
You say that you earn circa 1000 a month. in my opinion, it will be really hard to cover all monthly expenses (all bills, and I mean - all) + mortgage.


Now - the funny part:
if you "do not know networking" - I wonder, how did you finish UNI to get BSc in computing?! !!!!!! did you learn?
the troubleshooting and pc assembly is the lowest paid IT jobs. I have never studied computing in UNI (well some basic stuff in first years or so), and I do not have the BSc in computing. but I can do this myself (troubleshooting, pc assembly) + I have understanding on the networking and can do stuff. but i never learned that for purpose - it's just reading free forums, articles and stuff. so in this case, looks like, you have wasted 4 years in UNI.
Also, IT - is one of those things, where you need to learn constantly as these things changes all the time. so when you say, that you do not want to learn anything more - that's just wrong.

You should aim for something better. have some internet courses on programming, networks etc. finishing those, you'll be able to improve your salary. because with BSc in IT you should be on much more than 13k a year.

If you already have 18k in savings, that is more than enough to get on the housing ladder. but not now - not with this income. it is not saving, but affordability, what counts.

Also, if you buy now - you will have issues when you'll want to sell (as no one will want to buy shared ownership), also you'll be limited from other choices as you'll not be able to act as "first time buyer" anymore..

firstly - try to settle separately from your family in the shared house, for those 300-400 a month and just see how it works for you. this way you:
1) will not lose your savings
2) see how you can survive own your own with your income
3) will have a backup plan (to return to your grandparents) if this will not work out.

because looks like you need to think how to improve your income.
savings will not run away and will not disappear.