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First time buyer dreams.. can we do it?!
Comments
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Your OP asks what you can do to make it happen. You've managed to save a little bit whilst your OH has saved jack !!!! and is struggling to get from one month to the next. Cutting back on your largest expense (i.e. your rent) would seem the quickest route to saving up the required deposit.
I don't really get your agreement about renting in the less desirable place means you'll have less time. If you buy there then you'll also spend longer commuting so if it were me I'd take the hassle in a rented property if it meant being able to afford and therefore live long term in the area I really wanted.
There's more to home ownership than just mortgage payments. You'll have repairs, maintenance, insurance, management fees since it's leasehold properties you're looking at, to name but a few. You're also thinking about children in the not-to-distant future when means a drop in income and a hike in expenditure. So if your OH is struggling now he will have to increase his income significantly for you to achieve your goal. Also since you are thinking about children and you also want a home office is a 2-bedroom property going to be large enough to meet your needs?0 -
Your OP asks what you can do to make it happen. You've managed to save a little bit whilst your OH has saved jack !!!! and is struggling to get from one month to the next. Cutting back on your largest expense (i.e. your rent) would seem the quickest route to saving up the required deposit.
I don't really get your agreement about renting in the less desirable place means you'll have less time. If you buy there then you'll also spend longer commuting so if it were me I'd take the hassle in a rented property if it meant being able to afford and therefore live long term in the area I really wanted.
There's more to home ownership than just mortgage payments. You'll have repairs, maintenance, insurance, management fees since it's leasehold properties you're looking at, to name but a few. You're also thinking about children in the not-to-distant future when means a drop in income and a hike in expenditure. So if your OH is struggling now he will have to increase his income significantly for you to achieve your goal. Also since you are thinking about children and you also want a home office is a 2-bedroom property going to be large enough to meet your needs?
What i've saved is mostly from when i was still living at home. He had to survive on his own from a young age so didn't have that option. He is job hunting and has been for a few months and has been trying to push for a promotion at work but so far no luck. It is highly annoying but not much more he can do at the moment.
I agree, the high rent is stopping us save and if there was a cheaper alternative without the downside of distance we'd be there. When i'm talking about buying n the cheaper place, that would be in a year or 2, with hopefully different jobs. In our current situation it would mean an increase in commuting times/costs until we manage to find something else.
No a 2 bed wouldn't be large enough down the line, thats why i listed the 2 scenarios in my original post and said i'd be worried about needing to move somewhere bigger after only just getting a 2 bed flat.0 -
Why can't you commute?
I commute for an hour each way, despite typically working upwards of 60 hours a week, and there are plenty of others who do the same. In London this is pretty average; there are plenty who work harder and commute longer.
It may be worth renting in the cheaper area just for a little bit so that you can build up a deposit.0 -
So neither of you are saving anything currently? Your household income is just keeping pace with your household expenditure?username_user wrote: »What i've saved is mostly from when i was still living at home.0 -
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steampowered wrote: »Why can't you commute?
I commute for an hour each way, despite typically working upwards of 60 hours a week, and there are plenty of others who do the same. In London this is pretty average; there are plenty who work harder and commute longer.
It may be worth renting in the cheaper area just for a little bit so that you can build up a deposit.
We can and we do already to a certain degree. I'm just making the point that if we move farther away to a cheaper area, some of the benefit of cheaper rent would be offset by increased travel costs longer travel times which would me less available hours to work for me0 -
Like I said...username_user wrote: »We are saving some, but not much. Would take a long time to save the amount we'd need to make getting a mortgage easierYou said your household income is £26k/yr.
Divide that by 12.
£2,270/mo.
Tax is going to be low. Let's call it take-home of £2000/mo - https://www.incometaxcalculator.org.uk suggests that's about right.
Actually, then there's the £5-10k of other income. So let's call it £300-600/mo after tax from that source.
£2,300-2,600/mo income.
£800/mo rent.
Looks like £1,500-1,800/mo for those other expenses to me.
Please, feel free to correct my misunderstanding with more appropriate figures.0 -
username_user wrote: »We can and we do already to a certain degree. I'm just making the point that if we move farther away to a cheaper area, some of the benefit of cheaper rent would be offset by increased travel costs longer travel times which would me less available hours to work for me
I don't understand why a longer travel time means less hours to work.
Is it not possible for you to commute and still work the same hours?0 -
steampowered wrote: »I don't understand why a longer travel time means less hours to work.
Is it not possible for you to commute and still work the same hours?
I am employed and self employed. More hours travelling to employment = less hours to spend on self employment0 -
Will that be different if you're in a property you own, rather than rent?username_user wrote: »I am employed and self employed. More hours travelling to employment = less hours to spend on self employment0
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