First time buyer dreams.. can we do it?!

JimmyTheWig

OP, I feel you're getting a bit of a hard time here.
But I also feel you're not doing much to help yourself on the thread.

Can you give us an example of the sort of thing you were hoping to hear?

AdrianC

username_user wrote: »

Everything i say is being turned into me not wanting to do things!

Remember, all we know about you is what you've typed in this thread.

It's not £850 for 'phone calls'.

Who said it was? You said phone calls, food and transport left very little of the £850 left of your income after rent and bills. Perhaps it would be helpful for us to understand if you were to break them down a bit?

I have also never 'blamed' the landlord! I have made the point that rent is expensive, which it is.

It's just over 40% of your income. You have nearly 60% of your income left after paying rent.

I have never suggested he charge anything different, just replied to your point that the mortgage is more than the rent. Which is irrelevant anyway.

Then you misunderstood my point completely. My apologies - let me rephrase. Ignore the landlord and his finances. They're irrelevant. Renting is the cheapest way YOU could possibly live in that property, or even in that area. It happens to be the ONLY way YOU can afford to live in that property or that area, because if YOU could borrow sufficient money to buy it, YOUR repayments would be more than YOUR rent on it.

So, does that make the rent "extortionate"? (and, yes, that was the word you used)

I'm aware of how my business works thanks.

OK, so we're all agreed that the £5-10k income figure you originally gave is actually near-on £0?

I know it is hard. I know we need to make changes. Hence me coming here to get advice on what we need to do. I know it's possible, plenty of people manage it. Which is why i was hoping for some encouragement from those people!

We can hug you and tell you it's all lovely... or we can suggest you need to think VERY HARD about the ways in which YOU can change YOUR life, and give you some pointers as to the best way to do it. Re-read this thread, pretending to yourself that you didn't post it, and are simply reading somebody else's situation that just happens to be fairly similar to yours.

username_user

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

OP, I feel you're getting a bit of a hard time here.
But I also feel you're not doing much to help yourself on the thread.

Can you give us an example of the sort of thing you were hoping to hear?

I know there will be many other people who are in/have been in the same position so would have been good to hear from anyone who has managed to get on the property ladder or are managing to get close.

As i said in my original post, mortgage affordability calculators and information on fees vary widely so i was really hoping to get more of an idea on what sort of amount i should budget for fees and what sort of income ballpark we need to get in to be in a decent position to get the mortgage we'll need.

I expected to hear 'earn more spend less' but in a much less antagonistic way!

Cakeguts

username_user wrote: »

£1900ish take home. I pay myself very little from self employment at the moment, it goes back into the business.

- 800 rent
- 250 bills
- food
- Petrol, car costs, transport
- phone bills
= not much!



As i said, house prices have risen hugely here, his mortgage will be nowhere near £180k.



Nope, just a way to get on the property ladder. It's not necessarily where i want to spend the rest of my life.

Please explain what you are spending the £250 on bills on when the food and phone bills are separate? Are you saying that you are spending £250 a month on gas, electricity and water? Does this include insurance and council tax?

username_user

Cakeguts wrote: »

Please explain what you are spending the £250 on bills on when the food and phone bills are separate? Are you saying that you are spending £250 a month on gas, electricity and water? Does this include insurance and council tax?

Council tax, electric, water, home insurance, internet, tv license comes to around £250.

AdrianC

username_user wrote: »

Council tax, electric, water, home insurance, internet, tv license comes to around £250.

OK, that sounds realistic.

Can you similarly break the £850/mo food/transport/phone down a bit further? I think the answer to your situation lies in there...

steampowered

username_user wrote: »

I know there will be many other people who are in/have been in the same position so would have been good to hear from anyone who has managed to get on the property ladder or are managing to get close.

Here's my experience. I am a similar age to you and am on the property ladder. I own a 2-bed flat in London.

Many of my contemporaries are renting and are finding it impossible to get on the ladder despite earning high salaries. Most of them live in slightly more central parts of London with higher rents and higher property prices.

I commute for about 45 minutes to an hour each way. Living a little bit further out, and accepting that I spend more time than I would like commuting, is a sacrifice which I have made to own a property.

The other sacrifice I could have made would be to buy a studio or 1-bed flat. Personally I decided I'd rather own a 2-bed flat and accept a longer commute.

If you want to buy, you'll have to make sacrifices as well. It could be commuting or it could be reducing your expenses. There is no magic to this - you have to decide what changes you are willing to make.

MistyZ

How strong's your relationship? Sounds like a nosey question I know, but if the two of you are rock solid then you'd be able to weather making considerable sacrifices in order to achieve your long-term goal. I reckon the only answer is to do the maths rigorously, move to the cheapest place you can survive in, decrease outgoings even more and save, save, save. Keeping the ultimate goal in mind and backing it up with determination and realism you'd certainly end up with a sense of achievement as well as a home of your own.
Would you consider a really run-down property with potential? I'm 60 and not as healthy as I'd like to be but I'm currently residing in such a place & love it. But that's partly 'cos we've done up places before and know that eventually it will be up-together .... meanwhile it's amazing how comfortable you can get in a dilapidated house as long as it is basically sound.
I'd say go for it as long as thorough research shows it's achievable. Good luck!

PrettyFlower90

I personally don't understand what you are spending your income on after bills and rent. As other people have said, what exactly are you spending the £850 a month on? Me and partner are saving and we spend £200 a month on food, and that includes things like cleaning products, toiletries, kitchen roll, washing powder etc. We don't go out really or take holidays. I'm always looking for cheapest things to buy if I need anything. I think from reading through these, it's your spending that needs to be looked at. I mean, can you get cheaper internet packages? Cheaper phone bills, don't pay more than £8 a month for mine, cheaper car insurance etc?

marksoton

How's your internet router? ......