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

AdrianC

Crashy_Time wrote: »

Nothing to do with the availability of credit of course..:grouphug:

Is credit somehow less available in the oil capital of the UK than elsewhere in the country?

Crashy_Time

AdrianC wrote: »

Is credit somehow less available in the oil capital of the UK than elsewhere in the country?

Less available? Well it will be now actually :rotfl:Totally stupid amounts of risky loans were made, all predicated on oil money. For London just swap "oil" for "banking".

AdrianC

That'll be a "no", then.

"Single-industry region suffers recession when demand for product drops"

ST1991

Sorry to stick my oar in here, it may not be helpful but take it with a pinch of salt!
I live in the South West too (Bristol) so understand rent is high. especially where we are.

However, we rented a 2 bedroom flat for 5 years from a private landlord, and our rent was only £650 per month.

We opted for a 5% deposit, and bought a 2 bedroom house for £175k (so roughly £9k deposit, + fees, stamp duty etc).
Our mortgage payments are £720 a month - so they are MORE than our rent, due to the fact that we put down such a small deposit i imagine. But, we've been able to save £800 a month whilst renting between us meaning the extra cost is still affordable.

It can be done! Write a spreadsheet of monthly expenditures and limit yourself with items that are variable (such as entertainment, food shopping). Don't go over your limits.

We earn a little more so perhaps saving was easier for us, but i would recommend that you save for as long as you can. Move back home? Find somewhere cheaper? (£100 a month less in rent but commuting costs of £50 more a month still saves you money...)

Crashy_Time

ST1991 wrote: »

Sorry to stick my oar in here, it may not be helpful but take it with a pinch of salt!
I live in the South West too (Bristol) so understand rent is high. especially where we are.

However, we rented a 2 bedroom flat for 5 years from a private landlord, and our rent was only £650 per month.

We opted for a 5% deposit, and bought a 2 bedroom house for £175k (so roughly £9k deposit, + fees, stamp duty etc).
Our mortgage payments are £720 a month - so they are MORE than our rent, due to the fact that we put down such a small deposit i imagine. But, we've been able to save £800 a month whilst renting between us meaning the extra cost is still affordable.

It can be done! Write a spreadsheet of monthly expenditures and limit yourself with items that are variable (such as entertainment, food shopping). Don't go over your limits.

We earn a little more so perhaps saving was easier for us, but i would recommend that you save for as long as you can. Move back home? Find somewhere cheaper? (£100 a month less in rent but commuting costs of £50 more a month still saves you money...)

Oh the chum line is tingling! Lock down the rod and strap up, someone will be shooting up from the depths of the HPI echo chamber to convince everyone that renters must pay 800 p.m MINIMUM for even the most basic of toilets :rotfl:

missmoose

To me it seams you lack the motivation and commitment to save.
My partner and I earn LESS than you all be it in probably a cheaper area and are managing to save.
I drive 45 minutes - 1 hour to my job, my OH biked for an hour to get to his job to save on cost! do the same if you're serious about buying a house. Budget, my family and friend understand that we are saving to buy a house and aren't going to get fancy gifts for birthdays and Christmas, if thy don't understand that then shame on them.
Down size for the time being, move your office to your bedroom, you do your work in there whilst your boyfriend has free time in the lounge.
Move to the cheaper area that you would want to BUY in because if we say its £300 cheaper in rent but £100 more expensive to commute YOU'RE STILL SAVING £200 ON RENT FOR SAVINGS!
Do all the overtime you can get, even if you don't want to, put the extra from overtime in to savings, this is money you would have otherwise not have had so can live with out it.
professional hair cuts ARE NOT a necessity! I get my mum (not a hair dresser nor has ever been one) to cut my hair for free.
Stop making excuses as to why you can't make changes, or you will never get there.
I put £200 standing order in to saving each month and so does my partner, we have learnt to live with out this now and save what ever we can extra.
Move your current savings in to the highest interest account you can find.