New to this and overwhelmed!!

BettiePageRocks

Hello :wave:

I am finally at the stage in my life where I am in a secure job and in a position to think about getting my own place. I have always been in minimum wage, part-time jobs up to now. It was hard for me to save and anything I did save I spent on holidays, but I don't regret that My current job isn't particularly well paid, my basic salary is £13500 but I earn about another £5-8000 PA on top of that. This isn't really classed as overtime this money, it is just the way my industry pays you. Where I live I can get a 2 bedroom flat for anything from the late 30's to £70000, obviously can get ones dearer but I'm looking at flats in my budget. If I just use my basic wage as a guide £60000 is my upper limit, if I include my extra wage it's £75000.

So far I have just under £1800 in a savings account that pays .3% interest. I also opened another online savings account that pays 2% interest, I pay £50pm to this and I don't think I can add top-ups to it or change how much I pay in. I have been looking into help to buy ISAs, would I be right in saying that it would be a good idea for me to move my £1800 into one?? I can comfortably save a minimum of £100pm no more than £300 obviously I aim to save closer to the higher amount

Another thing that has been concerning me is my personal situation. I don't want to go into too much detail on here but I am currently in a relationship, but it is basically dead in the water. The only reason we have stayed together is because it is financially beneficial but obviously emotionally hard Do to my weird living arrangements I am not registered on the electoral roll, I've read this can have a negative affect when it comes to applying for a mortgage? I have an excellent credit rating otherwise. I don't have any debt and I pay my credit card in full each month.

Also I don't want my partner to know that I am planning on moving out to my own place (don't want the drama), so when I do manage to have a deposit together how on earth how I'm I meant to go about everything without him knowing!?!?! Obviously I will have to get mail sent to me, or can you go into the solicitors and estate agents to sign paperwork etc? I'm clueless on this matter as you can tell. Oh and no judgement please for wanting to do this on the quiet as you don't know my situation/circumstances and no I don't have any friends or family I can move in with while I save the rest of a deposit I wish I did lol!

In an ideal world I would like to be able to buy before the end of the year, I will hopefully have saved another £1500 minimum taking my deposit total to approximately £3500. I haven't even thought about solicitors fee etc, is it just wishful thinking that I can include these in the mortgage??

I don't know if anyone can help but just thought maybe someone is or has been in a similar situation

cashbackproblems

You can borrow 4/5x your salary so you will struggle for 60k+ but 30-50 is reasonable. You would generally expected to have 10% deposit for 5k, but legal fees 1-2k and cost of furniture 1-2k.. No issue of stamp duty. It doesn't sound like you have enough saved yet I would aim for 10k so you have some cushion. How desirable at the places in the 30-40k mark, as this would obviously help


You can do the process without him knowing, once you have viewed and offered you send things via post I am going through the process and everything has been sent electronically and I haven't even had to meet my solicitor. Yes you will get things in the post but he doesn't open your post? You could request electronic mortgage offer etc

rtho782

5% deposit is viable but means higher interest.

You can't be 100% certain nothing will come through the post - it only takes one person at the estate agent forgetting and sending you something for your plan to come falling down. You're also going to seem a little weird going in and trying to pin them down with regards to not ever posting you anything, and might put the vendors off.

You need to register to vote, you will struggle credit wise otherwise. Do you have any other credit? If you don't, you will struggle more.

Solicitors, surveyors, etc could all top £2-3k easily, you really don't have the money for the fees yet.

I think you need to move out, rent somewhere yourself, and then save up.

juniordoc

I agree your savings are not going to be enough for a deposit with all the fees on top. I would really recommend ending your current living situation and moving into a house share. It may take you longer to save that way, but it will be so much better for your mental health!
A help to buy ISA would be a good next step and would keep you in the savings habit. Good luck!

BettiePageRocks

Thanks for the replies I have a lot to think about. I'm going to aim to save as much as I can, I completely underestimated how much fees etc would be! It is very hard to draw up a set budget though as I don't know what my wage will be until I get my roster for the next month. It can be very difficult for people in my line of work to get mortgages for this reason, a lot of places think it's too risky! Which is why I'd prefer to get something using my basic as the guide. There is also a specialist mortgage company I can use or look into.

Even if my personal situation was different, doing things online would be ideal for me. I am away at work more than I am at home.

I will look into the help to buy ISAs more, I like the fact that you aren't limited to new builds which I couldn't afford. I can't say the places I can afford are my dream home, far from it :rotfl: but at least I live in a place that I can at least one day afford to buy in.

trailingspouse

Someone mentioned £1-2k on furniture. Please don't let that put you off - you can do it a lot cheaper than that. And you don't need to buy everything all in one go. Charity shops, freecycle, car boot sales, all sources of cheap stuff.

BettiePageRocks

@trailingspouse I have been looking into upcycling etc

Kevie192

Why don't you just rent somewhere? I'm not trying to be mean but with an income that is so low, could you afford £2k out of the blue if your boiler blew up or if the block of flats needed a new roof and you had to pay your share?

It sounds to me like owning property is a terrible idea for you.