How did you manage to buy your house?

SuperMoose

Computer_Beginner wrote: »

This was pretty much what my first house looked like when I bought it!

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-55048944.html

Sold for £45 000. Bit more than the £1/nil reserve
https://www.auctionhouse.co.uk/northwest/auction/past-auctions

Computer_Beginner

goodwithsaving wrote: »

I saved for years, even when in a very low paid job. I ate carefully, didn't go out much, never bought coffee out (still don't) and watched my money like a hawk. I moved around a lot to chase the salary, working horrendous hours with crazy ommutes on top, and living hundreds of miles from family and friends. I still do, but I like where I live now.
My first house, I bought with an ex when we were 26. He had inherited his share, I had saved mine. We separated and sold the house. We made a slight profit but it cost me a lot financially when trying to help him deal with his issues before we separated. Luckily I had looked after myself and stored quite a bit of money away in savings. Then I struggled but bought somewhere on my own which was a wreck, and did it up when I was 28. Then I unexpectedly had to relocate after health issues forced me to resign at 28 and I accepted the first job I was offered elsewhere in another part of the country because I had a mortgage that needed paying. I lost quite a bit when I sold due to mortgage redemption penalities and a purchase falling through.
Then I bought another place at 29 which is a huge project and I'm slowly doing it up.


Never moved back home, never been gifted any money from parents and never had inheritance, always had cheap phone contracts, never been one for drinking or takeaways and although I've had many payrises since my first job, I haven't given myself weekly budget increase since 2012 (although every now and then I let myself buy something such as clothes or a new gadget, but only with prior planning). I didn't go on holidays for years either.



So a lot of sacrifice, tears and starting over.......and over........

I had breakfast and lunch in a cafe most days. Dinner after work in my neighbour's house (paid her, obviously). Then a few beers in the pub most evenings. Never did that much overtime at work. Only worked on the house at the weekend.

But then I was happy to just put an old mattress down on top of a few wooden pallets, use an outside toilet and wash using a bowl of water in my kitchen.

Happy days.

Computer_Beginner

SuperMoose wrote: »

Sold for £45 000. Bit more than the £1/nil reserve
https://www.auctionhouse.co.uk/northwest/auction/past-auctions

That's too much!
They were had.

Computer_Beginner

SuperMoose wrote: »

Sold for £45 000. Bit more than the £1/nil reserve
https://www.auctionhouse.co.uk/northwest/auction/past-auctions

This one looks better value, sold for £25k.

https://auctioneertemplates.eigroup.co.uk/LotDetails.aspx?LotID=923888&a=346&c=fah

If it's freehold and the roof is ok, no subsidence, that's not bad.

SuperMoose

Computer_Beginner wrote: »

This one looks better value, sold for £25k.

https://auctioneertemplates.eigroup.co.uk/LotDetails.aspx?LotID=923888&a=346&c=fah

If it's freehold and the roof is ok, no subsidence, that's not bad.

Details say it's in "Shell Condition" so not bad at all

Computer_Beginner

VintageBelle wrote: »

Hi all


I'm in my 30's and still renting. My dream is to own a home but I don't have a deposit. I started saving years back but lost the money to a thieving ex and won't ever be able to recoup it (whole other story there that I don't want to go further into).
I felt like I'd lost all hope of owning my home and due to recent issues with my landlord I've reached the point where I'm completely fed up of renting.


My job is quite low paid but I have been looking for better paid jobs which will hopefulyl happen soon.


Therefore my reason for this post is to see how others managed to get on the property ladder with little to no savings? Is it really possible?


I've seen all these schemes to help first time buyers but they seem too good to be true?


I have a partner but he isn't really that bothered about owning a home but I might be able to get him on board.


Any advice would be very much appreciated.


Thanks

OP, it's hard to advise, because as you can see everyone is different. People prioritize and tolerate different things. Different lifestyles, etc.

I would avoid a new build help to buy debt trap, but then I lived in an uncivilized way.

I didn't mind metal grills on my "windows" and only having two sets of clothes, which I kept in a plastic box. I didn't mind borrowing a chimney brush and sweeping my own chimney. Then taking wood from skips to heat my house. Someone with a smart office job couldn't really live like that.

Sapphire

Bought in late twenties. Never aimed for a house (don't need the hassle and like living on one level), though area and style of property is important to me (absolutely no new builds). Never had particularly well-paid jobs, in my profession (though work was really good and interesting), so just as well I didn't have particular 'financial ambitions', or a need to go on exotic holidays every year, to have any kind of car, to spend on cheap throwaway tat, etc, beyond being secure and having an interesting life involving a lot of learning. Never overspent, since being in debt always scared me (the relief of clearing a mortgage after a long time of continuous work was amazing).

Like for a few others on here, no one ever gave me any money and I will not inherit anything. It's very satisfying to achieve things for yourself, through your own hard graft. I've also never believed in 'doing up' places to death, and find it more satisfying to make quality changes that will last progressively, after I've had time to think about them and to explore options (not talking about any emergency work, which has to be dealt with promptly). It helps that I like good-quality old hand-made things, which tend to be less expensive than the imported 'luxury' stuff from China, etc. Also won't borrow money to do such things, but always spend only what I can afford to spend (have always hated debt, aka 'credit' these days, presumably named thus because it is such a credit to those who take it out :laugh:).

Davesnave

The boring answer is that I saved hard and did nothing in the way of non-essential spending for a few years: think paraffin heater in one room, no TV, etc etc. In today's terms, my lifestyle was poverty line stuff, but it was all from choice. I called these my 'wilderness years.'

Fortunately, I received two promotions in quick succession, probably because of devoting plenty of time to the job. It was the rise in my income which enabled more rapid saving.

I got a 10% deposit together in just over 2 years. This bought me a dated but solid little house, with no proper kitchen, dodgy wiring and no heating system. So, I had to learn DIY/electrical skills and pay out for materials, staying poor for another 2 years, till relief arrived in the form of my renovation-savvy wife... Hurrah!

35 years on, we're in the final stages of fully refurbishing a property bought to occupy us in retirement. We've agreed, "Never again," but hey, never's a long time!

Ecommerce.businessman

I lived with my parents so very little outgoings.

I started an eBay business in 2011 and struggled to make a full time income.

At the same time I was earning minimum wage warehouse jobs around £200 per week then I started doing 12hr days which was £400 - £500/week then I got a VNA forklift licence and a 60hr week job over time was optional this paid £600 - £700 per week which is more than a teacher / nurse / accountant / solicitor etc.

Using the funds from my 60hr week VNA forklift truck job I invested it in my eBay business to buy stock.

Now my eBay business makes around £2,000 per week I have been accepted for a £450,000 mortgage I am 29.

Another thing to mention is I was constantly in and out of unemployment since leaving uni in 2010, I never held a job for more than 2 - 3 months always back on jobseekers allowance.

This ebay business has been making me proper money this past 10 months and the income is always increasing alot.

I am still living with parents I dont care what anyone says. I'm not like the people in the rat race who go on holiday every 6 months and spend £500 a month on a car and £1,000 a month rent and living expenses. They are all pretending to be rich.

So in short I always looked for the next big jump to get a higher income and I do what others wont do.

The real escape is by having a business.

They say they saved money but if they are earning peanuts they have nothing to save to start off with.

The advice I would give to everyone is start a business immediately but I know very few people are cut out for business.

I am using the ebay funds to set up bigger business's then those business's will fund the next bigger business. I want to build thousands of new houses or have an airline.

I am single I don't need a house just yet.

moneyistooshorttomention

I would agree that not everyone can save - their income is just too low and/or rent too high to be able to manage to save and that's no matter how simply they live.

If someone is single and poorly-paid and in a dear rent area, then basically saving is pretty much impossible regardless. I know that I only had the money there for the costs involved in getting my starter house (ie solicitor fees/removal costs/etc) because I'd kept a couple of redundancy payments I'd had to one side specifically for that and dug my heels in and would NOT take that money out for ANYTHING else. But that money simply couldnt have come from my low income. Then still needing a "stroke of luck" to get the deposit (any of the deposit at all:eek:). I did a lot of "visioning", "positive thinking" - yep...the whole "hippie dippie" bit to have a "stroke of luck" come along and provide me with that deposit. Followed by keeping my eyes peeled/reading financial news in newspapers/etc waiting to see what direction that "stroke of luck" was going to come from. Sheer everyday slog wouldnt have stood a chance of doing so.

I rest my case how impossible it is for some people to save enough - when I see that my last house (the starter one) and that I had sold for about £170,000 was sold on again about 2 years afterwards for £210,000 (£40,000 more in just 2 years). It hadnt been all poshed-up and madly renovated. It had just had a cheap new kitchen (which it needed) and a cheap new bathroom - that's all - it was still all "my" carpets etc and, to some extent, "my" decor there. No great revamp done...

Single/poorly-paid and there is no way one can save enough to keep up with house price inflation AND save for the amount of deposit one needs in the first place at that point in time in many parts of the country.