How long did it take you to buy your fisr home

ibizafan_2

When I was 21 back in 1974. I paid £9000 something for a two bed flat in N Herts. I hadn’t been long out of college, and my father lent me the solicitors fees. I usually had lodgers renting the second bedroom to help with the mortgage. My eldest son was 26 when he and a friend from uni bought a two bedroom flat in Clapham, London. He bought his friend out a couple of years ago and easily pays the mortgage on his own now. If I remember correctly, they put a deposit of around £20,000 each down.

Choccygirl123

It was 1995 and 1 was 18.5. I used £3000 I'd saved from weekend jobs whilst doing a levels. I was earning £8500 a year and borrowed £17,000 to buy a wreck on a 3 bed terrace. Worked my butt off did all the diy myself with help and advice from friends and family. I slowly rewired, replaced windows, fitted new bathroom and kitchen. It took me 2.5years but sold it for £40,000.

justjohn

age 21 and 100% mortgage Easy peazy in the 1990's


Our son bought this year at age of 21 with his GF, both stayed at home until they had saved a deposit.


Its a lot easier if there is 2 of you bringing in a full time wage.

Sanne

33 - I moved to the UK with 23, worked my way up, saved, paid off my uni loans/tuition fee loans (because you got a substantial discount if you paid everything off when the first payment was due) and then hit a salary in 2015 which allowed me to save good amounts each month.

Bought this year (with my husband), three bed terraced for £310k with £60k deposit and £12k to spend on upgrades/repairs/decorating and a bit of IKEA shopping.
Still got 6 months of wages in an emergency fund so can start chucking any spare money at our mortgage now.

We could have bought a bit earlier but for various reasons haven’t.

Difficult or easy - well, my first salary in the UK was under £14k, once that increased it got easier! No family to help out from either side (and paying between £700 and £900 rent over those years) so took us a while.

charlie792

24. wanted to buy two years earlier after some god awful rented properties. after moving for second time in 3 months (long story!) decided to buy. viewed one property but it wasn't for us so kept looking, month later OH lost his job.

I was on £14k at the time and OH ended up going self employed. we waited another 2 years to get some decent accounts to be able to get the mortgage amount we needed but in hindsight it gave us the opportunity to get more money together to put down a bigger deposit.

spent about 4 months viewing properties - 11 in total before finding the right one.

we were very lucky that we live in a cheap part of the country so we're able to put a fair amount away each month after bills, plus house prices just generally lower.

I think if it's something that you really want then you just make a conscious decision about what you are spending your money on. i remember thinking "do we need a takeaway tonight or shall we put this £30 towards the deposit' etc

elsien

Mid thirties.
Before that I chose to spend money on having fun and decent holidays.
Not regretted leaving it till later although with house prices as they are now it's a bit different for younger people today.

a_silver_lining

Bought at 27, four years ago. I saved on and off for 8 years, having moved out at 17 and straight into paying rent. I stayed in the cheapest digs I could find, chose sim only cheap phones, limited holidays and nights out etc. I bought alone, but was gifted 5k towards fees and lent 10k to top up the 45k deposit I had saved to 55k.

I earned 21k I think and borrowed 102k on a 156.5k one bedroom flat. I compromised on the location and look of the flat as my budget was squished in the south.

In the four years since I bought I have been much less frugal, partially due to two massive dips in my mental health. I kept working but did have a few months unpaid and took a massive paycut to career change to something less stressful. Only as of last week am I back to earning more then I did when I originally bought.

I've overpaid the mortgage by 1k, updated the kitchen, patio, front door and flooring for around 4-5k. A fair wack, but did the work mostly myself other then the front door, so saved a lot on the kitchen. I've repaid 6/10k lent to me and was near to repaying it all when a job promotion has resulted in me needing to learn to drive and buy a car.

Next year I'm aiming to repay the debt, any I overspend on the car and to build back an emergency fund. My partner and I may want to buy together so finances matter again

Best advise is that those coffees, drinks out etc DO matter. I saved 45k whilst renting and never earning more then 21k and I did it through making small changes throughout every aspect of my life.

moneyistooshorttomention

Decided to buy a starter house immediately at 24 years old (the 1970s).

Am from the South of England/poorly-paid and have always been single. Therefore - with the best will in the world there was no way I could manage to buy (courtesy of houses shot up in price the second I decided to buy - because it coincided with married womens salaries being taken into account).

No amount of saving money on social life costs would have provided the amount of money I needed and so I had to just sit and wait/hope for an opportunity to present itself somehow.

Fortunately - an opportunity did present itself - 10 YEARS later!!!! and in the nick of time to finish a 25 year mortgage term by 60th birthday (ie my retirement date).

You've never seen anyone move so fast or so determinedly as I did grabbing that opportunity before it vanished (which it would have shortly afterwards...:cool:). My solicitor (yes they really were at that period in history - ie the 1980s) said "I've never seen anyone so well-organised "... I had to be or I would have lost my opportunity.

I got through in time and got my starter house and then had to take in lodgers for the first few years because the mortgage was double what my rent had been and the house needed money spent on it (Victorian and not maintained well enough by previous owners).

I know I would almost certainly still not have a home if that opportunity hadnt come along (though I'm in my 60's now).

I've come from generations of home-owners my mothers side of the family - and have strong doubts whether I'd have been able to cope with not having a home of my own personally. So there is a good chance I wouldnt have made it to my 60's if I'd not been able to buy a home finally.

MERFE

In the process of buying first home now age 37, saved for about 2 years for the deposit. I always wanted to buy but it was only recently my husband finally got on board at the same time he got a fairly nice payrise so we could secure the amount of mortgage required. Oh and the lifetime Isa was great for saving the deposit, seeing the bonus added just made me want to save every spare penny.

chelseablue

Bought my first place (a 2 bed flat) in 2010 when I was 27

Took me 4 years of working 2 jobs to save a deposit, I still did the 2nd job until I had my son in 2014.

Sold the flat in 2016 and me and my now husband bought a 3 bedroom house together