Help... am I being realistic?

emilysexton89

Hi everyone...

I am a FTB and still live with parents, and I have put an offer in for a house, which has a closing date this coming Friday (Glasgow West End). After I viewed the house I absolutely fell in love with it, but now it is approaching the closing date my head is playing mind games with me.

The figures are:

Salary - £31,654
Net Monthly income - £2,070
Purchase price - £203,500
Home report value - £185,000
Mortgage amount - £155,000
Mortgage payment - £514 (2.49 tracker)

Current savings are £54,000. This means the mortgage deposit is £30,000, and I am making up the difference separately of £18,500. I know this a lot above the valuation amount, but it is very very common in the area I am looking to buy. The total deposit therefore is £48,500, meaning I will have left over £5,500, from which £2,000 has to go to solicitor fees, so I will have £3,500 left. I am hoping that if my offer is successful the completion date is April time, meaning I will hopefully be able to save another £3,000 by then, so may have around £6,500 by the time I get the keys to the house.

I am a single person with no kids and no plans to have kids, and I have budgeted the following as my expenditure:

Utilities - £70
Council tax - £102
Insurances - £100
TV/Internet/mobile - £72
Food/socializing/clothing - £300
Travelling - £60 to city center by bus
Hobbies/subscriptions - £50
Mortgage payment £514
Other debt repayments £0

So I calculate after the mortgage payment and all bills I will have around £750 left over for property maintenance and any other ad hoc expenditures which may arise.

Can anyone please advise me if I am being stupid with this or is it possible?

Any advice is much appreciated..

Thanks alot x

pramsay13

Sounds good.
Does the house need a lot of work?

emilysexton89

Hi,

Thank you so much for replying,

The home report did not indicate that it needed any work, and when I visited the property it looked in very good condition. In a way that is why I am looking to keep a contingency of funds back however just in case I am hit with an unexpected bill such as the boiler going or something like that. It is just very odd to go from having savings to being worried about things, but I guess that is what real life is.

BoxerfanUK

Utilities look a bit low at £70 for Gas Electric AND water but apart from that it looks perfectly doable to me, good luck Emily, stop panicking and enjoy your first home and your independence I'm sure you won't regret it.

financegeek

sounds like a very well thought out and sensible budget. As a single person living alone (albeit in a flat) i spend less than £50.00 per month on gas / elec / water, although that's down South, rather than up North where it's colder.

I'm a money worrier too who recently purchased a property. I'm trying (and failing) to teach myself not to worry quite so much! My problem is that i don't like spending my savings, even when it's on the things that i've saved for.

Hope you get the property and that you're very happy there. good luck

jennifernil

In Scotland, water charges are part of the Council Tax bill.

chunkytfg

I assume it is actually a house and not a flat? No leasehold fees such as monthly maintenance charges and ground rent?

davidmcn

chunkytfg wrote: »

I assume it is actually a house and not a flat? No leasehold fees such as monthly maintenance charges and ground rent?

No such thing as leasehold residential properties in Scotland, so no ground rent certainly, and if there are communal maintenance costs the owners tend to have better control than they do in England.

Budgeted for initial purchases to kit out the property with furniture, etc? All the small things like kitchen utensils etc can add up quickly.

emilysexton89

Hi everyone,

Thanks alot for your positive responses, I feel a bit better about it now.

The property is a flat. The factor charge is around £50 a month I included that within insurances so £50 factor charge, £40 life and critical illness and £10 for contents insurance.

About the furniture, that is a good point, that would need to come off my expenditure or assets, I had a quick look at AO and it looks like can get a fridge, washing machine and tumble drier for around £35 per month. Haven't had a chance to look at beds or sofas but I am guessing around £1,500 for that or another £35-£40 on finance?

getmore4less

Looks OK, not stretched to nothing enough left so can start saving again.

If it has more then one bedroom there is always the lodger option to help out.
Plenty of demand in that area.

Travel could be squeezed a bit with just an annual bus pass(£499) if you can get away without subway or trains and need/want a zone card.

davidmcn

emilysexton89 wrote: »

£40 life and critical illness

Why life insurance if you don't have any dependants?