First time buyer - my situation .

deano2099

You still get a 25% discount on council tax as a sole occupier.
£100 is a lot for Sky and internet - worth looking at what you watch and potentially being smarter - switching between Amazon, Netflix, Disney etc. one at a time. 
£60 seems a lot for insurance too. That's £720 a year. I was paying about £150 when living in a similar house a few years ago. Right now we're only paying £320 and that includes two of us covering laptops and phones out the home plus all bells and whistles (legal, home emergency, etc) - may not have been the best deal either, we rushed it a bit.

FrancisBegbie

I’m in Liverpool. 

It doesn’t look good doing this on my own even with £50k and £30k salary . 

It looks like I’ll need a partner / lodger . 

The problem is a partner won’t match my deposit etc . 

It’s weird I naively thought I was in a great situation . 

The more I think of it though I don’t actually know anyone who lived on their own anymore they are all with family or their partner or in a flat or house share . 

Rachelredwood16

You could reduce costs by not having Sky, like @youth_leader we only watch Netflix, Amazon Prime & Disney +, the latter we scrounge from my mother in law! 

What do you pay towards the credit card in that £500? How much is the gym? Could you join a cheaper gym? You haven't listed groceries in the £1000, is that part of the personal bills of £500? If not, that £200 us basically gone.

A 3 bedroom house seems like a lot of space for a single person. We've lived in a small 2 bedroom house for 4 years so far and it's done us fine. But like others have said, lodgers would work well if there's the appetite for that where you live?

Are you in the North as £500pm mortgage is very cheap for a 3 bedroom house. We are paying that for our 2 bedroom in the South and that was with £35k H2B loan in addition to our 5% deposit. 

[Deleted User]

Mortgage costs are very likely to increase significantly, so ever if you were willing to take a chance with £200 left over, that could easily be eaten up by interest rate rises in the next few months.

Ignore all this "sell your iPhone" nonsense, that's not going to reduce your outgoings enough to make buying a 3 bed house a good idea. If interest rates reach 6%, which is likely and what the BoE is hinting at, you would be paying £600/month more on a £200k mortgage. Clearly that's not going to work for you.

Ramouth

I would buy something smaller and cheaper to run.  I have lived in mid terraces most of my adult life and was shocked by how much more we had to run the heating when we took a 6 month rental in a detached bungalow.  I think the key is to choose something with thick party walls so you don’t suffer with neighbour noise - easy to find in areas where brick was less common.

RAS

gwynlas said:

You really need to consider renting out a room which will help tremendously with costs, You could set up one of the larger bedrooms as a bedsit with use of the kitchen and bathroom so that you retain your own living space. Read the forum for some ideas of taking in lodgers, dependent on where you are in the country there might be some call for Momday to Friday lets. If you buy a flat you would also have to factor ground rent and service charges into your budget, there are maintenance charges with any home but with a house they would be under your control.

Although the cost of flats can initially be cheaper, you'd need to look at ground rent and any maintenance charges, they can be a considerable amount per month. The more expensive may include a contribution to an emergency or sinking fund. But also be prepared to cover occasional large demands for your share of major repairs.

Freehold at least you can delay some repairs until you save up. 

With a small house, if you are careful about the area, you can get 2 bedrooms and let out the second one, stay under the rent a room allowance and avoid a potential CGT situation. Not necessarily all the time, not for ever, but until you get more comfortable financially.

In my city, the character of neighbourhoods either side of a larger road can be quite different. So get your maps out, talk to people and identify the areas you might like to live that offer opportunities. And visit. 

london21

Decide what your needs are and what your nice to have are.

You might need to cut some costs somewhere or earn more to begin with. 

UnderOffer

FrancisBegbie said:

I’m in Liverpool. 

It doesn’t look good doing this on my own even with £50k and £30k salary . 

It looks like I’ll need a partner / lodger . 

The problem is a partner won’t match my deposit etc . 

It’s weird I naively thought I was in a great situation . 

The more I think of it though I don’t actually know anyone who lived on their own anymore they are all with family or their partner or in a flat or house share . 

Why would a partner need to match your deposit? Plenty of partners have different value deposits, you’d just get the solicitor to draw up a deed of trust to protect your deposit, should you separate and need to sell you’d get a higher proportion or all back after all other costs factored in. 

GixerKate

A 3 bed when by yourself does seem a little big especially if it stretches you too much, what about a 2 bed house, maybe one that needs a little work but liveable?  I would be reluctant about flats if I'm honest.

SensibleSarah

FrancisBegbie said:

I’m in Liverpool. 

It doesn’t look good doing this on my own even with £50k and £30k salary . 

It looks like I’ll need a partner / lodger . 

The problem is a partner won’t match my deposit etc . 

It’s weird I naively thought I was in a great situation . 

The more I think of it though I don’t actually know anyone who lived on their own anymore they are all with family or their partner or in a flat or house share . 

I live alone in a 2-bed house in Liverpool. You might have to compromise a little on the area you want to live in but although house prices here have rocketed in the last few years, it's still definitely one of the more affordable parts of the country.
I bought my house in 2010, so can't really offer much up to date advice. I was then on a salary of about £25k, had a £9k deposit thanks to my Mum, so was able to buy a bit of a fixer-upper for £90k in an area that is middling. Several houses in my street have sold in the last year for anywhere between 120k - 160k (most are 3-beds) so it is possible for you to find a decent 2-3 bed in your price range, but stock is low and demand is high so things tend to move really quickly and the move-in-ready houses often get sold within hours or days at most. One of the best and worst things about Liverpool is that one street can be completely different to the next and varies widely in the same postcode area, so don't discount a whole area on the strength of past experience without taking a walk/drive by a specific house again. 

Your house running costs probably aren't too far off compared to mine - but obviously mortgage interest rates at the time you take yours out will play a big part in that specific cost. I currently pay about £110 a month council tax (Including 25% sole occupancy discount) for a Band A property, my energy costs will be around £100 a month (after Oct increase - but I don't use the heating much) and TV/Broadband costs me £85 including sports channels. so could be considerably cheaper if needed. Home insurance is way cheaper than £60 a month. I pay annually but would work out as less than £20 a month for building and contents. I managed my running costs fine when I was earning under 30k a year, but saving was difficult/impossible until I started earning more.