Potential FTB moving/purchasing costs

foldydog1234

Hey everyone, so we've got our deposit saved for our house but realised that we hadn't really considered the other costs invovled in moving!! haha, so we are not quite ready to move just yet, have focussed on getting our LISA to where it needs to be and now pushing money into a pot for moving costs. Does this sound about right? Realise it's a bit of a how long is a piece of string situation, but based on people's previous experiences.

Purchase price - budget £325,000, two bed, no stamp duty (FTB)

Solicitor - £2000
Mortgage fee - £1000
Valuation survey (based on halifax quotes) - £100
Additonal survey (offered by halifax) - £595
White goods (on the assumption worst case scenario we're buying everything, hopefully this will reduce if some appliances are left by the buyer for usage until we need to replace) - £4150
Furniture (we are taking some from our rental with us) - £3000

Total - £10,845

Thinking this might be a little pessimistic of a figure, but given the cost of everything these days I'm not anticipating anything being cheap and cheerful. Appliance budget is relatively high as we've burnt buying cheaper appliances in the past so trying to avoid the "buy cheap buy twice" issue. Thanks!

lika_86

Doesn't sound pessimistic. Furniture will obviously depend on what you have, need and want.

You'll also need to factor in moving costs, any overlap period between renting and owning (although some of this might be mitigated by any rental deposit return), any costs of decorating and you should also ideally have an emergency fund in place as any issues are then your responsibility.

Jonboy_1984

Don't forget the actual costs of moving, either van hire (£200) or removal firm( £500-£1000) depending on your plans.

TheJP

I would have some additional funds to the solicitors quote as there is usually add on's that come as part of the conveyancing process. Shop around for a survey as you'll probably find cheaper rather than through the lender. White goods seems quite expensive, you can get a fridge/freezer for £1000 or less, washing machine £500 or less and same for a dishwasher.

housebuyer143

That's a lot for appliances. We recently bought every single appliance new for our kitchen and not going cheapest or most expensive came in at £2000. 

foldydog1234

Jonboy_1984 said:

Don't forget the actual costs of moving, either van hire (£200) or removal firm( £500-£1000) depending on your plans.

Aye had thought about this, we have access to a big van in the family so are hoping to do the moving ourselves (our rental is part furnished so not got loads of stuff to move), but think it might be good to have a just in case pot for that. 

foldydog1234

housebuyer143 said:

That's a lot for appliances. We recently bought every single appliance new for our kitchen and not going cheapest or most expensive came in at £2000. 

TheJP said:

I would have some additional funds to the solicitors quote as there is usually add on's that come as part of the conveyancing process. Shop around for a survey as you'll probably find cheaper rather than through the lender. White goods seems quite expensive, you can get a fridge/freezer for £1000 or less, washing machine £500 or less and same for a dishwasher.

Thanks both. Yeah I thought it might be quite a bit, this was for if we need literally everything (I’m you my worst case scenario so as not to get caught short, if we don’t have to spend it all then it’s a pot for something else!), so hob, oven, dishwasher, fridge freezer, washing machine etc.

the hope is that most integrated appliances will remain as part of sale, which I understand is customary but as I said don’t want to make assumptions and then end up in a tricky situation

TheJP

foldydog1234 said:

housebuyer143 said:

That's a lot for appliances. We recently bought every single appliance new for our kitchen and not going cheapest or most expensive came in at £2000. 

TheJP said:

I would have some additional funds to the solicitors quote as there is usually add on's that come as part of the conveyancing process. Shop around for a survey as you'll probably find cheaper rather than through the lender. White goods seems quite expensive, you can get a fridge/freezer for £1000 or less, washing machine £500 or less and same for a dishwasher.

Thanks both. Yeah I thought it might be quite a bit, this was for if we need literally everything (I’m you my worst case scenario so as not to get caught short, if we don’t have to spend it all then it’s a pot for something else!), so hob, oven, dishwasher, fridge freezer, washing machine etc.

the hope is that most integrated appliances will remain as part of sale, which I understand is customary but as I said don’t want to make assumptions and then end up in a tricky situation

Ho far along in the process are you? Have you had the fixtures & fittings form yet? This will tell you what is staying, usually integrated appliances stay unless other wise stated. Almost certainly the oven/hob/cooker are a given. Id say you would only need £1500/2000 of you budget if the white goods aren't included.

lis1320

We were in a very similar position to yourself, and had saved an extra £10k on top of the deposit, thinking £5k of that would be solicitor costs/surveys etc and £5k would be furniture.

We ended up having to pull out of a sale quite late in the process due to lease issues, had lost money on a survey (£400) and solicitor (about £2.5k). We had cheaper options for solicitors but he was so good and responsive, we still went with him for our current purchase. We are also paying £425 for a mortgage broker, again not always necessary but he managed to help us massively. All this to say just to be aware that the house buying journey might not be straight forward and you may end up having to pay some money and not get the property. There are no-sale-no-fee solicitors but in my experience they're the ones attached to estate agents. 

We ended up having to go into our furniture fund to be able to afford everything twice, but were glad we had that option.

Also, bare in mind that the process can last months, and you can continue to save money as the deposit isn't required until exchange. Not sure on your current living situation - we were living with parents at the time and were lucky to pay very little money towards food/bills, which allowed us to keep on saving most of our money.

jj_43

solicitor fee sounds high, so shop around, there is no way to determine who is good or bad, so just go with the price.  Additional survey - this will be a waste of money. you should be able to assess in a basic way any issues. mortgage fee, your either paying this as a fee or via interest rate, the fee can be added to the loan. White goods, your not ready to proceed because you don't have the £4150 for white goods?  

foldydog1234

TheJP said:

foldydog1234 said:

housebuyer143 said:

That's a lot for appliances. We recently bought every single appliance new for our kitchen and not going cheapest or most expensive came in at £2000. 

TheJP said:

I would have some additional funds to the solicitors quote as there is usually add on's that come as part of the conveyancing process. Shop around for a survey as you'll probably find cheaper rather than through the lender. White goods seems quite expensive, you can get a fridge/freezer for £1000 or less, washing machine £500 or less and same for a dishwasher.

Thanks both. Yeah I thought it might be quite a bit, this was for if we need literally everything (I’m you my worst case scenario so as not to get caught short, if we don’t have to spend it all then it’s a pot for something else!), so hob, oven, dishwasher, fridge freezer, washing machine etc.

the hope is that most integrated appliances will remain as part of sale, which I understand is customary but as I said don’t want to make assumptions and then end up in a tricky situation

Ho far along in the process are you? Have you had the fixtures & fittings form yet? This will tell you what is staying, usually integrated appliances stay unless other wise stated. Almost certainly the oven/hob/cooker are a given. Id say you would only need £1500/2000 of you budget if the white goods aren't included.

Not started looking yet just at final saving bits, didn't really feel there was much point in starting to look if we didn't have the other funds for associated costs together.