Bills - how much?

CSI_Yorkshire

Well the average energy user in an average property in an average location uses about £2100 of energy at today's prices in an average year.

Martico

Is that average user, or average household?

Miranda25

CSI_Yorkshire said:

Well the average energy user in an average property in an average location uses about £2100 of energy at today's prices in an average year.

ok then my strategy does not work to calculate in advance how much I will spend on bills roughly.

Martico

Sorry, I'm also generally cynical about average stats being quoted to prove a point. 

The old story of 100 people in a bar, one of whom is Bill Gates, therefore the average wealth of people in the bar is north of £10million

Martico

Miranda25 said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

Well the average energy user in an average property in an average location uses about £2100 of energy at today's prices in an average year.

ok then my strategy does not work to calculate in advance how much I will spend on bills roughly.

Forget those averages - the strategy before is good. Try to work out what you would use. Nothing else matters

CSI_Yorkshire

Miranda25 said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

Well the average energy user in an average property in an average location uses about £2100 of energy at today's prices in an average year.

ok then my strategy does not work to calculate in advance how much I will spend on bills roughly.

Trying to work out what you use now is a better starting point because it's based off your lifestyle and easier to make a comparison from.

Miranda25

Back to my question:
What usually people do in the UK if they bought their first property, lived there and then something unexpected happened and people cannot afford to pay bills and mortgage anymore.
What happens then with property you bought? 
Especially if you are a foreigner and do not have any relatives in the UK (so no reliance that you can live somewhere for free for some time)

Martico

Miranda25 said:

Back to my question:
What usually people do in the UK if they bought their first property, lived there and then something unexpected happened and people cannot afford to pay bills and mortgage anymore.
What happens then with property you bought? 
Especially if you are a foreigner and do not have any relatives in the UK (so no reliance that you can live somewhere for free for some time)

I've lived abroad for an extended period, and it's difficult. For general life issues, the quicker you can get a supportive network, the better. But that probably can't truly extend to financial support if and when you need, and that's tough.

You're on your own, and that's that. Sorry. It's a great adventure in so many ways, but that's the basics of the situation.

The only financial answer, I think, is that you need to build an emergency fund to cover the unexpected - house costs, boiler needs replacing, you lose your work, whatever. Work out what your monthly outgoings are, and start to save an emergency / rainy day fund that will cover you for a certain period. That amount partly depends on your certainty of finding new work that you'd be prepared to do, and partly on what kind of repair you think might be needed.

For emergency repairs - say 5,000 or so for boiler / white goods etc. And try to build up to being able to cover six months of total expenses in case of job loss. That's the ideal.

Martico

The mortgage payment is an absolute priority - if you fall behind on that, you'll be in trouble. If you fall behind for too long, your mortgage company could take possession of the property. I don't know the reality of that process, so I'll leave it to others to explain

Miranda25

Thank you, I should think about emergency fund too. 
Oh my god, sounds like I would not have any money left for nice holidays if I become a property owner.

Would I have a time to sell the house if I want to leave the UK in an unexpected situation? Or the house would be reposessed very quickly?