First Time Buyers - Need some advice!

swift_gti

Hi all,

I have been reading up through the stickies here and various other online resources regarding info for first time buyers, but I have some specific questions that hopefully someone can answer.

My girlfriend and I are probably going to be looking at getting our first place in the next few months, we've already done a few of the online mortgage calculators (barclays, natwest & nationwide - we bank with all those between us..) and it looks like we may be about to get around 130k..
We would like to try and get ourselves a 2 bed house but we're not really sure if we'd be able to afford all the other costs involved too.

Are there any generalised figures for all the average living costs based on house size etc.. ? Things like Council tax, house insurance, electric, water etc..

I'm currently earning 21k gross and my girlfriend is on 13,300 gross - looking at the mortgage calculators the monthly repayments on 130k over 35 years would be around £600 per month..
At the end of this month I'll have no loans or any major outgoings - just around 150 a month for car insurance, mobile phone, fuel etc.
My girlfriend has 2 years of car loan left to pay at £170 a month, plus around £80 for phone bill, fuel etc..
Is whats left likely to cover bills & mortgage etc for a 2 bed house?

Also - Hopefully we will have around a 5K deposit, Is there a certain type of mortgage we should be looking at (or a certain provider/broker) for the best deal? And are there any benefits available to FTB's that we should know about ?

I hope that all makes sense

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

CPhoenix

Hi mate,

I'm in the same boat, working out budgeting, mortgages,etc and I've found the budget planner on this site to be invaluable! http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Budget-planning

Its helped me realise how little money I've actually got and how much/little I'll end up with when the time comes to make the big push and get my own place. Despite trying to factor in monthly changes in utility bills, the big Christmas spend, birthdays and the smaller odds & sods - I'm aiming for a buffer (living on my own) of £200 - £300 left over at the end of the month and anything else not spent will be added to my savings.

As for utility bills, you really are going to have to do your own investigation work, (when you goto view properties ask the vendor average monthly bills, etc) as it really does depend where you are planning on living, how warm you like your house, etc. etc.

The help you can find on this site & the forums is fantastic, make sure you've printed out yourself a copy of Martin's free mortgage guide http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/mortgage-guide it will be well on your way to answering your questions that you've put in your OP. Also most independent mortgage advisers (yell search worked well for me) will offer free advice and help you consider things you hadn't thought of.
Being a FTB you'll want to play on this a lot when making offers as you aren't part of a chain - hopefully it will get the vendor to accept slightly lower than they wanted just to get it sold quick (if they are in a hurry to sell). Don't forget to make sure you've got your mortgage in principal sorted too and push that when making your offer.
Although most people have said that being a FTB is quite stressful, I've found it quite fun especially when you aren't in a rush. Sit back and let everyone else run about

Edit: just to add a few bits, when budgeting you really want to be looking at how much you take home per month (once tax, NI, union fees, work pension and the like has been deducted and not to rely too much on overtime payments (which aren't guaranteed) to prop up or support you when you might be running low on funds.
Also I'm taking the pessimist's look at the market, thinking that it will drop over the next few years to be very careful I don't back myself into a corner and end up in negative equity - i.e. if you aren't planning on staying in the property for more than 8 or 10 years. Finally, don't be afraid to put really low offers in at the beginning - a few colleagues of mine managed to snap up a few houses with absurdly low offers 4 or 5 years ago. You never know you might get lucky.

swift_gti

Thanks for your advice mate, it's nice to hear from other people in the same situation.
I've just grabbed a copy of the budget planner so will be having a look at that later tonight and finding out what we can really afford