The 'We're saving for a deposit' thread

aylithuk

We it's the OH payday and another £500 into the savings pot. I know we will not buy until next year but I am keeping a few houses on rightmove just in case they are around next year

J_i_m

I'm probably 2 to 3 years away from hitting target.. But I too have already saved a property in rightmove.

ccbrowning

I finally got off my !!!! and joined the company pension scheme, which is a rather large hit to saving ability each month. But, it was pretty stupid of me to be missing out on the employer contributions and tax breaks I get since I'm in the 40% bracket. Did manage to save £1200 last month, which is the last one before my reduced income.

Soldierearth54

Time for me to join...

Hopefully my signature will have our details as I added them today.

We currently live in a small 2 bed flat on a shared equity basis (75/25) with a developer. Our house valuation has slumped 25% since we purchased 3 years ago (surprise, surprise).

We are unsure exactly how much we will be looking to buy for as I will likely move job between now and the time we move but we have a ballpark figure of £20,000 as a target which hopefully we can do in just over a year, unless our young baby boy eats all our money!

At that point we will likely apply for a consent to let as our current property value is unlikely to rise in that time.

Current target - research savings accounts to ensure we are getting the best deal(s).

[Deleted User]

Well a small monthly update for me!

Still plodding along, nearly reached the amount I am considering as the minimum deposit I would like to have (was aiming to get there by Dec, but looking more like Jan if I am being realistic).

I already have my emergency savings in place.

But I still need to work out what to save for costs and fees.

*Stamp duty (not sure if will spend this much, so need to consider this further, and if we do get into the stamp duty threshold, it'll definitely be in the 1% bracket and not more)

Other than potentially stamp duty, how much are people saving to cover fees and costs? Are you saving it as a percentage of the purchase price?
I was reading somewhere 3% of purchase price plus stamp duty, but it was a very old article and I'm not sure how realistic this would be in the current climate market, and I also think that the article was geared towards London purchasers (maybe it's less elsewhere?).

What are others thoughts on this?

I've been reading Martin's top tips, but still can't decide on a target to aim for.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/house-buying-guide

aylithuk

Domino9 wrote: »

Well a small monthly update for me!

Still plodding along, nearly reached the amount I am considering as the minimum deposit I would like to have (was aiming to get there by Dec, but looking more like Jan if I am being realistic).

I already have my emergency savings in place.

But I still need to work out what to save for costs and fees.

*Stamp duty (not sure if will spend this much, so need to consider this further, and if we do get into the stamp duty threshold, it'll definitely be in the 1% bracket and not more)

Other than potentially stamp duty, how much are people saving to cover fees and costs? Are you saving it as a percentage of the purchase price?
I was reading somewhere 3% of purchase price plus stamp duty, but it was a very old article and I'm not sure how realistic this would be in the current climate market, and I also think that the article was geared towards London purchasers (maybe it's less elsewhere?).

What are others thoughts on this?

I've been reading Martin's top tips, but still can't decide on a target to aim for.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/house-buying-guide

Hey Welcome to the thread

I am saving about £3000 to cover most fees n charges but not covering things like home insurance and moving costs

Arrangement Fee - £0 (most of the deals I am looking for don't have one)
Lender's Valuation - £150
Survey - £350
Legal/Conveyancing Fees - £1250
Stamp Duty - £0 (Our will be £125,000 priced or less)
Land Registry Fee - £200
Local Authority Search Fees - £70

SG27

aylithuk wrote: »

Hey Welcome to the thread

I am saving about £3000 to cover most fees n charges but not covering things like home insurance and moving costs

Arrangement Fee - £0 (most of the deals I am looking for don't have one)
Lender's Valuation - £150
Survey - £350
Legal/Conveyancing Fees - £1250
Stamp Duty - £0 (Our will be £125,000 priced or less)
Land Registry Fee - £200
Local Authority Search Fees - £70

I think that is probably about right. Although beware there can be unexpected costs pop up during the process. We have been ordered by the mortgage company to get a specialist damp and timber survey which is going to cost us an extra £225

The savings are dwindling already! Just hope it doesn't fall through as we have paid out around £1300 already!!

kingstreet

Just a quick comment on one or two of the fees being suggested.

The mortgage report and valuation fee for a property purchase price upto £100k, is usually in the range £210 (Nationwide) upto £280 (Halifax).

The local search fee depends on which local authority is concerned. The fees range from around £60 upto £280.

I'd expect reasonable solicitor's fees for a sub-£100k purchase to be in the region of £650 to £750 inclusive of VAT. Disbursements on top of that, for example local search fee, drains search, environmental search and land registry fee should bring the total to around the £1,000 to £1,200 mark.

J_i_m

My general plan is to have about 5k allocated towards fee outside of my deposit budget. And because I envisage the whole looking and buying process to take it's chuffing time I'll add to my savings buffer throughout ist middle period with the view of going towards unexpected costs, furnitures and emergency bills thing.

beckythemadcow

Payday update from me, I'm pleased we managed to save this month as we paid our car insurance in one go. Not as bad as I was expecting considering I wrote my car off a year ago, but still a lot of money!

Starting to think about the target for next year. I'd love to be buying in 2013 but both our contracts are up during the summer so no-one is willing to lend. This also makes picking a savings target difficult.

Hey-ho!