The 'We're saving for a deposit' thread

lostinrates

Well done!

We've had an exceptional month as DH got two salaries (his untaken holiday amounted to almost a month and he worked a week then moved to UK, where he worked the rest ofthe month). It was my birthday and I asked for the old office salary to go in to the deposit fund. so a WHOLE months salary! Kind of depressing we won't be able to match it this month, but maybe I'll get some luck with a job? lets hope so!

dannyboycey

Remember to use up all of this years ISA allowance too if you can - need to be quick though... only a few days left!

kunekune

We added £4000: £1300 of ordinary savings and the rest was hubby's annual bonus. It would have been more but we bought our son a new computer. Next month I'm aiming at £1000 from income and £1200 in extras from a job I'm doing.

Vicky82

Can I join please.

My total is in my signature. I have a target of £30,000 at the moment, but really I will need around £60,000 to be able to afford a 1 bed flat where I live.... £30,000 sounds more achievable though!

I don't have a set amount I save each month though. I wait and see what I have left over at the end of the month.

MrDT

I'm in!

I don't have any date/amount targets set in stone, but have set myself an 'achievable' target of £5,500 saved in 2008 just so I have something to aim for. Doesn't sound like much, but it won't be that easy - I'm not on the highest salary, and privately rent alone. I won't be cancelling my one luxury, a week somewhere hot (but reasonably cheap) with the lads in the summer, but everything else is fair game for cutting down/out (shopping bills being cut, taken car off the road & hopefully selling it soon, cancelled gym membership etc).

I pretty much know what I want:

1. Shops and stuff in walking distance (not the current situation!), don't mean in the middle of a metropolis or anything but having a supermarket within half a mile would be nice at least
2. Decent transport links or within a cycleable distance from work
3. At least one acceptable sized living/dining room (not big, just usable)
4. A kitchen with plenty of storage and working space (I don't have either where I am now and it's a nightmare)
5. Either a big kitchen, utility room or shed so I have space for washing machine, tumble, fridge, huge freezer and if lucky a dishwasher lol!
6. A bathroom with space for an actual bath (don't care if I have to install a leccy shower over the bath and live without a seperate shower, I want a proper bath tub!)
7. At least one double bedroom
8. At least one spare bedroom, can be pokey as you like (ideally be my office and 'mates staying over' room, but if I get desperate could be used as a rented room, or if things go horribly wrong :rotfl:and I have a kid and can't afford to move then there's a spare room for the sprog)

That might be more than I strictly need right now, but I figure it will do me for a few years should I end up in negative equity and unable to move. Thinking ahead a bit could save me from some sleepless nights in a couple years time Also the difference in price between 1 bed flats and 2 bed terraces here is barely noticable so well worth the pre-emptive 'upgrade'.

The kind of property I'm looking to buy sells for ~100k (a figure that may be dropping further soon) round here (that price would be a 'doer upper' but I'm single with no kids so that's fine by me), at least in that respect I'm quite lucky. I figure 5.5k will equate to a 5% deposit at the very least (who knows!?), and hope to save that much by Christmas.
edit: Some of the deposits on here could buy my kind of house outright :eek:

I might carry on saving in 09, or just jump right in. From playing with online mortgage calculators there seems to be very little difference between the interest rates on mortgages with 5% and 20% deposit (little to no difference in fees either), so the deciding factor will be the market conditions at the time, how much debt/risk I'm willing to take on, and the affordability of monthly repayments

I've got an appointment to view a house on Saturday, but won't be putting in an offer until I can cover at least 5% deposit plus fees. I think it's worth keeping an eye on what's available though, and you never know, if I like it I might put in a very low offer

Good luck everyone!!! :beer:

[Deleted User]

Can I join please? Looks like I will be number 9? I'm about to start saving for a deposit at the end of the month...looking to put away between £2,000-£3,000 a month depending on whether I'm more or less frugal each month.

Have pretty much nothing saved yet, but at the end of this month I will make the final payment on my university debts (government student loan excepted).

jamtart6

Hello I would love to join in ! We are saving for a deposit too currently have 32% saved of our goal of £15k

Just a tip if you or your partner have/don't have a cash isa that is full, put all yoru house savings in there, you get a great rate of interest making some free money! We are attempting to put the money we would need to put away for a mortgage each month for our deposit if you get me?

MrDT

jamtart6 wrote: »

We are attempting to put the money we would need to put away for a mortgage each month for our deposit if you get me?

That's a great idea, helps you ensure that the monthly repayments on the mortgage you go for are actually affordable

I try to take it further and save a little more per month than I would pay on the mortgage to cover increased council tax, increased utility bills (inc water), home insurance etc.

I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but I lurk on the mortgage free wannabe boards now and then... The mortage free in three thread offers up some very interesting tidbits, one of the most astounding bits of information being the effect overpayments have on the length of a mortgage. I figure if I save 'too much' per month now, that habit may allow me to overpay the mortgage in future, and maybe be mortgage free a little younger :beer:

jamtart6

Thanks MrDT. I would do this, but I have only just got Mr Jamtart to agree to save half the mortgage with me, need to take it in tiny baby steps and make him think it was his idea!! To be fair he has only just got himself straight after about 2 years of trying to pay of debts/holidays/car so this is a massive step for him! Any extras he has had better be going towards a sparkly ring for my finger only kidding!! Half the mortgage each will be our basic achievement and if we have more then we'll put it in.

Cemetery

Savings went up ~ £1500 through March but this is mainly due to a stack of overtime coming in & annual interest being credited which will have bumped it up by probably half. Going to maintain the goal of saving ~ £10k over the next 12 months then look at the housing situation again as that would get me into the realms of a decent deposit (though looking at what some people are saving my deposit will be tiny )