The 'We're saving for a deposit' thread

[Deleted User]

Another small amount of money into my house savings this weekend taking my total to £70.85.
I think once I get into a routine I'll be saving about £500 per month at least, which is more than I thought I might manage to save.

zaphod_beeblebrox_2

ManPants

I have a quandry..................................

The whole point of saving for a deposit was to buy a dream house on the Kent Coast where house prices are high - we've been looking at houses at about £200 -250 k. This was to be done with money from sale of current house in an urban commuter belt stretch of towns and savings.

Our house went up by at least £30,000 since we bought it 3.5 years ago and did work on it but since the property down turn houses in our street are only now selling at marginally more than we bought it for. Not forgetting the £20 + thousand we have already spent on improvements with more to go before we can realistically sell.

"Helpful" people namely friends on the coast who want us to move sooner rather than later are saying forget about the £20000 we've spent on it that we are not going to recoup and just do the move but I am hesitant and think if we wait longer we can finish the refurbishment and live here another year and potentially recoup some money.

Other arguments are that if house prices here go up again they will likewise on the coast.

If we were on an episode of Property ladder Sarah Beeny would be saying we are making a massive loss yet my other half says the house would still sell for more than we had originally bought it so just forget about the money we've spent same as you would if it was £2000 you'd spent on a holiday as it was something we did to make the house as we wanted it.

Partner and I are having "discussions" - he says forget it and lets go and I'm thinking we need to wait until market stabilizes a bit as it is not a sellers market.

I'm getting so confused about what to do next I'm even contemplating going to see a psychic clairvoyant!!!

Any ideas people??

Stupotstu

MrDT

stupotstu wrote: »

Our house went up by at least £30,000 since we bought it 3.5 years ago and did work on it but since the property down turn houses in our street are only now selling at marginally more than we bought it for.

It made a paper gain of 30k, that gain has been wiped out by the crash. In the short to medium term the longer you hold the more you'll lose. You will need to hold a very long time for all this to "blow over" and see the same price to earnings ratios witnessed at the height of the 2007 peak. You could be waiting years, a decade even. Not ideal when you're talking of retirement by the sea.

I'd say that what really matters is the price differential between your current house and the dream house by the sea, not how many money tickets you get for your current home. Don't hold too tightly to the outdated valuation, it's pretty much meaningless now.

The sale price achieveable 12 months from now without carrying out any work will almost certainly be less than you'd achieve right now. You'd be lucky to make back what you spend on improvements, better to sell as it stands and let the new owner finish off the improvements to their liking. Especially if we're talking new kitchen/bathroom, you'll never get that money back.

I'd be more interested in retiring happily than chasing bubble prices after the bubble has popped.

b0rker

There is a lot of pent up frustration in a lot of cities in the UK. Places where people were saving for a property for years. The problem was that property was always getting that little bit further away from them every year during the HPI. Those that did not end up buying at or near the top are now still sitting on those deposits. Deposits that were saved over the best part of a decade. Certainly I know of lots of FTBs in my city who are sitting like fly traps waiting for the fly to land. As soon as the prices here level out or show any kind of growth they will be straight in. I know a few who have already bought as they have had a decade of waiting and were not prepared to wait any longer. With 5 year fixes and the ability to save at the same rate as they did when they were renting they have no worries about short term negative equity.

I think there will be a massive amount of demand as soon as signals suggest that the bottom is hit. In fact it would be healthier all round if purchasing took place in a more controlled fashion but I can see it being fairly chaotic when it does occur. I also don't see the value of the average property in my area dropping by any more than 10%-15% tops. Then again Inverness is a pretty desireable place to live.

ManPants

MrDT wrote: »

It made a paper gain of 30k, that gain has been wiped out by the crash. In the short to medium term the longer you hold the more you'll lose.

I'd say that what really matters is the price differential between your current house and the dream house by the sea, not how many money tickets you get for your current home.

The sale price achieveable 12 months from now without carrying out any work will almost certainly be less than you'd achieve right now.

Thank you so much! We have been bickering so much it is nice to get an opinion that is not biased!

Spoke to partner tonight and we're arranging an appointment with Financial advisor next week with a look to putting current property on market and selling by the summer and simply moving ourselves to the kent coast. We're both in our mid - thirties so have another 25 years to recoup what we've lost here. All the points you made were very valid (well apart from the retirement bit but I'll overlook that!:eek: )

Thanks for your advice - it looks like you may have changed the course of my life!!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Stupotstu

MrDT

stupotstu wrote: »

Thanks for your advice

Glad it helped And I'm glad you took it in the spirit it was intended, some people can get a bit 'funny' when talking about the value of their house.

This talk about changing the direction of your life is a bit scary lol, I'm just an internet stranger and I'm not in any way qualified to dole out advice. Still, if I helped reaffirm what you already suspected and have helped you make a decision (or see eye to eye with the other half!) I'm glad to be of help

Kaida

Count me in please. Though, we're saving a pathetic amount compared to you guys!

OH earns £15000 gross but I am too disabled to work and only get £17.50 a week for DLA and £70 a week IB, which totals £4550 a year. I wish I could work, saving would go so much faster if I was on minimum wage even - that'd be three times my current income!

We put aside £500 a month into a regular saver at 6% interest, and I have £3600 in an ISA. OH also has savings but doesn't want to use them on a deposit, it's his "just in case" money. Fair enough, I have a couple of grand JIC money too, but how much do we need between us!?

I want a detatched or well sound-proofed semi (I have dogs that can be noisy at times) with a big garden within striking distance of Erdington where all my family live. I don't care if it's a project, or how many bedrooms it has, which I'm hoping will bring the price down to an affordable level.

lostinrates

We've seen something.

Its a bit scary, but then everything we've considered is! Would definitely involve me working...new business start up in this climate?

Its outside our prefered area, but still a workable location, and we recognise the importance of remaining as flexible as possible.

Scorpio18

Hi Everyone

I have been lurking on the forums for months and this is the first time I have posted and I would love to join your board.

I have recently decided to start saving for a deposit because house prices have fallen in my area to prices that I can now realistically afford.

I live with my two children aged 11 and 13 in a housing association 3 bed flat and desperately want a house with direct access to a garden in a nicer area.

I have applied to Homebuy for the open market shared equity scheme but they are not processing any new applicatants in my area until after 1st April and even then they can't tell me if they would be able to help me as they don't know if they will have enough funding in my area as they still have many applicants from this year that will be rolling over into the new year. So my back up plan is to save up my own deposit.

I am looking to save a 10% - 15% deposit by summer 2010 which based on current house prices in the area I want to live in would be about £15k - £20k.

I don't have much yet, only £560 in an ISA account but I am aiming to save about £500 a month to start with. I am due to be re-graded at work in the next couple of months which would involve a pay rise.

After being in debt for so many years and being debt free now for 10 months I haven't really been watching what I spend so I know I can cut back on a lot of things. I only have one credit card which I use sparingly to keep my credit rating good.

I plan to cut back on my grocery spend and give up smoking. I am also going to stop going to Primark where I end up spending loads of money buying lots of clothes I don't need. I have lived to strict budgets before (and for many years) through neccessity when I first became a single mum and I plan to do the same for a 6 month stint which could see me saving an additonal £3000 on top of my £500 a month.

So here goes :eek: