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What encouraged you to save for a house deposit?

24

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  • Cakeguts
    Cakeguts Posts: 7,627
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    I didn't actually save for a deposit. I came from a family where you couldn't rely on anyone to bail you out if you didn't have enough cash so I had to not spend everything I earned from the start. When I needed a deposit the money was already saved. It took about 4 years I think. I lived in a bedsit with a shared bathroom and toilet and own basic cooking facilities.

    The culture at the moment seems to be to spend everything you earn and not to go without. On occasions it leads to problems on here where people don't have anything in savings so if they lose their job they lose their rented accommodation or if they change the day they get paid they try to change the day they pay the rent. I have no idea what they do if something goes seriously wrong.
  • stevenhp1987
    stevenhp1987 Posts: 907
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    Seven years to save is a long time, I want to keep them focused and not give up and splash out on holidays and cars.

    I have saved for as long as I can remember (I'm 30)...

    I've also had a few holidays per year (got to use those holiday days)!!!

    I think it's more important to simply teach them the value of money and not to spend it on frivolous things. Many of our holidays would be very difficult when we eventually have a kid... So having holidays while still young is beneficial if you want to see the world!
  • Hoploz
    Hoploz Posts: 3,888 Forumite
    The best lesson to encourage them to get a move on might be to show them the price of a first time buy on the market now, versus the price of a similar first time buy 10 years ago. There's likely to be a big difference. Then use this to imagine what it might cost in 10 years from now.
  • Cakeguts
    Cakeguts Posts: 7,627
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    I have saved for as long as I can remember (I'm 30)...

    I've also had a few holidays per year (got to use those holiday days)!!!

    I think it's more important to simply teach them the value of money and not to spend it on frivolous things. Many of our holidays would be very difficult when we eventually have a kid... So having holidays while still young is beneficial if you want to see the world!

    My generation, I am 60 viewed holidays away as luxuries not something that you would spend a lot of money on. Foreign holidays were not something you did very often if ever. Holiday days were spent at home. I would class holidays away under frivolous waste if I was saving to buy a house. Holidays away are in the same category as cars on finance, expensive iphone contracts, sky tv, eating out, and takeaways.

    I didn't have any holidays away when I was saving. I also only ate out once a month. No takeaways. Very old second hand car.
  • capital0ne
    capital0ne Posts: 872
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    My children have all finished their studies and will be in full time employment. I want to encourage them to save for their futures. What encouraged you to save for your first house?
    I just wanted to be able to go home without the 'rents waiting up for me, asking me where I'd been, and basically fussing over me.
    I also didn't want to line someone else's pocket so I saved and saved and then bought miles away from where I was brought up (cheaper housing), a two bed terrace, half my salary went on the mortgage payment, I never had a new car, always an old banger, I learnt how to keep them on the road, didn't eat out, had enough spare money for the odd pint.
    Repayment mortgage, 7% rising to 17% and back down to 7% or so all in the 1970-1990's
    if your kids like being at home with all the home comforts like meals, washing, etc then take rent from them, and when they leave, give the rent back for their own house - save it for them but DON'T tell them you're doing that.
    Good luck
  • ViolaLass
    ViolaLass Posts: 5,764 Forumite
    They're adults - can they not work these things out for themselves?

    Also, the best thing they could do (as well as budgeting/saving) is improving their job/career prospects. Pay rises will make a big difference.
  • sugarbabe84
    sugarbabe84 Posts: 259 Forumite
    Constantly being on the move. I!!!8217;ve rented 8 places in the last 9 years, enough was enough so I started my Help To Buy ISA in 2016.
  • Elinore
    Elinore Posts: 259 Forumite
    edited 9 May 2018 at 5:42AM
    we rented for years - nice houses with lovely LLs so it worked for us. Then after a tenancy of 10 years our LL sold the house. We then had a run of bad LLs huge fees and moves every few years - expensive.

    We ended up in a nasty rental house where there a was a leak deep under the kitchen floor in the cement subfloor that the LL refused to fix and the guttering was broken causing water to run down the render of the house. (the house had been repainted to hide the issue on viewings and the guttering wasn't immediately obvious)

    This caused really nasty damp in the property as the water has to go somewhere. LL harped on the damp was 'lifestyle' rather than him shirking his responsibilities. We were paying over a 1K a month. He always managed to put across the feeling that we should be grateful as we had pets so he was being so nice to us by renting to is - many wouldn't you know.... and for so much more - we really got a bargain. He played the magnanimous benefactor to the hilt - drove me bonkers.

    When i got a horrible chest infection and diagnosed with a breathing issue the DR felt was linked to the damp - we found all the wardrobes, mattresses and units all had spores growing on them and the same day LL casually mentioned that his kids private school fees were going up so to expect a rent rise - our temper blew.

    We went on the strictest moneysaving spree of our lives- I swear every.single.penny. went into the pot, we lived on cheap food and halted our lives - Both got second jobs or worked over time - and in a year we had a deposit.

    On the day the LL came round to advise he was putting the rent up by £200pcm we handed in our notice. (predictably he got quite nasty about it too)

    I am forever thankful. It was the huge kick we needed 12K a year for a poor home that was making us ill and ruining our things. We had been saving but this was the push we needed. (I worked out we would have paid off over half our current mortgage with the equivalent rent we have paid over the years)

    i love our little house - love love love it.
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741
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    edited 9 May 2018 at 6:12AM
    ViolaLass wrote: »
    They're adults - can they not work these things out for themselves?

    Also, the best thing they could do (as well as budgeting/saving) is improving their job/career prospects. Pay rises will make a big difference.
    I agree with this 100%. If the children have grown-up in a responsible and reasonably frugal environment they should have savings skills built-in.

    At the time of ending studies, it might be appropriate for them to save in a traditional way. Equally, there could be worthwhile activities to do requiring personal expenditure which will serve them in the future and, perhaps, further their careers.

    Once I started it, I made the most important progress in my true career during the first 3 to 5 years, and so did my children. We completed additional studies and gained a broader view of the world before saying, "Right, now to get a steady job and save for a house!"

    That's maybe not what you meant, but it's how it might be interpreted. To be honest, if I had my time again, I'd have travelled more and tried an even greater variety of jobs before 'settling down.'
  • lookstraightahead
    lookstraightahead Posts: 5,536
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    I would encourage them to save but personally you do not need to link this to house ownership. They need to make their own choices. Encourage them to see that having savings and not being in debt gives them freedom of choice.
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