Money related - Home Deposit - Bank of Mum and Dad/ self-earned/ inheritance

[Mememememe]

W ewe live The North.
Our first home was a 2 bed teracce for 70k in 2011we saved 7k. Put a 5 percent deposit down and used the rest for legal fees.
Sold it for 80k 4 years later and mived to a bigger 3 bed 1930s semi for 125 k using savings and all the equity to use as a 10 percent deposit.
No way on earth we would ever have our own home if we lived anywhere near London.

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

I get what you mean. I think is okay when people get help from their parents. The issue I have is when people think the rest of us did not work as 'hard' or as 'aspired' as them.
A 10k help is still massive, I know people are saying quit the avocado/ fancy coffee but that is such a tiny proportion of spending VS what I needed to save

Do you have a spreadsheet of what your income is and what your non negotiable outgoings are? That’s where I’d start. If your income is say £2000 a month and your non negotiable out goings are £1800, then it’s going to be difficult to save. If your income is £2000 and your non negotiable out goings are £1000 then you need to work out where the rest is going. Theres loads of apps and programmes you can import your bank statements to now.

Any bills you can renegotiate or switch providers to save. Don’t renew expensive phone contracts, go sim only, gym memberships etc, can you exercise at home or outside?

 

[hnoz]

It just fascinates me, the houses in my area cost 550k at least, a 10% deposit is 55k and that is without stamp duty etc. How do people afford it, and how much do they actually need to earn per month.

We are earning 90k annually combined, I don't see how we can ever save up 55k at least

This is not realistic (i know), on insta, I constantly see people buy a house, reno, host wedding and go honeymoon, in the span of 2 years, how the duck do you afford that. I need some tips haha!

The future is bleak

Not to be patronising at all, but on 90k combined you really should be able to save 55k in 2-3 years. You need to sit down and look at your outgoings, move when your lease is up and live in a small crappy one bed with a longer commute. Give yourselves a strict budget for "fun". If you both saved £750 a month you would have 55k in 3 years and I think on your income there is actually room to save more.

Start by looking through your bank statements and literally count up everything you spent and categorise it. Then look at what can be reduced, when is your phone contract up, switch to a sim only, cut the fancy gym and go running.
The easiest way is to split things into NEEDS, SAVINGS, and WANTS. 50% 30% 20% is a good ratio. If you don't live in london your needs might not need to be that high. Needs is rent, food (not alcohol or eating out just groceries), bills etc, wants are eating out, phones, gym, clothes etc. Set up a new bank account and have all your bills coming out of that, only keep the 20% fun spending money in your day to day account and have your savings go out via direct debit the day after pay day. You can't spend it if it literally isn't there.

 

[Mememememe]

I get what you mean. I think is okay when people get help from their parents. The issue I have is when people think the rest of us did not work as 'hard' or as 'aspired' as them.
A 10k help is still massive, I know people are saying quit the avocado/ fancy coffee but that is such a tiny proportion of spending VS what we needed to save

It ALL adds up though. You need to spend a good day/weekend fully evaluating all your finances.
Everything. From the bills to the coffees.
Change suppliers, change insurances, make sure everything that you Must pay for comes out of the bank on the day you are paid. Have soeeate bank account for things like food.. Clothes etc ( monzo is great you can have pots and separate all your money so you can see where it belongs. Eg I put 350 a month in my grocery pot so I know I have my food paid for already)

 

[LT31514]

My husband was given his inheritance from his parents early (they’re still alive) so we used that for our deposit. Live in Belgium and house prices are crazy. We have a one bed ground floor apartment which I LOVE but we could easily get a 3 bed detached back up north where I’m from. People are constantly asking us when we are going on to bigger and better things but these are the people who have literally been gifted homes. It’s quite common over here for families to have multiple homes for rental income and then when their child turns 25 or so they just get given the house and have to pay a nominal amount of rent, or mortgage it for way below market value. I’m not bashing these people but don’t expect everyone to feel the need to move house every few years to keep up with the joneses. When we moved in we had all old furniture, a second hand kitchen that we fitted and no curtains up. We got married really cheaply and have saved saved saved for the past 7 years so we now have a relatively small mortgage (around £50k) and money in the bank. If anything, corona has made me realise that you need to be living comfortably and not mortgaged to high heaven because everything can change overnight.

 

[Freebies_come2me]

Not to be patronising at all, but on 90k combined you really should be able to save 55k in 2-3 years. You need to sit down and look at your outgoings, move when your lease is up and live in a small crappy one bed with a longer commute. Give yourselves a strict budget for "fun". If you both saved £750 a month you would have 55k in 3 years and I think on your income there is actually room to save more.

Okay, that makes sense, I think I should have mentioned earlier, we were on 90k combine literally from Feb 20 onwards.
I agree that we would need to sit down; When I look at 55k, it just looks WOW how the duck... I think we will manage somehow but as I say, it just wow!
My husband needs to support his parents, his mum lives in a run-down soviet style home in Eastern Europe, some money would need to go to there to fix up the flat and monthly support(whether I agree or not is another story )

 

[hnoz]

Okay, that makes sense, I think I should have mentioned earlier, we were on 90k combine literally from Feb 20 onwards.
I agree that we would need to sit down; When I look at 55k, it just looks WOW how the duck... I think we will manage somehow but as I say, it just wow!
My husband needs to support his parents, his mum lives in a run-down soviet style home in Eastern Europe, some money would need to go to there (whether I agree or not is another story )

Oh absolutely the total number sounds scary and I think too many negative articles on house prices actually stop people saving! I know so many people on good incomes who say "whats the point in saving, I'll never be able to afford to buy" and I'm like !!! you earn twice as much as me, if I can save you can!
Start with the 50/30/20 ratio and tweak it slightly according to your actual situation and go from there. You guys have a pretty big income, once you work out your budget you will be flying!

 

[Freebies_come2me]

Oh absolutely the total number sounds scary and I think too many negative articles on house prices actually stop people saving! I know so many people on good incomes who say "whats the point in saving, I'll never be able to afford to buy" and I'm like !!! you earn twice as much as me, if I can save you can!
Start with the 50/30/20 ratio and tweak it slightly according to your actual situation and go from there. You guys have a pretty big income, once you work out your budget you will be flying!

Thank you for this, I think despite what people say tit about tattle life like we are a bunch of losers lol! Coming here, makes you realised that sometimes you can do things that you thought you can't

 

[DCICassieStuart]

We bought our four bed semi in 2000 for £100,000. It was a new build at the time. We saved £10,000 for the deposit, but literally couldn't afford to put anything in it. Neither family offered to help, even though both of them could have afforded something.

My husband is close to his aunt and she lent us £5000 to buy furniture. She said there was no hurry to pay it back and we weren't to tell anyone. She's quite well off and knew we would pay her back, but other extended family members would see her as a soft touch and would never repay her, so she didn't want anyone to know. Obviously we paid her back in full over a few years. Her money bought us kitchen white goods, our bed, sofa, table & chairs and some other bits and pieces in the house.

Our neighbour's (identical) house recently sold for £325,000. I'd love to sell ours and move for various reasons, but my husband won't because his mother is only about 10 minutes away. One of the reasons I want to move

We'd be quite friendly with three of our neighbours and they all saved themselves too. Another one got £50,000 from her father though. Not a loan, a gift.

 

[Looboo]

Me and my husband are currently saving for a house deposit and don’t expect to receive any help from family. They’re generous but just don’t have much money.

We both have a LISA though so will get a 25% bonus on our savings of up to £1000 a year (each). So we are trying to put £4000 each per year in to max it out.

We are in the north but in an expensive area and we want a really decent deposit. We could probably buy something in a year but we’re much more likely to wait about 5 years and put down more money.

 

[btw]

I’m saving now to buy house in 5 years time. I plan to save at least £10,000 myself and I’m very lucky as my grandad is planning to leave me £15,000 inheritance which I will put towards a deposit. So all together I’m hoping for a deposit of £25,000.
This still won’t get me a lot as I will probably be a single applicant on £28,000. I’ll be looking for houses worth about £130,000 - £155,000 which isn’t great given that houses in my area on average are £220,000
It’s so hard to secure a mortgage as a single applicant and I’m very lucky in that a large chunk of my deposit will be from family

 

[Travelmehomee]

I did it by myself with no inheritance and I only earn £27,000. I bought a £150,000 with a £18,000 deposit. I sold my soul to save for the deposit. And because of my job the mortgage I could get was really rubbish. I slogged day and night for 2 years and I've managed it, it's not been easy however I'm really proud of myself. I had to compromise but I know I made the right choice

 

[Aliceinherpalace]

I was very lucky in that my Dad gifted me (and my brothers) £40k each for our deposits, otherwise I’d never have been able to buy as I’m awful with money. However this was out of my mums life insurance after she died from a brain tumour - I’d much rather have my mum than my house!

 

[Lumpfish]

couldn’t agree more with this... I struggle very much to be happy for my friends who were given everything from their parents... I know it’s not their fault but they truly need to put their hands together and thank the lord that they had such a helping hand

Thanks for saying this! I struggle with these feelings too but then feel bad for being bitter! I think it’s more that the people I know act self made when it’s all their parents money so that’s what’s annoying!

 

[btw]

I did it by myself with no inheritance and I only earn £27,000. I bought a £150,000 with a £18,000 deposit. I sold my soul to save for the deposit. And because of my job the mortgage I could get was really rubbish. I slogged day and night for 2 years and I've managed it, it's not been easy however I'm really proud of myself. I had to compromise but I know I made the right choice

That’s amazing! You should be really proud, it’s definitely hard as a single applicant when house prices are so high

 

[Greys1324]

Me and my partner bought our house in Essex for £312000 with a 5% deposit. My parents gave us £5000 and we saved the rest between us in about a year. My partner got a bonus of £4000 which helped us decorate and buy the bits we needed. We earn 60k between us.

 

[Autumnleaves123]

I bought a 2 bedroomed flat 3 years ago for £117£ and had been saving for a deposit but my dad gifted me £20k on top of this which I am so grateful for. This money was an inheritance from my mum passing away 3 years before and while I’m so grateful for them money I’d keep saving and struggle through without the money if I could have my mum instead.

It’s so hard to get on the housing market and even harder as a single person. Now my boyfriend has recently moved in with me and we are planning to get something bigger together depending on what happens with my job etc in the next few months

 

[Dollylovesshoes]

I live in Eaat London,born here,I lived with mum and dad in Council property,nooo way could they ever afford their own home both were factory workers,when I met husband were renting flat,then 100%mortgages was introduced this was back early eighties ,So we got this One bedroom flat,ideal paid £17.950.then the interest rate went sky high to 15%..then we had negative equity,anyway ‘89 me and OH split,I stayed in flat,I’m still soddin here Been here yonks,property prices now sky high.

 

[ASA119]

I bought my flat at the age of 20 with my boyfriend, we only needed a 5% deposit but we saved it all ourselves. We used the HTB scheme where the government lends you 20% so you only end up needing a 75% mortgage. Our flat cost £275K and we had no help from our parents!

 

[Be creative]

I’m in Scotland (central) and bought my first house last year at 30 (got the keys the day after my 30th birthday... happy birthday me lol).

It’s a 1 bed and a box and I paid £120k. Where I live is super expensive, so I made a compromise on size for location.

My dad died in 2014 and I got 10k from his estate at the beginning of 2015. I then continued to build on that for the next 3 years, on and off, no regular big amounts until the last year or so where I put £900 per month into my savings.

Stayed with mum the whole time and luckily she asked for no dig money until the last year or so. So all I had was my phone and car payments (which did clear in 2018) and whatever I chose to spend.

i put a 20k deposit down and had about 10k left in my savings to do/buy what I wanted to for the house. I work in a lawyers so my legal fees only cost me £300 which I know I’m really lucky with.

I started saving again anywhere from £300-£500 a month depending on what I can spare, and now have 6.5k in my savings whilst I’m building them up again.

My best friend got gifted 50 grand from her dad “just because” when she was 18 for her first flat, and now lives in a house worth 270k. Green eyes get me sometimes, but at the end of the day, I’m proud I saved the rest on top of my dads money all by myself without a handout and have learned the benefits to being savvy with money now.

spreadsheets and a constant review of your bank account are your best friends when saving