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

[nobrains]

We bought our house in 2016 for £110,000 (3 bed semi up north) and put down 10%, we had never lived together before buying the house but had been together for 5 years. It was his £10,000 and we used my savings for fees, decorating the house. Over the 4 years we've redone the whole house including new windows and kitchen. We have been gifted £15,000 during that time. £5,000 from my husband's grandad for new windows etc. And £10,000 gifted by his parents from the same grandads estate when he died. We have alot to thank grandad Brian for

 

[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?

 

[NosyCat]

I bought a 2 bedroom flat age 23 with a lot of help from my parents. The flat was £175k - I took out a mortgage of about 3.5 x my graduate salary and the rest was cash from them. The cash is technically mine but I pay interest on it to them at a commercial rate. So essentially a second mortgage. It will be written off at some point but up to them when! They also paid fees, stamp duty and furniture/white goods. I have a flatmate to help pay mortgages and bills. If I wanted to buy a bigger place then it’s on me to save and buy.

It makes sense for them and for me, they still receive the same amount of income as if it was invested and it means I have an asset that has appreciated and I’m paying off my own mortgage rather than renting and paying someone else’s.

Although in hindsight I wish they had waited until I was older. I was awful with money until about 2 years ago, never saved and built up a lot of credit card debt which I’m still paying off!

I am so grateful to them for it and know that I am so so lucky. Sometimes I do feel guilty about it and I do get the impression that some of my friends resented me for it. I didn’t really tell people that I was buying a place because I didn’t want to look like a spoilt brat. If anyone were to ask how I bought it I would tell them but I wouldn’t volunteer it for fear of being judged. I think most people would guess I had help anyway.

Neither of my parents came from much so they (and my grandparents) worked hard to get where they are today and give me the life I have had. The way I think about it is parents would want to give children the best life they can and if they can afford to help financially then great. I would get the money when they die anyway so may as well have it now while it’s useful to me.

I feel weird posting this so might delete

 

[super grateful]

This fascinates me too! A lot of my friends have bigger and more expensive houses then I do... but then you delve into it and mum and dad bought it for them or in one case, it’s the gamekeeper’s cottage on mum and dad’s land that they were given as a Christmas present. Lovely eh!

Our house is a Victorian 3 bed semi detached, it needed *some* work doing to it (walls knocking down to create kitchen/diner, new kitchen/bathroom, brick work fixing up, plastering, new drive etc) but not a complete reno job (no new windows and roof etc, thank god) but this is what we needed to buy in order to afford anything half decent in our area!

It cost us £250k and we put down 10%, which I am embarrassed to say was mostly my partner’s money. We bought it just after I finished my Nursing degree (I had some savings from my job before uni which I used but it was difficult to work through uni and save more for a deposit). Anyway now we split everything for the house 50/50 despite him earning triple what I do haha, just makes me feel more comfortable!

 

[Spencerskates]

I bought my house as a solo buyer around 3 years ago. I’m really lucky with the area that I live - got a 2 bed semi with a decent sized garden for £118K, new build so got the 5% deposit through the help to buy scheme.

One chunk of my deposit came from a fairly sizeable tax rebate after being shafted by the tax man, another chunk was savings for a trip I changed my mind on, and the rest I saved myself. Didn’t have any help from parents for the deposit, fees etc, but they did help me out with furnishing the house. I’d always lived with them so didn’t have any furniture whatsoever and it’s fairly expensive to furnish a house from scratch!

 

[Sunflower91]

So I currently live and work in London, earning just over £40k. I’m single and paying £750+ bills in my flat (total rent is £1350 but I share with someone) I’m steadily pulling together a house deposit for the future but it feels like a mile away if I want to do this in London.

My sister on the other hand still lives in my hometown in the north, barely saves a thing, is on less than half of my salary but was able to purchase her first house with her boyfriend a few years ago. She literally had a couple of grand for a deposit and her bf around the same. My mum and dad helped with some of it and his mum and dad helped with the rest. They’ve recently sold that house and moved into a huge house with a nice big garden.

Rationally I know she was hugely enabled because of parental help, and that as a single woman I wouldn’t have that same proportion of help or a second wage to build up the deposit. It’s hard not to feel inferior or like I’m some kind of failure for not owning a property. It’s just feels so hard to do it on your own.

 

[Be creative]

I love threads like this and reading other peoples experiences. I would be a first time buyer going it alone and it terrifies me. I have a good deposit that has taken me YEARS to save but I still live with parents and am 39! I’m just so scared to take the plunge and do it on my own.

Do it! You’ll honestly never regret it and it gets your foot on the ladder. I’m from Scotland so I know it’s different legal system wise up here (I’ve never understood why you guys pay to buy a house you are effectively renting - no judgement - just confusion!) but anyhow. You’ve got your deposit - go grab life and do it. You’ll have a blast. Promise. I bought on my own and as terrifying as it is, wouldn’t ever change it

 

[mcfeez]

We were saving for our wedding actually then realised we did not want an expensive wedding at all and so just kept going with the idea that it would be a house deposit. I think we had about 18k saved but we live in a cheaper to buy place (not London!) - our house cost £136000 for a newly refurbed end terrace and we put down 10% on it. We owned absolutely zero furniture so that was a challenge too, slowly buying bits and having no proper bed for a little while.

 

[bellinibobble]

This kind of stuff fascinates me! I have a family member the same age as me who's just bought a house 4 x the value of mine (admittedly London v up North). Last year had a wedding, the cost of which I dread to think.. I would love to know how they afforded all of it.. I reckon some help from parents plus London wages but it's not the sort of thing you can ask is it? Or expect an honest answer if you do..

Is it typical to buy a house in London with a 10% deposit or are there different LTV ratios that are more popular with first time buyers getting more expensive properties?

 

[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

 

[GiftedNotFree]

Love reading everyone’s experiences. No money from grandparents/ inheritance etc, I’ve got working class parents (so no money from them either!) but looking to buy in the central belt of Scotland this time next year. Max want to spend 125k and have 20% deposit. I’ve saved approx 15% of that already (solo, no partner etc). The thought of owning my own place is scary but exciting so here’s hoping the economy holds out!

 

[xoshanie]

This thread is soo crazy!! I’m 22 and get so panicky about how I’m ever going to afford a flat here in London. If you’ve bought in London, what would you say made you buy here and not further out where it’s cheaper?

I live in London and neither my parents own houses. My grandparents house they bought when they moved over from Jamaica in the 60s was sold when they passed and distributed to the children which I believe has all been spent on clearing debt so I’m literally saving from square one which of course I know a lot of people have had to do, I’m just such an impatient person like I’d love to have somewhere of my own

I can’t deal with London prices either, I was seeing 4 bed detached houses in Norfolk starting at £190k when in London that would barely get me a studio or 1 bed in a decent area I can’t justify spending such a huge amount knowing I can get so much better elsewhere!

 

[SunshineDreamer]

I was exceptionally lucky - my grandparents gave me a house in Kensington as part of my trust fund when I graduated from University (it’s something they do for all of us). I feel incredibly lucky as properties where we live do not often come up for sale.

 

[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.

 

[jewelkitty]

This thread is soo crazy!! I’m 22 and get so panicky about how I’m ever going to afford a flat here in London. If you’ve bought in London, what would you say made you buy here and not further out where it’s cheaper?

I live in London and neither my parents own houses. My grandparents house they bought when they moved over from Jamaica in the 60s was sold when they passed and distributed to the children which I believe has all been spent on clearing debt so I’m literally saving from square one which of course I know a lot of people have had to do, I’m just such an impatient person like I’d love to have somewhere of my own

I can’t deal with London prices either, I was seeing 4 bed detached houses in Norfolk starting at £190k when in London that would barely get me a studio or 1 bed in a decent area I can’t justify spending such a huge amount knowing I can get so much better elsewhere!

I'm not from London but I've been living here for the last few years (working and renting) and I absolutely could never see myself buying here. I've had a look to see what's out there and it's incredibly depressing. A colleague of mine was showing us some flats he was looking at buying (he's from London so wants to stay here) and it only confirmed for me that I will never ever buy here. Everywhere he showed was a flat which was really just one floor of your average terraced house or even just the converted attic space, in pretty crappy and very-far-from-central areas, all around 250k! That is mental. I get the pain of not being able to afford to live in your hometowen as well though as I'm from Dublin and it's the same situation there, maybe not quite as bad. But it's extremely difficult to buy there too. I've looked at buying in cities like Edinburgh, Leeds and Manchester and holy moley, you really see how ripped off you are in Dublin and London.

 

[jewelkitty]

We haven't bought yet but we have a 30k deposit ready to go. We both saved it up ourselves, my part mostly came from bonuses I got the last few years. My parents have subtly offered to help a little bit as they recently moved house and earned a great profit on it as they moved out of an expensive city into the countryside. I'd rather not take their money though as I'd prefer to see them enjoy it themselves. My grandmother is very wealthy because my granddad who passed away was a classic rags-to-riches story, worked himself from relying on charities for food to owning his own successful business. However my grandmother has said she doesn't want to give any inheritance to her grandkids as we can work for our own money lol, so definitely won't be depending on any inheritance.

 

[Greys1324]

We live in London and pay £1100 a month in rent. Short answer, we can't. We previously lived in a studio flat with cheap rent and we managed to save 4k in the three years we lived there. Then the landlady decided not to renew her contract for no particular reason (she was a nasty bitch anyway). We had literally three weeks to find a new place and it was over the Christmas period. The 4k got eaten up by deposits and agent fees and contract fees and all kinds of BS and we were back to square one. In the three years we've lived in this place, we've managed to save 3k. We don't live extravagantly, we just have high rent and bills to pay. We've still never been on a honeymoon and it's been six years. I would like to start trying for a baby now, I'm 33 but we don't have space here and how could we afford it? We both came from poor backgrounds and have no financial help from either side. So I guess we're fucked lol.

Would you consider moving out of London? I live in Essex so the commute isn’t too bad and you could rent a 2 bedroomed flat/possibly small house depending on the area for the same money.

 

[Freebies_come2me]

Admittedly, I am damn nosy. I live in London, I am curious to know how couples saved up for house deposit when the price of a 3 bedroom Victorian terrace can start from 550k at least (zone 4./fixed upper).

Not too sure if this topic feeds into Tattle Life haha

We bought a 1 bed flat in London with Help 2 Buy, we paid for the deposit with our own money, 2 years of saving and managed to do it quickly because I received a good bonus from my shit job at the end of 2nd year.
Deposit: 18k

 

[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 fuck... 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!

 

[Tiantian1005]

I live and work in London since I moved here 20 years ago. You would be surprised how many people are well paid in City of London to be able to afford properties. I dont doubt for a second that many had help from families and many properties in London are owned by old money but for what i know, 90% of the colleagues have more than one property in London and mostly through their own salary/saving. The average salary before bonus in City of London is now 70K meaning a couple should be able to buy a 500K flat after a few years saving. And this is not high flying industries like bankers or lawyers who could buy faster.