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

[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.

 

[Calabria]

I know I’m very lucky to have been gifted £35k for a deposit by my Dad, but, it’s actually inheritance from losing my Mum when I was in my early teens that was kept safe until I had settled down enough to think about buying. Of course I feel very lucky to have it, but also obviously would rather still have my Mum. Until Dad announced the existence of the inheritance I had never thought I’d be able to own as a single woman on an average salary. I have struggled massively financially in the past due to mental health issues and I’ll be really honest that owning my own place scares the shit out of me.

I’ve just started looking, the building I live in currently has a 2 bed flat on for OIEO £260k and houses start around £320k. I’m outside of London on the coast.

 

[NosyCat]

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!

Some boroughs seem to have their own shared ownership schemes if you are from there. My friend bought a place recently in west London (born and raised) and she bought part of the property with a mortgage and rents the other part from the council, but the council pays/heavily subsidises the rent for her. I don’t know if relevant for you and there might be more to it but could be worth looking in to!

 

[LT31514]

Saved every penny of our own. Both our parents are not well off so a gift or loan was never a question.

Bought our place in last 10 years. A modest 3 bed end terrace but the back garden looks exclusively onto a golf course (don’t worry; it’s not St Andrews ). 5% deposit was on offer at the time but not shared equity (thankfully!) Love our little place and by time we are planning to sell we will only have about £40k left on the mortgage. Money from the sale and our savings will allow us to buy our final/dream place.

Best bit of advice? Don’t overly stretch yourself on your first place. We took a place that 1 of us could cover bills/mortgage for in event of job loss or redundancy. I nearly sweated buckets when I seen the AIP offer from Halifax willing to lend us over £300k on my old (previously quite shit wage) realise £300k is NOTHING to most house buyers down South but in Scotland (Central Scotland especially) that’s McMansion material

Couldn’t agree more with this last bit. We also did the same and made sure either of us could comfortably pay the mortgage without the other wage. It turns out corona meant that happened and we haven’t even noticed the drop in one salary.

 

[Freebies_come2me]

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.

I am probably in the wrong part of London can I send you my CV

 

[Pixipoppy]

South wales!
House prices are cheaper than London, obviously but not as cheap as some places. My best friend lives in north england and they bought their first home for £100k last year and its bigger than my new build!

I’ve yet to ever see a new build (or any!) 3 bedroom house for that cheap where I live Different areas even in SW vary massively as well - in the valleys I’ve seen some houses for as little as £80k!

 

[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!

 

[Freebies_come2me]

Well you will have to look at what exactly you're managing to burn through £90k a year on, whilst also considering if the £550k area is where you really need to be and can you start with a place a bit cheaper in a lesser area down the road a bit I guess!

90k just kicks in literally half a year ago, we were not on 90k until Feb 2020.

 

[marlaxo]

We got our first property when I was 21 by my partners parents remortgaging their property. They brought a 3 bed ex council house with the proceeds. We then paid them 'rent' on this and we did all the renovation work on it ourselves, and then when it was sold when we wanted to move, we were gifted the profit made (£80k) as we had paid over £25k in rent + reno costs. We had car finance on two cars plus a small loan so we paid them off and have put down the rest : £50k (27.5%) on our 4 bed detached house, the mortgage is over a very long term though so that we have low monthly payments for now and can keep saving, so that we can hopefully pay big chunks off every time we have to renegotiate.

 

[Drea1984]

Has anyone bought their council house?

 

[Pixipoppy]

We bought our 3 bed new build 2 years ago for £135,000 using a 5% deposit which we saved ourselves by living with parents and help to buy equity loan. Although we did have to move 30 mins out of the city we live and work in and commute. My grandparents also gave us 5k to buy flooring, appliances, etc
After a 16k inheritance last year and saving we now have enough to pay off help to buy and we are looking to upgrade to a 4 bed detached property.

Where do you live?!

 

[Lynseyp]

Has anyone bought their council house?

We hope to buy ours in a few years time.
The longer you are a council tenant the bigger the discount. A colleague of mine bought his council house and as he got a large discount he didn't need a deposit with his bank as the discount was effectively the deposit.
I'm from the South and our council's rules state that if you were to sell the property within a fixed period (less than 4 years i believe) then we would have to sell it back to the council.

 

[Drea1984]

We hope to buy ours in a few years time.
The longer you are a council tenant the bigger the discount. A colleague of mine bought his council house and as he got a large discount he didn't need a deposit with his bank as the discount was effectively the deposit.
I'm from the South and our council's rules state that if you were to sell the property within a fixed period (less than 4 years i believe) then we would have to sell it back to the council.

Thank you. I’d heard you didn’t need much of a deposit.
I’d get maximum discount as been a tenant for more years than I care to remember!
I would be able to afford the rent but don’t think I would get a mortgage on my salary?

 

[kadykal95]

We bought our 3 bed new build 2 years ago for £135,000 using a 5% deposit which we saved ourselves by living with parents and help to buy equity loan. Although we did have to move 30 mins out of the city we live and work in and commute. My grandparents also gave us 5k to buy flooring, appliances, etc
After a 16k inheritance last year and saving we now have enough to pay off help to buy and we are looking to upgrade to a 4 bed detached property.

 

[JoeBloggs]

We bought our house just under 3 year ago, we were renting my parents flat at half market rent to get a deposit together. Between us we had about £25k as we weren’t earning what we do now.

We had to relocate over 20 miles away just to be able to afford what we have (3 bed house vs a 2 bed flat where we were). We bought a complete wreck which my parents helped us do up while we lived rent free for 6 months in the flat. We bought our house for £325k and put down £75k as the deposit, £65k of that we were gifted from my parents.

We also borrowed £16k from them for a new car, as my husbands set fire the week we moved in and to finish renovating the house which we paid back in full over the last two years and finished at Christmas.

Most of my friends are on the ladder due to help or inheritance. I don’t know anyone who has been able to do it on their own back, we live in Surrey so the prices are high.

We did nearly buy a similar house in Nottingham back in 2013 for £103k but pulled out which I am glad of but the price different is crazy.

 

[kadykal95]

Where do you live?!

South wales!
House prices are cheaper than London, obviously but not as cheap as some places. My best friend lives in north england and they bought their first home for £100k last year and its bigger than my new build!

 

[Mickybrowneyes]

I bought my house outright after losing my parents. Whilst it's nice to be mortgage free it's a shitty way to get it and id rather not have lost my parents when I was a teenager and would happily pay a mortgage so I could see them. But I've made the best out of a crap situation.

We are going to remortgage soon so we can extend the house.

im so sorry for your loss

Saved every penny of our own. Both our parents are not well off so a gift or loan was never a question.

Bought our place in last 10 years. A modest 3 bed end terrace but the back garden looks exclusively onto a golf course (don’t worry; it’s not St Andrews ). 5% deposit was on offer at the time but not shared equity (thankfully!) Love our little place and by time we are planning to sell we will only have about £40k left on the mortgage. Money from the sale and our savings will allow us to buy our final/dream place.

Best bit of advice? Don’t overly stretch yourself on your first place. We took a place that 1 of us could cover bills/mortgage for in event of job loss or redundancy. I nearly sweated buckets when I seen the AIP offer from Halifax willing to lend us over £300k on my old (previously quite shit wage) realise £300k is NOTHING to most house buyers down South but in Scotland (Central Scotland especially) that’s McMansion material

Great advice, COVID has many taught many people that life can change in an instant and it’s good to be in a position where you or your partner could handle the bills on their ow should anything happen xx

 

[Drea1984]

Thats exactly the same with me, my rent is low for a 3 bedroom terraced but I wouldn't be able to get a mortgage on my salary. It'll happen but not just yet

I know nothing about mortgages. I wonder if they would take the equity into account when deciding if you could afford the repayments? Massively regret not buying years ago but circumstances were different then

 

[Bogwoppit]

Has anyone bought their council house? How does a right to buy mortgage work please?

Yes we bought ours 12 yrs ago, didn’t need a deposit & because had been living in it for 5 yrs we got a huge discount, there was a clause in ours that if sold it in the first 10 yrs the council would have first refusal to buy it back & the discount would have to be paid back, we’ve done a fair bit to it over the yrs, we contacted the council to get the ball rolling.