Saving for house deposit

[Laur91]

You'll be debt holders and have a huge mortgage to service for several decades.

All these schemes are just props to keep the housing bubble inflated. Only help bankers and housebuilders.

I find it pretty depressing people are told to live their young years like they're impoverished just to buy an overpriced house. Go without everything for a few years, then you can take on a huge debt

House prices are so out of sync with wages it won't last forever. Then you have automation coming in at a rapid pace, the future is very shaky. Enjoy your life, there's a whole world out there and in a blink it'll be over.

So I pay someone else’s mortgage off now at £1400 a month, I can’t decorate the house, we can’t add to the house, we have to ask if we want a pet, we have to ask someone else to come fix the tap if it leaks.

or I save my hard earned money and put it into something that belongs to ME and that I will own that I can do whatever I please with. I will enjoy my life so much more when we can go on nice holiday, get married and have children because we have our own home. Right now I feel like I’m living in limbo because the house we live in is someone else’s!

 

[Yel]

Its only temporarily and then the world is your oyster AND you’ll be homeowners!

You'll be debt holders and have a huge mortgage to service for several decades.

All these schemes are just props to keep the housing bubble inflated. Only help bankers and housebuilders.

I find it pretty depressing people are told to live their young years like they're impoverished just to buy an overpriced house. Go without everything for a few years, then you can take on a huge debt

House prices are so out of sync with wages it won't last forever. Then you have automation coming in at a rapid pace, the future is very shaky. Enjoy your life, there's a whole world out there and in a blink it'll be over.

 

[LLJ]

Thank you for all your responses, really helpful! I know there isn't a rush but I do feel like time is ticking sometimes!! Most of my friends and even my younger sister have all moved out but because they have had babies they were given council houses... so I guess that's why I feel a bit behind.
Inheritance would help so much right now but longevity runs in my family!!

 

[OnlyHereForTheLolz]

Sometimes you have to make hard choices to get what you want.
We had crap cars, no holidays or really cheapy ones, no gym etc to start off with and I still had a grand old time with my friends getting pissed on Lambrini!
But now I’m in my 30’s and we are mortgage free, debt free and have several holidays a year.
I know we all are different and that youngsters these days need to have the IG life. One of my advantages was also that I didn’t care what people thought (had loads of comments about the shit car I used to drive, from friends!)
Unfortunately only you can decide what you are willing to give up to get on the property ladder.

 

[Elsass]

We are also saving for a deposit! Not going to get into the renting v buying debate but I just can’t wait to be able to decorate and deal with things for ourselves after 10 years of renting.

What has worked for us is treating the help to buy ISA as a bill. So we each put our £200 in at the start of the month and that’s gone, we can’t see it to spend it. We’ve also cut out takeaways and eating out... we were spending about £250-300 a month on a takeaway and a meal out a week which is ridiculous. You don’t have to feel like you’re missing out if you buy nice things like a fancy pizza or steak from the supermarket for a treat... it’s still a lot cheaper than a single takeaway we’ve found.

In this way we’re saving about £700 a month, plus whatever else is leftover at the end of the month, if anything

 

[Yel]

this is nonsense really. We saved so hard for our first house and put down a good deposit. We went without with regards to so many things. I was 35. We have been here for 5 years and are now moving to another house that’s more expensive and bigger as we now have 3 children. We’re going to be living in front of a beautiful park in a lovely area. We could only dream of this before, but because we prioritised and saved,our fitter for our family is looking great. I was also able to leave work after buying our house when I because a mum as our mortgage was lower than our rent. We’ve been making £100 over payments towards our mortgage each month. Buying is generally always better than renting in so many ways.



sounds like someone’s a little bitter towards property owners and is probably renting. You don’t need to convince those of us who would prefer to own our own homes rather than throw money at landlords to pay their own mortgages and live in big houses!

I don't think you've really understood what I said.

You were 35, I'm talking about people in their early 20s that are so often told to live on next to nothing just to sign up to huge debt.

Just because it worked for you then, doesn't mean it can be repeated again today. The economy is on life support right now, many have benefited from near zero interest rates. But no one knows how long they will last for and they could go above the long term average of 6-7%.

People have very short memories, but it's cyclical and plenty have regretted buying. Just not in recent years as there's been huge stimulus and props to keep the housing bubble inflated. No tools left come the next recession though.

No I'm not a "bitter renter" some people are able to look outside of their own life at injustices.

 

[Avocadoontoast]

I wasn't saying rental is perfect.

But putting just a 5% deposit down certainly isn't. You won't own anything. If interest rates rise that deposit could be lost as house prices fall and the moment you can't service the debt it will be taken away. You own nothing really until it's paid off. How many jobs are going to be secure for the next 30 years? Just because interest rates are low now, I wouldn't assume once you get a mortgage that you'd have oodles of money left over for holidays and that.

The whole system is messed up because people are allowed to borrow money to buy more houses and inflate the price. Most of those people were just right place at right time and can remortgage something existing. It's a Ponzi scheme.

Sure save some money for the future, but it's grim going without everything just to buy something massively overpriced. I still think a correction is due.

this is nonsense really. We saved so hard for our first house and put down a good deposit. We went without with regards to so many things. I was 35. We have been here for 5 years and are now moving to another house that’s more expensive and bigger as we now have 3 children. We’re going to be living in front of a beautiful park in a lovely area. We could only dream of this before, but because we prioritised and saved,our fitter for our family is looking great. I was also able to leave work after buying our house when I because a mum as our mortgage was lower than our rent. We’ve been making £100 over payments towards our mortgage each month. Buying is generally always better than renting in so many ways.

I wasn't saying rental is perfect.

But putting just a 5% deposit down certainly isn't. You won't own anything. If interest rates rise that deposit could be lost as house prices fall and the moment you can't service the debt it will be taken away. You own nothing really until it's paid off. How many jobs are going to be secure for the next 30 years? Just because interest rates are low now, I wouldn't assume once you get a mortgage that you'd have oodles of money left over for holidays and that.

The whole system is messed up because people are allowed to borrow money to buy more houses and inflate the price. Most of those people were just right place at right time and can remortgage something existing. It's a Ponzi scheme.

Sure save some money for the future, but it's grim going without everything just to buy something massively overpriced. I still think a correction is due.

sounds like someone’s a little bitter towards property owners and is probably renting. You don’t need to convince those of us who would prefer to own our own homes rather than throw money at landlords to pay their own mortgages and live in big houses!

 

[Yel]

You sound very bitter and seeing as you know nothing about me and the career I have I don’t think it’s your business to say what’s perfect or not but I’m sorry you have the view you have.

It’s a choice millions of people seem to make happily every day and I’ve not encountered many people that have said they regret buying property but thank you for your input!

Oh no it's nothing to do with you, just being pragmatic about how risky it is to take long term debt for several decades, with a tiny deposit when the future of the job market and interest rates is very shakey.

Not bitter and I own a property, but the UK market is shit. It's only really benefiting a small number of people at the top of the pyramid.

The government are very happy to enslave people with huge debt so they have to keep on working and paying their tax like good little worker bees.

Help to buy and all these govenment schemes are not your friend, they're to benefit the rich people and keep the housing bubble inflated.

Sadly people have very short term memories and only really see the last couple of years as continuing forever. It's almost ingrained in the public psyche that buying a house is the goal in life and once you buy it then it will forever increase in value and make you wealthy. It's more like a ponzi scheme.

 

[Yel]

So I pay someone else’s mortgage off now at £1400 a month, I can’t decorate the house, we can’t add to the house, we have to ask if we want a pet, we have to ask someone else to come fix the tap if it leaks.

or I save my hard earned money and put it into something that belongs to ME and that I will own that I can do whatever I please with. I will enjoy my life so much more when we can go on nice holiday, get married and have children because we have our own home. Right now I feel like I’m living in limbo because the house we live in is someone else’s!

I wasn't saying rental is perfect.

But putting just a 5% deposit down certainly isn't. You won't own anything. If interest rates rise that deposit could be lost as house prices fall and the moment you can't service the debt it will be taken away. You own nothing really until it's paid off. How many jobs are going to be secure for the next 30 years? Just because interest rates are low now, I wouldn't assume once you get a mortgage that you'd have oodles of money left over for holidays and that.

The whole system is messed up because people are allowed to borrow money to buy more houses and inflate the price. Most of those people were just right place at right time and can remortgage something existing. It's a Ponzi scheme.

Sure save some money for the future, but it's grim going without everything just to buy something massively overpriced. I still think a correction is due.

 

[CheeseToastie]

Also trying to save whilst renting, I find it a struggle also to find a balance, plus some of the deposits needed for where I live are borderline criminal

 

[Laur91]

I don't think you really get anything, I posted a simple video that a respected economic publication goes though the flaws in the argument. And you've commented without even watching

oh no, I watched it. But the thread is from someone who wants advice on how to save well for a house deposit, not whether they should buy a house at all. It just feels as though you’ve hijacked this thread trying to put any potential buyers off and that’s not really a decision you’re entitled to make on anyone else’s part and despite having made your point multiple times further up the thread you’re still changing the subject away from saving to why you shouldn’t buy at all. It just seems pushy!

 

[Mayday]

this is nonsense really. We saved so hard for our first house and put down a good deposit. We went without with regards to so many things. I was 35. We have been here for 5 years and are now moving to another house that’s more expensive and bigger as we now have 3 children. We’re going to be living in front of a beautiful park in a lovely area. We could only dream of this before, but because we prioritised and saved,our fitter for our family is looking great. I was also able to leave work after buying our house when I because a mum as our mortgage was lower than our rent. We’ve been making £100 over payments towards our mortgage each month. Buying is generally always better than renting in so many ways.

I think thats different though, as you were 35, which is a good age to buy a house.

I think @Yel is talking more about the pressure on people to buy houses from the get go. I know a lot of people who got on the property ladder as soon as possible (Like, 21/22), and then complain about how they have no money and how other people their age must have rich parents, because they can afford nice holidays and to go to festivals, when in reality its just that their peers haven't put all of their money into savings every month for a mortgage deposit. I also know a lot of young people who got mortgages with people they were only dating for a year or so (which is crazy to me), and then broke up.

I personally don't think there is a 'right' or 'wrong' way, but I think if someone does want to travel a bit or has things on their bucket list they want to tick off before buying a house/having kids/getting married, then its best to prioritise those things before being tied down by a mortgage. If someone doesn't, and they just want a house, then fair enough and that should be their priority.

 

[Hinchhater1442]

I guess it depends how much you want a home and how soon you want it? £50 isn’t a lot at all..

to put it into perspective for you, at the time of saving I was earning roughly £20k and was putting around £700 a month into savings- my partner was matching that, and more if he could! we lived with parents so paid about £200 rent and bought our own food on top of that. We cut back a lot, but we still paid for the gym. We’d go to the gym every evening as it kept us occupied and we got into a lot of Netflix series to pass the time.
As someone said above, games nights can be cheap and feels less like you’re being a hermit as it’s cheap socialising

however other things:-
Holidays - we literally didn’t go on any. However we pre-planned our post house holiday so felt like we had something to look forward to
Going out - can really add up! Nominate yourself as designated driver and ask your friends to buy your soft drinks in return (or cash for your fuel!)
Eating out - again can really add up. We’d aim for somewhere cheap or somewhere that did deals e.g two meals for £10
take away - again there are cheaper options. Chinese can be expensive compared to chippy for example!

like I said it comes down to how hard you want to save and how soon you want to move out

good luck!

 

[Kbird]

My worry if renting was always, what happens at retirement age and you still have to pay rent bit you will probably be living on alot less money. Whereas if you buy and hopefully pay off by early 60's you have such security. Also renting you can be kicked out due to the landlord wanting to sell etc.
I saved and saved, no holidays etc just to get that deposit together. We only had the minimum deposit at the time we bought which meant our monthly payments were high. However it was worth the initial stuggle as now payments are much less on a lower intrest rate. We pay much less than rent for a one bed flat in our area.

 

[midnightrose]

I don't think you've really understood what I said.

You were 35, I'm talking about people in their early 20s that are so often told to live on next to nothing just to sign up to huge debt.

Just because it worked for you then, doesn't mean it can be repeated again today. The economy is on life support right now, many have benefited from near zero interest rates. But no one knows how long they will last for and they could go above the long term average of 6-7%.

People have very short memories, but it's cyclical and plenty have regretted buying. Just not in recent years as there's been huge stimulus and props to keep the housing bubble inflated. No tools left come the next recession though.

No I'm not a "bitter renter" some people are able to look outside of their own life at injustices.

I agree with @Yel - I don’t think they’re being bitter at all, and raise some really important criticisms which is healthy for a balanced debate.

 

[Guacamole123]

I completely agree with @Yel. I’m sick of family members pressuring me and my partner to buy a house. Both our families bought decent size houses for 50k 20 years ago and we don’t have such opportunities anymore. Every day I see people on forums online suggesting people go through shared ownership to buy their house and ‘get on the property ladder’ and I just want to scream ‘NOOOO DONT DO THAT’. I enjoy being in my 20’s going out with friends, taking lots of nice holidays and just generally enjoying life. I have no desire to buy a house yet. the house we rent is through a lovely landlord and if anything goes wrong we don’t have to worry about coughing up the money to fix it. Society tells us that getting on the property ladder as soon as possible is one of the most important things in life, I personally think being happy and enjoying yourself is the most important. Yeah, we’ll own a house at some point, most likely when we get some inheritance money to put down on a house.

 

[Mayday]

Some advice if you do need to save, as I realise my last post probably wasn't helpful:

- Switch brands when possible - i.e go for cheaper options, or maybe do some (or all, if possible) of your shopping at Lidl/Aldi if you don't already. If not, then get a Tesco club card and save that way. It can be good for phone contracts too as you can use the points you rack up to lower your bill for some months.
- Phone contracts - don't free the need to upgrade your phone when your contract is up. Also, depending on how much data/minutes/text you use per month, you could get a contract that offers some flexibility. I think some will allow you to change your tariff now and then if you're not using all of the data/minutes/text, so it could save a few quid each month.
- Gym - I think its worth keeping if you use it regularly. Maybe see if there are any cheaper gyms in your area? If not, maybe join a running group (might be cheaper or free?) or there are lots of websites that have at home programmes for free (and all you really need are dumbbells and a mat for most) - FitnessBlender is really good, and they do have some programmes you can buy which are only around £10 each (and once you buy it, its not a subscription so its just a one-off payment). I think the BodyPump/Combat classes are also available online for a subscription each month (but at a much cheaper cost than the gym), and you get unlimited use.
- Might not be an option, but if you have any old childhood toys/memorabilia hanging about, then it might be worth checking that out and selling some on Ebay. I had a lot of old Gameboy games, Pokemon cards etc that I was surprised were worth a bit a few years ago.
- Buy secondhand - Mostly for things like clothing. You don't necessarily have to go to charity shops, but Depop and Ebay are good. Also I think having a 'one in one out' approach is good, so if you do want a new piece, you can sell something else and use the money you make to go towards it.

As for holidays/nights out, etc, I wouldn't completely give them up! I think its important to have a life, but maybe set yourself a budget of how much you'd be willing to spend (could be per month each?). I'd also say try to find bargains, like maybe do cinemas on the day its the cheapest (or see if you can get 2 for 1). Or for gigs - pick the cheapest tickets, or lesser-known artists/smaller venues (or a local festival, so you can see a lot of artists but get your moneys worth, and that could kind of count as a holiday too). For holidays - I'd say try to go at the cheapest times of the year (so not during the summer), and maybe use a site like STAtravel where they're more targeted at backpackers/budget holidays?

 

[Web30]

Buying a house was the best thing we have done. Our mortgage is a lot cheaper then local rent and knowing we will have nothing to pay out in 20 years is a really good feeling.

As for saving, just cut back on everything, knowing it's not forever helps!

 

[Yel]

okay, we get it, you think people wanting to buy a house is bad. good lord....

I don't think you really get anything, I posted a simple video that a respected economic publication goes though the flaws in the argument. And you've commented without even watching

 

[Takinginthetea]

Currently renting AND saving atm its hard but we now have a baby on the way and we want some solid ground to begin family life, hopefully back end of next year we have a nice deposit together, luckily in my area in north east 3/4 bed semi detached with garage goes from anywhere 120k/160k some say thats alot for our 1st home but i dont intend on moving again when i get on property ladder