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AIBU?

AIBU in asking how much money you had left after buying your first home?

150 replies

jbevan6 · 30/03/2017 08:59

Myself and my partner are the first of our friends to be purchasing our first home, so without anyone else to ask, I’m hoping to find out the general consensus on here.....

We have found a property we would like to make an offer on and it is at the very top end of our budget when it comes to our borrowing facility. We are confident we can afford the repayments comfortably enough but our issue is the initial fees involved.

We just about have enough money to cover the deposit, stamp duty, legal fees etc. After we have paid all of these fees we will have no more saved money and would have to use all of the furniture in our current rented property (we already have all the basics as our property was totally unfurnished).

Are we being absolutely stupid here? I was originally of the opinion that all first time buyers put absolutely every last penny in to buying their first home but I’m worried I could be wrong and this is not the norm!
Thanks Smile

OP posts:
Sassypants82 · 30/03/2017 09:06

You can make do with sparse furniture of course, but consider flooring/carpets, blinds, house alarm, tiling etc if its a new build & possibly even if not. These were things I hadn't fully considered & ended up running into a few thousand.

Sassypants82 · 30/03/2017 09:07

Oh and just to add, we used every cent of our savings - that's what it's there for.

maddiemookins16mum · 30/03/2017 09:08

I had about £800 (this is 16 years ago) and it scared me silly as it was less than a months take home wage. Luckily I managed but I was worried something would happen and I'd not be able to pay for a repair or large bill (and could no longer just rely on my Landlord). But, I had to start somewhere and deep down I knew that if the worst happened I might have been able to borrow a few hundred from my mum (never needed to).

AnotherYellowBelly · 30/03/2017 09:08

We owed 1k to my df and had to spend the first month living off an overdraft! We were back on our feet within a few months and it was worth it 100%. We had to rush because we were served notice on our rented house so decided just to go for it. Things were really tough through the buying process as most our wages were going on fees etc and we were living on the very basics. After completion I bought dc new winter coats, shoes and a car seat as they were desperate! It really opened our eyes to how much money we could save a month and even now 3 years later we spend a lot less on food and stuff than before.

Moanyoldcow · 30/03/2017 09:09

We had about £4K left because we had to do the bathroom as a priority (it was awful).

I don't 'love' credit but the interest free deals with DFS and Dreams Got is our sofa and bed and the rest we did but by bit.

You sound like you've thought it through and it will be fine. Most people struggle the first year or so - you need that long to get used to the space.

Good luck!

londonrach · 30/03/2017 09:10

£0 thats what the savings were for. Furniture etc were donated by family, friends or picked up very cheap. Ill replace later when money allows.

RabidLimboMum · 30/03/2017 09:12

We were left with about £7000 and also had furniture from our rented accommodation. However, we had to pay for flooring and other fittings which cost around £1000+ and there were a few other unexpected expenses.

Our mortgage payment is substantially cheaper than our rent though so we were been able to build our savings back up a little - until I went on maternity leave anyway... Now we are running worrying low haha.

AgathaMystery · 30/03/2017 09:13

None. Absolutely nothing.

Sodomeyes · 30/03/2017 09:13

We had about £80,000 saved and used £65,000 of it for the deposit, fees etc. That £65,000 worked out as a 45% deposit.

But, we did need lots of work doing straight away so we wanted enough for that.

Are we being absolutely stupid here? I was originally of the opinion that all first time buyers put absolutely every last penny in to buying their first home but I’m worried I could be wrong and this is not the norm!

TBH, I think it's a bit silly to go to the top of your budget. I think it makes more sense to go for a property that you can very easily afford even if your circumstances changed like if one of you lost your job. We went almost to the bottom of our budget- we got the 'type' of house we wanted (three bedroom, in a particular area, period) but as cheap as we could. We can easily meet the mortgage payments if one of us lost our jobs and the other one went part time.

BreezyThursday · 30/03/2017 09:13

I don't think you're being stupid if you are happy living with what you have now in terms of contents (too many people seem to get stuck on having new everything) and that you can save from your salary going forward - having the capacity to restart your savings is important for any issues going forward.
Good luck!

Crumbs1 · 30/03/2017 09:15

We had very little left and struggled to make ends meet. The oldest child recalls all our food having blue and white striped packaging. We'd already acquired some furniture and were given cast offs. It enabled us to get a foothold and move on up.
Our eldest is now buying her first and has a huge £450, 000 mortgage. We've helped with deposit and will buy much of the furniture. They'll have enough for a holiday, cinema etc but not huge amounts left over. They worked out the cost of mortgage repayments won't be much more than the rent they would otherwise have to pay. They went for top end of their budget so they aren't forced to move if they have a baby/babies a few years down the line.

BreezyThursday · 30/03/2017 09:15

I would add, however, that there should be a very good reason to offer on the property you want to rather than anything cheaper.

RebelandaStunner · 30/03/2017 09:16

Same here, we used every penny. Didn't start putting any savings away until a few months in. Apart from paint we did nothing to it for a couple of years.

gabsdot · 30/03/2017 09:17

It's a long time since we bought our house. We had a bed and a suite of furniture that we had been making payments on. We had money set aside for a washing machine and cooker but the previous owner left them behind so we used that money to buy a dining room set. We also had some money for decorating but we had to live with hideous carpets and bathroom for several years.

mumofmunchkin · 30/03/2017 09:17

We had about £2k left after moving, which promptly got spent on toilet roll holders, loo brushes, light shades, curtains, baking trays which actually fit in the oven - it was a new build so there were no convenient bits left by a previous owner, just bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling. It made me uncomfortable for a few months until we'd built up a cushion again.

MrsKoala · 30/03/2017 09:17

none. we slept on a blow up bed and sat on garden chairs for the first month. then bought a sofa bed from argos the second month. and a bed the third etc.

jbevan6 · 30/03/2017 09:18

You have no idea how reassuring it is to hear this, thank you! Grin
We are lucky in a way, as the property we are purchasing is modern having already been fully renovated by the previous owners. Other than having to put our furniture in, there is no other work which will need doing immediately, fingers crossed we will be fine!

OP posts:
Crumbelina · 30/03/2017 09:20

Pretty sure we put every last penny into it. We then did it up ourselves with monthly savings. Took us ages but it worked out well!

Feels like peanuts now (we're on the renovation of our second home) but it felt like a massive stretch at the time. Completely worth it though! Good luck!

HomeFree55 · 30/03/2017 09:21

We were left with a couple of thousand and this terrified me too. However it did take 4 months from offer to completion (which is quite quick apparently) so whilst we were still paying rent and bills we were able to save some more before we moved.

We moved into out home 18 months ago and have just bought the sofa we wanted and decorated the front room - before this we had our second hand furniture and things from when we rented! For us it was worth buying the house and then waiting and slowly buying the nice furniture we wanted

Good luck

Ginslinger · 30/03/2017 09:21

I'm not trying to do some sort of race-to-the-bottom here - we overspent on the house because that was our best investment but we had all second-hand furniture and hand-me-downs. Ideal Homes it wasn't but we were young and in love and didn't mind. I'm really glad we did it because it set us up for the years to come. A house should increase in value but furniture etc, unless it's fancy antique/bespoke won,;t.

Blinkingblimey · 30/03/2017 09:22

We had none left - we were happy to make do whilst we saved up for all the stuff to fill it with. To be honest it also gave us the opportunity to live in the house and work out what we really wanted/what suited it etc. It seems to be a 'modern' thing that people seem to expect everything to be exactly as they want it immediately - life's a work in progress, your home is too😀. Obvs appreciate there are people who 'can't cope' with not having everything as they wish but that's their personal choice.

thecapitalsunited · 30/03/2017 09:22

You do need to think about what would happen if say the boiler broke down right after you moved in or one of you lost your jobs. Can you pay the mortgage on one salary for instance? If not you need to make sure you have a 6 month buffer if not when you move in but asap afterwards.

We used most of our savings when we purchased but didn't touch what I like to refer to as the 'Oh fuck fund'. I'm moving soon and rather than putting more into the deposit (could have had a better LTV) we are increasing the OFF to meet our higher outgoings and to take into account the fact that we will need to do work when we move.

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Socksey · 30/03/2017 09:23

We had absolutely none... all our savings went on legal fees and deposit etc...
Ebay is your friend... you'd be amazed at what you can get for 99p.... I've had beds (hardly used), sofas, tables etc... all the basics...

sonjadog · 30/03/2017 09:25

I had nothing at all left. In fact I owed my Mum a fair bit. The first year finances were tight, but after that, it settled down and I could start saving again.

wineoclockthanks · 30/03/2017 09:25

It was a long time ago (1990) but we were left with nothing. We sat on deckchairs for 6months before we could afford to buy some second hand armchairs. We slowly saved enough and bought stuff as we went along.

The interest rate when we bought was 13.6% Shock the market then crashed and it went down to 9% which made us feel sooo rich Smile (we were on a variable rate)

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