To ask how you managed to buy a house?

[ditziness]

We pay close to a grand rent a month. It's of our friend's mortgages are cheaper. As a consequence it's very difficult to save. But save we must to tryand get a deposit. So we have to continue to rent

Stuck in a vicious circle.

How the hell did you manage to buy a house?

Any financial, deposit raising, mortgage getting advice welcome

If we hadn't sold our 2 bed in London, I was thinking about giving up our bedroom and buying a nice sofa bed to use in the living room.

Your children are very young right? why couldn't they share a bedroom and you could do without possibly?

That way, you could rent something much cheaper, and be able to save the difference.

Like you, I have wasted thousands and thousands of pounds on nothing, I'm also wishing a bit that I had done things differently.

Good luck :)

Didnt buy a house until I was 32 (DH 34) By then we had enough to pay a deposit.

Another factor in me being able to buy was that as
I was single, I'd always lived in shared houses/flats after graduating rather than setting myself up in a rented flat as my own household. This enabled me to save to add to my (small) inheritance, and also spurred me on as I was desperate for a place of my own. I appreciate this is totally not for someone with a family, only for a single person, but it was worth the few years of flatmate horrors.

I also was just about the last generation that didn't graduate with masses of student debt. I managed at Uni with a combination of student loans and grants and help from my mum, and also interest on my inheritance (I didn't dip into the capital myself except to pay for my masters) - interest rates were way higher then so I got about £70 a month as it was in a high-yield account, which went an awfully long way as a student. When I graduated I immediately started a job at a level that triggered the student loan repayments, and after 5 years they were paid. It's a world away from today when it's a rare student whose debt is in the single-figure thousands.

Casper it's not even the house prices - though I'd still struggle to justify 250K for a 2 bed flat. It's what the banks want - when you have been paying more in rent for years more than you would for a mortgage on a like for like property (and area!) and so have proven you are credit worthy and have never defaulted - yet are refused a mortgage, that's the problem!

The crazy deposits are the issue. I don't think 100% mortgages are a bad thing provided you don't over extend yourself. I have a good job, a good above-average salary, have an excellent credit score, and have never, ever not paid our 750-1k rent (risen over 5 years) and yet because I do not have 20, 30, 40 thousand pounds available to me, I am not eligible for a mortgage.

I understand everything went tits up, the banks want more loan to value security, etc etc. But when I say I hope things will get better, I mean the terms for mortgages will get better. A 10K deposit in three years is doable but still meaningless in London.

For people like me, it's immensely frustrating - we are capable of paying our mortgages. We have seen the mistakes of 2008, of 100% mortgages being given out but in huge sums, and we have paid for other people's mistakes in that respect. My personal options are: keep my finances healthy and in order, keep saving, and at some point potentially buy in my home town where prices are insanely low in comparison to London, and have that as collateral and security, and keep renting in London.

Our bank.

Quite frankly that was it. Dh has been with the same bank since he was 16 and then when we got married, the account became a joint one.

They say banks don't reward loyal customers but our bank knew our credit history. On their advice I got a credit card (our first) for a year or two whilst we were just considering the possibility of moving. This gave us a credit score.

We were not in any debt and never had been. I can count on one hand the number of times we had been overdrawn. We were very very frugal and it showed. Also, like you we had been renting for a few years and that counted for something as the bank could see that our rent had come out every single month without a problem. We would be paying less with a mortgage so the bank knew there wouldn't be a problem keeping up with payments.

If I were you I would approach your bank, possibly armed with a reference from your landlord if you can get one, get a year's worth of bank summaries and point out your incomings, your outgoings and how much a mortgage would be.

Banks can use their discretion still. Because ours could see proof of our careful spending and because we had been with them a while, we didn't need to give them proof of our income. The bank instructed the underwriters to approve our mortgage application without the need for proof, which was excellent because we wouldn't have got one otherwise. My dh's basic wage was not enough and my wage as someone self employed didn't count.

I know many people have been in the same situation as us and still been refused a mortgage. But I really do recommend making an appointment with your bank, sitting down and talking to them face to face, with your credit history and bank statements on the table.

It probably differs from bank to bank and even on the person you deal with, but never say never. Just because someone else tried it and were turned down doesn't mean to say you will be. You might be lucky like us and turn up on the right day with the right person.

It's worth a shot.

saved every penny to the extent of not taking the bus and walking miles instead to save.

We bought our first house in 1998 when I was 27, dh 28. We managed because we were both working full time in good jobs (me teaching, dh was a junior doctor back then). Also, we were buying in the Outer Hebrides, where we got a 3 bed house with huge kitchen and lounge, granny flat and a holiday cottage in the grounds for £80k!

When we moved to Glasgow in 2006 we didn't sell up, we rented for a while. Our mortgage was pretty much paid off, but was one of hose ones you can draw down on (it has a name but this morning I jus t can't quite think of it!) so we were able to get a deposit to buy in Glasgow too. We now rent out the Hebridean house as a holiday let, along with the cottage. This gives us a separate income which is good as I only have a very part time job due to illness and it takes the strain off dh.

We also now get cheap holidays as we go back several times a year.

But whoever it was who said you can only manage it if you are both working pre kids is spot on. We got on the property ladder when prices were lo and our wages were good. We built up enough equity to buy again. I'd hate to be starting out now!

Ditziness - dont beat yourself up. I think you've had a really bad run of luck with crappy landlords - they're not all awful so it is possible to rent and feel happy and secure. If you cant afford to buy outright, could you look into new builds with a shared ownership scheme? That's what some of my friends in low income jobs (nurses, teachers etc) did when getting on the ladder and they were really happy with it.

I bought my first place in 2000 in London for £130,000 - small 2 bed flat in a shitty area between two cool areas in zone 1, walking distance to work- my dad had to go guarantor on it as it was 5x my salary but I had a small deposit (saved up for over a couple of years by scrimping hard, going without holidays etc) and a good job with clear career progression and got in a flatmate to help pay the mortgage. Sold it a couple of years later as the shitty area was starting to gentrify - nowadays it would be £350,000 easily in that area! As with previous posters, I really dont envy anyone trying to get onto the housing ladder nowadays.

We sign on the dotted line for our first house... In two days

We have borrowed the deposit from a kind family member after renting for eight years and having two children (no it wasn't an option medically to wait until my thirties to have my babies and I only just survived the last ones birth at 28).

We will be in debt up to our eyeballs but the mortgage on a slightly smaller house round the corner will be the same as the rent we are paying. And it will be ours! Just been a long hard slog and it will be a challenge now to pay back as much as we can to the relative as they have been so kind to lend to us. Neither of our parents are able to help so we are very lucky.

We bought a repossession in our mid 20's (shit smeared over the walls, dog hair everywhere, the gas and water cut off and all the previous owners possessions still there), in 2004 with a 3k deposit.

We sold and bought again at the height of the boom in 2006 and doubled our house size and mortgage.

We've just sold again at a 4k loss and moved into something older, cheaper,and bigger. The location isn't as good on paper, but we won't be completely screwed if it all goes tits up.

I don't know how people do it now with no low deposits like there used to be. I think we paid 3% deposit for our first. But then I watch programmes like Location Location Location and Tilly and Rupert are fresh out of uni first time buyers with 700k to spend and I wonder how they've managed it.

We just bought our first house for £218k, with a deposit of £44k, but we are spending about £20k on doing it up. We couldn't find anything decent and big enough where the sellers would take £250k or under (most wanted far closer to £300k and those houses still needed work), but we managed to find a house being sold by a developer (having been part exchanged) where the price wasn't ludicrous and left us enough to do the necessary work to make it liveable while we save up and do all the cosmeic stuff. It needs loads!

We saved up £25k ourselves over the last 2 years by living quite frugally (we do have a relatively high family income, so living quite frugally meant there was at least £1k a month left over). We'd've been saving for another 2 or 3 years before we could think of buying, but DH inherited a chunk of money when his grandmother died, which mostly went on the deposit and allowed us to use most of our savings for repairs (so far they include: fixing the roof, including 3 areas of badly fitted, leaking flat roof; replacing almost every window in the house, as the double glazing was so blown you couldn't see through most of the windows; uncovering the abominably terrible DIY garage conversion; a completely new kitchen with an actual window in it and a hob you can use without fear of setting fire to the wall; a new shower or, possibly, a new boiler depending on where the problem lies, perhaps both; fixing the toilet to the floor, as it's not current attached to anything properly and you can move it around a foot in most directions; plastering in most rooms and several ceilings... And then we can get to saving up for thinking about the decorative stuff).

Houses are expensive.

ditziness have you contacted your local housing association and spoken to your local housing officer? It varies from area to area but some do great part buy schemes. Might be worth investigating. Like others have said, the goverenment will have to do something to help first time buyers soon as the situation is impossible for them without outside help. We rented for years with the kids so I know how hard and unsettling it is. However they they are some good landlords out there who would love a family to live there long term, it's just finding them that's the problem!

Had been saving since I left university, only lived in shared housing so rent was cheap. DH had also been saving since university (prior to me meeting him) and had then bought a flat. So when we met and started living together we rented a flat very cheaply together, still saving. We both had well-paying jobs. We married very cheaply and continued saving and managed to buy a house with our joint savings and DH selling his flat.

We bought ours in the days when paying a 5% deposit was the norm and stretching yourself financially was ok because you could be pretty sure your house value would go up....

I don't think we could do it if we had to start again now, which is no help to you, I realise. I do know a couple of friends who were in a similar situation to you - they bought new build homes through schemes which meant they didn't have to find huge deposits. Only any good if you're happy with a new build, though. There are also local schemes where you can apply with your council for shared-ownership - then you gradually buy the rest as you can afford it.

I am probably around the same age as the op and bought my first home in the late 80's. I bought a very small studio in a very expensive part of the south. I always knew i wanted to buy asap so i worked and saved from my early teens. After college i went start on to work even though i had the required A levels to go to uni. I kept my student part time job and worked 9 to 5 in my full time job. I stayed at home with my parents and saved every penny i could. No traveling the world, clubbing or flash cars and expensive clothes.
Took me around 4 years to save enough for a deposit and costs and then i found a mortgage that would also take into account my part time job and i was able to borrow 3 times my total earnings.
The place was a total wreck and very small on the top floor above a betting shop. i put in a new kitchen and bathroom and added masses of storage to a very small bedsitting room. I was paying 15% interest at one point and then the market crashed just as i wanted to sell and move up the ladder. I lost money but managed to claw some back on my next purchase.
I didn't meet my husband or even think about settling down until i was in my second property and didn't have children until married and in my third with a joint mortgage and a bit of savings.

A relative has lent us the deposit and we are paying them back with interest... kind of a makeshift 100% mortgage!

It's still cheaper than renting a family house.

I know I'm very lucky.

Inheritance for deposit and bought a bargain when the market crashed. So a spot of luck on one side. On the other side we own our family home and a rental that was bought at the housing peak and we now can't sell it so have been forced into reluctant landlords which just costs money!

Bought in 2001, so for starters our first house would cost half what it would now. We bought a house 4 years before we got married, after we had lived together 2 years, that seemed a more important priority with housing already having gone up in the late 90s. We also both had professional jobs so lenders were falling over themselves to give us a mortgage. Then we got a considerable sum from DH's parents to help us get something bigger than we would otherwise. In short, we were very fortunate on several scores.

Can I also just say, that if you don't want your children to be in the same position then please do start saving for them now.

If you save the maximum amount you are allowed in an ISA for 18 years they will be left with more than £100,000. But even if you only save £10 a week that's £9,360 by the time they are 18, without the interest.

This gives them a small deposit at least, which they will bloody need, esp if they leave Uni with loads of debt.

I suspect that most posters on here would be in a far better position had their/our parents saved up for our future. We know now what difficulties our children might face, so I reckon we need to start thinking about giving them a helping hand.

in hope of any ideas

we are 33 and 41 and still stuck renting

would love to buy but doubt will ever happen now :(

Bought first flat age 21, 10% deposit, interest rate was 15.5% (circa1991?). It was still cheaper than renting.

Always resented every penny spent on rent from age 18 as being dead money.

I think the problem is not high deposits, it's high expectations in many cases (outside of London anyway). I look at my close relatives who have not bought, and the biggest difference between them and me (and other relatives who have bought), was their expectations of housing right at the start of their working lives.

What I mean is, the ones who bought, lived in scummy flats for 2 or 3 years and saved damn hard, no cars, expensive furniture etc until they had a deposit, and bought a property at the bottom end of the market, at age 20-25.

The ones who are now still renting in mid 30's, all rented bigger expensive places and borrowed on cars, furniture, holidays, so at the age of 20 or21 were already getting used to a certain standard of living... it's hard to pull back from that once you are used to it.

We bought when they were handing mortgages out like Santa gives Christmas presents. No deposit, no savings, two rents.