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

[jbevan6]

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

Not a bean! Hand me down furniture. I expect to hand things to dd when she buys her first house. We just made do. I only have three hand me down bits left now - all of which are very old and sentimental (and lovely).

I remember being at the shop and counting my pennies to see if we could afford to buy potatoes. It was pretty grim that month, but it passed. Make do with the furniture you have and upgrade it as you can afford to do so. It can be easier to decide what furniture you want once you're living in a place, anyway.

Totally skint and moving into a place that needs doing up completely.

I will be living in a tent in the living room for a while, but at least I know it will be safe.

Nothing. Property is the best place you can put your money AFAIC. People always talk about 'BUT WHAT IF THE BOILER BREAKS DOWN?'

Well then you get a credit card or an overdraft if you really, really have to. But it's unlikely really.

Good luck in your new home OP.

Nothing, and I had to buy the furniture on a credit card.
Within a year, I had the card paid off, within 2, I had built up a small amount of savings

Within 4, I had moved again and stretched myself so was back to square one.

I've repeated this pattern every 4-ish years, but have now got my dream house and a very good credit rating from using borrowing sensibly!

I don't remember, we had some left, but lots of used furniture and diy help from dad!

We had no savings left either. It was worth it. Over the first few months we paid the mortgage and bills and that was it. No treats or going out (although we did have friends over) and anything in excess of the bills went to savings. Was worth it. We now have a bigger house and nothing left in the pot to save each month (two kids and me as a sahm) but if we hadn't bought when we did we wouldn't be where we are now.

We had 3k left, which we intended to spend on decorating and new furniture. Then we got the boiler tested and discovered it was ancient and on its last legs, and decided to get that replaced rather than worry about it all winter.

I was very uncomfortable with having no savings, but I think most people are in the same boat when they've just bought their first house - we put as much as we possibly could on the deposit.

Now we've saved up enough to decorate (new floors, paint everywhere, a few bits of furniture but by no means everything). We need a new bathroom at some point but that will come from savings from our salaries. It is a bit tight, but there's nothing urgent (touch wood. I will feel a lot more comfortable when we have some decent savings again, though.

Absolutely nothing. Dh and I were "lucky" as the guy left a bed in one of the two bedrooms, two sofa chairs and a dresser complete with tv unit. The bed and chairs were about ready for the tip. But they did us until we could afford new furniture. I borrowed a table and chairs from my mum that she and her husband could do without and I had a coffee table already (one, which my mum was throwing out a few years prior that I took to university in my final year). I had pots, pans, cutlery etc all my mums old stuff I'd taken with me originally to university.

And we borrowed from parents for the deposit so we massively in debt and we bought nothing for the house for at least a couple of years. So when we moved 4 years later, we dumped the dresser then. The sofa chairs and bed were replaced after about 3 years, in the interim, I bought a battered antique chaise longue so any guests could sit down.

The obsession with having everything new and a consumer, throw away society is very recent. Our three seater sofa and armchair cost almost £1k in about 1996 and from memory, there was nowhere to get really cheap furniture.

I bought my first house at 18. My (then) partner and I spent every penny we had on it. I had a few sticks of furniture as I'd been renting a couple of years (secondhand sofa, a coffee table and a double bed). He had nothing, he'd lived with his parents. We were skint for a year. Cheap food, no nights out, no new decor.

Margaret, your situation sounds very similar to mine. Our lower salary would just about cover mortgage and council tax and nothing else. We have six months savings. We're also saving up for our first child. I live inside the M25 so believe me, I understand about nutty house prices!

We had nothing spare at all. Really pushed ourselves to the limit.

We had a new bed, a sofa, a washing machine and a fridge freezer. Everything else was secondhand. This was in 1978 so there wasn't so much to spend money on and what there was wasn't great quality really.

It was a new build so bare floor boards upstairs and vinyl tiles downstairs. We could only afford to carpet our bedroom. I remember buying curtains and light fittings on a credit card. Still not really the norm in the late 70s.

We had no idea what was round the corner ie massive rises in interest rates. In those days the rate changes were announced, and within days you got the letter telling you your mortgage was increasing by £X from the next payment. Very difficult and scary times if I'm honest.

I really hope the same doesn't happen again.

about 6k, but we needed to replace boiler and re-carpet everywhere, it was shocking!!!!

OP I'm currently in exactly the same position as you! All our savings are going into deposit, solicitors, stamp duty, etc.

However we have budgeted carefully for our monthly outgoings including the new mortgage and have kept this at a figure where we could afford an increase if the interest rates go up (although we will be having a 5 year fixed mortgage for peace of mind).

We will start replenishing our savings straight away as we do try to save a lot each month, and also taking out mortgage protection in case of unemployment / ill health.

I honestly think most first time buyers are in a similar position so don't worry!

oh yes, we had a lot of handmedown furniture, I think i had a 3rd hand mattress! bought newer things and properly redecorated when we got pay rises which was about 2-3 years after moving in.

Both times we have bought we have maxed out our savings, but knew we could replenish and emergency fund within a few months so took the chance. As long as you have a plan to do that then I think it would be normal to spend all your money on the house. You can buy furniture later, as long as you own a bed and something to sit on it will be fine.

Nothing left.

Camped out, accepted freebies, had paint vouchers for birthdays and Christmas, lived with a camping stove and cool box until we could afford appliances.

Gradually month by month managed to get things into order.

We used every penny. would never have got on the property ladder otherwise. We managed to build some savings up over the three years we lived there and then moved and spent them all on the new place!

We used every penny both times we bought a house. Our first house we used £6 hanging rails from Argos as a wardrobe for 2 years. Then we bought wardrobes with no doors from Ikea because the doors doubled the cost! Most of our furniture was from friends
Or relatives or freecycle etc. We gradually replaced It over time.

As long as you can comfortably afford the mortgage and have some money left over to cover emergencies you are fine.

I think we had about £35 left in our bank the day this house Completed. Previous occupants asked for £500 if they left some furniture. We laughed as we didn't even have £50 to spare.

zero. Actually probably about -10k with all the overdrafts, loans, credit cards etc it took to get it. Isn't this normal? 😁

We had a big fat zero left , owed the bank of mum and dad a few hundred by the end of it too ( now paid back)
Go for it op x

I'm enjoying all these stories. I think it's a very bonding thing for a couple to be young and poor together.

We've just bought our first property, after solicitors fees, stamp duty, a crossover between giving notice on our rental and first mortgage payment, ditto with council tax, we're pretty much skint. Our furniture is from our unfurnished rental and most of it is second hand or knackered (been living together for nearly 10yrs). Luckily our new property was refurbished fully before it went on the market so it's just a case of changing paint colours if we want to. We won't rush to new furniture, we'll make do for now, most homes look fine if clean and uncluttered. We were conservative in our budget for buying, we sank in all our savings into the deposit but the mortgage can be paid in just under one week of dh's pay. We were the same with renting though, that's the only way we could save a deposit.

We have a 3 piece suite that an elderly relative was throwing out (still very good condition even if 20 years old), a washing machine (3 years) and tumble drier (15 years) that the same relative was getting rid of (she was downsizing herself and needed a combined washer/dryer).

We had a small gate-leg kitchen table from another elderly relative's flat when it was cleared out a few weeks before we got possession. And bought 2 cheap fold down chairs to sit on.

We borrowed DM and DMIL's baskets of old curtains, until we sorted out ones for our house. Just to have something on the walls.

We both had lived in rented accommodation for a few years, so had a reasonable few bits and pieces for the kitchen, and got given things like pots and cutlery for our engagement which also happened about the same time.

But we were absolutely smashed - between the house and organizing our wedding (which we did a lot ourselves for and it was a cheap wedding in the end), we had almost nothing in our bank accounts. All savings were completely wiped out. But we paid back the relatives who had loaned us money for the deposit within 6 months, having lived on beans on toast - because that's what you did. (Sounds real "old gimmer", but that was less than 20 years ago).

I remember a relative visiting our new home, ignoring the lack of furniture but being chocked at the lack of tv
He seemed fine to imagine us sleeping and seating on the floor, but no tv! Clearly his idea of hell!