To think I’ll never own a house

[NeverOwnAHouse]

NC for this as some details might be outing.

My DH and I have been saving up for a house for quite a few years now. We are both self employed and probably earn around £60k a year between us (closer to 70k on a good year). We pay around £1000 a month in rent at the moment on a very small two bedroom house.

The average house price around here (again for a small two bed) is around £300-350k and as we are both self employed we have been told we’d likely need more than 10% as a deposit. We can’t leave this area because it’s where our work is and to be honest it isn’t much cheaper in the sticks either.

AIBU to think it’s almost impossible to buy a house nowadays?! Especially with no help from parents etc. We are both 30 this year and the PILs are so desperate for us to buy somewhere, but we just have to to keep explaining that we can’t afford it yet. It just feels so unlikely that we will ever be able to buy!

Flats are around the £250-280k mark around here (I’m West Kent) and very rarely go up in value so think we would end up stuck!

I know that I need to take a much stricter look at finances. We’re a bit useless when it comes to spending (like to treat other people a lot like our family and employees, go on holiday once or twice a year, don’t do proper food shops and just buy lunches etc.) Frivolous is clearly the word!

Anyone got any advice on budgeting or places to look for advice? Thank you!

Ahhhh OneRing yes of course. Very easy to get into london from Southend. Sounds good.

We live in the SE, it's tough but can be done.

In your shoes I would buy a new build and use the help to buy. Your deposit would be sufficient now if you do.

Save alongside paying the mortgage with a view to paying off some or all of the government loan at the end of the interest free period.

We used help to buy and put £12.5k down. Sold 5 years later with more than £80k of equity in the house which we used as a deposit on our current house.

In your situation I'd say it's definitely worth looking into.

I was surprised how much they would lend me in my own. I'm currently buying the house I e lived in for 10 years.

We’re doing the Lifetime ISA so don’t think we can do both that and help to buy! Will look into it though.

You might not be able to do a help to buy ISA but I'm not aware of anything stopping you accessing the equity loan on a new build? It's the scheme where the government give you an interest free loan of 20% of the property price. Only available on new builds.

www.helptobuy.gov.uk/equity-loan/equity-loans/

Why don't you buy a 1-bed flat instead, then concentrate on saving more for a bigger house, as you won't be paying £1000 a month in rent (assuming a mortgage would be lower)?

im west kent, what type of property are you looking st, assume 3bed house for that amount

why not look at a 2 bed house and move/extend as finance get better

That’s a small two bedroom house (like a two up two down type thing) for that money! It really is ridiculous around here - although at least it’s not London!

I would strongly recommend you speak to a broker, countrywide are free.

Santander calc is useful but each lender will have their own multiples and tolerances for lending; a good broker can tell you who is your best bet both on a self employed and a deposit basis. This could be the difference in quite a few thousand pounds.

I obviously don't know where you are but just as an example:

m.persimmonhomes.com/orchard-grove/3-bed-detached-house-374847

Roughly, deposit would be £16,750, government loan of £67,000 and you'd need a mortgage for £251,250.

That seems vaguely achievable on the figures you've mentioned? I would definitely see a broker and find out what you can actually borrow.

No kids yet but our outgoings always seem to be more than our incomings!
That's going to be your major issue, more than self employed.

For our most recent mortgage they asked for 3 months worth of records of all spending, access to statements etc so they can do an affordability test and stress test. A couple who regularly spend more than they have and use credit cards to get by (assuming i read your posts properly) are a much bigger risk than people who spend within their means. Add in that your income isn't steady as some months you have income and some you don't means that as far as a lender is concerned there might be some months you haven't the ability to pay. I'm not saying that is the case, but it would be a concern.

In my opinion, you need to keep a record of all your spending for a few months to see where your money is actually going.

OP you sound a bit deflated, you can do it!
We have a similar joint income (£64k), our mortgage is £1k a month and our travel expenses come to £450 a month. We save £900 a month (for work needed on the house) - so with a budget you should be able to save £10-12k a year, if not more if you have lower commuting costs.

You need a solid budget - we have a separate account we put the joint funds into for each month, then we have £300 each for social / gifts / events etc, so we're hardly skint. Do your budget, out the set amount into your bills account and put your savings into the saving account as soon as you get paid so you have to transfer it out of an account before you can accidentally fritter it away.

You don't need a 2 bedroom right now. Start with a one bed, it will appreciate in value. When you get pregnant, sell and buy something bigger.

our outgoings always seem to be more than our incomings

Then you need to cut back! Look at all your regular outgoings and see where you can find cheaper alternatives: get SIM only phone contracts, use comparison sites for utilities, insurance etc, ditch Sky if you have it, get a water meter if you haven't already got one. Shop at budget supermarkets, stop eating out/buying lunches etc, ditch brands for own-label stuff. Pay down any credit card debt, it will increase your affordability rating.

There's loads of good stuff on money saving sites and on the money section on here.

You need to change your lifestyle.
Stop: buying coffees/snacks/breakfasts. Buying lunches. Long haul holidays. Expensive clothes. Iphones on expensive contracts. Meals out.

Plenty of people buy on what you earn without family help. They make sacrifices for 2 or 3 years to save the deposit, it's the norm. We earned more than you but still did 2 years of camping in Wales, home made sandwiches, a lot of leftovers, no meals out etc. It's so worth it in the end & leaves you much better financially. I still find myself chuckling at colleagues wasting money on the (rubbish) coffee in our cafe at work 3 times a day....
You can do it.

How long have you been saving ?
How much do you have saved ?
House prices are still increasing in some places
You also need to save for solicitor fees, mortgage fees, moving costs, survey, emergency
Just wishing is not going to get you a house
You need a concrete plan of action/saving