House Buying... Extra Costs.

[LaraLoui]

Evening all!

So I'm a bit clueless when it comes to buying a house. DH and I are first time buyers, looking at how much we need to save.

So we're looking at saving for a 10% deposit for a house no more than £110k. But what other costs do we need to save for? I'm assuming solicitors, surveys and mortgage fees, but how much are these roughly?

Would anyone mind providing a breakdown of their costs from buying a house? I'd be very grateful!

My recent purchase had £1500 solicitors fees, £1000 for 2 surveys (there was a problem so we needed a specialist one as well) and then £1000 mortgage fees (but these were added to the mortgage rather than a cash cost). We also paid stamp duty but you will avoid that! Consider as well the cost of moving - we had a man with a van which was £250 and packed ourselves, but it can be more or less expensive that that of course!

It depends on the area you're in and the choices you make (type of survey etc) but generally you'll be paying for a valuation, booking and arrangement fees, survey, conveyancing and local searches, and bank transfer fees. This could be anything from about £1500 minimum to £6500+. You won't pay stamp duty on a house of that value as a first time buyer.

After the purchase you've got removal costs, lock changes, repairs, and buildings and contents insurance.

We bought a new build (far less fees and only needed 5% deposit because we used help to buy) it was 110k in total we paid out £6500 in total that was 5500 for the deposit and 1000 for everything else but we bought from the builders so didn't need to pay estate agency fees!

Thanks all! Looks like we may need a fair few more thousands for all the extras!

We spent around £2k for a straightforward purchase (survey and solicitor fees). Our mortgage broker was £500 but we got £500 cashback from the mortgage product so that cancelled out. 100% recommend using a broker as a first time buyer - but not the one the estate agent points you to... Also keep an extra £500 or so for immediate/unexpected bills, and an additional 1-2k in case the boiler packs up when you move in. 4-5k would be fine

If you done have stamp duty you’ll be looking at roughly between £600 and £1k for solicitors. You’re only buying not buying and selling, so won’t be quite as expensive.

We’ve always hired a van for under £100 and done the move ourselves.

Do you need furniture for the move? Anything essential you need straight away should be accounted for (we needed to carpet our house throughout immediately).

Surveys probably another £500-£1k.

You probably want a few grand on top of the deposit.

Don't forget that when you calculate your monthly mortgage payment you will also need remember you will now also need full building and contents insurance and both of you will need life insurance.
That could be £100 extra a month.

Find a decent broker. We used the same one 2 years later to remortgage to a better rate without having to pay another fee.

Thanks! Any suggestions for any mortgage brokers or at least any tips. No idea where to start finding a broker.

If you buying an older house you will need to fix repairs urgently which are flagged as red on the Home Buyer's report. Maybe you will be lucky and not have any. The last house I looked had a roof over 120 years old letting in daylight and water. I didn't buy it.

I used online broker Habito, and had a good experience although I was working in the mortgage industry myself so had a good grasp of what I wanted, they still went through the whole lot with me.
I found L&C a bit useless tbh. Those were both free we didn't pay any broker fees.

Extra costs - whatever you estimate, bang another couple hundred quid on. It's all the fiddly silly bits that add up, common basic household stuff like a storage unit in the bathroom or a mop!

Our solicitors cost £800, basic survey was £300 but go more in depth if you can afford to.
Moving is variable, a family friend had a van but next time I will definitely pay professionals.
Shouldn't be any stamp duty again as others have said.
Also remember your first mortgage payment is likely to be higher than the one you were quoted. Not talking double, but given your properly value maybe £100 more.
Buyers don't pay estate agents fees so you don't need to worry about that.
You're unlikely to get much time to prepare household bills etc before you exchange and it's likely that things like gas and electric will be higher as you won't have chance to get sorted with the supplier or switch to a new one

Also the first mortgage payment isn't just one months worth, it depends on when you sign contracts or something but we paid almost 2 months mortgage as the first payment, friends paid 1.5 times monthly cost.
Solicitors fees were about 800 but that was a fair while ago, surveys can range from maybe 500 to 1500 depending on what you get.
We also needed an extra insurance policy something about liabilities for church repairs.
Mortgage fees were 999 but we added to the mortgage.
My latest moving costs were 350.
If you want your looks changed that's another few hundred.
You'd probably want to save 5 or 6k in addition to you deposit.
Any other things like appliances you don't have, curtains and furniture etx on top of that depending on if you want to be able to get them right away. And decorating depending on what state it's in.
Obviously if your house needs imediate work then you'd need to save that as well.
We had to rewire lighting as the vendor snipped all at the wall so that was a ball ache and an extra expense.

both of you will need life assurance

They won't need it. It's wise to have it but it's not mandated.

We spent £5k extra on top with solicitors fees and we also bought a lot of the previous owners furniture - we were first time buyers and they were moving out of the country so worked out very well for both of us!

We needed more than we thought but I think we were unlucky. We used a solicitor who was amazing - try to get a recommendation rather than picking at random. The first time I bought it was with the firm recommended by my mortgage bank and they were useless. The second one really chased everything - worth her weight in gold.

We paid for a homebuyers report but it was useless - didn't pick up on really key things but they cover themselves so you can't claim. Make sure all the paperwork is full in order - don't be fobbed off with a service to a boiler - ask for dates and a full check. Ours had been serviced in the month before but broke within two weeks of moving in.

We used about 3000 on costs plus the 3 for the new boiler. We've also ended up spending a fortune after the kitchen had an underfloor leak and the patio had been laid above the damp course bricks.

We've just used an absolutely FANTASTIC mortgage broker in the midlands although due to corona virus he is online anyway now: Robert May Financial Services in Birmingham. I'm sure the purchase would have fell apart without him to be honest, and didn't cost us a penny! He gets his fee from the mortgage company

Have a look at Martin Lewis site, Money Saving Expert. There's a free first time buyers guide to download. It covers everything you need to know & is very helpful

Thank you! Will take a look now.

both of you will need life assurance

They won't need it. It's wise to have it but it's not mandated.

We needed it - had to show proof to our lender. Mortgage was only affordable with both incomes.