AIBU to ask how much you had to sacrifice to purchase your first property?

[Theegghashatched]

Sigh

I'm on year 3 of saving and it seems like were being faced with set backs after set backs!

Currently living with DPs parents (god bless them) and they have kindly allowed us to rent at a cheap price whilst we save the last few thousand of a deposit. We are both 30 so no spring chickens and this situation is far from ideal but hope that it will be short term pain for a long term gain!

DP has also had his hours cut considerably at work due to covid - this affects our income and we will now need to obtain a new mortgage in principle and determine how much this would affect what we can borrow.

I shouldnt moan I know we are in a far better position than others but I cant help but feel so so deflated!

So aibu to ask if you had to sacrifice a lot and if so; do you saying what?

Also how did it turn out for you? Was it a good decision and worth the sacrifices?

(Mine are ... living with dps partners and sacrificing our freedom, delaying TTC, minimising spending and buying second hand clothes, no holiday for the last 3 years)

I was very lucky and my deposit was mainly from an inheritance from my grandma. Who died when I was 16. I used HTB and had a HTB isa. So was actually ok. Didn't sacrifice anything and saved money by buying the house I'd rented for ten yearsz

Bought it last August. Glad I did as proves have sky rocketed round here.

I had to sell my race car

I lived with my parents and saved. I went on no holidays for a few years. I bought a house before marriage and before children. I bought in a neighbouring but cheaper town for my first home.

We’ve been pretty fortunate. First house in 1994 was 34k and my husband saved 10k working abroad for a few months for the deposit. We weren’t together when he First bought it so no real sacrifices. We’ve bought, improved and sold, doing all work ourselves since then and were mortgage free by 2005. Much more difficult to do that now. I really feel for the younger generation.

We bought a wreck in 2011, didn’t live in it for 18 months whilst we renovated. Hubby did most of the work, he sold a car too (a beloved Track project he ended up selling to help fund the purchase) We were early 20’s, missed out on holidays, festivals, very few nights out, few new clothes, no salon trips, even now we have one posh car and an old banger (hot hatch we can’t bring ourselves to part with... it’s practically a classic ;).)

Lived in our first home for a couple of years and made a tidy profit. Felt really skint but we were happy.

Now in a forever home with a comparatively small mortgage to our friends who have bought similar sized new builds recently. Feel we’ve been really lucky but hubby says we made our own luck. Well worth it.

Have the house bug and try to re-live our house hunting days on Rightmove and with my siblings who are currently saving :)

30 is still very young in the house buying game, to be fair part of me wishes we’d of had a bit of time before buying but we had a little one relying on us and wanted to secure DC’s future. Like you we were very fortunate with supportive families, they facilitated the purchase and renovation by letting us stay with them. The right house came up and the market was in our favour, we wouldn’t be where we are now so it’s swings and roundabouts.

Wish you the best of luck! Keep saving, short term pain long term gain! Prices will most likely start to some down over the next 12 months so sit tight, track the market and it will all pay off.

My DH lost his mum when she was only 56, and got a sizable payout from her life insurance, which have us a boost. To make up the rest, we basically sacrificed time - worked really long hours to claw our way up the corporate ladder. Had no work-life balance for a few years. I missed so many baby showers and birthday parties .

We also Rented in a really unfashionable area to save money. When we did end up buying the flat was an absolute dump - it was a 1 bed with a hole in the wall and a bathroom like something out of a horror film, but it was dirt cheap, even though it was in a nice area, because no one wanted to tackle the renovation.

We probably scrimped more to get the current place, we have a toddler now and so we're paying childcare and things are going to be very tight for a while.

Long time ago now, but I had 2 jobs for years, ( full time professional role and then waitressing a few evenings a week) drove an old car, very few holidays once we'd bought the house, had a lodger while I was pregnant in order to cover the cost of maternity leave. Decorated ourselves, furniture second hand or Freecycle, clothes from boot sales, etc. Interest rates at 15% for a while- scary! But you could get a 95% or even 100% mortgage.

I feel sorry for people trying to get in the housing ladder now. I bought my first house with a 100% mortgage in 1989. Times have changed.

Lived frugally to save
Worked 1xFT & 2xPT jobs with Sundays off
Didn't live with parents
Fed up of moving

It was worth all the time, effort & sacrifices

Bought at 30

The chance to live my teenage years vicariously. I had part time jobs from 13 and saved. First for a holiday, then driving lessons, then just to have a financial cushion in the bank. Gap year - worked and saved then too. That money eventually became half a deposit when I was 30 and my parents gifted me the other half.

Rented a room in a shared house for 4 years and put up with housemates. Generally quite frugal (Aldi shop, same mobile for 3 years, one overseas holiday per year). Secured several payrises including large one at completion of a professional qualification.

Old cars, no foreign holidays, generally cheap living. Bought when we were 31/30. That was all made easier by the fact we were constantly on the move in our 20s for work so once we had stability we had more than double our 25% deposit in savings.

We lived in a rented slum tenement flat (with no bathroom) for three years, then bought our house in 1983, when the mortgage interest rate was a whopping 15%.
We moved in with just £30 left between us in “savings”. We couldn’t afford a tv or stair carpet for three years either! Our furniture came from second hand shops - our tatty three piece suite cost £15.

We sacrificed in the opposite way, we bought a small cheap house so our deposit went further and we lived there until we had the equity for something bigger. 4 years in a comically small 'gingerbread house' but we made £45k in that time which we would never have been able to save up.

DP and I rented a room in a disgusting flat, shared with another couple we didn't get on with.
No holidays, not even UK.
Charity shop clothes
Loads of overtime.
Shitty old unreliable cars.

Bought a beautiful two bedroom Victorian terrace for £53k in late 90s, and it's now worth around £420k. Absolutely worth it.

Nothing, do, DD and I squeezed into my childhood bedroom at my mum's for a few months. We paid her rent obviously and lived very frugally for a few months.

It was annoying but very worth it as our mortgage was half of our previous rent.

Not at all unsympathetic. We have grown up children and life is certainly not easy for them atm (wonder if it is for anyone, money issues to one side?)
In terms of housing though, that sounds much the same as our situation back in the 1980s. House prices were much lower then, true, but so was my salary, in London.

May have been different in a cheaper part of the country then but I imagine it is now, too. Our oldest is going to buy with her husband and baby. Very nice 4 bed, older property at 4 times their annual income here in a pleasant town in the NW. My first, one bed flat in the London suburbs was 5.5 times mine and I only got a mortgage because I worked in a bank with in-house brokerage and preferential deals for staff. Should never have been given that, really, though it did work out thankfully.

Same as most people

Worked one Ft and two Pt jobs
Got a job with accommodation provided
Ran a very old car
No foreign or expensive holidays
No meals out or nights at the pub
Only cheap or free hobbies
Bought a place that needed renovated and did a lot myself
Bought seconds or second hand furniture ( in the days before This was cool )
Had no debt apart from the mortgage a

The biggest one was postponing having children until I was well established in my career and earning well, and then never being a SAHP.

This was the most important thing long term as I’m now financially secure and can help my kids ( now teens and 20s) with their education costs and also get then onto the property ladder.

We lived in tiny rentals to be able to save as much as we could. Don't remember any drastic sacrifices. Spending £500-700 monthly on a studio/one-bed flat, first as a couple and then with a baby/toddler, rather than 2/3-bed house for £1200+, made all the difference.

Lived with my parents for 2 yrs. Worked more than full time. Borrowed. Moved to fairly cheap housing area and bought with intention of staying for years. Took 2 yrs post move to pay back the debt. Opted out of pension.
I wouldn’t recommend this approach but I’d do the same again!

My first flat had no heating, which seems unthinkable now. I had no car for 6 years. I had a lodger for eight years. No double glazing. I painted one room, but made no other changes / improvements. I bought a new bed, but all my furniture and crockery was second-hand

I do think that nowadays, people probably have higher expectations and may be less willing to compromise

I do think that nowadays, people probably have higher expectations and may be less willing to compromise

I agree. I keep seeing posts on MN saying that they can’t afford to move because they don’t have the money to completely redecorate, recarpet and kit the whole place with brand new furniture.

Incredibly lucky we only needed 5% deposit and brought ex council house in cheap ish area

We bought our first house in 1975. Despite it 'only' being £10,000 we really struggled and I get a bit fed up being told how easy we had it. My parents bought us fridge and PIL's a bed. Auntie gave us a second hand tv. We had no carpets or heating and every room needed gutting. Did all the work ourselves. We sat on camping chairs. No holiday for five years, parents fed us twice a week but we were still living on eggs and beans by the end of the month. Social life was friends in the same position coming to us or us to them with a large bottle of coke and a family bag of crisps to share. Was probably 6 years before we were able to have any non house related purchases. Oh, and the interest rate went up to 14% just after we bought. Thought we would lose it all several times. Was all worth it in the end though.