Did you have any parental help when buying first house?

[forceofagreattyphoon]

Obviously inspired by all the Kirsty allsopp stuff about buying first houses.

Did you have any help from parents or partners parents in any way?

We didn’t get any ‘direct’ money but were only able to save a deposit by living with my parents for very-low rent for 2 years. So technically they did help a lot financially with the process. A lot of people wouldn’t have this option so I am very fortunate and wouldn’t have been able to do it otherwise.

I’d say about 80% of people I know my age (late 20s-early 30s) have all had some form of parental help when purchasing their first house. Ranging from the whole deposit gifted or help with all the fees.

I didn’t have parental help but I did get my 5% deposit (£5k) and stamp duty paid by the builders. New build luxury flat. It is shocking how easy it was to buy just over 20 years ago compared to now.
Im saving towards my 2 DCs deposits now, they’re going to need it unfortunately

No help at all. We were married no kids living in a pokey rental, and saved like crazy. Didn't go out for a year, no take outs, no holidays, all food cooked at home, loads of mince and potatoes in the recipes.
Then bought an equally pokey 2 bed with a mortgage rate of 10%

Nope. We lived in London in a one bed flat and saved for years. Parents did two days of childcare so we saved on nursery fees.
Finally bought outside of London, age 32 with a 30% deposit.

No. Just worked really hard to save a deposit. We both lived with our mums but they both took quite hefty rent from us compared to our low earnings.
We saved about 10%. House was £95k, sold last year for not much more than we paid 15yrs ago which I find really unfair given the 'huge' supposed upturn in house prices.

@JustMarriedBecca

Nope. We lived in London in a one bed flat and saved for years. Parents did two days of childcare so we saved on nursery fees. Finally bought outside of London, age 32 with a 30% deposit.

2 days a week of childcare is a massive saving though!

Yes 7k deposit, I added another 3k. Dh didnt get any direct money but his parents guaranteed his first mortgage.

Not a penny.

Bought my first house when I was 19. It was brand new and I often went to look at it being built to remind myself why I was living off three loaves of bread for a pound, beans and cheese.

The two brickies asked me once if I had bought it and used to give me a heads up when the kitchen was being out in so I could pick my countertops etc which wasn't an option.

I loved that little house in Tipton and kept it pristine.

Sold it, bought my next house in Angmering, Sussex sold that and bought a house in Dublin.

Yes. An inheritance from my grandmother made up most of my deposit.

We were also able to save because PIL, who own 3 or 4 buy to let flats, let us rent one of them at below market rent (I think we were covering their mortgage and we paid for upkeep but they weren't making a profit while we were there).

I'm extremely grateful and I don't think we could have bought our home without both of those things. At the same time, we didn't live very extravagantly but we wouldn't have been able to save what we needed just by cutting back further. (We live in the south but not in London - 10% deposit on our house would have been north of 30k; as it was we were able to put down 15% and get a lower mortgage rate).

I only know one person who bought without help from her parents.

Yes, about £20k towards my first flat (deposit and help with furnishings) on the basis I would pay them back with interest when I moved on and up. Which I did. It was my parents way of being fair to my siblings as they didn't need the help but my parents didn't want to give me money and not them - quite right too!

My husband was gifted £50k by his parents for a deposit. We were able to buy a house as we both had equity from our own properties. No chance otherwise.

@89redballoons

Yes. An inheritance from my grandmother made up most of my deposit.

We were also able to save because PIL, who own 3 or 4 buy to let flats, let us rent one of them at below market rent (I think we were covering their mortgage and we paid for upkeep but they weren't making a profit while we were there).

I'm extremely grateful and I don't think we could have bought our home without both of those things. At the same time, we didn't live very extravagantly but we wouldn't have been able to save what we needed just by cutting back further. (We live in the south but not in London - 10% deposit on our house would have been north of 30k; as it was we were able to put down 15% and get a lower mortgage rate).

I only know one person who bought without help from her parents.

Should have said, this was v recently - 2020.

Yes - parents loaned me most of deposit and I paid that proportion back when I sold it. We have just given DS1 a chunk for his first place.

Nope. DH and I never lived together before we got married so we were both still living at home and paying "board" to our parents too.

Neither of us wanted or expected anything from our parents.

Saved our own deposit, didn't overstretch ourselves regarding a house purchase as we had agreed from day one that if we were lucky enough to have children I could give up work and still live comfortably on just his wage.

We did have one DS and despite just the one income have managed to over pay on the mortgage which has been paid off and DH is planning to retire in 6 years at 55.

Nop, lived in a single rented room for a decade though so saved up a decent amount of money

My mum died so I got 50k inheritance and my dad payed for survey and legal fees

If mum hadn't died would have just been help.with survey and legal fees.

Yes. We bought in 2011. £100k house and a £15k deposit, half was savings and the other £7.5k was a loan from in laws. We then paid them back interest free over about 6 years.

Yes, they gave me £30k. Very lucky.

Yes I did

Yes. I was very lucky. Living in London in 2011, got unexpected £20k redundancy from civil service, parents gave me half of my mum's £20k redundancy (different organisation, but Tory cuts in both cases) and my grandmother put in £5k, so I had a 15% deposit plus buying costs on a £250k flat.
It was a stretch living on my own, mortgage was over £1.1k pcm but I recognise I was very lucky.
Saving for our two small kids now in the hope we'll have about £50k each by the time they're 25.

We haven't bought yet but are looking to buy ASAP. But yes my grandmother set up a trust fund for all her grandchildren and it's a decent amount but is specifically for going towards a house. My husband's parents are going to help us by loaning money but just pay them back little by little. We feel very fortunate as otherwise no way could we think about buying!

I'll just add that we moved hundreds of miles away from where we lived before because we'd never be able to afford to live there even with the money we have. Yes it was SE England 😅🙄

Nope. I had no help. Managed to save nearly £20k in two years through hard work and cutting back on things like Netflix, eating out, etc.

@Peas252

Nope. I had no help. Managed to save nearly £20k in two years through hard work and cutting back on things like Netflix, eating out, etc.

Genuinely well done on saving all that money, but you must know that most people don’t spend £20k per year on Netflix and eating out?

£10k per year, sorry.

Yes, my parents gave me and my brothers £35k each towards a house. DP also inherited £32.5k. I am under no illusion that we are not incredibly fortunate and I make a point of saying so whenever friends congratulate us or suggest that they somehow need to work harder to buy.