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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Did you have any parental help when buying first house?

499 replies

forceofagreattyphoon · 07/02/2022 14:37

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.

OP posts:
Willyoujustbequiet · 07/02/2022 16:51

No nothing

Bought mid 90s while very young having scrimped a 5k deposit. Resold a few years later with £30k deposit that time. Mortgaged up to the hilt at the time but nearly paid off now.

CityMumma78 · 07/02/2022 16:51

No we got nothing at all. My husband and I saved hard and had to make many sacrifices… no going out, no take aways, no new clothes! We bought our first 1 bedroom flat 20 years ago that needed complete renovation which we spent every evening and weekends working on and sold it 6 months later and have since moved up the property ladder several times over the years.
However, we have been saving for our 2 DC since their birth and are aiming to give them £30k each to help them get on a property ladder at some point in years to come.

TatianaBis · 07/02/2022 16:51

Yep I had money left by my grandmother as well as savings.

But this was early 90s and property was a lot cheaper.

curlydiamond · 07/02/2022 16:52

Not a penny, hadn't lived at home for 6 years, bought at 24. Was only possible with a 100% mortgage and my mate paying for a room as my lodger, was only a 2 bed terrace with no garden and the mortgage was 4.5 times my salary, stayed there for 13 years.

workwoes123 · 07/02/2022 16:54

Yes. From my parents £20K that we used as a deposit, then a further £200,000 that we used to pay off the mortgage and also buy another flat outright as a rental.

No strings attached. They've always had the attitude that if they can give it to us now rather than as an inheritance, that's what they will do. They don't leave themselves short.

Babyroobs · 07/02/2022 16:54

Our very first house was abroad and I saved the 5k deposit which we then lost when prices crashed and we moved back to the Uk. lived with my parents for six months after returning to the Uk and then got our first house here, only paid £99k back in 2001 and my dad gave us about 7k deposit.

Isis1981uk · 07/02/2022 16:54

Yes, we managed to save £2000 in about 4 months, but my parents lent us the additional £6000 we needed for our £8000 deposit (2008, 95% mortgage, 3 bed semi in SE bought for £160,000). They later 'wrote off' the debt as our wedding present.

We were VERY lucky we bought when we did, as 6 months later the banks stopped offering 95% mortgages, and house prices started rising. Due to a train station being built in our village a few years later, our house has doubled in value to £320,000 and there's no way we could have afforded to buy (or rent it at £1300 pm) if we bought now.

Ohlalaohlala · 07/02/2022 16:55

No. Not a penny.

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 07/02/2022 16:55

We had 2k off each set of parents. And the rest was from redundancy

Planetzero · 07/02/2022 16:56

No. I bought in 1995. To my knowledge none of my friends received money from their parents either. None of them would have been in a position to, I wouldn’t have thought. Also when I left school, it was the norm to leave home and be completely self-sufficient.

I bought as a single person and I was absolutely broke.

OfstedOffred · 07/02/2022 16:56

Yes, parents & in laws matched what DH and I saved. It didnt actually enable us to buy as it happened, it just meant we had more headroom on the mortgage but that's help we were lucky to have.

bluechameleon · 07/02/2022 16:58

We used inheritance from the death of a Grandparent to double the amount we had saved for a deposit. Then when at the last minute the bank said we needed a bigger deposit we got a loan from parents of the extra.

PheasantsNest · 07/02/2022 16:58

No. We paid for everything ourselves. Bought late nineties.

SiobhanSharpe · 07/02/2022 16:58

No -- we got a 100 pct mortgage. DH worked for a bank and it was a perk. Long, long time ago....

Mylittlepixie · 07/02/2022 17:00

Yes, PIL helped with our house and my DHs siblings. My parents helped my siblings. None of us would have been able to buy without help even though we all have decent family incomes. Well, maybe we could have bought something, but definitely not the kind if house we have now.

GiantSpider · 07/02/2022 17:00

Yes, my parents and DH's parents both gave us money towards a deposit. Very much appreciated.

MaisyMary77 · 07/02/2022 17:00

We had an inheritance to help towards our deposit. When DD1 bought her house last year, we gave her £20k towards the deposit.

cozycat1 · 07/02/2022 17:01

about 2k to cover legal fees etc. bought in 1999 for £63k. kept moving up on back of rising market and now mortgage free in good size family home in good area at almost 50. I am aghast at property prices now. I know that for me to be able to give my children a big enough helping hand will be almost impossible as Our wages have not risen in line with house prices. Yes we have good equity in the house but hey we still need to live somewhere too.

Raindancer411 · 07/02/2022 17:01

None with my first house, I saved and saved than went out boozing lol

Second I had an inheritance but only used it to offset the mortgage.

PolaDeVeboise · 07/02/2022 17:02

Nope, and never any chance of getting any either. However, lucky to buy one bed flat in London with 100% mortgage in 1998. Sold it in 2010 when we moved up to Scotland and bought a 5 bedroom detached with a 50% deposit. Ironically, bought my DM's house for her a few years ago with the inheritance following DH's Mother's passing.

RantyAunty · 07/02/2022 17:04

No, not at all.
I'm a self made woman.

SheWolfOFFrancee · 07/02/2022 17:05

I had an inheritance from a parent so yes. I get a lot of people telling me how lucky I am my parents died that year so Buying was easier (50k which I used as a deposit) single parent at the time

duvetdayforeveryone · 07/02/2022 17:05

No.

AngelsWithSilverWings · 07/02/2022 17:09

I bought my first property , a new build flat just before my 20th Birthday in 1990 . Jointly with my then fiancé. We took out a 100% mortgage and had saved to pay for legal fees , carpets and basic appliances. I can't remember stamp duty but we must have paid it I suppose. No help from parents.

We were then absolutely skint and it was a massive mistake. Mortgage rates were 15% so it was tough. We broke up after two years and ex fiancé took over the mortgage ( having secured a better paid job) and I signed the flat over to him and went back to live with my parents.

In 1996 I bought my first house with my now husband. Again no help from family. This time we were much more sensible and didn't borrow up to the maximum income multiples and had saved a 10% deposit. We were able to afford the mortgage payments , pay for a wedding and go on three holidays the year we bought that place. With hindsight we should have stretched to buy something more expensive but we enjoyed having a really good standard of living and it has worked out well for us thankfully.

Athenajm80 · 07/02/2022 17:09

Yes. Mum died when I was 13. The sale of her house mainly went to dad and step-mum, but 10% was to be split between my sister and me. Luckily the executors were good at investments and so when we reached 25yrs old, we had enough to help with a house purchase each. We both still have a mortgage, albeit a small one. I think my sister would have preferred having mum alive though.