How do people save a mortgage deposit?

[Bananapuppy]

Exactly that- any advice welcome please!
Three children and associated childcare costs, renting, two incomes but at the lower end of the salary scale (£27K & £20K). We just don’t seem to have any money to save and we’re desperate to buy our own home.
All the very helpful advice online suggests not drinking (we don’t), not going on holiday (again, we don’t), not having an expensive car (you get the picture…). Basically, a whole range of cuts to luxuries which are out of our means anyway.
Any tips on real-life savings/ mortgage planning would be so gratefully received.

I will just add, in anticipation of the comments, that this isn’t simply a case of hideously bad life planning. I met my exH at 16 and spent 10 years in an awfully abusive relationship.
I left at 26 with nothing, but now 4 years on have a lovely DP, secure job, and am trying to get my life in order. Buying a house is the next sensible (yet seemingly out of reach) step.

I bought my first flat at 26. The deposit came from money That had been saved for me since a baby by my great aunt. She also saved the same amount for my Dsis and DB.

Sister spent hers on travelling round Oz and Thailand with her then BF (Now Ex husband).

I wouldn't have been able to do it without my very generous Auntie.

47k gross especially over two incomes is not particularly low. You can save £15k in two years at just over £300 a month. If that’s not achievable you need to look at your outgoings. Rent a 2 bed if you aren’t already , at under 8 3 children can easily share a room for a couple of years.

I can't get your maths to work, @MyDcAreMarvel. £15,000 / 24 is £625 per month. Even if you save the max into a single LISA, that's £333.00 a month and would take 3 years to get to £15k.

I ramped up a freelance sideline and any money from that went into the deposit. Rather unexpectedly, once I started putting my all into it, it started eclipsing the income from my full-time job, so after we bought a house I switched to doing that full time.

You're still very young and clearly hard-working and ambitious. You've made a good start, and things will really come together for you as your children get older and you move up the ranks at work or into different jobs.

I do sympathise, though. I remember feeling rather despairing about it all. Buying a house is billed as a major milestone of adulthood, but it's very difficult these days if you're trying to make your own way. Friends who had been given significant help from family tended to keep very quiet about that aspect of their 'achievement'. Reading your post, I was reminded of this tongue-in-cheek article, which I read last week: www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/how-i-saved-enough-to-buy-a-house-with-my-parents-money

@NoWordForFluffy sorry I meant four and somehow typed two twice!

Ahhhh! That makes sense. 😂

It's 3 if you utilise a LISA, just to complicate things. 😁

Don't understand those on here who are saying its not very feasible! I live somewhere where property prices are almost exactly the national average and you can get a 3 bed which would need some work for 180-200k. You might be able to get a 95% mortgage, so you would need 10k. This should be saveable on your salary putting away a few hundred a month each, or moving into a tiny place for a year.

Op what are your necessary outgoings ?
If it's very close to your income then it's probably not going to be possible until one of you increases income and you save the difference.
We delayed/ didn't have kids, lived in a tiny one bed for years for cheaper rent, set very strict budgets and saving plans and still didn't manage to buy until mid 30s.

@tiger22

Don't understand those on here who are saying its not very feasible! I live somewhere where property prices are almost exactly the national average and you can get a 3 bed which would need some work for 180-200k. You might be able to get a 95% mortgage, so you would need 10k. This should be saveable on your salary putting away a few hundred a month each, or moving into a tiny place for a year.

Also the ones who are saying they bought before having children or inherited or won money... so helpful

Assuming you live somewhere with average/ less than prices....if you were totally desperate to get on the ladder, you could even get a 2 bed terrace with a convert-able attic, and make do until you can get the finance to get the third bed sorted.

Also the ones who are saying they bought before having children or inherited or won money... so helpful

Umm well the OP does ask how people have saved for a mortgage, so people are just answering the question!

One DC but and early/mid 30's when he was born,an average job which I want back to after 13 month maternity leave.

Went back part time and absolutely busted my gut at work, got promoted, lots now finally completing on a house at 41. DP is still in his average job and has no ambition so I am buying it in my own. No family help, no inheritance and no lottery win.

I saved €100/month for almost 20 years, thanks to a smart and convincing bank advisor.
That was like 2/3 of my deposit. The last third was me saving hard for a couple of years.
I'm a FTB and bought 9 months ago, at 41.
All of my friends who have bought either in London of Paris had some help from family. Didn't have that, so I'm pretty happy with myself.

Also the ones who are saying they bought before having children or inherited or won money... so helpful
To be fair, the OP did ask how people got on the housing ladder and real life experiences.

We'd have struggled to get our deposit with the costs having DC have added to our lives. Given that there's a lot of posters claiming the only way anyone can buy a house is if they've got inheritance, been given given deposit, or have lived at home rent free for years, it's fairly reasonable for other posters to point out they didn't didn't any of those things, but did manage to get their deposit in their child-free years.

OP has asked for practical advice. Not having children and getting an inheritance don’t constitute in this case, in my opinion.

@AllTheUsernamesAreAlreadyTaken

OP has asked for practical advice. Not having children and getting an inheritance don’t constitute in this case, in my opinion.

If only people in the exact same position as the OP responded, it’d be a very short thread.

We had our deposit gifted to us (£18k) else we'd never have been able to get the 10% deposit together. We were incredibly lucky - house prices have rocketed where are and we'd now need a £40k deposit to buy the same house (8 years later- we'd still be saving!)

You'll get all sorts of suggestions and subtle (and not so subtle) blaming here. But honestly the answer is the housing market is fucked in this country and in many others. The house price to income ratio is wild for loads of places. And in the places its not wages aren't that high.

I'm sure people will say but I did it etc. Point is though that if you're paying high rent it's exceptionally hard.

For us we moved out of London. We couldn't save anything like enough on our salaries. Even though they were more than yours are. And the price of houses, we'll a 1 bed flat. Was just huge. So even a 5 to 10% deposit with the constant inflation in price was unavailable.

Loads of people get help, or inheritance and then upgrade on subsequent purchases too.

@IanHBuckells

We had our deposit gifted to us (£18k) else we'd never have been able to get the 10% deposit together. We were incredibly lucky - house prices have rocketed where are and we'd now need a £40k deposit to buy the same house (8 years later- we'd still be saving!)

Genuinely no hate on you. But we can't honestly say we live in any kind of equal society when people can have this happen.

Not saying this poster said this. Just an example.

Also the people who make the laws on this and decisions on housing policy area mainly all the type who had their deposit gifted. So Iwam it doesn't take a genius to realise policy won't reflect actual need.

OP has asked for practical advice. Not having children and getting an inheritance don’t constitute in this case, in my opinion.
Acknowledging that it would have been much more difficult, and in some cases impossible, to achieve once having children is part of that. If it was going to be as simple as change your energy suppliers, meal plan, and batch cook, then I'd imagine the OP would have already bought a property.

So then it comes down to making the choice as to whether:
A) get a better paying job
B) be less picky about the sort of property you want to buy
C) relocate to an area of the country with more affordable property prices
None of those are easy solutions, but as a nation house prices are out of step with salaries in so many locations.

Hi, have you tried the plum app? I have heard it is amazing at helping to save money. A lot of people use it to save for a house deposit. I managed to save £16,000. A bit of that money was all through childhood when my parents gave me access to my own account when I was old enough then I saved every month from when I was 16 to 21 and finally scraped the 10% deposit with £16,000 when I was 22 X

Also we were mud 30s and bought in a not very desirable area and my house is a 140 year old terrace with no garden. So basically we bought as cheap as poss in our area.

I'm greatful we haven't been renting but I absolutely can not fucking wait to move!

@wowhie

I didn't know 100% mortgages still existed

I've never come across them recently. We bought 3.5 years ago an they weren't available. We keep an eye out and I have seen any.

If anything minimum deposit went up in covid and just went down recently with reintroduction of 5% deposits.

Genuinely no hate on you. But we can't honestly say we live in any kind of equal society when people can have this happen.

This is a big issue now, for many young people regardless if you do well at school & have a good job owning your own home will be dependent on whether your parents did/do & whether they can help you.

Most of the people buying on my road recently have been a different demographic. In their 20s & either single or siblings. They have all been bought flats (850k) by their parents, the one next to me doesn't work. It's crazy.

@mullmara

Genuinely no hate on you. But we can't honestly say we live in any kind of equal society when people can have this happen.

This is a big issue now, for many young people regardless if you do well at school & have a good job owning your own home will be dependent on whether your parents did/do & whether they can help you.

Most of the people buying on my road recently have been a different demographic. In their 20s & either single or siblings. They have all been bought flats (850k) by their parents, the one next to me doesn't work. It's crazy.

It’s a scandal that (for example) a full-time teacher/ nurse/ police officer/ factory worker couldn’t afford to buy (or even rent) a two bed semi in a decent area in most cities independently. It’s totally dependent on how much your parents can/ are willing to help.