How much savings did you keep after deposit?

[Talldaisy]

Bit of a personal question, but if you bought a house recently (maybe in the past 5 years or so) how much savings did you keep back after you paid your deposit? Eg. for house things/emergency fund? And did it turn out to be enough?

We're trying to figure out how much of our savings we should put into a deposit for our first home, and how much would be sensible to keep back for house things/a rainy day.

We're hoping to buy somewhere that needs minimal work if possible so no need for big renovation funding - happy to do some general decorating and modernising if necessary, and expect to have to do some kitchen/bathroom upgrades over time.

We last bought over 20 years ago and didn't have ANY money left. Indeed, we raided our dcs' money box accounts in the weeks after moving in, before pay day.

My dc have both bought in the last 5 years.
One used everything they had to secure the sale so had nothing.
The other bought a 'do-er-upper' so kept back enough money for re-wiring / putting heating in and putting flooring down.

Both got furniture off local giving sites and what they took from here, or were given by friends and family.

This is why I asked specifically for the experiences of people who've bought recently. Your experience is irrelevant today.

Don't really see the need to be quite so rude, when I HAVE given you two examples of people who have bought in the last 5 years.

You didn't say how much of their savings they kept back. Which was the whole point of my post?

Well that escalated 😂

I’m scared to comment further in case I also get told that my experience is irrelevant 😢

We are going to be moving this year, and the least I am comfortable moving with is 10k.

I guess it also depends on your disposable income and job security.

My partner’s job security is a tad questionable as 350,000 have been made redundant over the last 18 months, but we also have the ability to save a lot and very quickly once we move. That said, it’s only him who can work, so we feel being prudent is necessary.

You will find folks often try to help with not all that relevant experience direct to the question on this forum. It comes from a place of kindness in wanting to share, try not to be too harsh on them.

Anyway, I figure 10k will buy us a new boiler and roof repairs if those two things happen to go wrong at once. Nice fluffy things like furniture funds and decor can wait til we have saved past that emergency slush fund.

Moved last month. Total reno project. Kept 5K back for rewire/roof but definitely not enough. But we've got time.

Other folk would be horrified to have so little!

BTW your response to pp was rude. People don't have to respond to your question.

My first flat, I had nothing left at all. In fact, I forgot the stamp duty (which thankfully was a small amount) and had to put it on a credit card. 😀

My current house, I had about £1k left over, which wasn't enough. But I just made a list of all the things that needed doing, put them in order of priority and did one or two each paycheck.

I think most people do the same.

Yikes. Hopefully you're having a bad morning and aren't actually as unpleasant as you've come across here.

You've asked for people's help. Don't be a dick.

She did. She said NOTHING for the one who didn't need to do any work, as you're saying will be the case for you.

Now get off your high horse.

You owe @NewName24 an apology.

When we bought our current house, we still had 6 months’ salary in reserve, plus the dc’s savings (mid 5 figs at that point, mostly from inheritance) which we know we would use in an absolute emergency. When we bought our first house (15 years ago so utterly irrelevant…except not because being ftb is different imo), we had less - probably 10k left over? We knew there was some work to do and wanted to be able to fund that straight away, plus replace the boiler if needed etc etc. But we also didn’t have dc, had lower expenses etc so felt like we needed less in reserve than when we moved this time.

When we bought our first house (15 years ago

Oooh don't, @Icanwalkintheroom you'll unleash the beast 😱

😂😂😂

😂 Is it just me who was also tempted to share what their parents and grandparents did?! 😂

😂😂

I've bought 7 houses since 1999. I had nothing in the pot after moving into the first 6, and was very lucky nothing needed doing immediately. The last house I had 10k left over because the kitchen needed doing. We moved in 2 days before complete lock down (covid) and our fence fell down 4 days later, so we used the kitchen money to renovate the garden. The day they finished the garden they smelt gas. Gas leak from the pipe supplying the kitchen and gas fire, so we had to do the kitchen immediately after.

We're lucky we were both still working through covid.

So I'd say keep at least 5-10k back for 'urgent needs' just in case and if you cam 3 months take home elsewhere for 'redundancy/sickness' buffering. I'd also suggest getting income protection for security.

The answer really is 'it depends'. The house we're currently in is a new build. So we were pretty confident that we only really needed money to furnish and decorate. And we had furniture from previous property so we perhaps kept back £5k for house stuff. We have since extended but we released equity for that.
Thats a very different proposition to buying a house that needs new kitchen, bathroom, flooring etc. It goes without saying you'd need more.
So you really need to find a house first. Then work it out.

DD has recently bought with her DH. They used about half their savings for the deposit and the other half for essential works eg rewiring, kitchen, some windows and paint.Similarly to pp they furnished through donations from family members and Facebook marketplace.There is no more money now so further jobs , some of which are very much needed, will have to wait a few years.

First house, about £20 😆

Nowadays, with options, I'd say 5-10k would be a minimum depending on the house and circumstances, but more if possible.

After we bought in 1968, we had nowt but a thrupenny bit to our name.

When we bought in 2021, we kept our savings of around 13k.

17 years ago (ooo get me! being irrelevant for the hell of it) we bought the house we live in now, and took out an extra £10k on the mortgage and then put new windows/doors downstairs, a new boiler, a new kitchen etc.

The bathroom came later.

We had no money saved after to answer the OP - but both working full time.

Mortgage is now paid off, and we have plenty of savings.

That was an incredibly rude reply to the first person. Im not going to say anything further actually.

My first purchase was 15 years ago but I think the advice still stands, probably more so! I was intending to pay a 10% deposit and keep some savings for furniture etc. My mortgage broker convinced me to stretch to 15% for a better rate and use interest free credit for anything I needed. The extra few hundred a month I saved in interest meant I could afford to do this and it was definitely the best decision.

Perhaps the OP could explain why the last five years are relevant but anything before that deserves rudeness?

£100k in the slush fund.