###Welcome to /r/HousingUK
---
**To All**
* Join Our ***NEW*** Discord! https://discord.gg/pMgUNgWKQH
**To Posters**
* *Tell us whether you're in England, Wales, Scotland, or NI as the laws/issues in each can vary*
* Comments are not moderated for quality or accuracy;
* Any replies received must only be used as guidelines, followed at your own risk;
* If you receive *any* private messages in response to your post, please report them via the report button.
* Feel free to provide an update at a later time by creating a new post with [[update]](https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/search?q=%3Aupdate&sort=new&restrict_sr=on&t=all) in the title;
**To Readers and Commenters**
* All replies to OP must be *on-topic, helpful, and civil*
* If you do not [follow the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/about/rules/), you may be banned without any further warning;
* Please include links to reliable resources in order to support your comments or advice;
* If you feel any replies are incorrect, explain why you believe they are incorrect;
* Do not send or request any private messages for any reason without express permission from the mods;
* Please report posts or comments which do not follow the rules
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HousingUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This is an impossible question without you firstly breaking down all your bills.
What's the deposit, you say it needs replastering and new floors I can guarantee this will cost more than you think
Have you factored in solicitors fees etc.
Break down your bills individually eg
Gas and electric
Water
Council tax
Internet
Phone bill
Gym
Food
Car running costs
Only then will you have a better idea. What I will say is that that sized house on one income at its current price sounds like a stretch if you even get approved for the mortgage due to your wage
My deposit will be 38k. yes solicitor fees and surveyor factored in.
My bills will be around 330. It includes, gas and electric(80pm), council tax(120pm0, broadband and phone (45pm), water (?). That's all my expenses.
I'll have about 10k for flooring and furniture. Will that be enough do you think?
I'll have to wait and see whether mortgage gets approved, but I do have a MIP, Nationwide will be able to lend.
What do you spend on food, travel,eating out? petrol,car on finance?, gym membership? House insurance ? You'll need life insurance too Literally, everything only once you add it all up, will you have your "free" money left over.
It might be doable, but I don't think you'll have a lot of spare cash left over.
For a 3 bed you might find your Gas and electric are more than 80 a month that seems quite optimistic, Internet pluss phone for 45 again seems low unless you have a phone paid off and only a sim?
If I were you I'd sit down and write down everything that you spend on in a month, add on the bills associated with a house, to find your "true" spend and see what you're left with
A mip doesn't mean you're guaranteed to get it
I used to be the sole occupant in a victorian 2 bed house. Gas and electric was around £160 a month and I barely used the heating, only used the electric shower etc. Other expenses I never considered were property maintenance eg clearing gutters, cleaning windows, roof repairs etc.
What boiler is in the property? This will have a big influence on bills as will insulation. Also if you own a car have you checked car insurance prices? What is the internet like there and how much is it?
A few questions I asked myself on buying my flat, hopefully helpful in working out costs
I second this. I’m a sole owner and in similar situation. Just coming up to a year now.
Op, you need to factor in all the things that come out of your bank account each month plus a little more.
There will be times I see myself spending more than I had budgeted for a specific activity on certain months. You can’t rely on just noting the big bills and forgetting about the smaller ones which I’ve found to be the ones that stack up over a period of a month.
Dont need life insurance - i own alone, no dependants/partner and have never had life insurance as not needed as don't need to take care of anyone in the event of my death.
Critical illness is something to look into though, although I've gone without that so far too
Maybe I wasn't specific enough, but you can get life insurance and income insurance sometimes covered together in the same package. As you're alone, income insurance is beneficial in the event you can't work due to an injury, etc, because who else are you going to lean on
For context our 3-bed house gas & electric is \~£125/m, water £80/m (no meter... we're getting one installed!) and council tax closer to £150/m. You can look up council tax online, make sure you're on 2024/25 rates.
Home insurance £220/y, internet about £25/m, two phone contracts at \~£5/m. Life insurance \~£20/m for the both of us. Then about another £250/y for boiler service and alarm service, £13/m TV licence. For us personally, professional memberships/union costs and commute costs come into our non-negotiable spend, plus food shop, basic toiletries, clothing, etc. Our long-term-sustainable budget also includes travel, fun money, eating out, costs for our pets, etc...
Octopus dropped my monthly direct debit to £86 a month for a 3 bed semi in the north. That's not say it won't go back up next winter. I used next to no gas in the summer months (heatings been off since April 1st) and electricity is usually around £40 a month. Water about £18 a month.
I'm in a three bed detached and yeah I'm using about that a month when no heating on, so expect that for May.
I find it's easier to budget by having that overpayment in the summer to offset the winter.
The person is wfh like me, so theres a bit of electricity cost on top, but they then don't have to suffer commuter costs which is a big benefit for them.
even as a single person with a gas and electric meter? wondering how much to put aside for it now
house insurance will be paid up front before exchange btw.
Typically quite low though compared with electric, council tax, etc.
Worth getting a few quotes - they will need to have insurance before exchanging contracts
Absolutely, it's low compared to others, but 20 quid here a few times can easily add up to 100/200£ per month. Everything needs to be factored in to be sure
House insurance is still a thing that'll reoccur for the rest of your life, it's small, but those little things add up.
You flat out won't achieve £80 electric and gas a month unfortunately, unless you don't heat your house in the winter.
I would honestly budget £130-150 for combined electric and gas, as you'll overpay in the summer and have a buffer for the winter. And that's if you're frugal with your heating.
For a three bed house, I would be putting aside £500/month, if you don't spend that much, stunning, you have extra money, if you spend that much, at least you've budgeted for it.
I would get quotes for the flooring and plastering prior to even surveying the house.
Single person 3 bed house and my electric and gas was £180/month on a meter over the winter. That's only heating two rooms on a timer. But I do work from home so take that with a pinch of salt.
For contrast, I live alone in a three bed & spent £130ish a month for gas & electric over the winter (I mainly use a gas fire for heating though, as it's half as thirsty as using the central heating).
I'm down to about £90/£95 atm - would be less if I didn't have a tumble dryer and a chest freezer in the garage.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but you will also need insurance. Home and contents.
I just brought a 2 bedroom house, and have the same monthly income as you.
I had double that for a deposit and I just got approved by the skin of my teeth.
But my house was 310k.
Legal fees caught me out as I was told it was all Inc and it was not. I had about £500 more added on for searches and other things, so you should count that in.
Also some mortgages charge a set up fee.
10k for flooring and furniture can be done if your doing the flooring yourself.
Blinds.. strange as it sounds I didn't think blinds were this expensive. But I chose to go to a proper shop and have them install them.
Don't forget about car insurance when I changed address my car insurance went up.
Strange as I'm in a safer neighbourhood now.
Also going out and food etc. Food prices have gone up so much
Your gas and elec I would double for the purposes of this exercise. 2 bed maisonette with brand new boiler, TRV and timers on everything is £117 a month for us.
Have you double checked that council tax? Mine is £180pcm on a 250k 3 bed semi. Bills a lot more too.
Edit: doh, yes with the 25% discount that’s about right. Bills still seem low.
I've taken on lodgers in the past and it's generally been fine. I think there's a rule now about how many lodgers you can have at one time now without needing to register as a HMO. Still worth looking into.
10k for flooring and furniture for a 3 bed (so I'm guessing 90m^2 ) might be enough if you do it yourself. And assemble all the furniture yourself too. Do you have time, energy and handiness for that?
Check prices per square meter on something like flooring superstore or whatever online shop. Then add 30% for underlay and any other bits and bobs you'll have to add to make it happen. We got pretty nice engineering wood flooring, LVT for the kitchen and a couple of carpets (110 m^2 ). It cost us 5k just for the materials, and I installed it myself. Had I hired someone it probably would've been 15k, but I actually don't know because I didn't even ask for quotes since tradesmen are fairly expensive 🫰.
MoneySavingExpert has a great budgeting/affordability excel spreadsheet you can download and fill out, if you fill it in honestly then you’ll get a better idea.
This is doable. But you will be doing nothing outside of surviving for the first year or so. You might be able to go out for dinner on the odd occasion. Basically it’s a lifestyle play. I personally wouldn’t do it, but then people who do are often in a better position 10 years down the track.
I'm in a very similar situation. Similar take home, similar house cost.
I had lived with 600 take home after bills EASILY for years before now. With my new job, when I worked out I'd have more than 1k left, after the mortgage/house I'm going for, it was a no-brainer for me.
Think about it this way, the majority of the country isn't taking home 1.2k after bills. They survive off of far, far less. You'll be fine.
This, you’re absolutely right. All of the people on this thread saying he’s “one emergency away from a disaster” are probably defining ‘emergency’ as a 10% jump in caviar prices.
Similar situation numbers wise here. Except I'm a single Mum, I have 2 boys who are 9 and 12. My take home is £2.8k, my mortgage is £1k. Other bills take it up to around £1.6k leaving me £1.2k. I spend almost half of this on food, another £100 on kids music lessons/activities and around £150 on fuel. Each month after everything I have to pay for I have £300 ish left per month. This is for everything else clothes, meals out, day trips, cinema, gifts for other people, school trips, house bits, anything unexpected that comes up. It's tight, and sometimes it's hard. But, if I tell people I have £1.2k left per month after bills, lots of people can't understand how it's a struggle, lots of people say their full take home is around £1.5k. Unfortunately a large proportion of the population are struggling, lots of people can't afford to save and would have to use a credit card in emergencies.
I bought a 4 bed detached house, £230k with a £70k deposit. Mortgage is around same as yours and my income too. Bought Dec last year and doing some of the work to it on my own. Also single and live alone
Idk why people are acting like 1.2k leftover after all solid bills would be a struggle? That’s my entire take home at the minute lol.
Even adjusting for higher bills and assuming 1k straight. You should easily be able to live a great life while getting a little work done each month.
What do you spend on food, transport and fun, right now? Are there things you’re unnecessarily splurging on?
I’m in a very similar situation. 26F, solo FTB and currently have a mortgage approved with Nationwide. Same sort of take home, around 2.5k per month. Only paying for a student loan, car loan, have a perfect credit score and no dependents.
When I got my MIP, nationwide quoted a similar figure (around 250k). But I also have a starting deposit of 70k. However, once they did all the final affordability checks, they were only prepared to loan me a max of around 130k. So just something to keep in mind... My MIP was much higher (40-50k higher) than my official loan offer.
Originally I was also looking at larger properties, around 240-250k, because that’s what I thought I’d be able to afford (based on my MIP). But the house I’m ultimately in the process of buying and got my mortgage loan approved on, is only a 195k, 1 bed semi detached property. In reality that ended up being my max budget with Nationwide.
I thought maybe it was just Nationwide and checked around with other banks, but ended up with the same type of quote after all of the affordability checks. My final mortgage payments will be just under £600 per month, with a good LTV rate.
You might get something higher with their FTB helping hand scheme (to afford the house you’re looking at), but I personally didn’t feel comfortable doubling my repayments (closer to 1k per month).
I also honestly think the calculations for your bill repayments are very low. I wouldn’t be surprised if your final take home is lower than 1k, especially with a 3 bed semi. As some others have suggested, I’d create a spreadsheet and double check, alongside factoring in some sort of emergency safety net budget. Good luck!
I take home over 1k more than you, I have no debt. But this is far more than I would take on. You would be one unfortunate circumstance away from disaster. Surely you would struggle to build up a meaningful safety net after the purchase. I see why this house appealing for you, and the reasons compelling you to go for it (I can fully empathise there). But you are effectively committing your future to paying for a house. I guess I’m more risk averse than you. But I would consider very carefully if your money stretches this far. I wish you luck no matter what, though!
I’ve just committed to buying a flat, out of London, for £170k, with a 70k deposit. I’m shitting myself over it. It’s a two year fix 4.9% 22yr mortgage, and I’m still paying back two quid for every pound I borrow. *All that money.* But it isn’t renting. It’s still a massive decision to make. Be very honest with yourself. Tote up your food and entertainment and hobby expenses, and commute expenses etc. Add ten percent to everything. And consider that you must put something aside. You will be able to furnish cheaply and replace in the long run. I admire you for even considering this. But be honest and clear minded!
Do you have an emergency fund? Imo being scared about borrowing 100k earning what I'm presuming to be around 60/70 (you said you earn 1000 more than OP) is more of a mental / you problem, and you shouldn't be discouraging OP based on that.
> I’m still paying back two quid for every pound I borrow.
Don't forget, if you are basing this on the figures on mortgage docs - that is worked out on the idea that you'd go to SVR for the duration of the term after your initial fix (which you'd obv be daft to do).
The figures will still sting, but if you work it out on fix to fix, it should come out under that £2 for each £1.
Sorry but this makes no sense. They have £1.2k remaining after core expenditure. All they need is a few lean months and they’ll have built a sizeable emergency fund.
Yes — core expenses. OP makes no mention of other day-to-days; food, commute, clothing, TV / broadband / phone line / mobile, insurance, retirement contributions (if doing so), and anything on entertainment and actually enjoying life. Not to mention the money she will spend week in week out on doing it up — which *will* happen. I see very little little room to put rainy day money away. As specifically mentioned in comment, I feel she would be one bad circumstance away from difficulty. Personally that’s not a risk I would take. But that’s me. OP specifically asked for differing opinions. I gave mine.
So quantify it. Or just stop spreading irrational fear.
Those things you mention don’t amount to more than £210 per month at maximum (£120 per month food; £22 per month broadband; £30 per month phone; £40 per month insurance). OP will have £1k to spend/save as needed - this is a huge disposable income, with 1-3 months saving needed to cope with all non-insured emergencies.
£120 a month for food feels really low! Plus there’s your household consumables to think about (cleaning/laundry/toiletries) that aren’t cheap either. My partner and I can easily spend that a week on our shop and we don’t live particularly lavishly. Everything’s shot up in price the last couple of years.
Recent FTB. Bought with my partner. Bought a 3 bed semi in Lancashire for 166k & monthly payment is 850 (which we also try to overpay on).
Bills
Energy we basically pay a month behind, was highest 160 in winter, now coming down to below 100 & we both hybrid work. (We are reasonable on heating - rationed but on for a couple hours in the day to prevent damp issues in the house)
Water 35
Council tax 150
Broadband 35
Home insurance 25
Life insurance 15 for both of us
TV license 15 (not far off as just gone up)
Phones we pay for individually
We budget 400 per month for groceries, cleaning supplies, toiletries but spend closer to 280
We have a joint account for the household bills & each put in 50% of our take home pay which adds up to 2k.
This covers all household bills including groceries & mortgage over payments. We are also doing a fair bit of work on our house, so buying paints etc & other bits & pieces, but we would otherwise likely be saving money from that
We had savings for solicitors, didn't need movers, but as we started doing work, more things have unfortunately come to light. Also things that we thought we'd live with for a few years (kitchen & bathroom), after using them, we've realised are in a much worse state than we originally thought. So I've taken out a loan to get these done a bit more quickly.
A big thing I would say, is it depends on your priorities in life. I'm 32, was sick of renting & wanted my own home, spent the last 4 ISH years saving my arse off for the deposit. Now we have the house I would like to get it to a somewhat decent standard sooner rather than later. So I am willing to cut down significantly on meals out, no holidays for a couple of years. Luckily, I don't live a particularly expensive lifestyle anyway (low spending on clothes, paid my car off a year or two ago - cheap & efficient etc) but I make sure I can still afford a couple meals out a month as this is important to me
Work out your priorities, what brings you joy in life, & make sure you can still afford those as well as some savings for your security.
Best of luck, it's a tough journey, I'm still pulling my hair out at times, but stay the course if this is what you want.
How much is your deposit, what size of mortgage are you aiming for?
How does your budget look after accounting for all costs like transport, maintenance, clothing, gifts, etc.?
deposit is 38k on a 40year term 5yr fixed rate.
330 on bills -council tax, water, gas, electric, broadband and phone.
i'll have 1.2k left for food and day to day living.
Insurance will be paid in full by exchange date...
what do you think. 1.2k left is risky?
So let’s say you spend £300 a month on food, you’ve then got £900 to do what you want with every month.
Not risky at all unless you’ve got a very lavish lifestyle, some months I spend nothing on extra activities. Depends if you want a house, or if you want to buy expensive things every month. I’d take the house
Well it depends on the answer to the second question really, how does this fit into your overall budget?
A 40 year term doesn't leave you much room for manoeuvre if things go south - and you will pay almost nothing towards the mortgage principal for the first few years.
Have you checked you can obtain a £200k mortgage with your current salary? It's probably near the limit of most lenders' range for that salary level.
i don't have any bills at the moment apart from my phone bill. i live at home with mum and she doesn't take money from me as she wants me to save.
i save 1600pm so live on about 1000 each month.
Make a realistic budget for house costs - all the bills, insurance, maintenance, groceries. See what’s left and try and live on that for a month. Also think about what else you would want to spend, like streaming services and how much smaller your budget would be with those.
and i think that your lack of intelligence to overlook the potential risks that come with owning a big house is worrisome.
what happens when there's a significant life change or the boiler breaks down or there's a leak and 1.2k doesn't cut it for the coming months? perhaps you can answer that when you've come back from your trip to lala land. won't hold my breath though.
Yet you’ve not shown how I’ve overlooked the risks at all. Because the risk level here is minimal.
You should be able to answer your own question easily without asking others on the internet. This shows you’re not prepared for home ownership. The bigger risk is you falling for a scam rather than anything from normal life events.
But on your question, the standard financial advice on emergency funds is 3-6 months of savings (see Dave Ramsey’s advice for example). 1 year to 18 months of lean living, and you’re there. You only need 3 months of saving £600 per month to protect against the boiler breakdown scenario you envisaged.
...... you've just said it. by your own admission, you've just said it. the risks, according to you, are minimal, therefore *not zero.* why is it so bizarre to you for someone to want to factor in what happens when things go left? You sound quite bitter.
i should have guessed you're one of the home ownership is scam lot! LOL home ownership is a scam everyone! Not a home for the long term, not a safety net for retirement, but a scam according to this one lol.
if we all had questions and relied on ourselves and ourselves alone, no one would learn anything would they? You say this thread shows I'm not ready for home ownership, I say it shows me covering all bases to know what I'm getting into.
Btw, thank for proving my point again. £1200-600pm for the boiler breakdown as you say means I'd be living on £600 for the rest of the month. I'm sorry to disappoint, but I've not lived a life on £600pm since I were 17. That is pennies. Perhaps you'd be fine on it, but not the average person.
The risk of crossing a road is minimal too. You really should be more specific about the scenarios you’re concerned about, how much they cost, and how much you’d need to remedy them. Otherwise you’re just exercising your paranoia here.
Sorry but I think you misread. I didn’t say home ownership was a scam - I happily own my house, with a decent emergency fund and a lot of insurance too. I meant that, with your reluctance to think things through, you’re likely to be vulnerable to many other forms of scams and frauds.
Ah, so here it is. You’re not actually concerned about financial harm here, it’s your luxury lifestyle and expensive tastes you’re looking to protect. You should have been honest about that from the start rather than framing it in terms of safety. Lol.
? Oh dear... This is poor. Even for you!!! Tell us where in that paragraph the "luxury and expensive taste" is LOL, I will wait. I know i said the conversation wasn't conducive... it's not but I'm genuinely interested. Why have you resorted to pulling things out your backside LOL. Have you read this thread at all? I've been saving 1600 for months. Living under less than 1k a month. What luxury and expensive taste? lmfaooo
Tbf maybe to you a gym membership might be expensive taste and I'm genuinely sorry to hear that hahahaha
I’m pretty resilient, I can live off very little if needed. In your scenario it wouldn’t be for long. I spent 12 years earning mostly £50-£65k and saving almost every penny towards my deposit. Now, I’m in a superb situation, and wouldn’t be far off buying your house outright. Clearly you don’t have the discipline to actually protect yourself financially if needed, so no wonder you’re concerned about a little boiler breakdown.
Holidays? Car? Fuel? Transport? Haircuts, birthday presents, food, entertainment, emergency fund, maintenance, insurances, gym, Netflix, there are a load more I could list.
Go on a statement of affairs calculator to calculate your true monthly outgoings.
Speak to the utility providers to get a full understanding of monthly costs. Consider how much you love yo save/ travel/ hobbies. Can you do these? If your head abd heart say you are willing to sacrifice travel for a house, go for jt! I also bought a 3 bed as a single person, I had a guest room & craft room and loved it! So, if jt suits your life style, do it. BUT check and recheck your outgoing essential costs first. Go through your last few bank statements, where is your money going? What's frivolous/ essential and that'll help you work out where you stand. Good luck!
Go for it.
Only decision for me would be 2 or 5 year fix or a tracker whilst rates (likely) come down.
My bills are higher than £330 though. But with 25% CT discount maybe I can see it being feasible.
CT, Water, Elec, Internet, Home Insurance (contents only as renting), probably comes out at £375. (£180, £40, £100, £40, £15)
What’s your LTV? At £930 you must have >10% deposit or are stretching the term to 40 years?
Yes, I should have said it's on 40years. LTV is 85% on a 40year term.
Tracker just wouldn't give me peace of mind!
On the first house I put on offer on (220k) I was going to do a 2year fix as the mortgage repayments were only about 860. However, as this house is significantly more, if the interest rate goes up after 2 years, could wipe me out
Fair, yeah you won’t pay much capital off in two years on a 40 year term, so probably best to play it safe on a 5.
In 5 years you should reach the 80% mark which will hopefully take a tiny edge off it. (Assuming house prices increase in the next 5 years…which they more than almost will).
If inflation seems under control (next key data point for U.K. is 22nd May when April inflation announced but almost weekly there will be US and U.K. data that will affect swap rates), then you might be able to secure a better 5 year fix before you start your mortgage (presumably not for 5-6 months). So I guess your repayments might be slightly lower or you could reduce length and have the same. The latter meaning you could build more equity over 5 years.
120 council tax (incl 25% single persons discount), 100 gas and electric (i've increased this after the comments i've been getting), sim only as phone is paid off and broadband 40, i'll have to admit i'm not sure how water is charged.. 70pm? - that's all 330.
unless i'm way off about something, i'll have to budget more.
whatever i have left will be used for every day living - food, entertainment.
Is your council tax correct? I live in a cheaper property and mines more than that? Buildings and contents insurance? Subscriptions (Netflix,Spotify etc). I also think your gas and electric is underestimated. Mines 150 a month. Do you drive? Car insurance etc… If you don’t drive, how much is it to get to work and back? TV licence.
My food shop for 2 people is about 110 a week. My water is 36 a month.
I’m not saying it’s not doable but I do think you’re underestimating costs x
£1917.85 that's the exact figure for council tax. building and contents insurance will be paid off for the year by exchange. i do really need to look into gas and electric and all the other expenses as everyone has said i'm underestimating it, which is quite worrying.
thanks for breaking your expenses down btw :)
currently crunching the numbers...
The water could be as cheap as £20pm depending. Is it a meter or not? If you’re paying more than £40 without a meter then get a water meter as it’ll be cheaper as a single person to pay for what you actually use.
The gas/electric estimate is very optimistic though. Might be that in summer but winter could be 2-3x more. Depends how efficient the house is too.
To be honest I think £1.2k left over can be okay but you need a full budget. Figure out how much you spend on everything else each month (as in, go through your past statements and check) - food, travel, shopping, hobbies, events/nights out, etc and you'll know whether your budget is tight or not. If you spend £200/mo on food, £50 on travel and don't go out a lot you'd be fine. If you spend £400/mo on food, have a car that costs £300 and go out every weekend you'll be on a tight budget and wouldn't really be able to save anything.
A great tool for getting an honest budget is Money Saving Expert's budget planner: spreadsheet downloadable here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/#spreadsheet
Fill it in *honestly*, don't sugarcoat anything, you'd just be setting yourself up for a bad surprise. Use some comparison websites if you need to get estimates for things like insurance. Once you've finished you'll have done as much as you can and you can make a decision.
If your take home is over 2k and your mortgage will be less than 1k i would say you'd be fine, you would have to be very poor with money to make the rest of it disappear.
If your take home is over 2k and your mortgage will be less than 1k i would say you'd be fine, you would have to be very poor with money to make the rest of it disappear.
Hi. Have you seen the EPC Certificate? Unless it's a grade C or above, then it'll be expensive to heat - they go A-G, and if you're D or less, then you could need to do things like replacing the boiler and/or windows.
Has a survey been done? What does that show?
You can find out the Council tax band online to help understand the costs.
I hope it works out for you, but you need to make sure you've done your sums right.
Good luck.
You didn't factor in food costs. Plus that £330 could easily jump to £400 in like a year. You've never lived alone before, shit happens, a lot! So I wouldn't buy that house. It seems like stretching yourself too thin like Bilbo.
Sounds like you have it al worked out. Far better to spend/spend the money on your own home, rather than pay a typical landlord about the same amount for a tiny shit hole.
Personally, I would do it.
You need to jump in at some point.
House prices are low at the moment and will only increase, sharply quite soon (based on the recent 7-2 BoE decision).
Just got for it, on the basis that you've worked the figures out. Life's too short to dither and you can't spend it when you're dead.
You can live on £1.2k with ease provided you don't have a silly car etc.
Calculates to 37% of your takehome on mortgage, very doable in my opinion, you'll have 1.2k left over, you should be able to put away 750 a month comfortably which isn't bad but not too great. I'd do it though and focus on raising your salary and getting an emergency fund going if you haven't got one
Gas and electric looks low, I’d probably expect more like £140 over the year though it’ll be lower in summer and higher in winter. How much higher depends what you are buying, new builds are generally more efficient. Also you should budget for expenses you would pay annually so you can save for next year’s cost. Any commute or subscription expenses, gym? Income protection insurance / critical illness? Expect bills to be closer to £450-500 p/m when said and done.
I’d also look at your current £1000 spend and whether any of it is in your monthly budget for bills - and if not, which bits of spending you’d be prepared to cut back on. If you’ve got £1200 left over but your monthly spend outside of bills is £1000 it doesn’t leave much for savings.
In general, on that take home I’d probably be ok with that size of mortgage but not everybody’s circumstances are the same!
I did something similar at your age. However I had a 25k deposit plus left 10k in the bank for renovations that I spent very slowly.
Fortunately, nothing urgent needed doing apart from the kitchen, which I bought in the Xmas sales and fitted myself.
The potential for new floors would worry me. Why does it need new floors? Damp? Previous water spillage?
Unless you have a deposit of around £50k, no.
I've got a MIP for £189k with a take home of around £2,650 and great credit. With my deposit (relatively small), I could afford a max price of £210k with a mortgage of £1,080-ish.
Your mortgage would probably be around £1,200 a month.
I've had an offer accepted recently, and my mortgage will be £180k at 5.05% 5yr fixed and that will cost £947 a month.
Gas and electric will be a lot more than 80 notes, bigger house here but it’s £270 a month. You will need buildings insurance as is mortgaged, contents up to you. Have you any emergency money for things you can’t do yourself - eg boiler, main water supply etc.
The bills are the bit that are way off for me
My mortgage is 440
Council tax 180 (band B Lancashire)
Gas & electric 200
Food 200
Water 53
Internet 30
Life insurance 25
House insurance 20
And I live in a 2 bed semi, in summer my gas/electric are around £120 and winter it’s close to £300 when it’s cold.
I put £1400 into my house bills account a month and it’s generally all used every month. Definitely have back ups things break a lot in the beginning
General rule of thumb I follow is calculate all your bills and then add 20% as a buffer. Don't forget that things like broadband etc have yearly price rises.
Do remember to apply for single persons discount for council tax if living alone.
Electricity and Gas at £80 a month seems relatively low so make sure that's accurate. Don't forget things like water bills, any household and contents insurance, the cost of moving in any furniture or possessions.
You are correct in the idea that it'll only get harder to get on the ladder without an existing property. If your salary increases by 5% next year and that house increases by 5% then all of a sudden it's much less affordable. I would advise to get a cheaper house if possible but house prices are stupid. Also make sure to haggle on the price. The price listed is very often not the value of the house so much as a hope of what they might get.
Best of luck.
If your take home is over 2k and your mortgage will be less than 1k i would say you'd be fine, you would have to be very poor with money to make the rest of it disappear.
I had a similar situation to you when I first bought, and although I agree with others also consider your salary trajectory.
I made it work by living frugally for the first couple of years. It was a big risk as I had no buffer at all when I bought it. 7 years later I have over 50% equity as I consistently overpaid when I got pay increases and am financially comfortable. Without this I’d have struggled with inflation.
Agree on the bills front though - all of mine come to circa £550 a month (gas, electric, water, council tax, internet, Netflix, dental, house/car insurance, phone)
No chance, you’ll never get approved in a million years. With your salary you won’t be able to get a mortgage of more than 150-160k and that’ll be pushing it
Yes you can absolutely afford it assuming you have your other spending and debt under control.
If your budget sheet looks like the below then probably not:
£500/month - car finance
£70/month phone contract
£100/month sofa finance repayments
£300/month credit card debt
Etc
I think that’s plenty. Your mortgage is 2/5 of your take home wages. As long as you don’t have to set aside / save up for £50k in works too to make it habitable, I think you’ll be ok
By the way, £350 is light on bills budget , think at nearer £700-800/month including water rates, building and contents insurance, broadband/wifi, mobile phone, car or transport, DIY budget as well as council tax and food … utilities are often far more than you realise in a house - gas and electric are often £140+/month and £200+ in winter on a 3 bed house but depends on many factors.
Just to let you know my take-home pay has hovered around 1.2-1.4k a month for the last few years, and my rent has been between £400-600 a month. Right now taking home 1.4k and paying £400 rent and bills feels comfortable for me. I don't drive, I can afford the odd expense like new glasses or the odd holiday or meal out. So although the mortgage would be taking a huge chunk of money from your paycheck, you wouldn't be living miserably with 1.2k leftover for living costs imo!
I think it may be tight. Do you drive? Have a car? Ever plan on having one? This will eat into a rather large chunk of that left over money. What do you spend on food? This is horrendously underestimated by a lot of people too. I think you need to up the estimate of gas and water as thats very low for the prices we are seeing nowadays. House insurance is also very important. I would suggest allowing some for savings also as when youre a homeowner you never quite know when you are going to need to fix a hole in the roof or a leaky pipe in the wall
Well done you for thinking about all this. I wouldn’t worry too much about life insurance. It’s really to protect your family if something happens to you. Don’t let someone sell you all these add ons. Building insurance definitely but you might feel you don’t need contents insurance though yes if you can afford it.
You sure the council tax is that low? I'm not familiar with English prices but even in the cheapest area here in Wales a £240k house would be Band D and the cheapest is about £190 depending on council area.
Your bills are way too low, even with low usage I'd slap another £50 on that bill for duel fuel.
Have you had a decent level 3 survey done as this will tell you if there are any nasty surprises you'll have to deal with straight away like a knackered boiler / new roof etc.
3-bed in the south east, gas and electric are a standing order of around £125/mth, 1 person in the house. Plus council tax, water, building and contents insurance, phone, car tax and insurance, internet, they all add up. Your monthly bills will definitely be more than £330.
I have not purchased but I do rent and will say bills will be much higher than you think. It depends a lot on insulation, piping, boiler etc so £80 for gas and electric isn’t realistic. My water bill was also double what my last was so that wasn’t fun. Council tax goes up yearly- as does everything. Home broadbands have gone up. I would budget near the £500 mark. Also you need insurance.
Do you have a car?
Is there a way you can not spend every single penny when you move in? Keep some aside to continue adding to and then use when you get double what you have left? If your boiler breaks down who’s paying? They aren’t cheap. Electrical re wiring? Gutters? Hole in your roof? You don’t leave enough to build good savings quickly. Maybe see if you can prioritise what goes out first?
I think you're vastly underrating Gas and Electric. I suspect will be at least £100 more.
Council tax only you know, don't forget the 25% single discount that most offer.
Have you included house insurance and your own life cove? (At the very least, income protection cover.)
If you can get away with a £500 buffer to save (or to absorb interest rates) you're good to go.
I would also add try and build up a nest egg ASAP for replacement goods/emergancy repairs. Cooker fridge, washer, dryer etc. Things always go wrong oe break at the same time.
i don't have expensive taste. did you completely miss where i said i was not born with a silverspoon or is reading desirable more than it is mandatory for you?
some of us like to be a little risk averse. what the hell is the crime in that? if left to you, we'd all be biting off more than we can chew and living on pennies. amount of taxes i pay and eligible for fuck all if things went left. i am my own safety net, i don't scrounge off the government.
You’re not being risk averse, you’re being paranoid and thinking in a very fuzzy way. It’s the worst way to approach life and I’m sure it creates a lot of problems for you besides housing.
Quantify it and break it down before you worry. I’ll even do it for you, despite your rudeness towards me:
- Boiler breakdown - average cost: £200-£1000,
- Plumbing issues - £100 - £800.
- Electrical failure - £100 - £500.
- Roof Damage - £500 - £2000.
- Broken windows - £150 - £200.
As I said, a few months of lean living - e.g. saving £700 per month - and you’ll be protected against these.
I'm being rude because you're being obtuse and approached me very condescendingly. I do not take kindly to that.
This conversation is no longer conducive. Best we end it here.
You should be thanking me as I’m the only one actually giving you quantified scenarios here. But fine, go back to your vague sense of evidence free anxiety if you like.
Get over yourself sunshine. You think home ownership is a scam. You're in the wrong forum.
This may be more fitting for you [https://www.reddit.com/r/toddlers/](https://www.reddit.com/r/toddlers/)
As I said before, you’ve misinterpreted. I am a home owner, and my original comment on scams was intended to get across that if you can’t work this out on your own, someone will sell you a bridge at some point.
I would deffo up the bills budget, I have a 2 bed detached alone & mine is £200 gas and electric, £25 water, £140 council tax (with single person discount), internet £30, house insurance £29, tv £20. So around £450 a month total for just household bills
My personal bills I factor separate but you will likely also have phone?, car? Subscriptions? All personal bills you’d need to add on and take into consideration also
FWIW, I bought my first house with rather less comfortable numbers (pre-2008 crash) - £1400 take home, £900 mortgage.
It was painful for the first 3 years (although I had a lodger for half of that which made the numbers less painful).
I’d say go for it - your salary is likely to head up, and it is possible to survive on very little if you have to!
I echo the observations that at current prices your Gas/Electric are probably way off! Also, think about what travel costs you actually incur for essentials (eg getting to work). The key here is to identify what the minimum you can spend is if it’s necessary, so what level of float you have - it sounds to me as though you can probably save sufficient not to go into other debt.
I would suggest that as your salary increase you aim to overpay to reduce the term though - 40 year mortgages cost a lot overall!
There’s a few things I’d point out.
£330 seems very low for bills and council tax. I know everyone is different but here’s an example of my wife and I’s outgoings, living in a 3 bed detached house with no children.
Mortgage: £700
Council tax: £250
Gas/Elec: £160
Home/life insurance: £50
Sky TV plus internet: £90
Mobile phone bill (for both): £140
Various subscriptions: £134
Travel: petrol/train etc: £300
Insurance/road tax: £120
Food: £400
Our total outgoings are about £2400 and the mortgage is only £850 of that.
I fully appreciate that me and my wife pay a lot for entertainment, subscriptions that aren’t necessary, but at the end of the day we can afford it so don’t mind, but I would err on the side of caution when planning the rest of your bills. I’m sure lots of people on here will tell you to cut every subscription that isn’t necessary, and fine tune their finances to be as frugal as possible, and if that’s what you prefer then absolutely go for it, but be honest with yourself about what sort of spender you’ll be. Will you be really frugal or will you splurge a bit on things you like, will you get the occasional takeaway, do you like going for a few drinks with friends during the week and at weekends etc. do you like to go on holidays or trips abroad etc. as these are things you may want to take into consideration as well.
I’d personally think £1.2k is plenty to live on. That’s roughly what me and my wife have spare each, each month and I find I have plenty for putting away into savings and investments which steadily build up over time (for medium to short term plans), along side my pension (for retirement) and I still have plenty of money to spend on stuff for myself (sporting events, new clothes, skincare, books, video games, hobbies, holidays etc)
Like everyone it will take a bit of time to build up your savings if you’re putting pretty much everything into your house, but that’s normal. When me and my wife moved into our house we had spent every penny of our savings on our wedding and house including furnishings, but we managed to built it back up over time.
One other thing is to consider where you live. I live in a town in Scotland and the cost of living is pretty cheap. If you live in a big city, or London, then £1.2k probably wouldn’t go as far as it does up here.
It might feel uncomfortable for the first year or two as you adjust but if you're willing to forego a few luxuries initially then you can make it work. And, if things went south you have the space to rent a room out. Good luck!
Hi Impressive, as someone who has just recently got a mortgage at £235k it can be challenging. Two weeks after I moved in my washing machine went. There’s a few other obvious amendments I need to do and none of this was factored in.
Like yourself I wasn’t born with a silver spoon up my ringer but I finally got my place by myself at 34 yrs old. So to have saved up the deposit at 27, you should be proud.
However, what I would say is and what my mum said to me - make sure you can still have a life outside of your house and not be prisoner to it.
I would definitely use an excel spreadsheet and look at all of your bills, tax, gas/electric, home insurance, life insurance, food, fuel, anything else you spend on regularly etc. I assume you have a big deposit for that low on the monthly repayment from a 245k house so you must save a lot each month usually so this may not be too bad for you, but definitely work on all figures. Gas/electric as others said is not realistic, try double that at minimum. Probably more like 200 a month really.
Good luck with it!
You can totally afford it if you want to, but as with all significant life events, be prepared to adapt how you liveas you'll probably end up having to sacrifice some of your 'fun' money for house maintenance and improvements. As you've alluded, houses are getting less affordable and you'll only regret not getting on the ladder earlier.
Couple of bits of advice that may or may not resonate:
Electricity is often a lot more than you expect, especially now. Don't rely on the previous owner having been honest about what they pay per month/year unless you've seen a bill.
Unless the floor is really bad and not safe, live with it for a bit and stick that extra money on your deposit. You can save up over time for the floor but knocking another 10k or whatever off your mortgage will make a dig difference over it's lifetime.
I recently bought a house with my wife. Combined income is 5 k per month. House was 390. Mortgage is 1600 a month.
We are struggling a bit. When pay day comes around I'm virtually down to 0 every month since we moved and we have less than 1500 left in savings.
If I could go back I'd have bought a cheaper house tbh but we've made some big repairs so far and we're having a baby soon so been buying big baby items as well.
I'm hoping it will all settle down but my advice is its not worth overstretching even just a little bit if the interst rates and cost of living keeps rising.
If one of us lost our jobs we would be absolutely screwed.
You might be able to manage but with very little or no money remaining for luxuries, savings or holidays.
It's almost guaranteed you will have a large bill come in with a house or something like a car breaking down, the only way you would realistically be able to afford it will be to get into debt, which will make your finances harder.
I would recommend a cheaper house, you are right it's a good Investment for the future but I wouldn't think about it as a home for your future family. From experience your other half will never see it as their home, especially if you have had an ex living there before so it's likely it will be sold (hopefully for profit) in 10 years, the profit going into a new house.
oh don't be so daft. do you think i'm not in talks with a mortgage advisor? there is absolutely no crime wanting second opinions.
and in case you haven't noticed, it is **sunday** today. offices are closed. i seriously hope that helps.
I’m not the one being daft asking random strangers with no guarantee of any financial knowledge on Reddit to “stress test” your ability to pay back a mortgage. This isn’t where you go for a “second opinion” on something as serious as a mortgage.
you are certainly being daft coming here and assuming there's no mortgage advisor involved at this stage. do you think it's a new purse i'm buying? as i said, i want second opinions and so far they've been extremely helpful. barring you of course.
anyway, when you come back to earth and realise seeking second opinions is more helpful than you'd like to admit, let us know as we might be able to engage you. until then, when you find the red x button make sure you click on it. twice for good measure.
###Welcome to /r/HousingUK --- **To All** * Join Our ***NEW*** Discord! https://discord.gg/pMgUNgWKQH **To Posters** * *Tell us whether you're in England, Wales, Scotland, or NI as the laws/issues in each can vary* * Comments are not moderated for quality or accuracy; * Any replies received must only be used as guidelines, followed at your own risk; * If you receive *any* private messages in response to your post, please report them via the report button. * Feel free to provide an update at a later time by creating a new post with [[update]](https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/search?q=%3Aupdate&sort=new&restrict_sr=on&t=all) in the title; **To Readers and Commenters** * All replies to OP must be *on-topic, helpful, and civil* * If you do not [follow the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/about/rules/), you may be banned without any further warning; * Please include links to reliable resources in order to support your comments or advice; * If you feel any replies are incorrect, explain why you believe they are incorrect; * Do not send or request any private messages for any reason without express permission from the mods; * Please report posts or comments which do not follow the rules *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HousingUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This is an impossible question without you firstly breaking down all your bills. What's the deposit, you say it needs replastering and new floors I can guarantee this will cost more than you think Have you factored in solicitors fees etc. Break down your bills individually eg Gas and electric Water Council tax Internet Phone bill Gym Food Car running costs Only then will you have a better idea. What I will say is that that sized house on one income at its current price sounds like a stretch if you even get approved for the mortgage due to your wage
My deposit will be 38k. yes solicitor fees and surveyor factored in. My bills will be around 330. It includes, gas and electric(80pm), council tax(120pm0, broadband and phone (45pm), water (?). That's all my expenses. I'll have about 10k for flooring and furniture. Will that be enough do you think? I'll have to wait and see whether mortgage gets approved, but I do have a MIP, Nationwide will be able to lend.
What do you spend on food, travel,eating out? petrol,car on finance?, gym membership? House insurance ? You'll need life insurance too Literally, everything only once you add it all up, will you have your "free" money left over. It might be doable, but I don't think you'll have a lot of spare cash left over. For a 3 bed you might find your Gas and electric are more than 80 a month that seems quite optimistic, Internet pluss phone for 45 again seems low unless you have a phone paid off and only a sim? If I were you I'd sit down and write down everything that you spend on in a month, add on the bills associated with a house, to find your "true" spend and see what you're left with A mip doesn't mean you're guaranteed to get it
I used to be the sole occupant in a victorian 2 bed house. Gas and electric was around £160 a month and I barely used the heating, only used the electric shower etc. Other expenses I never considered were property maintenance eg clearing gutters, cleaning windows, roof repairs etc. What boiler is in the property? This will have a big influence on bills as will insulation. Also if you own a car have you checked car insurance prices? What is the internet like there and how much is it? A few questions I asked myself on buying my flat, hopefully helpful in working out costs
I second this. I’m a sole owner and in similar situation. Just coming up to a year now. Op, you need to factor in all the things that come out of your bank account each month plus a little more. There will be times I see myself spending more than I had budgeted for a specific activity on certain months. You can’t rely on just noting the big bills and forgetting about the smaller ones which I’ve found to be the ones that stack up over a period of a month.
Dont need life insurance - i own alone, no dependants/partner and have never had life insurance as not needed as don't need to take care of anyone in the event of my death. Critical illness is something to look into though, although I've gone without that so far too
Having life insurance was a condition of my mortgage. So might be mandatory in some circumstances.
Maybe I wasn't specific enough, but you can get life insurance and income insurance sometimes covered together in the same package. As you're alone, income insurance is beneficial in the event you can't work due to an injury, etc, because who else are you going to lean on
The younger you get life insurance the cheaper it will be. If you’re planning on a family in the future it’s prudent to take out earlier in life.
your gas and electric looks a bit low to me, have you previously lived in a 3 bed house to know if that's accurate for you?
For context our 3-bed house gas & electric is \~£125/m, water £80/m (no meter... we're getting one installed!) and council tax closer to £150/m. You can look up council tax online, make sure you're on 2024/25 rates. Home insurance £220/y, internet about £25/m, two phone contracts at \~£5/m. Life insurance \~£20/m for the both of us. Then about another £250/y for boiler service and alarm service, £13/m TV licence. For us personally, professional memberships/union costs and commute costs come into our non-negotiable spend, plus food shop, basic toiletries, clothing, etc. Our long-term-sustainable budget also includes travel, fun money, eating out, costs for our pets, etc...
Your mortgage deal seems very good - under 1k a month on a 200k mortgage. Is it a 40-year mortgage?
Gas and electric won't be £80 unfortunately, won't make much difference being one or two people for that. Also consider House insurance?
Octopus dropped my monthly direct debit to £86 a month for a 3 bed semi in the north. That's not say it won't go back up next winter. I used next to no gas in the summer months (heatings been off since April 1st) and electricity is usually around £40 a month. Water about £18 a month.
I'm in a three bed detached and yeah I'm using about that a month when no heating on, so expect that for May. I find it's easier to budget by having that overpayment in the summer to offset the winter. The person is wfh like me, so theres a bit of electricity cost on top, but they then don't have to suffer commuter costs which is a big benefit for them.
even as a single person with a gas and electric meter? wondering how much to put aside for it now house insurance will be paid up front before exchange btw.
House insurance is a yearly expense and as such should be factored into your monthly budget....
Typically quite low though compared with electric, council tax, etc. Worth getting a few quotes - they will need to have insurance before exchanging contracts
Absolutely, it's low compared to others, but 20 quid here a few times can easily add up to 100/200£ per month. Everything needs to be factored in to be sure
Doesn’t matter if you’re on your own. The size of the property determines the bills not the occupiers.
I live in a 2 bed flat and my electricity was £150 a month over the winter. I don't have gas
House insurance is still a thing that'll reoccur for the rest of your life, it's small, but those little things add up. You flat out won't achieve £80 electric and gas a month unfortunately, unless you don't heat your house in the winter. I would honestly budget £130-150 for combined electric and gas, as you'll overpay in the summer and have a buffer for the winter. And that's if you're frugal with your heating. For a three bed house, I would be putting aside £500/month, if you don't spend that much, stunning, you have extra money, if you spend that much, at least you've budgeted for it. I would get quotes for the flooring and plastering prior to even surveying the house.
Be about 160 at least
Single person 3 bed house and my electric and gas was £180/month on a meter over the winter. That's only heating two rooms on a timer. But I do work from home so take that with a pinch of salt.
thank you, useful to know as you're also in a 3bed using a meter. i'd be wfh too
For contrast, I live alone in a three bed & spent £130ish a month for gas & electric over the winter (I mainly use a gas fire for heating though, as it's half as thirsty as using the central heating). I'm down to about £90/£95 atm - would be less if I didn't have a tumble dryer and a chest freezer in the garage.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but you will also need insurance. Home and contents. I just brought a 2 bedroom house, and have the same monthly income as you. I had double that for a deposit and I just got approved by the skin of my teeth. But my house was 310k. Legal fees caught me out as I was told it was all Inc and it was not. I had about £500 more added on for searches and other things, so you should count that in. Also some mortgages charge a set up fee. 10k for flooring and furniture can be done if your doing the flooring yourself. Blinds.. strange as it sounds I didn't think blinds were this expensive. But I chose to go to a proper shop and have them install them. Don't forget about car insurance when I changed address my car insurance went up. Strange as I'm in a safer neighbourhood now. Also going out and food etc. Food prices have gone up so much
Your gas and elec I would double for the purposes of this exercise. 2 bed maisonette with brand new boiler, TRV and timers on everything is £117 a month for us.
My gas and electric in my 3 bed semi detached VERY well insulated house, with solar panels is £180pm.
Have you double checked that council tax? Mine is £180pcm on a 250k 3 bed semi. Bills a lot more too. Edit: doh, yes with the 25% discount that’s about right. Bills still seem low.
yes i did minus 25% for the single person discount. without the discount it'd be 160. if took on any lodgers it'd go up to 160.
I've taken on lodgers in the past and it's generally been fine. I think there's a rule now about how many lodgers you can have at one time now without needing to register as a HMO. Still worth looking into.
Gas and electric for £80 per month ? Wow. I wish !
10k for flooring and furniture for a 3 bed (so I'm guessing 90m^2 ) might be enough if you do it yourself. And assemble all the furniture yourself too. Do you have time, energy and handiness for that? Check prices per square meter on something like flooring superstore or whatever online shop. Then add 30% for underlay and any other bits and bobs you'll have to add to make it happen. We got pretty nice engineering wood flooring, LVT for the kitchen and a couple of carpets (110 m^2 ). It cost us 5k just for the materials, and I installed it myself. Had I hired someone it probably would've been 15k, but I actually don't know because I didn't even ask for quotes since tradesmen are fairly expensive 🫰.
My gas and electric is closer to 250 a month on a 3 bed semi
We can’t budget for you. You need to budget for yoursself.
were you asleep in your reading and comprehension class by any chance?
MoneySavingExpert has a great budgeting/affordability excel spreadsheet you can download and fill out, if you fill it in honestly then you’ll get a better idea.
> MoneySavingExpert has a great budgeting/affordability this one? - https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/#spreadsheet
Yep
thank you, i'll check it out
This is doable. But you will be doing nothing outside of surviving for the first year or so. You might be able to go out for dinner on the odd occasion. Basically it’s a lifestyle play. I personally wouldn’t do it, but then people who do are often in a better position 10 years down the track.
I'm in a very similar situation. Similar take home, similar house cost. I had lived with 600 take home after bills EASILY for years before now. With my new job, when I worked out I'd have more than 1k left, after the mortgage/house I'm going for, it was a no-brainer for me. Think about it this way, the majority of the country isn't taking home 1.2k after bills. They survive off of far, far less. You'll be fine.
This, you’re absolutely right. All of the people on this thread saying he’s “one emergency away from a disaster” are probably defining ‘emergency’ as a 10% jump in caviar prices.
Similar situation numbers wise here. Except I'm a single Mum, I have 2 boys who are 9 and 12. My take home is £2.8k, my mortgage is £1k. Other bills take it up to around £1.6k leaving me £1.2k. I spend almost half of this on food, another £100 on kids music lessons/activities and around £150 on fuel. Each month after everything I have to pay for I have £300 ish left per month. This is for everything else clothes, meals out, day trips, cinema, gifts for other people, school trips, house bits, anything unexpected that comes up. It's tight, and sometimes it's hard. But, if I tell people I have £1.2k left per month after bills, lots of people can't understand how it's a struggle, lots of people say their full take home is around £1.5k. Unfortunately a large proportion of the population are struggling, lots of people can't afford to save and would have to use a credit card in emergencies.
I bought a 4 bed detached house, £230k with a £70k deposit. Mortgage is around same as yours and my income too. Bought Dec last year and doing some of the work to it on my own. Also single and live alone
Idk why people are acting like 1.2k leftover after all solid bills would be a struggle? That’s my entire take home at the minute lol. Even adjusting for higher bills and assuming 1k straight. You should easily be able to live a great life while getting a little work done each month. What do you spend on food, transport and fun, right now? Are there things you’re unnecessarily splurging on?
I’m in a very similar situation. 26F, solo FTB and currently have a mortgage approved with Nationwide. Same sort of take home, around 2.5k per month. Only paying for a student loan, car loan, have a perfect credit score and no dependents. When I got my MIP, nationwide quoted a similar figure (around 250k). But I also have a starting deposit of 70k. However, once they did all the final affordability checks, they were only prepared to loan me a max of around 130k. So just something to keep in mind... My MIP was much higher (40-50k higher) than my official loan offer. Originally I was also looking at larger properties, around 240-250k, because that’s what I thought I’d be able to afford (based on my MIP). But the house I’m ultimately in the process of buying and got my mortgage loan approved on, is only a 195k, 1 bed semi detached property. In reality that ended up being my max budget with Nationwide. I thought maybe it was just Nationwide and checked around with other banks, but ended up with the same type of quote after all of the affordability checks. My final mortgage payments will be just under £600 per month, with a good LTV rate. You might get something higher with their FTB helping hand scheme (to afford the house you’re looking at), but I personally didn’t feel comfortable doubling my repayments (closer to 1k per month). I also honestly think the calculations for your bill repayments are very low. I wouldn’t be surprised if your final take home is lower than 1k, especially with a 3 bed semi. As some others have suggested, I’d create a spreadsheet and double check, alongside factoring in some sort of emergency safety net budget. Good luck!
I take home over 1k more than you, I have no debt. But this is far more than I would take on. You would be one unfortunate circumstance away from disaster. Surely you would struggle to build up a meaningful safety net after the purchase. I see why this house appealing for you, and the reasons compelling you to go for it (I can fully empathise there). But you are effectively committing your future to paying for a house. I guess I’m more risk averse than you. But I would consider very carefully if your money stretches this far. I wish you luck no matter what, though!
thank you, i'll have to spend the rest of the day thinking twice about this too. it is very scary. i hear back from the sellers tomorrow
Could you take in a lodger or a friend to rent a room off you? An extra couple of hundred per month and sharing of bills could take this pressure off.
I’ve just committed to buying a flat, out of London, for £170k, with a 70k deposit. I’m shitting myself over it. It’s a two year fix 4.9% 22yr mortgage, and I’m still paying back two quid for every pound I borrow. *All that money.* But it isn’t renting. It’s still a massive decision to make. Be very honest with yourself. Tote up your food and entertainment and hobby expenses, and commute expenses etc. Add ten percent to everything. And consider that you must put something aside. You will be able to furnish cheaply and replace in the long run. I admire you for even considering this. But be honest and clear minded!
Do you have an emergency fund? Imo being scared about borrowing 100k earning what I'm presuming to be around 60/70 (you said you earn 1000 more than OP) is more of a mental / you problem, and you shouldn't be discouraging OP based on that.
> I’m still paying back two quid for every pound I borrow. Don't forget, if you are basing this on the figures on mortgage docs - that is worked out on the idea that you'd go to SVR for the duration of the term after your initial fix (which you'd obv be daft to do). The figures will still sting, but if you work it out on fix to fix, it should come out under that £2 for each £1.
Sorry but this makes no sense. They have £1.2k remaining after core expenditure. All they need is a few lean months and they’ll have built a sizeable emergency fund.
Yes — core expenses. OP makes no mention of other day-to-days; food, commute, clothing, TV / broadband / phone line / mobile, insurance, retirement contributions (if doing so), and anything on entertainment and actually enjoying life. Not to mention the money she will spend week in week out on doing it up — which *will* happen. I see very little little room to put rainy day money away. As specifically mentioned in comment, I feel she would be one bad circumstance away from difficulty. Personally that’s not a risk I would take. But that’s me. OP specifically asked for differing opinions. I gave mine.
So quantify it. Or just stop spreading irrational fear. Those things you mention don’t amount to more than £210 per month at maximum (£120 per month food; £22 per month broadband; £30 per month phone; £40 per month insurance). OP will have £1k to spend/save as needed - this is a huge disposable income, with 1-3 months saving needed to cope with all non-insured emergencies.
£120 a month for food feels really low! Plus there’s your household consumables to think about (cleaning/laundry/toiletries) that aren’t cheap either. My partner and I can easily spend that a week on our shop and we don’t live particularly lavishly. Everything’s shot up in price the last couple of years.
Recent FTB. Bought with my partner. Bought a 3 bed semi in Lancashire for 166k & monthly payment is 850 (which we also try to overpay on). Bills Energy we basically pay a month behind, was highest 160 in winter, now coming down to below 100 & we both hybrid work. (We are reasonable on heating - rationed but on for a couple hours in the day to prevent damp issues in the house) Water 35 Council tax 150 Broadband 35 Home insurance 25 Life insurance 15 for both of us TV license 15 (not far off as just gone up) Phones we pay for individually We budget 400 per month for groceries, cleaning supplies, toiletries but spend closer to 280 We have a joint account for the household bills & each put in 50% of our take home pay which adds up to 2k. This covers all household bills including groceries & mortgage over payments. We are also doing a fair bit of work on our house, so buying paints etc & other bits & pieces, but we would otherwise likely be saving money from that We had savings for solicitors, didn't need movers, but as we started doing work, more things have unfortunately come to light. Also things that we thought we'd live with for a few years (kitchen & bathroom), after using them, we've realised are in a much worse state than we originally thought. So I've taken out a loan to get these done a bit more quickly. A big thing I would say, is it depends on your priorities in life. I'm 32, was sick of renting & wanted my own home, spent the last 4 ISH years saving my arse off for the deposit. Now we have the house I would like to get it to a somewhat decent standard sooner rather than later. So I am willing to cut down significantly on meals out, no holidays for a couple of years. Luckily, I don't live a particularly expensive lifestyle anyway (low spending on clothes, paid my car off a year or two ago - cheap & efficient etc) but I make sure I can still afford a couple meals out a month as this is important to me Work out your priorities, what brings you joy in life, & make sure you can still afford those as well as some savings for your security. Best of luck, it's a tough journey, I'm still pulling my hair out at times, but stay the course if this is what you want.
How much is your deposit, what size of mortgage are you aiming for? How does your budget look after accounting for all costs like transport, maintenance, clothing, gifts, etc.?
deposit is 38k on a 40year term 5yr fixed rate. 330 on bills -council tax, water, gas, electric, broadband and phone. i'll have 1.2k left for food and day to day living. Insurance will be paid in full by exchange date... what do you think. 1.2k left is risky?
So let’s say you spend £300 a month on food, you’ve then got £900 to do what you want with every month. Not risky at all unless you’ve got a very lavish lifestyle, some months I spend nothing on extra activities. Depends if you want a house, or if you want to buy expensive things every month. I’d take the house
Well it depends on the answer to the second question really, how does this fit into your overall budget? A 40 year term doesn't leave you much room for manoeuvre if things go south - and you will pay almost nothing towards the mortgage principal for the first few years. Have you checked you can obtain a £200k mortgage with your current salary? It's probably near the limit of most lenders' range for that salary level.
What do all your bills come to right now? Have you tried living on £1.2k?
i don't have any bills at the moment apart from my phone bill. i live at home with mum and she doesn't take money from me as she wants me to save. i save 1600pm so live on about 1000 each month.
Make a realistic budget for house costs - all the bills, insurance, maintenance, groceries. See what’s left and try and live on that for a month. Also think about what else you would want to spend, like streaming services and how much smaller your budget would be with those.
I think the lack of intelligence to not be able to see how incredibly privileged a £1.2k disposable income is is the real risk here.
and i think that your lack of intelligence to overlook the potential risks that come with owning a big house is worrisome. what happens when there's a significant life change or the boiler breaks down or there's a leak and 1.2k doesn't cut it for the coming months? perhaps you can answer that when you've come back from your trip to lala land. won't hold my breath though.
Yet you’ve not shown how I’ve overlooked the risks at all. Because the risk level here is minimal. You should be able to answer your own question easily without asking others on the internet. This shows you’re not prepared for home ownership. The bigger risk is you falling for a scam rather than anything from normal life events. But on your question, the standard financial advice on emergency funds is 3-6 months of savings (see Dave Ramsey’s advice for example). 1 year to 18 months of lean living, and you’re there. You only need 3 months of saving £600 per month to protect against the boiler breakdown scenario you envisaged.
...... you've just said it. by your own admission, you've just said it. the risks, according to you, are minimal, therefore *not zero.* why is it so bizarre to you for someone to want to factor in what happens when things go left? You sound quite bitter. i should have guessed you're one of the home ownership is scam lot! LOL home ownership is a scam everyone! Not a home for the long term, not a safety net for retirement, but a scam according to this one lol. if we all had questions and relied on ourselves and ourselves alone, no one would learn anything would they? You say this thread shows I'm not ready for home ownership, I say it shows me covering all bases to know what I'm getting into. Btw, thank for proving my point again. £1200-600pm for the boiler breakdown as you say means I'd be living on £600 for the rest of the month. I'm sorry to disappoint, but I've not lived a life on £600pm since I were 17. That is pennies. Perhaps you'd be fine on it, but not the average person.
The risk of crossing a road is minimal too. You really should be more specific about the scenarios you’re concerned about, how much they cost, and how much you’d need to remedy them. Otherwise you’re just exercising your paranoia here. Sorry but I think you misread. I didn’t say home ownership was a scam - I happily own my house, with a decent emergency fund and a lot of insurance too. I meant that, with your reluctance to think things through, you’re likely to be vulnerable to many other forms of scams and frauds.
Ah, so here it is. You’re not actually concerned about financial harm here, it’s your luxury lifestyle and expensive tastes you’re looking to protect. You should have been honest about that from the start rather than framing it in terms of safety. Lol.
? Oh dear... This is poor. Even for you!!! Tell us where in that paragraph the "luxury and expensive taste" is LOL, I will wait. I know i said the conversation wasn't conducive... it's not but I'm genuinely interested. Why have you resorted to pulling things out your backside LOL. Have you read this thread at all? I've been saving 1600 for months. Living under less than 1k a month. What luxury and expensive taste? lmfaooo Tbf maybe to you a gym membership might be expensive taste and I'm genuinely sorry to hear that hahahaha
I’m pretty resilient, I can live off very little if needed. In your scenario it wouldn’t be for long. I spent 12 years earning mostly £50-£65k and saving almost every penny towards my deposit. Now, I’m in a superb situation, and wouldn’t be far off buying your house outright. Clearly you don’t have the discipline to actually protect yourself financially if needed, so no wonder you’re concerned about a little boiler breakdown.
Holidays? Car? Fuel? Transport? Haircuts, birthday presents, food, entertainment, emergency fund, maintenance, insurances, gym, Netflix, there are a load more I could list. Go on a statement of affairs calculator to calculate your true monthly outgoings.
Speak to the utility providers to get a full understanding of monthly costs. Consider how much you love yo save/ travel/ hobbies. Can you do these? If your head abd heart say you are willing to sacrifice travel for a house, go for jt! I also bought a 3 bed as a single person, I had a guest room & craft room and loved it! So, if jt suits your life style, do it. BUT check and recheck your outgoing essential costs first. Go through your last few bank statements, where is your money going? What's frivolous/ essential and that'll help you work out where you stand. Good luck!
Go for it. Only decision for me would be 2 or 5 year fix or a tracker whilst rates (likely) come down. My bills are higher than £330 though. But with 25% CT discount maybe I can see it being feasible. CT, Water, Elec, Internet, Home Insurance (contents only as renting), probably comes out at £375. (£180, £40, £100, £40, £15) What’s your LTV? At £930 you must have >10% deposit or are stretching the term to 40 years?
Yes, I should have said it's on 40years. LTV is 85% on a 40year term. Tracker just wouldn't give me peace of mind! On the first house I put on offer on (220k) I was going to do a 2year fix as the mortgage repayments were only about 860. However, as this house is significantly more, if the interest rate goes up after 2 years, could wipe me out
Fair, yeah you won’t pay much capital off in two years on a 40 year term, so probably best to play it safe on a 5. In 5 years you should reach the 80% mark which will hopefully take a tiny edge off it. (Assuming house prices increase in the next 5 years…which they more than almost will). If inflation seems under control (next key data point for U.K. is 22nd May when April inflation announced but almost weekly there will be US and U.K. data that will affect swap rates), then you might be able to secure a better 5 year fix before you start your mortgage (presumably not for 5-6 months). So I guess your repayments might be slightly lower or you could reduce length and have the same. The latter meaning you could build more equity over 5 years.
thanks, i'll have to keep an eye on interest rates. hope it comes down in time
330 for bills? I think you’re way off. How much is council tax alone?
120 council tax (incl 25% single persons discount), 100 gas and electric (i've increased this after the comments i've been getting), sim only as phone is paid off and broadband 40, i'll have to admit i'm not sure how water is charged.. 70pm? - that's all 330. unless i'm way off about something, i'll have to budget more. whatever i have left will be used for every day living - food, entertainment.
Is your council tax correct? I live in a cheaper property and mines more than that? Buildings and contents insurance? Subscriptions (Netflix,Spotify etc). I also think your gas and electric is underestimated. Mines 150 a month. Do you drive? Car insurance etc… If you don’t drive, how much is it to get to work and back? TV licence. My food shop for 2 people is about 110 a week. My water is 36 a month. I’m not saying it’s not doable but I do think you’re underestimating costs x
£1917.85 that's the exact figure for council tax. building and contents insurance will be paid off for the year by exchange. i do really need to look into gas and electric and all the other expenses as everyone has said i'm underestimating it, which is quite worrying. thanks for breaking your expenses down btw :) currently crunching the numbers...
The water could be as cheap as £20pm depending. Is it a meter or not? If you’re paying more than £40 without a meter then get a water meter as it’ll be cheaper as a single person to pay for what you actually use. The gas/electric estimate is very optimistic though. Might be that in summer but winter could be 2-3x more. Depends how efficient the house is too.
To be honest I think £1.2k left over can be okay but you need a full budget. Figure out how much you spend on everything else each month (as in, go through your past statements and check) - food, travel, shopping, hobbies, events/nights out, etc and you'll know whether your budget is tight or not. If you spend £200/mo on food, £50 on travel and don't go out a lot you'd be fine. If you spend £400/mo on food, have a car that costs £300 and go out every weekend you'll be on a tight budget and wouldn't really be able to save anything.
A great tool for getting an honest budget is Money Saving Expert's budget planner: spreadsheet downloadable here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/#spreadsheet Fill it in *honestly*, don't sugarcoat anything, you'd just be setting yourself up for a bad surprise. Use some comparison websites if you need to get estimates for things like insurance. Once you've finished you'll have done as much as you can and you can make a decision.
thank you very much for the link
If your take home is over 2k and your mortgage will be less than 1k i would say you'd be fine, you would have to be very poor with money to make the rest of it disappear.
If your take home is over 2k and your mortgage will be less than 1k i would say you'd be fine, you would have to be very poor with money to make the rest of it disappear.
You could potentially get a lodger (if you do get it and if your mortgage allows it) to help recoup costs for a bit
Hi. Have you seen the EPC Certificate? Unless it's a grade C or above, then it'll be expensive to heat - they go A-G, and if you're D or less, then you could need to do things like replacing the boiler and/or windows. Has a survey been done? What does that show? You can find out the Council tax band online to help understand the costs. I hope it works out for you, but you need to make sure you've done your sums right. Good luck.
You didn't factor in food costs. Plus that £330 could easily jump to £400 in like a year. You've never lived alone before, shit happens, a lot! So I wouldn't buy that house. It seems like stretching yourself too thin like Bilbo.
Sounds like you have it al worked out. Far better to spend/spend the money on your own home, rather than pay a typical landlord about the same amount for a tiny shit hole.
Yea you can. You'll have around 300 less than you just budgeted but still enough spare to enjoy life a bit.
Personally, I would do it. You need to jump in at some point. House prices are low at the moment and will only increase, sharply quite soon (based on the recent 7-2 BoE decision).
Just got for it, on the basis that you've worked the figures out. Life's too short to dither and you can't spend it when you're dead. You can live on £1.2k with ease provided you don't have a silly car etc.
Calculates to 37% of your takehome on mortgage, very doable in my opinion, you'll have 1.2k left over, you should be able to put away 750 a month comfortably which isn't bad but not too great. I'd do it though and focus on raising your salary and getting an emergency fund going if you haven't got one
thanks, this is exactly what i'm thinking to do. i'll be giving it more thought today re my career/raising salary
Gas and electric looks low, I’d probably expect more like £140 over the year though it’ll be lower in summer and higher in winter. How much higher depends what you are buying, new builds are generally more efficient. Also you should budget for expenses you would pay annually so you can save for next year’s cost. Any commute or subscription expenses, gym? Income protection insurance / critical illness? Expect bills to be closer to £450-500 p/m when said and done. I’d also look at your current £1000 spend and whether any of it is in your monthly budget for bills - and if not, which bits of spending you’d be prepared to cut back on. If you’ve got £1200 left over but your monthly spend outside of bills is £1000 it doesn’t leave much for savings. In general, on that take home I’d probably be ok with that size of mortgage but not everybody’s circumstances are the same!
I did something similar at your age. However I had a 25k deposit plus left 10k in the bank for renovations that I spent very slowly. Fortunately, nothing urgent needed doing apart from the kitchen, which I bought in the Xmas sales and fitted myself. The potential for new floors would worry me. Why does it need new floors? Damp? Previous water spillage?
the ripped up the flooring so it's just bare. so flooring needs to be fitted. i think the survey will play a huge role on whether i go forward or not
Oh well. You can live without carpet for months if you need to
Unless you have a deposit of around £50k, no. I've got a MIP for £189k with a take home of around £2,650 and great credit. With my deposit (relatively small), I could afford a max price of £210k with a mortgage of £1,080-ish. Your mortgage would probably be around £1,200 a month. I've had an offer accepted recently, and my mortgage will be £180k at 5.05% 5yr fixed and that will cost £947 a month.
what term did you go for?
30 years
Gas and electric will be a lot more than 80 notes, bigger house here but it’s £270 a month. You will need buildings insurance as is mortgaged, contents up to you. Have you any emergency money for things you can’t do yourself - eg boiler, main water supply etc.
The bills are the bit that are way off for me My mortgage is 440 Council tax 180 (band B Lancashire) Gas & electric 200 Food 200 Water 53 Internet 30 Life insurance 25 House insurance 20 And I live in a 2 bed semi, in summer my gas/electric are around £120 and winter it’s close to £300 when it’s cold. I put £1400 into my house bills account a month and it’s generally all used every month. Definitely have back ups things break a lot in the beginning
General rule of thumb I follow is calculate all your bills and then add 20% as a buffer. Don't forget that things like broadband etc have yearly price rises. Do remember to apply for single persons discount for council tax if living alone. Electricity and Gas at £80 a month seems relatively low so make sure that's accurate. Don't forget things like water bills, any household and contents insurance, the cost of moving in any furniture or possessions. You are correct in the idea that it'll only get harder to get on the ladder without an existing property. If your salary increases by 5% next year and that house increases by 5% then all of a sudden it's much less affordable. I would advise to get a cheaper house if possible but house prices are stupid. Also make sure to haggle on the price. The price listed is very often not the value of the house so much as a hope of what they might get. Best of luck.
If your take home is over 2k and your mortgage will be less than 1k i would say you'd be fine, you would have to be very poor with money to make the rest of it disappear.
I had a similar situation to you when I first bought, and although I agree with others also consider your salary trajectory. I made it work by living frugally for the first couple of years. It was a big risk as I had no buffer at all when I bought it. 7 years later I have over 50% equity as I consistently overpaid when I got pay increases and am financially comfortable. Without this I’d have struggled with inflation. Agree on the bills front though - all of mine come to circa £550 a month (gas, electric, water, council tax, internet, Netflix, dental, house/car insurance, phone)
No chance, you’ll never get approved in a million years. With your salary you won’t be able to get a mortgage of more than 150-160k and that’ll be pushing it
Yes you can absolutely afford it assuming you have your other spending and debt under control. If your budget sheet looks like the below then probably not: £500/month - car finance £70/month phone contract £100/month sofa finance repayments £300/month credit card debt Etc
I think that’s plenty. Your mortgage is 2/5 of your take home wages. As long as you don’t have to set aside / save up for £50k in works too to make it habitable, I think you’ll be ok By the way, £350 is light on bills budget , think at nearer £700-800/month including water rates, building and contents insurance, broadband/wifi, mobile phone, car or transport, DIY budget as well as council tax and food … utilities are often far more than you realise in a house - gas and electric are often £140+/month and £200+ in winter on a 3 bed house but depends on many factors.
Just to let you know my take-home pay has hovered around 1.2-1.4k a month for the last few years, and my rent has been between £400-600 a month. Right now taking home 1.4k and paying £400 rent and bills feels comfortable for me. I don't drive, I can afford the odd expense like new glasses or the odd holiday or meal out. So although the mortgage would be taking a huge chunk of money from your paycheck, you wouldn't be living miserably with 1.2k leftover for living costs imo!
£1200 left to do what? What about food, petrol, gas and electricity?
I think it may be tight. Do you drive? Have a car? Ever plan on having one? This will eat into a rather large chunk of that left over money. What do you spend on food? This is horrendously underestimated by a lot of people too. I think you need to up the estimate of gas and water as thats very low for the prices we are seeing nowadays. House insurance is also very important. I would suggest allowing some for savings also as when youre a homeowner you never quite know when you are going to need to fix a hole in the roof or a leaky pipe in the wall
Well done you for thinking about all this. I wouldn’t worry too much about life insurance. It’s really to protect your family if something happens to you. Don’t let someone sell you all these add ons. Building insurance definitely but you might feel you don’t need contents insurance though yes if you can afford it.
Just make sure you never want kids!
You sure the council tax is that low? I'm not familiar with English prices but even in the cheapest area here in Wales a £240k house would be Band D and the cheapest is about £190 depending on council area. Your bills are way too low, even with low usage I'd slap another £50 on that bill for duel fuel. Have you had a decent level 3 survey done as this will tell you if there are any nasty surprises you'll have to deal with straight away like a knackered boiler / new roof etc.
3-bed in the south east, gas and electric are a standing order of around £125/mth, 1 person in the house. Plus council tax, water, building and contents insurance, phone, car tax and insurance, internet, they all add up. Your monthly bills will definitely be more than £330.
https://www.calculator.co.uk/2022/01/how-much-of-your-salary-should-you-spend-on-a-mortgage/
you going for be paying 1/2 your income in mortgage, that doesn’t seem affordable
I have not purchased but I do rent and will say bills will be much higher than you think. It depends a lot on insulation, piping, boiler etc so £80 for gas and electric isn’t realistic. My water bill was also double what my last was so that wasn’t fun. Council tax goes up yearly- as does everything. Home broadbands have gone up. I would budget near the £500 mark. Also you need insurance. Do you have a car? Is there a way you can not spend every single penny when you move in? Keep some aside to continue adding to and then use when you get double what you have left? If your boiler breaks down who’s paying? They aren’t cheap. Electrical re wiring? Gutters? Hole in your roof? You don’t leave enough to build good savings quickly. Maybe see if you can prioritise what goes out first?
I think you're vastly underrating Gas and Electric. I suspect will be at least £100 more. Council tax only you know, don't forget the 25% single discount that most offer. Have you included house insurance and your own life cove? (At the very least, income protection cover.) If you can get away with a £500 buffer to save (or to absorb interest rates) you're good to go. I would also add try and build up a nest egg ASAP for replacement goods/emergancy repairs. Cooker fridge, washer, dryer etc. Things always go wrong oe break at the same time.
Seems like you've done your homework. Have you seen 2 bed as having smaller house will keep running costs down and the initial investment
Why on earth are you worried about having over a grand of disposable income left? Do you have very expensive taste?
i don't have expensive taste. did you completely miss where i said i was not born with a silverspoon or is reading desirable more than it is mandatory for you? some of us like to be a little risk averse. what the hell is the crime in that? if left to you, we'd all be biting off more than we can chew and living on pennies. amount of taxes i pay and eligible for fuck all if things went left. i am my own safety net, i don't scrounge off the government.
You’re not being risk averse, you’re being paranoid and thinking in a very fuzzy way. It’s the worst way to approach life and I’m sure it creates a lot of problems for you besides housing. Quantify it and break it down before you worry. I’ll even do it for you, despite your rudeness towards me: - Boiler breakdown - average cost: £200-£1000, - Plumbing issues - £100 - £800. - Electrical failure - £100 - £500. - Roof Damage - £500 - £2000. - Broken windows - £150 - £200. As I said, a few months of lean living - e.g. saving £700 per month - and you’ll be protected against these.
I'm being rude because you're being obtuse and approached me very condescendingly. I do not take kindly to that. This conversation is no longer conducive. Best we end it here.
You should be thanking me as I’m the only one actually giving you quantified scenarios here. But fine, go back to your vague sense of evidence free anxiety if you like.
Get over yourself sunshine. You think home ownership is a scam. You're in the wrong forum. This may be more fitting for you [https://www.reddit.com/r/toddlers/](https://www.reddit.com/r/toddlers/)
As I said before, you’ve misinterpreted. I am a home owner, and my original comment on scams was intended to get across that if you can’t work this out on your own, someone will sell you a bridge at some point.
This thread was created for me to gather information as a FTB and there is no crime in that. We all start from somewhere, have a bit of grace.
I would deffo up the bills budget, I have a 2 bed detached alone & mine is £200 gas and electric, £25 water, £140 council tax (with single person discount), internet £30, house insurance £29, tv £20. So around £450 a month total for just household bills My personal bills I factor separate but you will likely also have phone?, car? Subscriptions? All personal bills you’d need to add on and take into consideration also
Personally would buy something smaller £170k region but then again you’ll have more capital appreciation by owning a more expensive house
£330 for Bills a d Council Tax? Please share your life hack on this beauty! I live in a Terraced house up north and I pay £120 on council tax alone.
It's do-able, you're very young so your salary will probably go up. So potential but unlikely short term pain for long term gain?
On your own? You will struggle if you want to do anything other than existing. If you are moving in with a partner or lodger you would probably be ok
FWIW, I bought my first house with rather less comfortable numbers (pre-2008 crash) - £1400 take home, £900 mortgage. It was painful for the first 3 years (although I had a lodger for half of that which made the numbers less painful). I’d say go for it - your salary is likely to head up, and it is possible to survive on very little if you have to! I echo the observations that at current prices your Gas/Electric are probably way off! Also, think about what travel costs you actually incur for essentials (eg getting to work). The key here is to identify what the minimum you can spend is if it’s necessary, so what level of float you have - it sounds to me as though you can probably save sufficient not to go into other debt. I would suggest that as your salary increase you aim to overpay to reduce the term though - 40 year mortgages cost a lot overall!
There’s a few things I’d point out. £330 seems very low for bills and council tax. I know everyone is different but here’s an example of my wife and I’s outgoings, living in a 3 bed detached house with no children. Mortgage: £700 Council tax: £250 Gas/Elec: £160 Home/life insurance: £50 Sky TV plus internet: £90 Mobile phone bill (for both): £140 Various subscriptions: £134 Travel: petrol/train etc: £300 Insurance/road tax: £120 Food: £400 Our total outgoings are about £2400 and the mortgage is only £850 of that. I fully appreciate that me and my wife pay a lot for entertainment, subscriptions that aren’t necessary, but at the end of the day we can afford it so don’t mind, but I would err on the side of caution when planning the rest of your bills. I’m sure lots of people on here will tell you to cut every subscription that isn’t necessary, and fine tune their finances to be as frugal as possible, and if that’s what you prefer then absolutely go for it, but be honest with yourself about what sort of spender you’ll be. Will you be really frugal or will you splurge a bit on things you like, will you get the occasional takeaway, do you like going for a few drinks with friends during the week and at weekends etc. do you like to go on holidays or trips abroad etc. as these are things you may want to take into consideration as well. I’d personally think £1.2k is plenty to live on. That’s roughly what me and my wife have spare each, each month and I find I have plenty for putting away into savings and investments which steadily build up over time (for medium to short term plans), along side my pension (for retirement) and I still have plenty of money to spend on stuff for myself (sporting events, new clothes, skincare, books, video games, hobbies, holidays etc) Like everyone it will take a bit of time to build up your savings if you’re putting pretty much everything into your house, but that’s normal. When me and my wife moved into our house we had spent every penny of our savings on our wedding and house including furnishings, but we managed to built it back up over time. One other thing is to consider where you live. I live in a town in Scotland and the cost of living is pretty cheap. If you live in a big city, or London, then £1.2k probably wouldn’t go as far as it does up here.
It might feel uncomfortable for the first year or two as you adjust but if you're willing to forego a few luxuries initially then you can make it work. And, if things went south you have the space to rent a room out. Good luck!
Hi Impressive, as someone who has just recently got a mortgage at £235k it can be challenging. Two weeks after I moved in my washing machine went. There’s a few other obvious amendments I need to do and none of this was factored in. Like yourself I wasn’t born with a silver spoon up my ringer but I finally got my place by myself at 34 yrs old. So to have saved up the deposit at 27, you should be proud. However, what I would say is and what my mum said to me - make sure you can still have a life outside of your house and not be prisoner to it.
I would definitely use an excel spreadsheet and look at all of your bills, tax, gas/electric, home insurance, life insurance, food, fuel, anything else you spend on regularly etc. I assume you have a big deposit for that low on the monthly repayment from a 245k house so you must save a lot each month usually so this may not be too bad for you, but definitely work on all figures. Gas/electric as others said is not realistic, try double that at minimum. Probably more like 200 a month really. Good luck with it!
You can totally afford it if you want to, but as with all significant life events, be prepared to adapt how you liveas you'll probably end up having to sacrifice some of your 'fun' money for house maintenance and improvements. As you've alluded, houses are getting less affordable and you'll only regret not getting on the ladder earlier. Couple of bits of advice that may or may not resonate: Electricity is often a lot more than you expect, especially now. Don't rely on the previous owner having been honest about what they pay per month/year unless you've seen a bill. Unless the floor is really bad and not safe, live with it for a bit and stick that extra money on your deposit. You can save up over time for the floor but knocking another 10k or whatever off your mortgage will make a dig difference over it's lifetime.
Do you need a husband? 😬
I recently bought a house with my wife. Combined income is 5 k per month. House was 390. Mortgage is 1600 a month. We are struggling a bit. When pay day comes around I'm virtually down to 0 every month since we moved and we have less than 1500 left in savings. If I could go back I'd have bought a cheaper house tbh but we've made some big repairs so far and we're having a baby soon so been buying big baby items as well. I'm hoping it will all settle down but my advice is its not worth overstretching even just a little bit if the interst rates and cost of living keeps rising. If one of us lost our jobs we would be absolutely screwed.
You might be able to manage but with very little or no money remaining for luxuries, savings or holidays. It's almost guaranteed you will have a large bill come in with a house or something like a car breaking down, the only way you would realistically be able to afford it will be to get into debt, which will make your finances harder. I would recommend a cheaper house, you are right it's a good Investment for the future but I wouldn't think about it as a home for your future family. From experience your other half will never see it as their home, especially if you have had an ex living there before so it's likely it will be sold (hopefully for profit) in 10 years, the profit going into a new house.
Seriously? Go talk to a mortgage advisor instead of random strangers on Reddit. 🤦♂️
oh don't be so daft. do you think i'm not in talks with a mortgage advisor? there is absolutely no crime wanting second opinions. and in case you haven't noticed, it is **sunday** today. offices are closed. i seriously hope that helps.
I’m not the one being daft asking random strangers with no guarantee of any financial knowledge on Reddit to “stress test” your ability to pay back a mortgage. This isn’t where you go for a “second opinion” on something as serious as a mortgage.
you are certainly being daft coming here and assuming there's no mortgage advisor involved at this stage. do you think it's a new purse i'm buying? as i said, i want second opinions and so far they've been extremely helpful. barring you of course. anyway, when you come back to earth and realise seeking second opinions is more helpful than you'd like to admit, let us know as we might be able to engage you. until then, when you find the red x button make sure you click on it. twice for good measure.