O/T House deposit

[Babeonthego]

Hey girlies,

I know this is completely off topic but I was wondering if any of you have had to save up a deposit for a new house. My hubbie and I currently have a mortgage on a 2 bedroom house were we live with our gorgeous baby boy. We have decided that hopefully in 2 years time we would like to move to a bigger place. We would prob be looking at a budget of £170000 which means at min we would need a deposit of £17000 minus any money we make on our current house.

I guess im wondering if anyone has successful saved up this much money. how long did it take and any helpful tips

thanks

 

[clairealfie]

Guess it depends how much you both earn but definately, definately do yourself a budget!

We saved £10k in a year for our wedding & honeymoon, it wasn't easy but so worth it to only come back to a £1000 credit card debt from the honeymoon.

Make a list of your outgoings using past bank statements and direct debit lists etc. Try and switch utility suppliers to get them cheaper.

Save a little bit every month for xmas and birthdays, we put £40 in a seperate bank account for this.

Set yourself a weekly fuel and food budget (£35 & £50 for us) and withdraw this every week and then don't use your debit card!

Give yourselves a weekly spends budget and again withdraw this every week and hide the debit card.

Then whatever you have left, stick it in a savings account/ISA and only touch it for emergencies like car breakdowns.

The best bit of advise is weekly cash withdrawals, it's a bit old fashioned to be handing over cash in supermarkets, clothes shops and restaurants but it really stops you over spending.

 

[SackBoy]

Currently you need 20% deposit for a mortgage. As for saving we cut ourselves down to doing the bare minimum so hardly any luxuries or going out it coincided with me being pregnant so I didn't want to do much anyway.

 

[SackBoy]

Oh we paid off a few of my OH's debts and saved so if we were just saving we would have had about £10k in under 9 months.

 

[My_First]

Actually we are going through this now, you dont need 20% some mortgages will let you at 10%, and there is one at the moment where you only need 5%. We have just saved 25k for a deposit and it has taken a few years...

 

[SackBoy]

Actually we are going through this now, you dont need 20% some mortgages will let you at 10%, and there is one at the moment where you only need 5%. We have just saved 25k for a deposit and it has taken a few years...

I think it depends a lot on your income as well, but a lot of them want 20% or are charging stupid rates.

 

[binxyboo]

Here is a handy 'deposit saver' calculator.
https://www.ukmortgageandloan.co.uk/house-deposit-calculator.php

 

[Lettuce]

Were going to be in the same boat! the bigger your deposits, the better your rate! You can still get the occasional 95% mortgage, but rubbish rates.
I agree on the making a budget and paying in cash!
To make some extra cash you could do a clear out and get a stall at a car boot sale or sell on eBay.
To save more in the house, make cheap dinners, in bulk to have in freezer so it cuts down on the "nothing for dinner so we'll get a carry out!"
Get good deals for going out, cinema and dinner deals. Maybe try more supermarket own brand stuff - I read in a magazine that orange juice, tinned tomatoes and often their soap powder actually was just as good as the big brands!
Turn down the heating and put on a jumper!
These are all just things that help us btw! good luck! Xxx

 

[Babeonthego]

Thanks everyone for ur advice. I will take all of these tips on board and i suppose I better get saving. My incentive is the thought of being in a gorgeous new house by christmas 2013 along with possibly another wee bundle of joy

Good incentives to keep us going

 

[3011busyyear]

We rent and much as we would like to buy it is just impossible. 10years ago we could have been able to live in a tiny place, but just out of uni on low salaries we just could not save enough to buy.
10 years on, we have just outgrown a tiny place and need more from a house, ie space for hubby to work etc. We are now looking at £120k (ex council) -£160k (street we currently live on) for a average family terrace house.
A deposit on that would take years and years to save for. Even then our mortgage would be more than what we pay in rent. We are now in our early 30's so when people say to us 'oh but when you retire you'll own a house and the equity will be yours' it just isn't true anymore, when you consider interest rates, salaries, deposits and houses prices.

Tbh we are waiting for someone to die and leave us some money
Sorry that doesn't help the OP just wanted to comment

P.s i am mega grumpy today so ignore my cynicism! We also lived with hubbys mum for a year and my parents for 3months during my first trimester- we were trying to keep the pregnancy a secret until after the scan, i was sick as a dog and couldn't stay awake half the time, nightmare! Ater all that we still couldn't afford save a deposit.