Want to buy a house at some point, what do I need to know?

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Soldato
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So I have loads of money but not quite enough for a deposit (maybe a 5% deposit) and I don't really want to buy a macbook air or any other massive wastes of money. I'd rather save some more and ***** it all on a house. However, I need to know about all sorts of hidden costs I should expect so I can properly map out the next 5 years of my life.

I looked at some £160k houses on rightmove, it seems to get an average size 3 bedroom semi-detatched, or a big 2 bed semi-detatched house. This seems okay but I might go up to £200k house or something, I dunno.

It's all very well me looking at £160k houses and seeing that a mortgage calculator would have me paying ~£800 a month but what would the typical bills be on a property like that. What are typical council tax costs. What have I not even though about?

After tax and car costs and pension contributions etc I have ~£1500 a month. I then save £500, and then my living costs (beer, and food mainly) fluctuate between £200-400. Anything I have left at the end of the paycheck also gets saved. Obviously if I kept my living costs more to the lower end of £200 and reduced my saving to £300 after getting a house I would have around £1000. Take a potential £800 for mortgage and I have £200 for bills. I could obviously reduce saving money if £200 is not a realistic amount for bills per month.

Do I have enough money for this home ownership lark? If this is illegible then I'm sorry.
 
In addition to bills you need to put some your income aside to maintain your home and to pay for things that can break such as leaky roof, boiler repair, new guttering etc. You buy a house you need to fill it with white goods and furniture if you dont not already have some.
 
Find somebody you want to spend the rest of your life with. Buy house together. Suddenly it's massively more affordable and your salary will go much further.
 
Would an extra £200 a month help. Due a promotion in a few months time.

Kinda ridiculous that I'll be earning £5k more than the UK average but will still struggle to afford an okayish house.
 
One said:
Kinda ridiculous that I'll be earning £5k more than the UK average but will still struggle to afford an okayish house.
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As above, not really *that* ridiculous. Traditionally people bought houses together rather than alone. I'm not sure when it became a thing for everyone to expect to be able to own property on a single salary.
 
Or look at cheaper houses. Our parents generation didn't buy ok-nice houses to start with. If you're only taking home 1500ish you are extremely unlikely to get a mortgagee for that amount. Why not look at 1 or two bed houses and with that houses that need massive redecoration.
 
General advice used to be that an affordable mortgage would be around 33% of your salary but that doesn't include upkeep of the house, bills, insurance etc.

As Fox says, it's more common and far more affordable for two people to buy a house rather than individual purchase (unless you earn a good wage which you don't).
 
[FnG]magnolia;25762076 said:
General advice used to be that an affordable mortgage would be around 33% of your salary but that doesn't include upkeep of the house, bills, insurance etc.

As Fox says, it's more common and far more affordable for two people to buy a house rather than individual purchase (unless you earn a good wage which you don't).
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Since when was £30k not a good wage?

Also, when did buying a house on one salary become a popular idea? When wasn't it? Traditionally it was only ever the man that worked, women kept the house in order and brought up the children. Any work the women did do was part-time low-wage work. Certainly not a new concept.
 
That seems to be a rather high house price range to be looking at with the income given. You probably need to look less at what the monthly cost is for a given loan amount and more at what salary multiple the bank is likely to actually be willing to lend you.

£200 for bills is very unlikely to be workable at all, council tax alone would probably eat almost half of that and then you have gas and/or electric and other bills to deal with.
 
[TW]Fox;25762034 said:
Find somebody you want to spend the rest of your life with. Buy house together. Suddenly it's massively more affordable and your salary will go much further.
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I dare you to post that advice in the Relationship Counselling and Hugs Thread. ;)

"She's getting the house..." :eek:
 
£3-400 is more like it for bills

£80-£120/month council tax
£100/month gas & electric
£30/month home insurance
£40/month water

Add on broadband, TV, etc.
 
As above. I don't earn that much less than you and with my gf we'd only be looking at a house around £140k'ish which is a decent size 2/3 bed semi. That leaves us with very reasonable repayments which we can more than cover at the moment and should be able to when interest rates rise (which is another thing you haven't considered)

My advice, stick it out a bit longer and save up more deposit AND lower the house value you are looking at. But that's just my 2p.
 
Don't you think it's a bit daft going to your spending limit for the repayments for a house?

What I mean is this.. 10 years ago house prices used to be much lower but with higher interest rates. The price of houses shot up all across the country within a few months (a house I'd purchased for £32k was worth £160k within 2 years) and people stopped being able to afford them. To counter this and to keep people spending and getting mortgages, they lowered the interest rates to virtually nothing.

Sooner or later those interest rates are going to start to climb again. The low interest payments you can afford now could soon be £200 - £500 over your budget and when that happens the housing bubble will burst and you'll also possibly be in negative equity (when too many people can't afford the payments, supply out does the demand, house prices drop and your loan is more than the house is worth - this has already happened with some people).

If it were me, I'd buy something a bit less than the maximum you can afford, just incase.
 
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memyselfandi said:
That seems to be a rather high house price range to be looking at with the income given. You probably need to look less at what the monthly cost is for a given loan amount and more at what salary multiple the bank is likely to actually be willing to lend you.

£200 for bills is very unlikely to be workable at all, council tax alone would probably eat almost half of that and then you have gas and/or electric and other bills to deal with.
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This. If you're single, only have a 5% deposit on a 160k house, and only earn 30k, you a) wont be able to get a mortgage b) wont have enough to live on. (I say 'only', it's a lot more than I earn! I mean 30k is not enough in your scenario).

Here's an idea of my outgoings:

Council Tax 149.00
TV License 12.18
Gas + Electricty 56.00
Water supply 6.85
Water disposal 24.21
Phone + Broadband 28.00
Home/Contents Insurance 16.85
Life insurance 20.98
Car insurance 34.71
Car tax 11.66
Groceries 219.04

That's ~£570 (not including mortgage) before spending money on anything 'fun'. Granted, that is for two people, but the only thing that will change massively would be food.
 
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[TW]Fox;25762052 said:
As above, not really *that* ridiculous. Traditionally people bought houses together rather than alone. I'm not sure when it became a thing for everyone to expect to be able to own property on a single salary.
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Urm, traditionally, a single salary not only bought the house but also supported the partner/children!
 
Thanks for the replies. I think you've helped me get my head in check. I sit here in my very nice family home (which was bought nearly twenty years ago when house prices were far more reasonable) for which I contribute very little (compared to real world rent prices) and I stupidly expect to be able to afford my own similarly nice house. Obviously this is a completely unrealistic idea. Also thankyou mpledge52 for confirming to me that £30k is not a pittance and some people here would have me believe!

I'm getting to the age where I feel like I should move out, I really don't want to rent when I don't have to though.
 
Far more reasonable does not equate to easier to buy.
And people have been buying in couples for decades. Since end of ww2 really.

for examples my parents first house, cost £8k it took them two years to save up the deposit where they literally spent nothing. £8k was the absolute the max they could borrow and they moved into a house with no decoration, no curtains, no carpets nothing, they didn't even have a sofa for several months, and even then it was second hand stuff.

How many people have to spend the max they can on a run down house in an area they don't want? Then can't afford to do it up?
Yeah mortgagee have got more expensive, but they're also a darn site easier to get and people seem to forget what our parents generation actually had to do to get a house and expect far to much from a first home.
 
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