Lets say 200k property.
at least a 15% deposit = 25k
Stamp duty = 2k
Solicitors fees = 1-2k
Moving in = about 1k (assuming you have everything furniture, kitchen and bedroom)
Upfront bills = 1k(water, council tax installment, gas, electric, phone connection)
200k house = at least 30-33k upfront. That is with a 15% deposit which will leave you with a high mortgage rate.
£500 a month will give you the deposit in 5 years.
Where did some of these numbers come from?
1K for setting up gas/electric/phone?
Gas n Electric were no up front costs, just had to give a meter reading and set up a DD. Phone was in with BB/Sky, again no upfront cost just a monthly bill. Council Tax I think was £130 upfront then £110 a month. Water again just a monthly bill.
As some of the above have indicated mate the best mortgages come with the larger deposits, which will save you a huge amount. Currently looking at getting out of our mortgage as we pay about £700 a month and less than £100 comes off what we owe
20-30% deposit should see you in good stead for a half decent mortgage. Altho there are other options, the last place we rented have a scheme where if you decided to purchase after renting for a year they put the entire rent for that year towards your deposit. Solicitors Fee's will vary hugely depending where you go, think we paid £1400. You will of course need surveys and stuff done for any property you buy, you may need to pay these or they may be bundled with solicitors or Bank Fee's. Also some mortgages do require setup Fee's, completely depends on bank.offer tho.