It's not 50%, but I put down a 40% deposit when I bought my first house, and I did it on my earnings alone, as I wasn't married, and wasn't sharing the house with anyone.
And while I certainly wasn't badly paid, I wasn't earning silly, banker-bonus type money either. House prices weren't what they are now either, but then, nor were salaries.
And I kept enough back to fully furnish it, too, from replacing ALL carpets, to buying fridge, freezer, washing machine, microwave, bed, drawers, TV, and everything from dining plates to the kitchen bin. Had I not kept back enough to fully outfit the place, pretty much on day 1, I probably would have hit 50%.
And that size of deposit reduced the mortgage rate a fair bit, too.
30k a year? Thats like saving over 2k a month mate. Most people dont even earn that in one months worth of wages.
even earning 40k its DIFFICULT to save 2k a month as you get around 2.5k after tax deduction in your pocket each month http://www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/salary.php
Did you read the block you quoted, that is because she earns £70k, but still has the same outgoings as when she earned half that. Its about 4k a month after tax, and quite easy to only spend £1k in London if your actually in control of your out goings.
I'll also re-iterate that moving to London is no quick way to get rich, but there are a hell of a lot more tax payers in London earning £40k or £70k than there are those earning £30k up north. Even the same role pays more in London and some people live for less (like a mate of mine who moved down from Manchester, mostly because of the public transport and work meaning he no longer needs a car. Does live in a bit of a **** hole mind.)
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hope i earn 70k soon lol but yes u can live on 1k
yea im over halfway to that salary!
This is literally my kind of position right now. I'd like to take advantage of the FirstBuy / HomeBuy scheme as that'd help offset a large deposit but did read around and apparently these new builds are at over inflated prices anyways. So probably worth just looking around at normal places ideally refurbed etc so I can just move in and not have to do little if any work to the place. House prices are still dropping. Gutted will probably miss out on the stamp duty but hoping to find something nice this year.
Prices are hard to judge at the best of times, let alone new build.
Obviously, recent history of similar properties gives some guidance, but we are, and for a couple of years have been, living in volatile times. I remember watching a house double in price over a year or two, then close to halve in price over the next couple, back to within about 10% of what I paid. Had I bought a year after I did .... hello, negative equity.
I have no idea what the next year or three holds, but I have to say, I'm nervous about it. I think it'd take a moron or someone that's been living deep on a TV-less cave for several years to not feel that, at the very least, the economy is in trouble, and times are going to be hard. But it remains to be seen if it's "hard" as in several years of near stagnation, rumbling along at or near zero growth, plus of minus a little bit, or of we have a calamitous collapse and spend 10 years or more understanding the Great Depression.
And what that implies for jobs, for the prospects for those running businesses, who knows.
All I will say, without seeking to influence you one way or the other, because I really don't know what to expect, is that I'd be nervous as hell about buying property right now, especially if I wasn't sure I bought in at a good price.
It might prove to be a brilliant idea, and prices might continue going up, but I wouldn't discount the possibility of them halving, or worse, again, like they did as I described above (in, what, 89-92 sort of period).
Also, of course, if we do see a dramatic reduction in price, that's exactly the time you want to be a cash-rich buyer. But that's a damn big "if".
Pay yer money and take yer chance, I guess.
dbh (18-01-2012)
Manchester has much higher levels of un-employment than London, as such you've got less chance of getting a good benefits package.
For every company car up north, you get a £3k pa travel allowance in London, it really does balance out!
However if I was going to be dole scum, its obvious London is a poor choice, your money won't go far!
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oh yeah, before any income is paid, thou I think you have to pay NI on it, I duno, doesn't apply to me, I just cycle.
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Yup. You can do as much research as you can, and take all the precautions possible, avoid all the obvious pitfalls, and still end up suffering from cancer or getting run over by a bus. And not a small percentage of people, even on here, will have been impacted by the former, whether it be personally or via a loved one, me included. Several times.
If you never take a gamble, you'll never get out of bed. And even then, you're gambling that a meteorite won't hit the house or a plane crash on it, when getting out of bed might have saved your life.
As they say, only two certainties in life, death and taxes.
And with medical advances, I'm not entirely sure about death any more.
dbh (18-01-2012),j.o.s.h.1408 (18-01-2012)
Regarding London have always lived/worked London zones 1 to 3 since school to current working days ( apart from 6 months commuting in from Surrey which i hated) personally I have always lived closer in (1-3) but if your commute in from Epping is not to bad then why not (just remember to factor the extra travel costs as well for the extra zones)
We all know London is more expensive but the pay rates makes up for it, and many of us have jobs in industries that we cant do elsewhere in the UK. Despite London having always been my home (foreign travelling/working excluded) i really cant imagine living anywhere else in the UK during peak earning years. Hopefully with our house being fully paid off in the next couple of years may well re-evaluate to move further out and cut down the work, but while "relatively" young and pulling in good earnings myself and the mrs cant entertain living anywhere else.
Word of warning though and main concern talking about buying though as a first time buyer have you thought about the possibility (and not to scare) that in the current environment house prices might crash and timing may not be so great?
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