mortgage and first time buyer advice!

[Ben S14a]

www.moneysavingexpert.com has a useful income/outgoing excel spreadsheet that i found really helpful when working out how much i could afford.

Go to the general section then budget planner!

[mickstreet]

When I bought my first place a few years ago I dind't have a deposit. I ended borrowing 5% from my parents and had it written into the deeds that they owned 5% of the house and when it was sold they received 5% of the sale price. Helped me out no end as I got a much better deal on a 95% mortgage and after a few years my dad made his money back + about 45%!!! This was advised to me by the mortgage adviser at Nationwide, apparently its quite common.

[unipsycho]

Do what I did, move somewhere where the houses are more affordable, for example you can get a nice 3 bed house in wales for 70k, thus saving a large amount of cash to be able to splurge on the sx and traveling back to somerset to see friends family

Hell you could even commute if you needed to, the savings would be than much

[ian_t]

Nah commuting is false economy, I know people that spend about 3K in petrol and a few K in road tolls. Thats why i live near work, to cycle

[tim rome]

keep your repayments lower by taking out an interest only mortgage (worry about capital repayment in a few years when you are earning more and the value of your house has increased)

[Aitch]

Nah commuting is false economy, I know people that spend about 3K in petrol and a few K in road tolls. Thats why i live near work, to cycle

For me, it isn't a money issue - I just find it soul destroying spending a lot of time in the car getting to and from work when I could be doing something more constructive with my time

However, I was even considering taking a pay cut to get a job closer to my home to free up some time, but in the end I've got a job closer to home for more money

[Pauly_Boy]

I'm reading this thread with so much horror!

First of all, how cheap are houses down your way? Also, your £7k in debt, why did you then spend £5k on your car, when your thinking of buying a house? Unfortunatly, you have to make sacrifices and save some dough, unless you earn alot of money for your area.

Remember, if you don't keep up on your mortage repayments, you'll lose the house, so if your basically spending more than you earn, and your still living at home, how do you think you can afford it?

Sorry to sound like the old man, but it's stuff you have to consider.

Make a spead sheet, work out when you spend your money on and go from there (use your old bank statments), that way, when you goto a IFA, you know exactly how much money you have and spend.

[sideways14a]

A good IFA will sort you out, true the debt bit is a problem but its not a major sticking point.
If you find that ultimitly the mortgage outgoings are to much (say you cant find a house thats cheep enough) then you should move to somewhere thats isnt so expensive.
I find myself speaking to a lot of people and reminding them that there is quality life outside of a city down south