It may be a bit early for new year's resolutions, but one of the things I am determined to do next year is to buy a house - or at least be in the best position I possibly can be!
There is no possible way that I can afford to buy by myself in the current housing climate, and as no rich knight in shining armour appears to be on the horizon, my best option is "affordable housing" (a paradox if ever I've heard one!) - or shared ownership as it's traditionally called. To buy a new 3 bed house in my area, I'm looking at around £140-£150k, around a £70k mortgate and the remaining 50% in rent. At a rough guess this is likely to cost me, in total, around £650 month.
Before I can go down this route though, I need to:
1. Repair my horrific (though not so bad as it was) credit history
2. Save around £2000 for legal/moving costs
Being absolutely hopeless with money, neither of these is an easy task, but I have been working on the first and this is a much more acheivable target than saving - particularly as money always "seems to burn a hole in my pocket" (to quote my parents!). However, I have just taken a big step towards the second, by applying for (and being accepted!) an Alliance & Leicester Premier Savings Account. This is a fixed term account, which means that I can't withdraw any money at all from this account until a year after my first payment. Perfect!! So, as of 2nd December 2008, at a rate of £250 month saving and 12% interest, I shall be the proud owner of £3195 in savings, and well on my way to my very own (half share) house!
Now, I'm off to write a PPI claim letter!
PS. If you decide to follow me and want to open an account, please let me know via email, and then we can both get an extra £40!
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7 comments:
Sounds like you've got a plan going there my mate! I pay £650 a month rent for a 3 bed house, so that's not bad if you own half of it! But what about housing benefit? (I'm sure you get a bit of help from them being a single mum) Would this mean you would lose it because you 'own' the house? (half of it anyway). When ex and I looked into doing this 8 years ago in London, the mortgage for a 2 bed townhouse was still going to be £1000 a month! (but that's london)
Best of luck with this,it's so tough and house prices are just crazy. We jumped off the UK housing ladder 11 years ago and I know there's no way we could ever get back on.
Come and live with me.
If you need any more info on how to do 1 then I am your girl, as I do work on the dark side. Let me know and I will write something for you.
I was talking to my mom a few months ago and said if I were to buy in today's market...no way. I couldn't do it without an astronomical mortgage.
Good luck!
Well it certainly is a plan Vi, and hopefully one that will reap the rewards. Besides, if it turns out I can't afford housebuying I might just head off around the world instead! (Well, a bloody good holiday anyway!!)
It certainly is madness FC, although house prices are now (alledgedly) coming down. Let's hope they carry on dropping for another year!
Aw quote. Thank you. You're a long way from home though!
Cheers Kah!! I have been working hard at this one, and recently lost 2 old bad debts, so hopefully this will be improving muchly now.
Thanks jaded. I think I might need it!!
Waiting a year is a good idea, the market at worst is going flat, at best is going to drop. A year should decide.
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