# 1st House



## s2kpaul (Jul 27, 2006)

Very soon i will be buying my 1st Home  So im just running through the initial set up fees that i can expect for the purchase and 1st month. Any help on what i'll be bombarded with would be a great help.


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## DiscoDriver (Oct 27, 2009)

One thing worth noting is that mortgages generally assume payment in advance rather than payment in arrears. What this means is that you take out mortgage on 1st of month for £100k. Payment in arrears would mean 1st repayment due 1st of *next* month. On the other hand, payment in advance means 1st repayment due on the *same* day that you take the mortgage out.

Now, most of us don't start the mortgage on exactly the same day as we usually make monthly repayments so what happens is the first repayment will frequently be rolled up to the next repayment date. This happened to me where i moved in on the 4th (with repayment dates on 1st of every month). I foolishly hadn't appreciated this was a 'repayment in advance' loan, so got to the 1st of the next month and was bowled over when nearly twice the expected mortgage payment came out of my account! Fortunately I had funds to cover it, but it is something to watch/establish if it applies to you.


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## Stumper (Apr 5, 2009)

In the first month, you'll have to fork out for 

1 months mortgage payment
Pro-rata interest payment from completion to first payment date
1 month council tax
water bill for remainder of year

From memory that's all we paid in the first month we moved into our first place.

For the purchase you'll be looking at paying the mortgage set-up fees, search fees, solicitors fees, bank transfer fees and buildings insuranceI can't think of anymore off the top of my head!


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## DiscoDriver (Oct 27, 2009)

Depending on the cost price of the house you buy you could be walloped with a hefty Stamp Duty payment as well. This was paid over to the Government by my solicitors (which made things a bit easier on us admin-wise).


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## Cliff (Mar 4, 2007)

BT connection charge can be up to circa £150


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## mba (Jun 17, 2006)

Yep our first mortgage payment was for 6 weeks worth!! (£670)
Water bill for the remainder of the tax year (£150)
1 months Council Tax = £110
Gas & Leccy Setup = £70 intial payment
TV Licence = £xx.xx forgot how much
BT = £120 connection fee (get it waivered if you push them - i did  )

Probably some more


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## bluepeter (Dec 18, 2009)

tv license, pay for 6 months up front before you use it, funny system, but you can get refunded if you cancel your license,


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## s2kpaul (Jul 27, 2006)

cool guys missed a few off, the mortgage payment if worth noting cheers.


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## Nanoman (Jan 17, 2009)

You'll spend more on cutlery trays, bing bags and basins etc than you realise - have a few hundred quid lying around if possible coz you'll use it up easily!


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## gex23 (Mar 6, 2009)

Me and my missus are looking at buying our first house / applying for a mortgage in the next few months. Budget is 110 and our deposit is 25k.

Tonight we sat down and worked out the outgoings a month - £1500!:doublesho


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## s2kpaul (Jul 27, 2006)

£1500 - crikey


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## Stew (Jul 9, 2007)

Double your mortgage and that'll be roughly what you need to run a house from month to month.

You'll spend a FORTUNE on set up stuff like pots and pans, crockery, bed linen etc. A little advice here is buy from Tesco / Asda / discount places. Get it rolling and replace it with better stuff later down the line when you have a few quid.

First 2-3 months are mental, after that it's plain sailing!


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## mba (Jun 17, 2006)

gex23 said:


> Me and my missus are looking at buying our first house / applying for a mortgage in the next few months. Budget is 110 and our deposit is 25k.
> 
> Tonight we sat down and worked out the outgoings a month - £1500!:doublesho


The best mortgage deals are at 25% so a deposit of £27,500 add in to that a £800 solicitor fee and possible £500 mortgage fee.

If £25k is you max you might want to look at putting less down as a deposit (10/15%), as you will still get the same rate whether you have a 90% LTV or a 86% LTV.


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## buckas (Jun 13, 2008)

after reading this i might give up being an honest working person trying to work hard and pay for everything yourself and start claiming it all off the state  thing is, i couldn't live with the shame of it - it should be shameful to be doing that


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## Nanoman (Jan 17, 2009)

For mortgage deals try london and country - seriously.

Just 1 phone call and they're pretty likely to blow away any deal you've been offered elsewhere whether it's by an IFA, High street bank, internet bank, broker or a mate. No obligation either.... give it a try. 

I spent ages searching for the best deal available and then these guys blew it out of the water. My mortgage is now £114 and likely to stay that way for a very long time. When I move house I can keep the mortgage the way it is so I benefit from the rate and just take out a 2nd mortgage for the extra value i need.


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## t1mmy (Dec 9, 2006)

gex23 said:


> Me and my missus are looking at buying our first house / applying for a mortgage in the next few months. Budget is 110 and our deposit is 25k.
> 
> Tonight we sat down and worked out the outgoings a month - £1500!:doublesho


That seems a lot 

I'm not being cheeky but will you post up a breakdown of the £1500? Myself and my girlfriend got our first house in July and it would be good to compare and possibly add input for you.


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## Spuffington (Jan 26, 2009)

My missus and I bought our first house 2.5yrs ago now - we completed about 2 weeks before Northern Rock went under and are a product of our time - 95%-ers. We're lucky, the village in which we live is really popular and houses are now beginning to sell pretty easily, going for just 5% below the peak, so we're about at breakeven now, not that we ever bought the house in order to flip several years down the line - we purposefully bought a 4-bed house so we wouldn't be stuck if we ended up in negative equity.

Back on topic - to answer t1mmy's question. Our monthly outgoings are currently *£2,596*, which is broken down as:-


£1540 - interest only mortgage
£170 - Council Tax
£27 - BT phoneline & call package
£54 - Gas
£48 - Electricity
£16 - Water
£11 - TV License
£400 - Food
£141 - Life / Critical Illness Insurance (the latter being a 'luxury') for me & wife
£30 - House Insurance (Buildings & Contents)
£25 - British Gas Emergency Home Cover (Boiler & Electrics)
£43 - Sky Package & Broadband
£25 - ADT Alarm Monitoring Subscription
£68 - Contingency

Not an insignificant sum, but shows just how much little things can add up. Admitedly our fixed rate on our mortgage is 5.69% which was struck in 2007, but that runs out next month and we'll be saving c. £800 per month. Being sensible, however, that will go towards overpaying the mortgage - taking advantage of being on the Standard Variable and chucking lots of cash at it for as long as possible while rates are so low. We may even round it up to £1k per month to get maximum benefit.

Sensible, but part of me is desperate to blow it on a replacement S2000 for the one I had to sell when we moved! :lol:

Hope that has been helpful?

Like the other guys said, I'd have a good £1k tucked in your back pocket for other set-up costs. We had rented a house together for 2 years before buying and had most necessary/important furniture and other items but we still ended up going through at least a grand for things we hadn't already got or hadn't thought necessary before.

And that's before you've started doing it up or decorating - then the bills really get big!!


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## Gruffs (Dec 10, 2007)

Ouch!

That's before you add any Car bills;

Finance, 
Maintenance,
Fuel,
Tyres, 
MOT, 
Tax,
Insurance.


I think i'll stick to renting. I may not have the house at the end of it all but i'll have a hell of a lot more savings at the end of it if i/we are disciplined.


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## Roan (Jun 13, 2007)

Spuffington said:


> My missus and I bought our first house 2.5yrs ago now - we completed about 2 weeks before Northern Rock went under and are a product of our time - 95%-ers. We're lucky, the village in which we live is really popular and houses are now beginning to sell pretty easily, going for just 5% below the peak, so we're about at breakeven now, not that we ever bought the house in order to flip several years down the line - we purposefully bought a 4-bed house so we wouldn't be stuck if we ended up in negative equity.
> 
> Back on topic - to answer t1mmy's question. Our monthly outgoings are currently *£2,596*, which is broken down as:-
> 
> ...


£400 a month on food? For two of you? Also life/critical illness cover @ £140 a month? Blimey... :doublesho


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## big ben (Aug 25, 2009)

im looking into *homebuy* at the minute. Just applyed to my local agent and hopefully will get into shared ownership next year...

this is my local agent http://www.orbithomebuyagents.co.uk/main.cfm

definately worth a look as you dont need to save as much, and a lot better than renting!!


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## mba (Jun 17, 2006)

We eventually got life & critical illness via BUPA for £33 a month. HSBC quoted us £120 !!! (we have our mortgage with them)

They classed my missus a "high risk" because she is a teacher, 3 months off a year is not high risk to me :lol:


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## buckas (Jun 13, 2008)

£2600 outgoings :doublesho we just about earn that much between us per month 

what's your job Spuffy? accountant/surveyor etc?


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## deeds (Aug 18, 2009)

Dare i say it!! check out with the TAX MAN .... i did i was on the wrong Tax Code..believe it or not..i'm now almost £300 PM better off.


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

There are some big spenders out there....:doublesho

We get by on £1500 pre month to run the house, food and save up for the car insurance... plus we still have money left over at the end of each month..

We both put £750 into our joint bank account, and everything is taken form there, plus we still have our own accounts to spend our money.

We spend something like £250 a month on food for the 2 of us - and that is breakfast, lunch and dinner - I cook ALOT...love it, and will not eat ready meals of s**t "stir in" sauces, plus I make lots of soup!

:thumb:


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## buckas (Jun 13, 2008)

The Cueball said:


> We spend something like £250 a month on food for the 2 of us - and that is breakfast, lunch and dinner - I cook ALOT...love it, and will not eat ready meals of s**t "stir in" sauces, plus I make lots of soup!
> 
> :thumb:


yeh same, £230 - she buys the food, i buy the petrol; about even every month :thumb: better not get a subaru :lol:


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## pdv40 (Sep 11, 2008)

The Cueball said:


> There are some big spenders out there....:doublesho
> 
> We get by on £1500 pre month to run the house, food and save up for the car insurance... plus we still have money left over at the end of each month..
> 
> ...


Cueball, do you rent or own?

My gf & I have about that budget per month but struggling to get a flat. We are in London though


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

buckas said:


> yeh same, £230 - she buys the food, i buy the petrol; about even every month :thumb: better not get a subaru :lol:


hmmm petrol.....

I am usually about £500 ish a month....and I don't drive very far!! :doublesho:doublesho

I could not pay that out of the house money...would not be fair!

I need to lose a few cars, and cc's I think... maybe lose a supercharger and a turbo here or there... end up with a crap, gutless eurobox 

:lol:

:thumb:


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## big ben (Aug 25, 2009)

me and my gf could get by on 1500 a month where we live, but i earn 1500 and she earns between 200 and 400... so i think she needs to pull her finger out personally!! i would love her to put 750 in to a joint bank account, think of all those products i could buy a month :lol:


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

pdv40 said:


> Cueball, do you rent or own?
> 
> My gf & I have about that budget per month but struggling to get a flat. We are in London though


We own, but have split up, so just waiting to sell the house.

The plan is (for me) to never own again - don't see the point anymore...it's well overrated IMO and a waste of time and money...

Rental is the way forward!

The London prices are a shambles.... not a nice situation to be in!


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## buckas (Jun 13, 2008)

The Cueball said:


> hmmm petrol.....
> 
> I am usually about £500 ish a month....and I don't drive very far!! :doublesho:doublesho
> 
> ...


LOL! :thumb: aye, her astra (carshare, work 5mins from each other) glad i flogged the A3, was costing me about £400 in juice alone per month :car: good fun tho


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## chunkytfg (Feb 1, 2009)

You dont want to know what my outgoings a month are!!!!!!


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## Spuffington (Jan 26, 2009)

Believe me, I don't spend £2,600 for the sake of it. That's the cost of living in SE England.

Living within commuting distance of London gives little choice in terms of buying a reasonable size property in a nice area. There is very little change out of min. £300k for a 3-4 bed property within 45min commute. Where we used to live £250k would only buy you a 2-bed flat!! We had to move from 13miles outside London to 30miles outside in order to get the 'value' we could to buy the property we wanted.

Yes, I'm lucky that my salary is sufficient to be able to afford to buy a reasonable property but my wife doesn't earn that much, yet also works in London so I very much have to pay the vast bulk of the household expenditure and cough for the car running costs and the holidays, savings etc.

Critical Illness insurance is more costly than life insurance, and it's also more expensive insuring my wife - evidently women are more likely to become ill with a lifethreatening illness and she's slightly older than me, but men are more likely to die at a younger age......breakdown.......these were the best quotes I could get for us, and insured with 3rd party provider rather than mortgage provider.

*Me (30yrs):*
Critical Illness - £37
Life - £15

*Wife (36yrs):*
Critical Illness - £74
Life - £16

But as before - Critical Illness cover is optional and Life cover is the only one Mortgage Providers demand.


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## Gruffs (Dec 10, 2007)

big ben said:


> im looking into *homebuy* at the minute. Just applyed to my local agent and hopefully will get into shared ownership next year...
> 
> this is my local agent http://www.orbithomebuyagents.co.uk/main.cfm
> 
> definately worth a look as you dont need to save as much, and a lot better than renting!!


When i looked into homebuy, you had to start paying a service charge back to the govt on the half they pay for after three years i think so if the market drops, you won't be able to sell and paying them money too. They also only allow you to pay off 10% at a time of their contribution.

Homebuy seems like a very good deal until you look a bit further. Please be sure to read into it very thoroughly.

I'm not trying to teach you how to suck eggs. I just couldn't not mention it. if you see what i mean.


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## A210 AMG (Nov 8, 2008)

£1540 - interest only mortgage 


Interest only??? ouch, if I were you when you change your deal the money would be better spent paying actual mortgage off rather than an S2000 ?


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## Spuffington (Jan 26, 2009)

Yes, that's the plan.

Being at 'breakeven' point with our equity, we'll struggle to refinance the existing mortgage with any realistic rate so we'll most certainly be paying at least £10k off the mortgage this year. Make use of the low SVR for as long as possible.


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## A210 AMG (Nov 8, 2008)

Sounds like a better plan.

I'm lucky to have been chiping away at the morgage and keep moving, doing houses up (adding value) and move on....

less than 30% now loan to value


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## Spuffington (Jan 26, 2009)

Good man - looking forward to that, but a long way off.

Some prudent financial planning & discipline for me over the next few years!


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## JCW85 (Oct 29, 2009)

Nice one OP. I'm in the exact same boat as you atm. There's so much to do and I'm paying for fees left, right and centre (and it's supposed to be easier being the first time). Good luck!

Chris


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