A
female
age
30-35,
anonymous
writes:My boyfriend and I have been in a relationship for just over 3 years and we really want to get our own place.We don't want to rent as we feel that we will be wasting money paying the rent each month and at the end of it we will have nothing of our own. We would much prefer to save the money we would be paying on rent to get a decent sized deposit together. My boyfriend is on 11.5k a year and at the moment I am on 8k however I am only working part time. He has a new job lined up and will be on anything from 18k to 27k. Next year I will also be starting a job in my mums business and be on around 16k. Is this enough money for us to be able to afford to move out into a 2/3 bed house? We are desperate to start our own family (I miscarried a couple of months back) and I just want this next stage in my life to begin!We also don't mind not having fancy branded clothing and all the new gadgets as we would much rather buy things on the cheap for a bit while we get set up on our own.p.s We both live in the UK and I was thinking that if he is on 20k and me 16k then we will have 36k all together and that is more than enough to be able to get a mortgage for a house and be able to support a baby. Please don't tell me to live a little and travel first because starting the next chapter with the love of my life and having our perfect family is everything I could ever dream of! We have travelled together, we both work and I need advice on if this is do-able or just some general advice.
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female
reader, anonymous, writes (25 October 2012): I am the OP.Thank you for all your advice. I currently live in the Midlands and that is where we will be buying a house. We have been looking at 2 bed detached houses that need renovating that are around £110,000. The areas we are looking at are lovely and have amazing schools and are close to towns and supermarkets.I will not be having a baby until we have moved into a house of our own and have settled in. I want my baby to have a stable home and to be relaxed and have my own space to bring it up. The pregnancy before was a complete surprise and I was on the pill! We are using a different form of birth control now to help prevent this until we are ready.'K' is thousand.My boyfriend has his own car however this doesn't cost too much to run and I will not be learning to drive for another few years if at all. I like the thought of decorating and modernising the home as we can put our own personal touch on things and have them as we wish.
A
female
reader, chigirl  +, writes (25 October 2012):
 What is this "k"? Give me a currency please, or else I can't help you out.
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A
female
reader, So_Very_Confused  +, writes (25 October 2012):
 I had to spend some time figuring the conversions... If I get this right 36k british pound sterling is about 58k US funds.
and then I had this whole long thing typed out and realized I can't speak to it...
we have the types of expenses you guys don't
transportation (we have to have cars where we live and that gets very expensive)
health insurance... we pay our own out of my salary but we have copays and other expenses that are not covered.
there's child care... is that covered.. what about maternity leave? here it's very poor and most new moms either have to go back to work ASAP or they have no income.
so I can tell you that if you were here making 58k living in my part of the country it would not be enough especially since 1/3 of that would be gone while you were out having a baby.
we make over 130k combined and are not able to save 2k a month even....and we live in a town house.. and have no small children (I do pay 300 per month to a disabled adult child)
I worry that when you say "we can live without" that you have no clue what years and years of doing without will do to a person.....
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A
female
reader, Battista +, writes (25 October 2012):
It's definitely possible. It also depends on the part of the country you live in as far as house prices go so you may need to get some mortgage advice once you start on your new salaries in order to see how much the banks are prepared to lend you.
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A
reader, anonymous, writes (25 October 2012): I have been in your position and this year (at 22) my fiancé and I bought our house. Like the anon poster says, you really have to be smart and get somewhere you can improve instead of your ideal home. In 8 months my partner and I have transformed our little 2 bed house into a beautiful home, ours belonged to an elderly man and it looked terrible but it was merely cosmetic issues we knew we could sort out, it is in a desirable area of a lovely village and we managed to negotiate the price from £140,000 to £118,000 which made our mortgage so cheap because we had a considerable deposit to put down. But when we want to sell it we know we will get a great return because it was up for £140,000 when it looked terrible, our neighbour sold for £155,000 and their house is identical style and size although it was part of a short terrace while we are detached which adds value again.
Our friends had a deposit a couple of thousand less than us and purchased a house for £160,000 and their mortgage alone is in the region of £750-£800 per month. Sure their house is amazing, massive rooms and very new with a huge garden but they struggle. While we pay £400 a month and still manage to go away, have our hobbies still and are saving and paying for our wedding next year. Unlike you I don't want a family yet but you must account for your £36,000 a year going down because either you will be staying at home caring for your child or you will still work but will have to account for childcare fees.
Saving for the house was harder than living with a mortgage to pay! We do more now than we did for a whole year of saving. Definately account for spending around £2000 on solicitor fees and a homebuy survey. A more detailed survey will cost a lot more but homebuy is usually sufficient if the house was built in the last 50-60 years. If you think, you'd rather pay a few hundred and find out about any drastic troubles than spend £100,000's and then not be able to sell the house again.
Good luck, it is very possible and I wish you all the best! It has been the best thing I've ever done.
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A
male
reader, Hennessy1989 +, writes (25 October 2012):
 You should both save a certain amount now until you both start your new jobs, then when you start your new jobs increase the amount your saving, depending on where your living in the country, on your joint earnings you should be able to get a mortgage, it's best to have at least between 10/20k savings for a deposit. Also postpone havin a child until this, it could take 2 or 3 years to save this money and having a child will take a significant amount from your finances
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A
reader, anonymous, writes (25 October 2012): What you are suggesting is exactly what we did as a couple when I was much younger.
Prior to this we established a strict budget and a regular savings plan so that the Bank could see that we would have no problems meeting the mortgage payments since we had already consistently saved that amount every week for a year before we tried to get a mortgage while we were both living, respectively, at home (with parents) prior to our marriage. So aggregated we both had a savings record with the same bank.
we purchased the most cheap home most unloved home in a reasonable area. It was definitely the most awful tiny place in a area with homes a tiny bit better and a few a lot better, than the one we purchased. Because we never intended it to be our home forever.
We always intended to move eventually.
Some of our friends looked down on the decision. Thought we were dumb, as they knew we could have tried to get a place that was bigger and better. But our plan was on track to achieve what we wanted which was:
The tiniest of mortgage so we could really pay it off faster.
We found this little place that a spinster had had for years. It was a very tired place with several things that looked a lot worse than they really were. Place full of so much it was hard to see the place. For her it was just big enough for one. We knew we could make it work for two with a possible baby eventually.
Our aim has been to find the cheapest and worst small house we could find that was improveable in a reasonable area near to transport. We did not want to buy a small appartment (though we could have) as we wanted a tiny garden. Not a huge garden and this was a TINY garden believe me. And it was dark at the back due to so much overgrowth in the place behind.
The place was made of cheap materials originally, but we could see promise in it.
It had a problem where water was clearly getting in via a bad guttering issue but that was fixable even though looked very unsightly at the start.
The elderly spinster had, at some time in the past, put in recycled old cupboards and we knew that repainted with new handles we could make them look better without getting all new cupboards.
The kitchen was horrible without much storage space and little bench space. Yet there was a long wall there (where she had a table up against a wall jutting out making the kitchen seem even smaller) where we put in open shelves and from then on it was much easier.
We had plan of how to improve the place.
first fixed the water leaking problem. Stoppered up a hole and got the pest people in to remove a rat nest in the roof (this was not a salubrious place at the start!!)
Then we painted the whole place
put mirrors inside the wardrobe doors and framed two other wide full length mirrors (we bought them when a store near us was selling off all their mirrors before rebuilding) so it created the illusion of more space. People would point to one of the mirrors and say where does that lead to? Until they realised it was a mirror, not another corridor.
Painted the inside of all the cupboards everywhere white so when you opened a cupboard it did not seem dark and dingy
We did all this bit by bit.
At a pace we could afford
And we borrowed nothing more for the improvements and just paid them out of our money fortnight to fornight.
All the time paying the mortgage off
OK, true we had NO holidays over a four year period so we worked out cheap ways to enjoy life.
We did contain our spending on entertainment
And our one not very new car was never replaced in that four year period
But the beautiful thing is that just before we were due to sell we recarpeted the place. And added in a sky light at the back so that the kitchen looked even better.
Stripped the place of any non- essential furnishings and made sure the entrance looked inviting.
So when buyers walked in the place was immaculate and clean and more spacious looking. We added in the usual things to make it look good - bright yellow towels in the bathroom and a display of sea shells in a tall container and a potted plant. Bowls of lemons in the kitchen and the smell of coffee - told the agent to make coffee anytime she felt like it. Really happy bright looking cover on the bed. And by this time we had a child so the smaller bedroom had a bed against the window as well as the baby crib and some cute mobiles above the crib.
We sold the place for three times what we paid for it. Yes three times !!
And it allowed us to go on to a place that four years earlier we would never have even dared to hope to buy.
So your first place should not have to tick all the boxes. Far better to improve and then move on to the next great place.
If you get on well then simple things like painting are easy.
So is making your own curtains (go for a plain fabric that is seriously cheap but use a lot more of it. So it looks much more luxurious than it really is) - Makes it look as if you have spent thousands when in reality you have not. Skimpy thick curtains look cheap. See through curtains look cheap. Find a cheap thinnish fabric that is not see through and put it on a rod at the top and it is easy. Looks much much better than those ready made curtains. Forget all the rubbish about curtain hooks etc.
And don't recarpet until just before you are due to move. That way the carpet is immaculate.
Proximity to good transport and facilities like a library and some parks is also a good aim. Try to avoid a Crime ridden area as most thinking people would not want to buy into a crime ridden area.
You may have to do without some of the extras that we have come to think are normal while you renovate. So if you like going to concerts go to one now and them recognise that things like that are off the table while you renovate.
But when you sit back and look at the improvements you ahve made you will feel so good.
And don't listen to people who tell you it can't be done or that you should get a more expensive place. Too big a mortgage is just a mill-stone around your neck.
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A
female
reader, oldbag +, writes (25 October 2012):
 Hi
If you have the money for a deposit,legal fees and surveys thats the first step sorted,it costs thousands.
Then you need to work out what the mortgage repayments would be, plus the council tax,water,insurance,utilities etc every month.Plus travel costs to work,a car if you have one too.Then you need to be prepared for any repair bills that might come up.
I would go to your Bank or Building Society and speak to an advisor,or better still see an independant financial advisor to find out how much money you need,the size of mortgage you will get and to work out a savings plan to aim for.
When you have a clear picture you can decide if/ when you can afford children and all the cost that comes with them, plus childcare when you return to work.
It is possible but will mean alot of sacrifices, though you sound like you have your head screwed on so know this.
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