Buying our first home

[shanedan]

Age: 29
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 22

Annual gross income from employment or profession: 29000
Annual gross income of spouse:26000

Type of employment: e.g. Civil Servant, self-employed
IT services , Spouse Credit controller

In general are you spending more than you earn or are you saving? saving small amount regularly - irregular larger amounts

Monthly rent: 1050


Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
Car loan-8000 - 7000 remaining 125 monthly

Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? No
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? 3500 between 2 not maxed

Savings and investments:

Do you have a pension scheme? no, partner yes

Do you own any investment or other property? no

Ages of children: none

Life insurance: None

Hi Guys,

Long time lurker first time poser
I recently got engaged and we have turned our attention to buying our first home together.
Since the requirements for deposits have shot up to 20% of the asking price we find ourselves pushed out of the market.
Just wondering what our options for gathering a deposit together.
We are both saving in the credit union and the bank approx 300 monthly currently between the two of us. planing on increasing this to about 1,000 after xmas.
whats the best way of approaching this? should we borrow from credit union, take a bank loan or wait it out?

just we think if we wait until we have the deposit saved up ourselves fully the house prices will have gone up again pricing us totally out of the market.

any advice appreciated?

 

[Bob_tg]

First of all, congratulations on getting engaged and secondly, good news that you are focusing on improving your savings!!

My advice for now is to save as much as you can over the next couple of years and then review the situation after all your wedding expenses are behind you and you have at least 20-30k cash in the bank (after your credit card and car loan debts). We can't speculate on house prices on this site, but I'm sure very few people would recommend at your stage that you should even consider buying in this country for the foreseeable future.

In the mean time, put your focus in to having a great wedding!!

 

[ontour]

You said that you are saving 300 each month. Have you much saved? It would be a good idea to pay off the credit cards unless they are on an 0% interest offer.

If not, what is the balance on your credit card? 3500 between 2 not maxed

remember that the max is a limit, not a target to aim for.

Have you examined what sort of property you would like to buy and what level of mortgage would be available to you? Have you added up approximate transaction costs of a purchase and the things that you would need to buy to make the property habitable, furniture, electrics etc.

Putting all of the costs down on paper will help you to understand the amount of money you need to make the purchase. By deciding how much you can save every month will tell you how long it will take to be in a stable position to buy a property.

 

[Raskolnikov]

Are you looking at buying in Dublin? I reckon you're at least three-four years away before being able to afford a house at market prices. First of all, that car loan will need to be cleared, I would say that's going to take at least a year. Secondly, you'll need a deposit. I reckon it'd take you two years to save up the bare minimum needed.

 

[mell61]

Congratulations firstly.

Well looking at the info you give, I'm wondering about the rent you are paying - apparently there is currently a glut of properties out there so perhaps consider moving to pay less rent.
I think in the short term, 2-3 years I'd just look at clearing your debt, and saving as much as you can. Ramp up repayments on the credit cards, and car loan... you're probably paying 7.9-18.9% on each of those for minimum payments. Why look at saving when you'll only get 4-5% (less DIRT) interest, for your troubles!

I think only mystic meg could define what will happen in the property market but get yourself debt free and with a decent deposit behind you and banks will look favourably on you when the time comes.

Pension wise, it might be worth your time now to start something, while you still have time on your side to help it compound. Use the pension tax breaks while you can! If you could get a place to rent for 900, there is your contribution!

As for the wedding, think carefully about what you really want for a wedding, its your day no-one elses, so if its a short ceremony and a meal out go for it - don't get caught up in the rigamarole of inviting all the family members up to and including 5th and 6th cousins.... it doesn't have to be 300 of your closest friends.
On the day there are only a few requirements, you, your other half, a priest/registrar, rings, frock (ok i'm female the dress is non-negotiable) and witnessess... the rest is window dressing!