Anybody else in the position of trying to save 1st house deposits?
Seems like a never ending task, but we spoke to a friend the other night, who is an IFA, that said you can get what's called a gifted deposit to make the initial amount needed much less.
Works like this - house is on for £180,000 so your 10% deposit is £18,000. However, very rarely do you pay window price, so whatever your offer is below the asking price, the difference can be counted towards your deposit. If you had an offer accepted at £170,000, then then you would have a theoretical deposit of £10,000 already, meaning you only need to save £8000 to get your 10% which is a much less 'impossible' target. On that basis, you would be paying 8k deposit and only borrowing £162k which for us, would be afordable. Will still take 18 months to save that, but it's not sooooo far in the future that you think it's not worth starting.
I thought I'd share it as I'd never heard of it before. But Mike said that's the difference between an IFA and going straight to a lender who can just say no. The IFA's know lots of different routes to getting there so it's not such an impossible dream!
I never thought a few years ago, that at this point in my life I'd be getting married, planning for kids and saving for a house deposit! It means I might finally have to start growing up!!! ;D
If anyone else is in similar situation, happy to pass on Mikes details and he may be able to help you out as well
