This is the Baby Step that I’m most excited for, our house situation is a little different to most other peoples but this is still going to be a super important step for us.
Baby Step 3b (BS3b) is to save for a house deposit.
According to Dave you should ‘put at least 10–20% down on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage that is no more than a quarter of your take-home pay’…that’s a lot to take in when you’re thinking about such a big purchase so lets break it down a little bit.
10-20% down
To get a mortgage in the UK at the moment you generally need a minimum deposit amount of 5% BUT to get a good mortgage interest rate you usually need more that 20%, if you can manage to get nearer the 40% range of deposits then you will get the best of the best interest rate deals.
Put simply…
The bigger the deposit, the better the interest rate, the lower your monthly repayments, the cheaper the mortgage!
15 year fixed rate mortgage
Ideally you should try and find a 15 year fixed rate mortgage as it’ll save you big money in interest in the long run, versus a 30-year or variable rate mortgage.
There are so many mortgages on the market at the moment which can make it hard to know what to look for, the MoneySavingExpert website had a Mortgage Best Buys tool that can help you compare whats currently available and give you a better idea of the difference it can make to costs – MSE Mortgage Best Buys Tool
No more than a quarter of your take home pay
This bit is just for the simple fact that it’s just good sense, you don’t want to buy a house that stresses you out each month trying to find the money to make the mortgage payment. If your home is constantly putting you in a state of stress because of the size of the mortgage payments you wont be happy living there!
So, where should you save?
If you are a first-time buyer the best options for you are either the Help To Buy ISA or the Lifetime ISA as both give you a bonus on your savings towards your first home.
Are you currently saving up a deposit for your first home? What % are you aiming for?
The quarter of your take home pay is a really good guide. Ours is about a third, which to be honest is a bit of a stretch.
A 15 year mortgage, pretty tough in the South east. I have always gone for 25 years. The interest rate is so low (currently on 1.9% 5 yr fixed) its worth taking over a longer period of time. I can invest other money in stocks and shares ISA and make much more money interest wise.
I was trying out some mortgage comparisons the other day and was struggling to find a decent 15 year one, I think we might have to go for a 25 year and treat/pay it like a 15 year.
I like the idea of saving/investing the difference 🙂
We are currently saving for a mortgage so this is very relevant to me. Thanks for joining #MondayMoney. Hope to see you again next week.
I’m a bit confused. Say I earn £30,000. A quarter of my take home pay would be around £430 per month so £5,175. Is that the deposit I should save or that my mortgage payments for each month should be that amount?
The idea is that your mortgage payment should be a quarter of to take home pay BUT in the UK I don’t think that’s necessarily possible for a lot of people. House prices here are a lot higher than most of America. I think somewhere closer to a third of your take home pay is closer to what most people in the UK could achieve