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MILITARY couple Nicola and Andy Patterson flogged their stuff at car boot sales and got rid of a car to cut down outgoings and save up for a deposit.
After 13 years in military accommodation, the couple, now aged 35 and 40, had decided to buy their own home but they had just £2,000 in savings.
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To boost their deposit, they get rid of a car that was on finance, saving them £270 a month.
They also went to car boot sales and sold toys that their kids – Ellie Mae, 15, Ronnie, 11, and Rosina, three, didn’t use anymore and clothes they’d grown out of.
Even though they set the prices very low – one item for 50p or three for £1 – the family still managed to earn roughly £100 each time.
Five years later, in July 2020, the family finally moved into their newbuild four-bed house at The Crescent in Carterton, Oxfordshire.
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They put down a 5% deposit of £18,000 to buy the £354,950 home, but also used Help to Buy schemes to bring down the mortgage.
Nicola left her job as a pharmacy technician at the Royal Air Force in May for a role in a GP surgery, while Andy works as a firefighter for the Royal Air Force. They’re both basic-rate taxpayers.
We caught up with Nicola for The Sun’s My First Home series.
What’s your new home like?
It’s a semi attached newbuild house, located at The Crescent in Carterton, Oxfordshire.
It comes with four double bedrooms, three bathrooms and a downstairs toilet.
There’s also a kitchen diner and a separate living room.
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How much did you pay for it?
We paid £354,950 for the house and put down a 5% cash deposit of roughly £18,000.
We reserved the property in February this year and then moved in in July.
We took out a mortgage fixed over the first five years, with a term of 29 years. Our repayments are now £954 a month.
Our family was in military accommodation before this, which comes out of your wages but I don’t know how much it was.
Our property purchase completed two days after Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the stamp duty holiday, so we saved £2,500 thanks to it.
It wasn’t a huge amount, but we used the extra cash to pay for blinds for the house.
Did you use any of the Help to Buy scheme?
Yes, we used both the Help to Buy equity loan scheme and Forces Help to Buy.
We borrowed 20% of the home’s value through Help to Buy, which gave us a £70,000 loan.
What help is out there for first-time buyers?
GETTING on the property ladder can feel like a daunting task but there are schemes out there to help first-time buyers have their own home.
Help to Buy Isa – It’s a tax-free savings account where for every £200 you save, the Government will add an extra £50. But there’s a maximum limit of £3,000 which is paid to your solicitor when you move. These accounts have now closed to new applicants but those who already hold one have until November 2029 to use it.
Help to Buy equity loan – The Government will lend you up to 20% of the home’s value – or 40% in London – after you’ve put down a 5% deposit. The loan is on top of a normal mortgage but it can only be used to buy a new build property.
Lifetime Isa – This is another Government scheme that gives anyone aged 18 to 39 the chance to save tax-free and get a bonus of up to £32,000 towards their first home. You can save up to £4,000 a year and the Government will add 25% on top.
Shared ownership – Co-owning with a housing association means you can buy a part of the property and pay rent on the remaining amount. You can buy anything from 25% to 75% of the property but you’re restricted to specific ones.
“First dibs” in London – London Mayor Sadiq Khan is working on a scheme that will restrict sales of all new-build homes in the capital up to £350,000 to UK buyers for three months before any overseas marketing can take place.
Starter Home Initiative – A Government scheme that will see 200,000 new-build homes in England sold to first-time buyers with a 20% discount by 2020. To receive updates on the progress of these homes you can register your interest on the Starter Homes website.
The Forces Help to Buy scheme lets you borrow 50% of your salary interest-free, up to a maximum of £25,000, and can be used towards a deposit and other costs including fees.
We got £16,000 through that, it helped us cover legal fees and boost our deposit.
Our mortgage is now around £253,000.
How did you save up for the deposit?
We cut back to just having one car, which was on a personal contract purchase (PCP) contract – it helped us save £270 a month on expenses.
Getting used to the fact that we only had one car was difficult, but Andy cycled to work as we don’t live very far.
We also went to some car boot sales and sold all the children’s toys that they didn’t want anymore and clothes they grew out of.
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We probably made over £100 each time we went to a sale. We didn’t sell the items for high prices, we did like one item for 50p or three for £1. It added up.
Last year, we did three car boot sales with the family.
We also set budgets for food shopping of £80-£100 a week, and started meal planning so we only bought what we needed.
We’ve now carried on with this, so that’s actually turned into more of a habit.
It means we plan what we’re going to have before we go to shops and buy what we need, rather than walk around and get all the buy one get one free.
Otherwise you end up with stuff you don’t need.
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Previously we’d throw away around a third of the food that we bought because we didn’t use it, it was probably worth £25 each week.
Plus, we started going out for dinner just once or twice a month, rather than once a week.
Overall, I think we saved around £300-£400 a month for our deposit, which took five years.
We had savings of £2,000 in our savings account when we decided to save for a house deposit.
How did you decide on the area?
Since we came back from serving in Cyprus in 2013, we’ve lived in this area in Oxfordshire ever since.
My two oldest children have so far been to four different primary schools, so I wanted them to just have continuity of their education.
It’s a good location to be honest, it’s pretty central to everywhere.
My parents live in Weymouth and my in-laws live in Peterborough, so it’s sort of in the middle.
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Why did you decide to buy a property?
As I was leaving the military, I did a course about transitioning into civilian life.
They were talking about housing and I initially thought I’d carry on saving until my husband left the military.
But they then said, if I can afford to, I should look it up because otherwise you’re going to be renting for another nine years in military accommodation.
That could be nine years worth of mortgage paid off, so that’s when we decided to do it.
Did you encounter any problems with the purchase?
We reserved our house in February and then coronavirus lockdown happened, meaning everything stopped.
The house was built but I don’t think it was finished, so it delayed our move-in date by two months.
When lockdown restrictions were lifted, they started back on site.
Our mortgage advisor was really good though and kept us informed with everything that was going on.
We weren’t in a rush either, because we still had our house that we were living in so just stayed there longer.
How did you afford to furnish it?
We already had furniture from the military accommodation, so we didn’t need to buy anything.
Because it’s a newbuild, we also didn’t need to spend any money on doing it up.
What advice would you give to other first-time buyers?
It’s worth getting on the property ladder, because then you have your own home.
I know people that have rented for years and years, and all they’re doing is pay somebody else’s mortgage.
Don’t be afraid to do it, it can be daunting but it’s really not that bad.
Also, do it as young as you can because then you can enjoy it more later on.
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This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk
