Car boot sales and getting rid of a motor helped us buy £355k four-bed first home
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.
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 new build four-bed house at The Crescent in Carterton, Oxfordshire.
Are you a first-time buyer who want to share tips on how you did it? Email us at money@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 78 24516. Don't forget to join the for the latest tips on buying your first home.
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-detached new build 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.
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 schemes?
Yes, we used both the Help to Buy equity loan scheme and Forces Help to Buy.
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.
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.
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.
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 new build, 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.
A single dad bought a £175,000 two-bed first home by working seven days a week and selling clutter on Facebook.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Meanwhile, starting a car cleaning subscription business helped Leanne Holder and Jacob Leaver buy their £180,000 three-bed first home.
Plus, a first-time buyer tells us how being made redundant helped her boost the deposit for a £342k one-bed first home.