how do you come up with a down payment?

DonJon · July 2008

I was lucky enough to be in a job that paid me huge money for about 6 years after I left high school. In fact I still even get the odd royalty cheque.

Thank fvck my old man was an accountant and MADE me put money aside. By the end of it Id saved over $90K (if I hadve been diligent I could nearly purchased outright) and purchased my first about 5 years ago. I still thank him for this coz I woulda blown most of it.

Now Im an accountant!!!!!!! hahaha

South of Seattle · July 2008

I'm in the same boat as you Gray. Except, I've got no one else to help w/ my savings or Downpayment.

You pretty much have to have an excellent job or a significant other that is down with what you're trying to do. I'm trying to buy my own place within the next year and right now, I'm just paying off as much credit debt as possible, and not even thinking about the DP.

Heineken Helen · July 2008

I've been trying hard to save the past few months and it's seriously hard. I've learned to cut down on a lot of things though. My 3euro coffee every morning on the way to work is actually 60euro a month :eek: . I was buying a sandwich every day but now bring lunch to work... that saves 80euro a month. I do put away 150 a week... but often I dip into it

so it's not going up very fast :rolleyes: . I'm going to forbid myself from touching it from now on. I find going home to my sisters for the weekend saves lots of money. If I stay in Dublin even just a night in at the weekend easily costs 50euro :eek: 2 dvds, a bottle of wine and a chinese and I usually buy something girly to spoil myself

so I've to cut down on all that crap. I really don't know where my money goes... cos I should be able to save 200 a week no problem

know1 · July 2008

Heineken Helen wrote:

I've been trying hard to save the past few months and it's seriously hard. I've learned to cut down on a lot of things though. My 3euro coffee every morning on the way to work is actually 60euro a month :eek: . I was buying a sandwich every day but now bring lunch to work... that saves 80euro a month. I do put away 150 a week... but often I dip into it so it's not going up very fast :rolleyes: . I'm going to forbid myself from touching it from now on. I find going home to my sisters for the weekend saves lots of money. If I stay in Dublin even just a night in at the weekend easily costs 50euro :eek: 2 dvds, a bottle of wine and a chinese and I usually buy something girly to spoil myself so I've to cut down on all that crap. I really don't know where my money goes... cos I should be able to save 200 a week no problem

Write out a written budget and spend all of your money on paper at the beginning of the month before you actually spend it. Expenses + Savings should equal your income. And then stick to it.

comebackwoman · July 2008

I found little ways to save too. When I was saving for my house I payed for everything in cash - using only bills. All the change I got back went into a savings jar. Every $5 bill I got went into savings. You'd be surprised how quickly that adds up. Every few months we'd deposit the money and it would be a few hundred dollars.

catefrances · July 2008

just rob a bank cause you know the banks just gonna get it all back plus their pound of flesh, so the theft on your part will be guilt free.

Heineken Helen · July 2008

know1 wrote:

Write out a written budget and spend all of your money on paper at the beginning of the month before you actually spend it. Expenses + Savings should equal your income. And then stick to it.

thank you. Another thing is I need to start doing a weekly grocery shop, rather than picking up bits and pieces on my way home every day

Heineken Helen · July 2008

comebackgirl wrote:

I found little ways to save too. When I was saving for my house I payed for everything in cash - using only bills. All the change I got back went into a savings jar. Every $5 bill I got went into savings. You'd be surprised how quickly that adds up. Every few months we'd deposit the money and it would be a few hundred dollars.

I used to do that too... it certainly DOES add up

CityMouse · July 2008

Heineken Helen wrote:

I was buying a sandwich every day but now bring lunch to work... that saves 80euro a month.

really? I find I spend much more money if I buy lunch food at the grocery store and then make it myself (and I waste a lot of food). (plus I get tired of eating the same thing every day).

CityMouse · July 2008

comebackgirl wrote:

I found little ways to save too. When I was saving for my house I payed for everything in cash - using only bills. All the change I got back went into a savings jar. Every $5 bill I got went into savings. You'd be surprised how quickly that adds up. Every few months we'd deposit the money and it would be a few hundred dollars.

I do this too! I once bought a $450 bike just in quarters I had saved up.

but it doesn't build up that quickly for me. I have this big vase thing I keep it in and I haven't emptied it in well over a year, and it's still not full again. it's getting there. So after a year or so of saving, I'll have like maybe $300.

Heineken Helen · July 2008

CityMouse wrote:

really? I find I spend much more money if I buy lunch food at the grocery store and then make it myself (and I waste a lot of food). (plus I get tired of eating the same thing every day).

well I buy a loaf of bread and 5 slices of ham for the week. Costs less than 5euro... my sandwich in the shop was over 4 euro a day. OR I'll swap it with a tin of tuna... some days I toast the sandwiches... other days cheese! Lol, my life's so fucking boring

CityMouse · July 2008

Heineken Helen wrote:

well I buy a loaf of bread and 5 slices of ham for the week. Costs less than 5euro... my sandwich in the shop was over 4 euro a day. OR I'll swap it with a tin of tuna... some days I toast the sandwiches... other days cheese! Lol, my life's so fucking boring

yeah it's hard too because I hate sandwich meat so I have to buy like salad materials and crap like that. very expensive, and too much for one person to eat before it goes bad.

blackredyellow · July 2008

My wife and I are looking for houses now... Our budget is low (under $150k), but have found a few decent small houses in the Albany, NY area. We have enough saved up for a decent down payment, but will probably try to get a little creative so we don't wipe out our entire savings.

We saved most of it in the past year (and paid off a lot of bad debt) buy just doing the things mentioned previously.

One way that worked great for me, is that while I didn't have a lot of school loans, I worked on paying the lowest balance off, then when paid off, I used that amount I was paying for that loan and applied it to the next lowest balance and so on and so on... after school was paid off, I applied what I was paying for them to my car loan and paid that off... by the time my car loan was paid off, I was so used to the $800 or so coming out every month, I started paying that to me in a high interest savings acct. It took a while to get the ball rolling, but before I knew it, I wiped out debt and starting saving a decent amount.

The only financial set-back, is that we had a baby 6 months ago, so with my wife being off for a while, we stopped saving to make up for lost income.

Heineken Helen · July 2008

CityMouse wrote:

yeah it's hard too because I hate sandwich meat so I have to buy like salad materials and crap like that. very expensive, and too much for one person to eat before it goes bad.

It's very tough to cook for one person on a budget. The best thing to do, and I don't do this but should, is cook a couple of pots of meals... like spaghetti bolognaise, curry, easy stuff, on maybe a Sunday and freeze them in seperate containers for each day... that way you can mix it up

blackredyellow · July 2008

Heineken Helen wrote:

It's very tough to cook for one person on a budget. The best thing to do, and I don't do this but should, is cook a couple of pots of meals... like spaghetti bolognaise, curry, easy stuff, on maybe a Sunday and freeze them in seperate containers for each day... that way you can mix it up

That's what we do as well... There is only 2 of us, but we'll make dinner for like 4 or 6, and take the leftovers for lunch for most of the week.

I have this beef with people who I work with... most of my staff are younger, single people not making a lot of money. They all complain about being poor, but always come in with a dunkin donuts coffee, and always order out for lunch, and a couple of them smoke. I told the one girl that she spends like $400 a month of cigarettes, coffee and lunch, and her reaction was "Oh my god, that's a lot!"... but she still does it, and still complains about being poor and not being able to afford a reliable car. blah blah blah... i want to smack her lol.

CityMouse · July 2008

Heineken Helen wrote:

It's very tough to cook for one person on a budget. The best thing to do, and I don't do this but should, is cook a couple of pots of meals... like spaghetti bolognaise, curry, easy stuff, on maybe a Sunday and freeze them in seperate containers for each day... that way you can mix it up

yeah, that's what most people do. I don't eat stuff like very much either-no simple carbs for me. Haha now that I think of it, I have no idea what I actually eat! (last night I had fruit salad I think...) I'm very picky plus I have some health problems that limit my choices- bad combo! ah, I know, for dinner I usually have carrot sticks and hummus and fruit salad, or veggie burgers. produce and anything frozen is very expensive.

note for the person who mentioned coffee:
I'm willing to sacrifice for dunkin donuts coffee. there is a great coffee machine in my office, but I can't bring myself to drink hot coffee in the summer. this is one of those things- if it's a sacrifice to your daily life like that, I have to wonder, is it really worth it?

Heineken Helen · July 2008

blackredyellow wrote:

That's what we do as well... There is only 2 of us, but we'll make dinner for like 4 or 6, and take the leftovers for lunch for most of the week.

I have this beef with people who I work with... most of my staff are younger, single people not making a lot of money. They all complain about being poor, but always come in with a dunkin donuts coffee, and always order out for lunch, and a couple of them smoke. I told the one girl that she spends like $400 a month of cigarettes, coffee and lunch, and her reaction was "Oh my god, that's a lot!"... but she still does it, and still complains about being poor and not being able to afford a reliable car. blah blah blah... i want to smack her lol.

that sounds like me

but I'm learnin... I really am

Thecure · July 2008

fanch75 wrote:

Good Lord. To hell with that. Why not move out a bit and commute into the city or find a job in the suburbs? Those prices are insane. Only speculation can drive up prices that high, it makes no sense. Is there a housing bubble in Toronto?

$500k here would build a very, VERY nice house!

i look into that but when i check what i would pay for out of the city with a car, car insurance, gas i realized that it was not worth it. i can't find a job in teh suburbs as a social worker as most jobs are in the city as that is where the mahority of teh funding goes to.

i agree with the cost it is crazy. from what i read it is not a housing bubble. when i think that my mom bought a 1800 sf house for 190K abotu 12 years ago it makes me crazy as i have 676 sf condo. her house is not in toronto but in teh suburbs and if she sells it know she coudl sell it for close to 400k

PJSerf · July 2008

I'm going through the same struggle. At the moment, it seems like I'll never have enough for a down payment. I'm 28, making over 70k, but single. I've resigned to the fact that I won't own until I get married.

CityMouse · July 2008

PJSerf wrote:

I'm going through the same struggle. At the moment, it seems like I'll never have enough for a down payment. I'm 28, making over 70k, but single. I've resigned to the fact that I won't own until I get married.

I have this coworker whose wife doesn't work so he claims that single people are rich...I keep saying (first of you are in a very rare position that your spouse doesnt work), when you're single, if you lose your job and can't get another one (or even if you have to take a paycut), you're homeless, period. And buying a house in the first place...if I had someone to pay half the downpayment, I'd be all set.

but yeah I am in the position, make about the same money, but still barely getting by after that expensive decade called the 20s. oh well as I said before, nothing wrong with renting! I actually love the house I rent, so i shouldn't be talking. it just aggrevates me when things could be updated and I can't do anything about it.

how do you come up with a down payment?

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