Thank you so much for the disclaimer at the start. I find house chat quite difficult to listen to sometimes because me and my husband have been low income all our lives and it feels like such a far off dream to own a house! I even find friends who have their own houses talking about their homes upsetting sometimes. But I still want to know about the process of buying, and the experiences of others, so your disclaimer made me feel safer watching this somehow! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on a kind way!
Same, I cannot complain cos I have enough to tend to my needs and save a little bit (which is not the case for everyone, especially lately) but watching content creators buy houses in their 30s seem like I’m looking at a parallel world.
Congrats! Just FYI - as someone who used to work in mortgages, it's not recommended to go with a mortgage adviser/broker who works in the estate agents as they always take a cut and sometimes put that onto you + suggest mortgages where they'll get a bigger fee. You're much better off finding an independent broker who is completely separate from an estate agent
I can’t believe I’ve been here since your identify f boys video to now you buying a flat 😭😭😭. I’m so proud of you. It’s like watching my big sis grow up 😘❤️
congrats on the move!!! so excited to see your place blossom into your home!!!! i havent yet finished watching this but i wanted to briefly touch on what you said about how theres no homes available in london. and while yes space has become scarcer and scarcer, there are sources noting very often how tons and tons of flats and homes are empty especially in the inner city of london. so i just wanted to point out that its not just the people living in the city or moving back thats caused the issue - it has definitely made things more acute, but the underlying issue has continued to be the same for decades - the criminally rich have multiple homes sitting completely empty or rented out as airbnb instead of renters for more profit and these continue to push up prices even more since social housing has been less prominent. hope you dont mind me flooding you with a lot of text but i thought it might be good to mention!!
Even though I’m in America and there are differences of course, I think you explained everything perfectly! My fiancé and I bought in April this year, we literally locked in our interest rate the DAY before they began to exponentially skyrocket. It was beyond insane, our whole process took literally 3 weeks with 15% down (thank you in-laws) at the absolute top of our budget range. A WHIRLWIND. So so proud of you both! 🎉
Congrats on the new home!! 👏 I can't even imagine how stressful the whole process was as the explanation about interet rates and stamp duty changing during liz truss time already stressed me and I'm not the one buying 😅 (yet... hopefully one day)
Literally same timeline - accepted July in this week to our home. In this week. And omg, what a time to buy. A journey I do not want to repeat anytime soon. Our home got down-valued with lizzy and we had to put in all our new stamp duty savings - which sucked. But we got our interest rate before it went up to 6/7 thank god
The interest rates !!! Oh my god, please don't take it for granted. I got a mortgage 1.5 year ago, when they were 0.01. Now it's 7.71! My monthly payment is more than twice of what I thought it would be. Fucking grateful that I was able to change jobs.
this is pretty much exactly how we got our flat too! accidental search, viewing the next day, no due diligence 😅 our conveyancing took 6 months - most stressful 6 months EVER
Your flat buying story is so similar to the house buying story my husband and I had buying a house in the Pacific Northwest of America (also an insanely competitive market) last year. We had no luck finding a house in a very competitive metroplex area for two months while we lived out of Airbnbs and then on a whim, we viewed a house that we thought was way out of our price range. We offered basically the list price, against a couple other buyers, so we didn't think our offer would get accepted - and then it DID!
Congrats on your new home!! When I heard you completed within 17 weeks of offer my jaw dropped - you were so lucky!! My partner and I are currently in the process of buying a house, got our offer accepted in May and we're completing on the 19th of December. Our solicitor was absolutely useless to the point of almost having our chain collapse! Absolutely grateful for the stamp duty cut as well though - thanks Liz! I'm so excited to see how you guys decorate your new home :)
Congrats! Flat looks great, lots of character. I’ve also just managed to buy a flat and luckily got in before mortgage rates went crazy. Fortunately I managed to do a pretty high deposit as I’ve been living with parents paying reduced rent for years. Highly agree on automating savings as then you don’t need to think about it and you get used to just living on a lower income while saving lots
In norway it's so different. - until recently your bank already stress test your mortgage so you can't borrow more than 5x your income and you have to be able to afford a 5% increase on your interest. (not the 5% increase is capped I believe, as interest rates have gone up so much) -you can't put in an offer unless you already have bank guaranteeing that they will give you a mortgage. The seller won't know what your max is, but their real estate agent will need to confirm with your bank that you can afford the property and have your doucement before you put an offer in. -no chain or exchange delays. When your offer is accepted you agree on a date to hand over the keys, and that date is final. Sometimes at quickly as a month, but I've heard three months is also quite common. It's expensive to buy here, but we have a large homeownership percentage compared to the rest of Europe because of higher salaries.
Wait, pressing skip on the pre rolls is good?! Totally agree with everything you said here; the one thing I'd change is to get yourself a life time ISA (LISA) which replaced the help to buy ISA, as the government will top up a percentage of what you've saved when you use it for a mortgage :)
Congrats Lucy!!!!! Would love to see the first time home buyer mistakes at some point! I'm in my mid-20s, living in the US, and my partner and I are also thinking of buying a place in the next few years so any tips would be helpful
Congrats on buying your flat, it's really lovely! We just bought a house earlier this year (luckily, right before interest rates in the U.S. started skyrocketing), and it was SUCH a process to get all the steps done properly. Question from an American - what is stamp duty? Is that like closing costs?
congrats lucy!! ive been following you since the banging bookclub/VEDJ/just-after-meowitslucy-era and it's so inspiring to see where you are now in life, you deserve it so much!!
6:17 Chain free/no chain is when the person who is selling the property is able to give the property straight away and aren’t waiting for another property to be ready for them
Hi! Did either of you use a help to buy/lifetime ISA to save for the deposit? Presuming not from your tips but I’d be interested to know! Also, have you stayed in the same general area of London or moved (further out?)?
I love this so much! We actually had a very similar story when we bought in Melbourne, Australia. Thought we were out of the game and then stumbled on our house followed by a mad rush for paperwork. We’re in now and so over the moon but goodness it was stressful process 😂
wow, waiting to get some decoration videos since i also bought a flat with my bf 3 months ago and finally 2 weeks ago moved in! 👏🏻 I’m kinda glad we didn’t find anyting last year because now we could afford an area we really loved, last year the same area was so much mpre expensive. and btw that sounds so many levels before getting the appartement! i thought i had many things to do but uk is in its own league haha. as a media freelancer i had also some difficulties and propably if my bf didn’t have a ”steady normal job” it would’ve been pretty hard to get a loan alone…
Congratulations on the new home 🍀 it looks so cozy and i’m exited to follow the journey! we bought our house in the middle of lockdown, with a toddler and me being pregnant 😂 the whole process was just exhausting! It’s so interesting how similiar but different the buying process is in the uk. I‘m from germany and never heard of a fixed rate mortgage under 5 years. Most people i know will at least have it fix for 10 years. Ours is fix for 30 years until it‘s paid off completely 😅
Lucy this was so interesting! It really feels like getting some insight into how this all works from an older sister, even though it doesn't apply to me right now. Thanks so much for lifting some of the veil of this black box of flat buying!
if you are struggling with a housing related issue and you are a tenant you should consider joining your local tenants union - London Renters Union in London!
Such a good video! You explained everything really well, I understood everything even though I don't know a lot about this stuff. I would love a follow up video
To be honest I think it’s better to keep an eye on the market in the areas you want to live and look out for surprise gems. The Financial Diet said something similar about New York and I think it applies to London too!
Congratulations! I noticed you said you paid for a mortgage advisor which is interesting - here in Vancouver at least, you pay them nothing, they just get a commission from the mortgage company you end up going with. Which could be dodgy (who are they representing really then?) but seems to work out fine since mortgage lenders are well-regulated in Canada (ie. all the mortgage lenders are fine to go with). Time from offer to move in is usually pretty standard here too - 1 to 2 months start to finish, depending on what the parties negotiate.
Its so crazy that it takes that long to buy a house in the UK. It can vary across the US, but 3 years ago we put in an offer 3 days before thanksgiving and had the keys and closing done by Dec 21st. (Sidenote I do work for the title company so I am sure my coworkers did things to make it go faster but 4-5 weeks to buy is still pretty standard for my state)
You didn’t make any mistakes coz u got the house! 🙃 enjoy settling in, i’m so glad it worked out for you with all those crazy timings. The loft is gorgeous and quirky and cool! At least lettuce truss was good for something for someone lol 😆
Congrats! If you were to be selling your home and using the money from the sale to buy another one, you would be in a chain. The person you were buying from may then be using that sale to buy another property, and so on. Which is also why there can be a gap between exchange and completion. Everyone in the chain has to complete on the same day, and if any of the transactions fails because of a problem with someone's mortgage or their circumstances change or whatever, then none of the transactions can complete and everyone has to start again.
this is such a great video! i have a couple of questions about savings in general. i’ll likely be in school for another couple of years, are there any side jobs you’d recommend to bring in some extra savings? also, would you be able to explain the method you used for calculating how much you should be saving?
Random question - google tells me that first time buyers don’t pay stamp duty on properties up to £425000 - does that mean you paid more than that?! Congratulations!
Congratulations on your new home! 🎉 I’m absolutely loving your content at the minute, it’s so interesting and engaging! I hope this isn’t too personal a question but how did you work out how much to pay yourself from your business every month? And is it a fixed amount or does it fluctuate depending on how many brand deals/expenses you have that month? Like I said, I hope that isn’t too personal!! ❤
Congrats Lucy, very interesting video. Don’t think you quite explained how you were able to buy a flat in July when you were laughed out of the mortgage brokers in March. By July, house prices were still v high and Liz’s stamp duty holiday was not in place yet. Did you both just save more in those few months which enabled you to have enough for deposit + stamp duty? Thanks.
Possibly. Would be great if she could confirm - likely the flat they showed as an example to the mortgage broker was at the top end of their range (without factoring in stamp duty) by her explanation of the situation in the video. But then instead of adjusting their budget for the flat to something they could afford (factoring in stamp duty this time) or saving up for the stamp duty or picking a more affordable area of London, it seems they decided to just go back to renting and happened upon this flat completely by chance / accidentally clicking the wrong search on rightmove? I would be interested in the details of this decision
Hi! Thanks for the video :) I have questions, the first is about your savings account, is it literally a different bank account or is it just a sub category? I'm always wondering when people talk about their savings.. The apartment looks lovely! How many square meters does it have? Do you have an outside area like a shared roof or something? Looking forward to a detailed tour! :) All the best and congratulations!! X
Congrats! Question: when doing an online mortgage calculator, it often says that if buying a flat/ maisonette, 'if your loan to value is over 85% (ie. need a 15% deposit or more), the most you can borrow is £220,000 for a flat or maisonette.' Does this actually apply? I don't understand how people are purchasing flats with this cap! Thank you :)
Congratulations Lucy!!!! Just so other people know - you don’t pay stamp duty as a first time buyer, anyway! You’d only have to pay if this is your 2nd/3rd etc house xx
This is such amazing news!!!! I just had a very similar experience this year in Toronto and I’m so happy to have joined in on the property ladder!! Can’t wait to watch you make this cool flat a home 😍❤️
Congratulations! Small question- I’m assuming it’s your first house purchase so was stamp duty an issue? I thought first time buyers were exempt? Congrats again!
First time buyers get a reduction. It's kind of like income tax. Essentially as a first time buyer you pay 0% on the value of the house up to £300k, and then pay 5% on the value of the house above that. (If you're not a first time buyer you pay on the value of the house above £125k) .... At least that's how I understand it 😅
As someone who was a conveyancer for several years I thought your explanation was very good!!! Congratulations on your gorgeous flat. Appreciate the disclaimer I do also find though that despite your privilege you have worked exceptionally hard as it is a shame that society makes people feel guilty for that. Also people need to realise that DINKS have disposable income and it’s not our fault lol xx
Please don't donate to shelter. Shelter workers are currently going on strike because they haven't been given a pay rise in the face of this cost of living crisis whilst the charity has almost £15 million pounds in reserves. Please consider donating to a tenants union like London Renters Union who collectively organise tenants to fight for fairer housing.
First time buyers still need to pay some stamp duty if the property is over a certain amount. I assume Lucy's flat must be over this (think it's around £425,000 you pay 5% on then if the property is above £625,000 you pay the whole thing) since she talks about paying stamp duty and also the flat is in London
As someone who works in mortgages - it shouldn't take a week to get a mortgage in principle! You can do it yourself online in a few minutes at most lenders or major brokers' websites - it's just a few of your personal details and a soft credit check. Also, all brokers get kickbacks from the lender, called a procurement fee. It's based on the mortgage amount and not the lender, so in theory they shouldn't be incentivised to go with one lender over another. In reality, a lot of brokers will recommend some lenders over others that are cheaper for a variety of reasons, from waiting times to just having pet favourites. When you go with a broker via an estate agent, the estate agent is also getting a kickback from the broker, who gets a kickback from the lender, and the broker will also try to sell you add-ons like life insurance... the back-scratching goes on and on! But because ALL brokers earn a proc fee from your mortgage submission, there are lots brokers who don't charge YOU a fee on top of that - just search up fee-free brokers. Many first-time buyers prefer to go with an advisor because they feel like they have a guide through the process. That's great, but just keep in mind that most brokers won't continue to hold your hand after you've gotten your mortgage offer, which is when what's commonly the most long and stressful part happens, which is conveyancing - especially if you're dealing with a chain. My advice is to use a fee-free broker and spend that extra money choosing a conveyancer wisely.
Thank you so much for the disclaimer at the start. I find house chat quite difficult to listen to sometimes because me and my husband have been low income all our lives and it feels like such a far off dream to own a house! I even find friends who have their own houses talking about their homes upsetting sometimes. But I still want to know about the process of buying, and the experiences of others, so your disclaimer made me feel safer watching this somehow! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on a kind way!
Same, I cannot complain cos I have enough to tend to my needs and save a little bit (which is not the case for everyone, especially lately) but watching content creators buy houses in their 30s seem like I’m looking at a parallel world.
Good morning lucy Moon ❤️❤️❤️❤️🌹🌹☕☕🌹☕
Congrats! Just FYI - as someone who used to work in mortgages, it's not recommended to go with a mortgage adviser/broker who works in the estate agents as they always take a cut and sometimes put that onto you + suggest mortgages where they'll get a bigger fee. You're much better off finding an independent broker who is completely separate from an estate agent
I can’t believe I’ve been here since your identify f boys video to now you buying a flat 😭😭😭. I’m so proud of you. It’s like watching my big sis grow up 😘❤️
😭 thank you!! ❤️
congrats on the move!!! so excited to see your place blossom into your home!!!!
i havent yet finished watching this but i wanted to briefly touch on what you said about how theres no homes available in london. and while yes space has become scarcer and scarcer, there are sources noting very often how tons and tons of flats and homes are empty especially in the inner city of london. so i just wanted to point out that its not just the people living in the city or moving back thats caused the issue - it has definitely made things more acute, but the underlying issue has continued to be the same for decades - the criminally rich have multiple homes sitting completely empty or rented out as airbnb instead of renters for more profit and these continue to push up prices even more since social housing has been less prominent. hope you dont mind me flooding you with a lot of text but i thought it might be good to mention!!
and then ofc the buy to let schemes!!! but ill stop now and get back to enjoying the vid ☺️
Best believe I’m watching this over the World Cup x
Even though I’m in America and there are differences of course, I think you explained everything perfectly! My fiancé and I bought in April this year, we literally locked in our interest rate the DAY before they began to exponentially skyrocket. It was beyond insane, our whole process took literally 3 weeks with 15% down (thank you in-laws) at the absolute top of our budget range. A WHIRLWIND. So so proud of you both! 🎉
SO, so happy for you guys! The wait is so worth it!
Thank you love!! ❤️
Congrats on the new home!! 👏 I can't even imagine how stressful the whole process was as the explanation about interet rates and stamp duty changing during liz truss time already stressed me and I'm not the one buying 😅 (yet... hopefully one day)
Literally same timeline - accepted July in this week to our home. In this week. And omg, what a time to buy. A journey I do not want to repeat anytime soon. Our home got down-valued with lizzy and we had to put in all our new stamp duty savings - which sucked. But we got our interest rate before it went up to 6/7 thank god
Doing a 2 year fixed rate I think was the best thing you did because interest rates aren’t going down any time soon. ❤️
The interest rates !!! Oh my god, please don't take it for granted. I got a mortgage 1.5 year ago, when they were 0.01. Now it's 7.71!
My monthly payment is more than twice of what I thought it would be.
Fucking grateful that I was able to change jobs.
this is pretty much exactly how we got our flat too! accidental search, viewing the next day, no due diligence 😅 our conveyancing took 6 months - most stressful 6 months EVER
Your flat buying story is so similar to the house buying story my husband and I had buying a house in the Pacific Northwest of America (also an insanely competitive market) last year. We had no luck finding a house in a very competitive metroplex area for two months while we lived out of Airbnbs and then on a whim, we viewed a house that we thought was way out of our price range. We offered basically the list price, against a couple other buyers, so we didn't think our offer would get accepted - and then it DID!
Congrats on your new home!! When I heard you completed within 17 weeks of offer my jaw dropped - you were so lucky!! My partner and I are currently in the process of buying a house, got our offer accepted in May and we're completing on the 19th of December. Our solicitor was absolutely useless to the point of almost having our chain collapse! Absolutely grateful for the stamp duty cut as well though - thanks Liz! I'm so excited to see how you guys decorate your new home :)
Congrats! Flat looks great, lots of character. I’ve also just managed to buy a flat and luckily got in before mortgage rates went crazy. Fortunately I managed to do a pretty high deposit as I’ve been living with parents paying reduced rent for years. Highly agree on automating savings as then you don’t need to think about it and you get used to just living on a lower income while saving lots
Congratulations on your new home! Been watching since the VEDJ days 😄
In norway it's so different.
- until recently your bank already stress test your mortgage so you can't borrow more than 5x your income and you have to be able to afford a 5% increase on your interest. (not the 5% increase is capped I believe, as interest rates have gone up so much)
-you can't put in an offer unless you already have bank guaranteeing that they will give you a mortgage. The seller won't know what your max is, but their real estate agent will need to confirm with your bank that you can afford the property and have your doucement before you put an offer in.
-no chain or exchange delays. When your offer is accepted you agree on a date to hand over the keys, and that date is final. Sometimes at quickly as a month, but I've heard three months is also quite common.
It's expensive to buy here, but we have a large homeownership percentage compared to the rest of Europe because of higher salaries.
Wait, pressing skip on the pre rolls is good?!
Totally agree with everything you said here; the one thing I'd change is to get yourself a life time ISA (LISA) which replaced the help to buy ISA, as the government will top up a percentage of what you've saved when you use it for a mortgage :)
It’s so full of character Lucy I love it. Congratulations to you both, looking forward to following along as you put you own stamp on it. 😊
Congrats Lucy!!!!! Would love to see the first time home buyer mistakes at some point! I'm in my mid-20s, living in the US, and my partner and I are also thinking of buying a place in the next few years so any tips would be helpful
Lonefox did a great few videos detailing his journey with buying a property in California! They were really helpful and great!
Seriously congratulations!!! If nothing else this gives me hope which can mean a lot in these economic times ❤
Congrats on buying your flat, it's really lovely! We just bought a house earlier this year (luckily, right before interest rates in the U.S. started skyrocketing), and it was SUCH a process to get all the steps done properly.
Question from an American - what is stamp duty? Is that like closing costs?
congrats lucy!! ive been following you since the banging bookclub/VEDJ/just-after-meowitslucy-era and it's so inspiring to see where you are now in life, you deserve it so much!!
Thank you!! ❤️❤️
6:17 Chain free/no chain is when the person who is selling the property is able to give the property straight away and aren’t waiting for another property to be ready for them
Congratulations to you both - I can't wait to buy my first place! I would love you to make a video on the mistakes you made as a first time buyer!
Hi! Did either of you use a help to buy/lifetime ISA to save for the deposit? Presuming not from your tips but I’d be interested to know! Also, have you stayed in the same general area of London or moved (further out?)?
Congratulations! I'm in love with your kitchen being upstairs!
I love this so much! We actually had a very similar story when we bought in Melbourne, Australia. Thought we were out of the game and then stumbled on our house followed by a mad rush for paperwork. We’re in now and so over the moon but goodness it was stressful process 😂
wow, waiting to get some decoration videos since i also bought a flat with my bf 3 months ago and finally 2 weeks ago moved in! 👏🏻 I’m kinda glad we didn’t find anyting last year because now we could afford an area we really loved, last year the same area was so much mpre expensive.
and btw that sounds so many levels before getting the appartement! i thought i had many things to do but uk is in its own league haha. as a media freelancer i had also some difficulties and propably if my bf didn’t have a ”steady normal job” it would’ve been pretty hard to get a loan alone…
My partner and I bought back in may and we got sooo lucky! It is insane how much timing factors in.
THIS IS AMAZINGGGG! i wanna buy a flat one day! im 23 and still living at my parents which isnt fun
Been here since 2015 and it’s great to see you achieve this 🎉 congratulations
Congratulations on the new home 🍀 it looks so cozy and i’m exited to follow the journey!
we bought our house in the middle of lockdown, with a toddler and me being pregnant 😂 the whole process was just exhausting!
It’s so interesting how similiar but different the buying process is in the uk. I‘m from germany and never heard of a fixed rate mortgage under 5 years. Most people i know will at least have it fix for 10 years. Ours is fix for 30 years until it‘s paid off completely 😅
Lucy this was so interesting! It really feels like getting some insight into how this all works from an older sister, even though it doesn't apply to me right now. Thanks so much for lifting some of the veil of this black box of flat buying!
FLAT TOUR!!
First timer buyer video please !!! 🏡 starting this process currently 🤯
if you are struggling with a housing related issue and you are a tenant you should consider joining your local tenants union - London Renters Union in London!
This place is so lovely! Thanks for explaining it all so well. Congratulations!
Such a good video! You explained everything really well, I understood everything even though I don't know a lot about this stuff. I would love a follow up video
Congratulations, Lucy! So so so happy for you and Jack
Great news! Would love some tips about which areas in London you found affordable and relatively good quality flats compared to the prices :)
To be honest I think it’s better to keep an eye on the market in the areas you want to live and look out for surprise gems. The Financial Diet said something similar about New York and I think it applies to London too!
Congratulations! I noticed you said you paid for a mortgage advisor which is interesting - here in Vancouver at least, you pay them nothing, they just get a commission from the mortgage company you end up going with. Which could be dodgy (who are they representing really then?) but seems to work out fine since mortgage lenders are well-regulated in Canada (ie. all the mortgage lenders are fine to go with). Time from offer to move in is usually pretty standard here too - 1 to 2 months start to finish, depending on what the parties negotiate.
Loved this! congrats on buying, it looks amazing!!! Please do more videos on this! It goes over my head half the time but you articulate it well! xxx
Its so crazy that it takes that long to buy a house in the UK. It can vary across the US, but 3 years ago we put in an offer 3 days before thanksgiving and had the keys and closing done by Dec 21st. (Sidenote I do work for the title company so I am sure my coworkers did things to make it go faster but 4-5 weeks to buy is still pretty standard for my state)
Congratulations! Your flat looks so lovely. And great tips.
So glad I live in Scotland, the English selling market seems so much more complicated
aaahhh congrats!! is it weird to be proud cause i’m so proud of you, lucy! 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻
Congratulations dear Lucy! I wish you and your boyfriend healthy and happy days spent in your cute flat :)
Well done Lucy. You will make that place gorgeous.
Congrats you guys! This flat is so fun, and I can't wait to see how's going to evolve in time. I'll be here for ANY home decor vid; can't wait!
You didn’t make any mistakes coz u got the house! 🙃 enjoy settling in, i’m so glad it worked out for you with all those crazy timings. The loft is gorgeous and quirky and cool! At least lettuce truss was good for something for someone lol 😆
Great video !, congrats on your new home! x
congratulations!! amazing how it truly just comes down to luck sometimes - imagine if you hadn't clicked that saved search by mistake!
*casually opens zillow despite knowing I cannot afford any property in my area*
Congrats! If you were to be selling your home and using the money from the sale to buy another one, you would be in a chain. The person you were buying from may then be using that sale to buy another property, and so on. Which is also why there can be a gap between exchange and completion. Everyone in the chain has to complete on the same day, and if any of the transactions fails because of a problem with someone's mortgage or their circumstances change or whatever, then none of the transactions can complete and everyone has to start again.
Such a good video!! And congrats to the flat!!❤️
this is such a great video! i have a couple of questions about savings in general. i’ll likely be in school for another couple of years, are there any side jobs you’d recommend to bring in some extra savings? also, would you be able to explain the method you used for calculating how much you should be saving?
Random question - google tells me that first time buyers don’t pay stamp duty on properties up to £425000 - does that mean you paid more than that?! Congratulations!
Congratulations on your new home! 🎉 I’m absolutely loving your content at the minute, it’s so interesting and engaging! I hope this isn’t too personal a question but how did you work out how much to pay yourself from your business every month? And is it a fixed amount or does it fluctuate depending on how many brand deals/expenses you have that month? Like I said, I hope that isn’t too personal!! ❤
Thank you!! I pay myself a fixed amount every month xx
Welcome to the club! Twelve-year homeowner here.
Congratulations! This was helpful to know as we're hoping to buy in the next couple of years as well. The flat looks lovely! :)
Congrats Lucy, very interesting video. Don’t think you quite explained how you were able to buy a flat in July when you were laughed out of the mortgage brokers in March. By July, house prices were still v high and Liz’s stamp duty holiday was not in place yet. Did you both just save more in those few months which enabled you to have enough for deposit + stamp duty? Thanks.
I think the flat they found was just cheaper than the example one they showed the advisor.
Possibly. Would be great if she could confirm - likely the flat they showed as an example to the mortgage broker was at the top end of their range (without factoring in stamp duty) by her explanation of the situation in the video. But then instead of adjusting their budget for the flat to something they could afford (factoring in stamp duty this time) or saving up for the stamp duty or picking a more affordable area of London, it seems they decided to just go back to renting and happened upon this flat completely by chance / accidentally clicking the wrong search on rightmove? I would be interested in the details of this decision
So happy for you Lucy!!
Congrats on your new home 🎉
Hi! Thanks for the video :) I have questions, the first is about your savings account, is it literally a different bank account or is it just a sub category? I'm always wondering when people talk about their savings..
The apartment looks lovely! How many square meters does it have? Do you have an outside area like a shared roof or something? Looking forward to a detailed tour! :) All the best and congratulations!! X
Congrats! Question: when doing an online mortgage calculator, it often says that if buying a flat/ maisonette, 'if your loan to value is over 85% (ie. need a 15% deposit or more), the most you can borrow is £220,000 for a flat or maisonette.' Does this actually apply? I don't understand how people are purchasing flats with this cap! Thank you :)
I can't find this sweater in the wardrobe link! Anyone know which one it is?
Congrats Lucy!!!🎉
You'd have to be a really miserable person to hate on someone for buying a flat (literal shelter)... I'm so sad this is what the internet has come to
Congrats!✨
yay so happy for you ❤
Congratulations! Can i ask how you found a financial adviser? Are there ones especially for property or is it just general?
Do you have a fixed rate mortgage?
Love this video so much xx
Congrats! I thought first time buyers don't pay stamp duty? I didn't.
I think first timers pay if if the house is over a certain price (£425,000, i think?)
Congratulations Lucy!!!!
Just so other people know - you don’t pay stamp duty as a first time buyer, anyway! You’d only have to pay if this is your 2nd/3rd etc house xx
You have to pay stamp duty if your property is over a certain threshold, which unfortunately ours was! ❤️
Congrats!!! 💙
This is such amazing news!!!! I just had a very similar experience this year in Toronto and I’m so happy to have joined in on the property ladder!! Can’t wait to watch you make this cool flat a home 😍❤️
Lovely flat ❤
Congratulations 🥳 ❤
Congrats!! Did you use a lifetime isa?
2 year fixed rate? Here it's expected to do 10 or 20 years
This was an interesting video but honestly without numbers of ANY kind, the "transparency" is pretty opaque
Congratulations! Small question- I’m assuming it’s your first house purchase so was stamp duty an issue? I thought first time buyers were exempt? Congrats again!
I was thinking the same
First time buyers get a reduction. It's kind of like income tax. Essentially as a first time buyer you pay 0% on the value of the house up to £300k, and then pay 5% on the value of the house above that. (If you're not a first time buyer you pay on the value of the house above £125k) .... At least that's how I understand it 😅
Lovely flat 🤍 x
can you please make a video on financial literacy101? thank you
I made one last year, you can watch it here! ua-cam.com/video/-ztML2-9Ols/v-deo.html
Anyone else seeing a blurred square across the video?
First time buyers dont pay stamp duty anyway.
They do!
Aww its quite big its quite big and amazing are you ready for xmas done shopping keep videoing love it hooe can be friends 🐻❄❄️🎄⛄️😊☃️🎅🎅🦌🌲🤶🧑🎄⭐️❄️❄️
As someone who was a conveyancer for several years I thought your explanation was very good!!! Congratulations on your gorgeous flat.
Appreciate the disclaimer I do also find though that despite your privilege you have worked exceptionally hard as it is a shame that society makes people feel guilty for that. Also people need to realise that DINKS have disposable income and it’s not our fault lol xx
Please don't donate to shelter. Shelter workers are currently going on strike because they haven't been given a pay rise in the face of this cost of living crisis whilst the charity has almost £15 million pounds in reserves. Please consider donating to a tenants union like London Renters Union who collectively organise tenants to fight for fairer housing.
Why did you have to pay stamp duty if you are first time buyers?
First time buyers still need to pay some stamp duty if the property is over a certain amount. I assume Lucy's flat must be over this (think it's around £425,000 you pay 5% on then if the property is above £625,000 you pay the whole thing) since she talks about paying stamp duty and also the flat is in London
it's tied to the value of the property - first time buyers only benefit up to a certain price
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❤
You don't pay stamp duty anyway as a first time buyer.
You do if the property is over £425k xxx
Oh shit. So basically everyone in London needs to pay stamp duty. You really got lucky then. Congratulations!!
Yeah unfortunately 😭 thank you!!
Congratulations 🎉. Moving house is seriously the most stressful thing!!!
As someone who works in mortgages - it shouldn't take a week to get a mortgage in principle! You can do it yourself online in a few minutes at most lenders or major brokers' websites - it's just a few of your personal details and a soft credit check.
Also, all brokers get kickbacks from the lender, called a procurement fee. It's based on the mortgage amount and not the lender, so in theory they shouldn't be incentivised to go with one lender over another. In reality, a lot of brokers will recommend some lenders over others that are cheaper for a variety of reasons, from waiting times to just having pet favourites.
When you go with a broker via an estate agent, the estate agent is also getting a kickback from the broker, who gets a kickback from the lender, and the broker will also try to sell you add-ons like life insurance... the back-scratching goes on and on!
But because ALL brokers earn a proc fee from your mortgage submission, there are lots brokers who don't charge YOU a fee on top of that - just search up fee-free brokers.
Many first-time buyers prefer to go with an advisor because they feel like they have a guide through the process. That's great, but just keep in mind that most brokers won't continue to hold your hand after you've gotten your mortgage offer, which is when what's commonly the most long and stressful part happens, which is conveyancing - especially if you're dealing with a chain. My advice is to use a fee-free broker and spend that extra money choosing a conveyancer wisely.