When to buy? - Advice Please!

F

filly0447

Well-Known Member
Joined
23 May 2002
Messages
1,108
Location
The Shire
Visit site
I am currently doing an MSc which will finish this May / June and I start my job in September. I'll be moving back in with my paretns for a while for convenience. However, I really want to - when the MSc is finished - fulfill my dream of buying a horse, which I have enough money to do, but I am worried that if I bought one I would never be able to afford to move out because I couldn't afford a horse and a mortgage/rent.

Does anyone have any suggestions / advice / experiences to share?
 
get a well paying job!
wink.gif

if you start with a budget plan ie all the expences a horse + house will cost per month then work out what you need to earn!
grin.gif
blush.gif
 
I bought my horse when I was in the middle of my PhD. He was 2, and so I got to spend time teaching him manners and getting to know him.. I'm so glad I did it this way round, as I'm now working full time and he has been sidelined a bit. Money was not that much of an issue as I budgeted carefully (sounds like you have too - student habit I suppose!). And I had a lovely OH who supported me. I'd rather have a horse and live with my parents than live on my own and not be able to afford one. You'll spend most of your time at the yard anyway! Good luck!!
 
Slightly different but I quit my PhD almost exactly a year ago, moved home with the parentals and got a job (started last April). I bought my first pony 2 weeks ago. My job isn't massivly well paid but I firstly organised myself so I wasn't living with the parents and doing a 1 hour commute. Managed to find a place as a lodger and pay reasonable cheap rent. I then worked out roughly how much per month I would have to allocate to a horse, I then put that much aside per month into a savings account to add to my (already depleted due to buying a car) savings to save for the horse. I started looking at adverts just after xmas and I knew I was on a serious budget but fortunately I wanted a native pony (I know no horse is cheap but one that has no shoes or rugs and eats 3 handfuls of hifi per day IS cheaper than some you can get!).

I know there is no way I could get a mortgage on my own in the near future (but I am only 25) but that was quite unlikely anyway before pony came along! I also decided that if I did buy a house in a couple of years after lots of saving I wold just sit in it on my own wishing I had a pony!

In the end I went to see this pony out of curiosity after seeing him on horsemart (he was what I wanted and fairly local), he was the first one I went to see and there is no saying I would ahve gone on an out and out horse-hunt just yet if he hadn't been right. Several of my friends told me I'd just have to bite the bullet and get one and get it fitted into my life now as it had built up into this momentous thing that was practically unobtainable. I'm crossing everything that it works out, I've done my sums and it should be fine (I'm also planning on begging for a serious pay rise come April!).

Good Luck.

smile.gif
 
My first job after graduation was in a different part of the country to my parents so didn't have the option of living with them so what I did was to share a house with 2 others which worked brilliantly as it left me enough money to buy and keep my first horse - and I got company and a social life with the girls I was living with
smile.gif
.

Now I'm married, living in a house with a mortgage (and all the repair bills that go with having to maintain your own house) and it is SOOOO expensive, the mortgage and associated insurances is £400 per month more expensive than renting exactly the same house (I know because we used to rent it) before you add in the cost of the repair bills.

So, my advice is: live at home or rent either as sharer or on your own and get the horse while you can
smile.gif
.
 
Its a difficult one. After uni I bought a house on my own then about a year later once my income was stable (I'm self employed) then looked into seeing how I could afford to keep a horse. I really really didn't want to live with parents! Now keep my horse on full livery and ride when I want. The horse actually costs me more than my mortgage and bills. Its only a small house but still more cost effective than renting. In time I will then rent out this house and buy another.

As house prices are really low at the moment, why don't you look into buying a house to let out, then stay at your parents and pay for the horse? You might have to save a bit longer for the deposit but could be worth it if house prices are likely to go up in your area over the next few years. Why not have the best of everything, its often do-able in some way or another
grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Slightly different but I quit my PhD almost exactly a year ago, moved home with the parentals and got a job (started last April). I bought my first pony 2 weeks ago. My job isn't massivly well paid but I firstly organised myself so I wasn't living with the parents and doing a 1 hour commute. Managed to find a place as a lodger and pay reasonable cheap rent. I then worked out roughly how much per month I would have to allocate to a horse, I then put that much aside per month into a savings account to add to my (already depleted due to buying a car) savings to save for the horse. I started looking at adverts just after xmas and I knew I was on a serious budget but fortunately I wanted a native pony (I know no horse is cheap but one that has no shoes or rugs and eats 3 handfuls of hifi per day IS cheaper than some you can get!).

I know there is no way I could get a mortgage on my own in the near future (but I am only 25) but that was quite unlikely anyway before pony came along! I also decided that if I did buy a house in a couple of years after lots of saving I wold just sit in it on my own wishing I had a pony!

In the end I went to see this pony out of curiosity after seeing him on horsemart (he was what I wanted and fairly local), he was the first one I went to see and there is no saying I would ahve gone on an out and out horse-hunt just yet if he hadn't been right. Several of my friends told me I'd just have to bite the bullet and get one and get it fitted into my life now as it had built up into this momentous thing that was practically unobtainable. I'm crossing everything that it works out, I've done my sums and it should be fine (I'm also planning on begging for a serious pay rise come April!).

Good Luck.

smile.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks - that was really good to hear your story. Will def look harder into being a lodger!
 
I'm afraid I got the house first, then got the horse later. After I finished Uni I bought a small house and then got a lodger. Due to the lodger I had the money to loan a lovely horse.
Then I sold the house, making a very tidy profit, put some money down on my new place (with my OH) and kept enough back to buy my own horse and pay for all his worldly needs.

Bearing in mind property values tend to rise, and are fairly low at the moment, I'd say you would be better buying a house now. You will also find that as you work your wages will increase over the years and you will find yourself with more spare cash to spend on horsey things!

Also bear in mind that starting a new career is stressful, tiring and time consuming and you may find for the first 6 months you may not have enough time and energy for your new horse.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top