FIRST-TIME buyer Robyn Somerville juggled her day job alongside pulling pints at night to help her afford her £185,000 first home.
Robyn, 21, worked three shifts a week at her parents’ pub alongside her full-time job to boost her savings.
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She was able to pocket at extra £300 a month from the extra hours, helping her and her partner Arron Sloss, 24, to get on the ladder more quickly.
Stashing away cash at such a young age on a smaller salary is tough.
Robyn’s day job is as a customer service assistant for Govan Housing Association.
And while working back-to-back shifts was tough, it meant she could still afford to see her pals and go out for meals while she was saving for a deposit.
The couple got the keys to their three-bed home, in Glasgow, just last month.
Being a self-confessed “big budgeter” helped Robyn keep on track of her spending.
She’s been keeping strict tabs on her spending for five years, since she first started saving for a house at just 16 years old.
Although the couple saved up for the £14,800 deposit themselves, living with their families helped them boost their pot.
The Sun picked Robyn’s brains on how she saved for the My First Home series.
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Tell me about your home
It’s a three-bed, mid terrace property located on Miller Homes’ Millerbank development in Glasgow.
There is an open-plan living room and dining room downstairs, a kitchen and a toilet.
There’s one bathroom upstairs and outside we have a decent-sized garden.
How did you decide on location?
it’s only a 20-minute drive from friends and family, and it’s close to work too.
We both had our hearts set on a new build development – and this was one of the first we saw that was actually within our price range.
How much did you pay for it?
The house cost £185,000.
We put down an 8% deposit of £14,800, and our mortgage is £172,000.
It’s on a fixed rate interest period of 3.7% over five years.
We took out a longer mortgage term of 37 years to reduce the monthly mortgage repayments we were making.
Extending your mortgage term is one way that buyers can make their monthly repayments more affordable, but it means you’ll end up paying back more interest over the long term.
Cutting your mortgage term by just five years could save you £19,000 in interest repayments.
While we were saving, we registered for the Scottish Government’s First Home Fund scheme, which offered first-time buyers up to £25,000 to help them on the property ladder.
Instead the government gives the money as an investment and takes a percentage share of your home.
So if you buy a £250,000 home with £25,000 government help, it owns 10% of your home – and it will get 10% of the value when you come to sell.
We were considering applying for £15,000 to boost our budget, but decided we didn’t want to give away a percentage of whatever we make if we sell the house in the future.
Applications for the scheme have ended, so you can’t apply now.
How did you save for it?
I’ve been saving money every month since I was 16 – I’ve always wanted my own home from a young age.
To keep my savings on track, I treated putting cash into my savings account like a bill, setting up a monthly direct debit for a certain amount so I knew I wouldn’t touch that money.
I’m a big budgeter – I have a certain amount I put aside for paying bills like my gym membership, phone bill, groceries and savings too.
I started putting away £50 a month for a house deposit when I was 16, and increased it to £250 a month when I got a full-time job.
It was during lockdown that we really thought about buying a home sooner and started to put away £500 a month each.
The main way I saved was by working a second job.
I would finish my day job at 4:30pm, and by 5pm, I would be working at my parents’ pub pulling pints until closing time, which is usually 11pm or midnight.
I would do this three days a week, and get up to £300 a month for it.
Having a second job, meant I could save and buy furniture for the house without having to cut back too much on my social life.
What’s your advice for other first time buyers?
Don’t rush – make sure you look into everything first, including what help is available.
Go through your outgoings and see what you can afford before you start viewing properties.
Get a good mortgage broker – they can help explain what government schemes you might be eligible for too.
And I would say to treat your savings like you would any bill – pay it into your savings account every month and don’t touch it.
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