‘How I bought my first home in London after clearing debts from chasing a dream career’
As house prices rise and deposit requirements get larger, the average age of first-time buyers is inching towards 40.
Even in this context, Kat Holmes is a bit of a late entrant on to the property ladder: this year she became a homeowner for the first time, aged 48.
The reason for the delay is partly that, for many years, Holmes had funnelled all her money into a film-making project. When she gave up on that dream she forged a new career as a data strategist and was finally earning a good salary.
“I was still forced to be frugal because I had a large debt from trying to be a film-maker. So even though I had a good salary, half of my money was going on that,” she said. “When I finally did repay the debt I continued to live frugally and started saving towards buying a home.”
Holmes, who moved from Australia to London seven years ago, rented a room in a shared flat in Putney, paying £800 a month. Although it was a great way to make new friends in a strange city, the experience wasn’t wholly positive.
“As a 48-year-old, living with three other people isn’t perfect,” she said. “It is more of a gig for a 25- to 35-year-old.”
Frugal living involved avoiding “fancy holidays” and too much going out. “I just made sure I was not moving in circles of big spenders, so there wasn’t that pressure,” she said.
Her plan was to buy an inexpensive, basic two-bedroom flat, with a maximum budget of £400,000. “I thought I would pay it off in five to 10 years, and then I would be able to trade up into a property I really wanted,” Holmes said.
She quickly discovered that her budget wouldn’t buy a thing in leafy Putney. So she started exploring east London, looking at — and rejecting — a series of “train wreck” flats.
She realised she was going to need to up her budget and, after intensive saving in the pandemic to boost her deposit pot, she found a two-bedroom Victorian maisonette in east Putney and moved in last January.
It cost £650,000 and her mortgage is £2,950 a month, but she has a lodger to help pay the bills and has maintained her pared-back lifestyle. “I used to be a big traveller,” said Holmes. “The pandemic stopped that and now I have turned into a DIY fanatic.”
