After buying a new home, how much money do you generally need to be comfortable?

Grawns

Muahahaha wrote: »

Thats interesting as I had always wondered was there a way of re-creating colours from some of the more expensive brands like Farrow & Ball. Whereabouts in Palmerstown is this shop?

It's beside the supervalu kennilworth road. I've had colour trend and farrow and ball paints matched there. Very satisfied.

Thestones

The likes of DFS, Eazy Living, Harvey Norman all do finance so if you are buying a few grands worth of stuff you can spread the cost over 1,2 or 3 years. Not ideal but if you can't afford costs upfront then it is an option.

Michellenman

Be careful buying stuff on finance before you drawdown the mortgage. A friend did this with a sofa and then was refused drawdown for the original amount of the mortgage agreed as she now had a new loan. Bank wanted the sofa paid off before they would pay out the full amount.

mloc123

Finance to buy furniture after just buying a house? And they say people were crazy in the boom...

9 years ago when we bought first we had a 20 year old couch, similar bed and a few plastic storage boxes for bedside lockers. We were young and didn't care.

ted1

jon1981 wrote: »

Deleted User wrote: »

Have a homedressing party. it will get you started. Invite all friends and family.

My friend did one. I painted two rooms (everything was brought by me, is how it works!) Other people brought chairs and light shades and stuff

Ahhh stop... if I was invited to one of those I'd tell them to go jump! Imagine if this ****e caught on...

Or use glo in the dark paint.

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Diemos

Thestones wrote: »

The likes of DFS, Eazy Living, Harvey Norman all do finance so if you are buying a few grands worth of stuff you can spread the cost over 1,2 or 3 years. Not ideal but if you can't afford costs upfront then it is an option.

Finance is a bad idea when you first move in.
We would all love to move in exactly as we want but there is no point putting a lead weight around your neck to do so.

We are 9 months in our gaff and we are going to do each room 1 at a time as we can afford it, in the mean time we have used ikea and done deal to kit it out.

Like you we moved in without a penny to our name, the payment for the house and associated fees wiped us out.

Our focus since then has been to build a rainy day savings lump sum, we are aiming for 6 months mortgage payments, we should be there in the next 3 months.

Then we are into spending money on long term changes to the house.

Caliden

If it's 0% finance over 3 years I can't see how it would be that bad?

It's an interest free loan. Unless I'm missing something...

GingerLily

Caliden wrote: »

If it's 0% finance over 3 years I can't see how it would be that bad?

It's an interest free loan. Unless I'm missing something...

People tend to spend more then then can afford when they're given interest free loans - it's still a loan at the end of the day, it's an additional debt.

LirW

It can be really difficult to qualify for it.

myshirt

Caliden wrote: »

If it's 0% finance over 3 years I can't see how it would be that bad?

It's an interest free loan. Unless I'm missing something...

It's not interest free. The cost of finance is worked into the product. So rather than charge 1,000 plus interest, they just calculate what the interest on 1,,000 is, price it at that, and call it interest free. It's more palatable to the consumer like that and sounds more snazzy. It's exactly like the supermarkets putting a couple of bottles of wine for 20 quid on the shelves for one month, then dropping the price to a tenner and absolutely filling the shelves with it at 'half price'. They only ever wanted a tenner for it,.but people won't buy at a tenner. However they will buy at half price.

Thestones

myshirt wrote: »

It's not interest free. The cost of finance is worked into the product. So rather than charge 1,000 plus interest, they just calculate what the interest on 1,,000 is, price it at that, and call it interest free. It's more palatable to the consumer like that and sounds more snazzy. It's exactly like the supermarkets putting a couple of bottles of wine for 20 quid on the shelves for one month, then dropping the price to a tenner and absolutely filling the shelves with it at 'half price'. They only ever wanted a tenner for it,.but people won't buy at a tenner. However they will buy at half price.

I get what your saying but the price is the same in those shops whether your a cash buyer or doing finance so your just spreading the cost. We did up our house as frugally as possible and we needed a new couch, it was one thing I didn't want second hand or cheap so we did the finance thing, it's 40 quid a month so you barely notice it, we couldn't have got it any other way.

myshirt

myshirt wrote: »

It's not interest free. The cost of finance is worked into the product. So rather than charge 1,000 plus interest, they just calculate what the interest on 1,,000 is, price it at that, and call it interest free. It's more palatable to the consumer like that and sounds more snazzy. It's exactly like the supermarkets putting a couple of bottles of wine for 20 quid on the shelves for one month, then dropping the price to a tenner and absolutely filling the shelves with it at 'half price'. They only ever wanted a tenner for it,.but people won't buy at a tenner. However they will buy at half price.

If you go into these shops the price tends to be the price regardless. In anycase if you want to be sure when buying anything on finance, don't mention you want finance until you have gotten the best price then you know that you are getting the benefit of interest free.

The fear some people have of finance, particulalry if it is a very low interest rate product, is bizarre. It's like people who cut up their credit card or who refuse to have one, a credit card used properly is a very valuable tool giving you up to 56 days interest free credit, its much safer to use online, its has benefits for many people who expense things for work (not spending your own money for work), they often have benefits such as cash back etc yet many people think they are the work of the devil.

That being said and as I posted earlier in the thread, if budegeting for a house furnising the main rooms at least to a proper standard should be part of your budget. I would personally have little interest in slumming it with second hand furnature after moving into a newly purchased or brand new house.

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LirW

Second hand furniture doesn't mean it being some dodgy cheap furniture. I got a few dirt-cheap second hand pieces that you could never get in the shop, like an antique coffee table or a solid wood dining table that I got for 50 quid in mint condition. Or I got a kitchen dresser, that just needs a lick of paint that I found in the corner of a second hand store for 80 Euro while they are ridiculously expensive when bought new.
There is some real crap out there, won't deny it but there is serious value to be had too.

But each to their own.

Diemos

Caliden wrote: »

If it's 0% finance over 3 years I can't see how it would be that bad?

It's an interest free loan. Unless I'm missing something...

Emerson White Dial wrote: »

The fear some people have of finance, particulalry if it is a very low interest rate product, is bizarre.

I'm not sure about Irish numbers but in the US, a significant portion of people on these products do not pay on time and incurr significant penalties.
That is why companies offer what seem like non sensical offers like this. Believe me they only do this because it is in their interest not yours.

It's a personal choice whether you are comfortable with the risk or not.
I took the risk avoidance apporach.

If I need to take out finance for a 2 grand couch then maybe a 2 grand couch is not for me right now.

GingerLily

We'll be furnishing the dining room and master bedroom fully and doing a the other rooms with second hand furniture/ikea/bit by bit. We've been offered a lot of sofas but get an ikea sofa for the time being - washable covers and all that!


Also window dressings will be expensive if you need something for a larger / non conventional window type.

myshirt

I'd you buy a couch with DFS, you can immediately call the finance company and settle the debt at near enough the present value of the loan. The price is the price because they have to say that due to it being 'interest free' but have you seen how bad those couches are for the price?

You'd get much better value elsewhere, though I do get it, if money is tight it's good to spread the payments, but with DFS for example, you are much better to settle with Creation Finance a few weeks after getting the couch if you can. If you even borrowed to sort them out even, the end cost still would be less.

Call it 1,500 for the couch which is likely mid range once you get the foam stuffing in the cushions rather than that basic crap they put in there. At an 18% implicit interest rate over 3 years they probably gave DFS 900, you could settle for 1,000. If you pay it out of your arse pocket, excellent, but even if you borrow surely you can get money cheaper than 18%.
18% is disgraceful. My sister settled up with them 6 months into the deal. They will take it, cos DFS loans are usually risky. People go to DFS because they don't have any money. They are certainly not going there for the great deals, as you will be more couch for your money elsewhere. I hate my sister's couch.

Andrew Beef

And then your credit rating is destroyed...

Creation Finance provide information to the Irish Credit Bureau; a “settlement” shows up as a red flag.

Used well, finance can be very useful; we had a sizeable lump of cash coming to us 12 months down the line and took interest free finance to buy something with that in mind. But the real juice in it for the retailer is the commission from the lender based on the fact that a decent number of borrowers break the agreement and incur huge charges.

Samuel T. Cogley