Want to buy a 600k house at 44!

[startingallover]

For a four bed house around here we would need at least 600k. We're settled and really don't want to leave the area.

We're first time buyers. No savings - quite a lot of debt. Both mid-forties. We're now both working and will be bringing in £200k annually together before tax. We hope this will soon go up again.

Dh says we've missed the boat and will always have to rent. Our outgoings are high - we pay £2,400 monthly in rent for an okish house. We wouldnt fit in anything smaller. I am desperate to give our children a 'home'. Dh say I'm dreaming and it can never happen now. So that's another 40+ years of renting. That thought drives me crazy and I am not ready to give up. Perhaps I need to face the truth : (

Dh doesn't have any desire to buy. He says he would prefer to carry on renting a bigger place than own a smaller one.

[VertigoNun]

There is nothing wrong with renting. I can understand wanting a stable family home.

Why not buy a smaller house? I think the economy is going to go to shit for a few years. I wouldn't buy anything too £££ atm.

[Potatoface2]

start at the bottom and work your way up.....but a cheaper house and go upwards...we cant all have what we want asap.....you already said you have debt....dont go over your head!

[GiddyOnZackHunt]

Do you have any idea whether anyone would loan you the money? At 44 you'd be struggling to get a 25 year mortgage as most like to assume you'll be done by 65. With debt you won't get 600k these days nor will you get a 100% mortgage. Would 400k get you what you have as a rental?
It could be worth running it by a broker to give you a realistic idea of figutres.

[rosewithoutthorns]

I'd do the broker thing. Who wants to pay 2,500 rent a month. Can't you go just a tad out of the area?

[startingallover]

Thanks for the replies. If we bought smaller than 600k we wouldn't be able to fit in - we're a big family. The house we are currently renting has a market value of £900k. It's nothing great though. The area is expensive but we don't want to leave. I guess we would prefer to rent than move away - which still really bothers me.

We hope to be debt free by the summer and know we would never get any kind of mortgage until then, however small. I know there's nothing wrong with renting but I want to be able to feel stable, to know we haven't got to move again, to be able to make it ours. Dh doesn't care about that at all.

[GiddyOnZackHunt]

Who does the work when you move?

[AndNowItsSeven]

When you say fit do you mean spacious bedroom for each dc? We are a family of nine in a four bed. Unless your family is very large you can fit in house less than £600k. Just buy a cheaper house, buying a house and your kids sharing is far better than renting with own rooms.

[AntiHop]

Have you considered shared ownership?

[grumpysquash2]

I think the idea of buying is good, but what about the deposit if you have no savings at this point?

[SomebodySedateMe]

You're going to need a pretty hefty deposit and with no equity behind you you'll struggle to find a mortgage provider. Sorry OP but I think realistically you need to look at somewhere far more affordable.

[HerRoyalNotness]

But In a cheaper area and install tenants in it, until you build up some equity, remain where you are renting. Then even if you don't get to buy for yourself and least you'll have something you can downsize to at a later date.

This is how my DF did it when they couldn't afford to buy their first home in the location they wanted. On your kind of salary, surely you could save up a deposit quickly after debts are paid.

[Birdsgottafly]

If your mortgage would be less than your rent, then of course it makes sense to consider buying, at any working age.

I've read your other thread and it would be worth talking through a few things with a broker and see if any savings can be made, anywhere and if the house purchase would be possible.

[tobysmum77]

Whats being 44 got to do with it? Its highly unlikely if you are renting that you wont be working past 65 and you can always sell it and downsize later. Mortgage companies do have different rules and they all have a blanket ban on 65, a financial adviser would be able to direct you in the right way.

However, you would need a deposit plus stamp duty and fees of I imagine about 90k for 10% so if you are in debt and have no savings buying a house for 600k is just not possible whether you are 25 or 60.

[eurochick]

I'm pretty astonished that with that income level you have no savings. You need a deposit of 10% plus stamp duty plus legal and moving costs. Most people compromise on size or area to get on the property ladder. If you are not prepared to do that or reign in your spending to build savings then you are going to have to keep renting.

[Flutterbutterfly]

Buy a smaller house and rent it out?

Then when your children move on you have a house that you own.

Madness to spent that on rent, and debt at your income level is very worrying.

[SanityClause]

If you were able to get a 20 year £600K mortgage, your repayments without interest would be 2.5K per month.

I think it's very hard these days to get an interest only mortgage, so I can't see how you could possibly be better off buying.

The whole property market is in flux right now. You would probably be best to pay off your debt, (as you are doing) then make some other investments, while your income is high, to ensure that you have money set aside for housing when you retire.

[Bohemond]

I agree with euro what have you been spending all your money on to have debt and no savings at that income! And I say that as someone with a high income not struggling on a low to mid one.

[Oliversmumsarmy]

Where did the debts come from, you must be coming out with £10000 per month between you if you are on that level of income. Dp and I have 2 dc in private school on 1/3 of your income and have no debt other than our mortgage.

[SanityClause]

Also, don't buy a smaller house to let out as others have advised, without carefully doing the numbers, first.

Mortgage interest relief on buy to lets has been severely restricted in the last budget. You may find its not as sure an investment as it would have looked a year ago.

[RubyRoseViolet]

I would be very cautious about taking on such a large mortgage in your mid 40s. A close friend has done so, her circumstances and those of her husband changed and they have been extremely stretched and in massive debt ever since. They are desperate to stay in their huge house in an expensive area so they have no money for anything else at all. Obviously if your financial situation is very different to this that's fair enough but I'd stay where you are rather than take the risk personally.

[PollyPerky]

Have you done any investigations at all into getting a mortgage? eg Nationwide online mortgage finder - put in your ages, income, etc and see what you could borrow?

If you have a poor credit score then you will find it hard to get any mortgage.

If you are able to save a 20% deposit then you stand some chance of some sort of mortgage and depending on your retirement ages you might get a 25 yr one.

You won't be able to borrow enough for £600K though. You might be loaned 3x or 4 x your joint income so unless between you those earnings are £150K it's just not possible.

IMO you ought to rent somewhere cheaper and try to save a deposit then look for something smaller.

Presumably you like SE because even where we are (Home Counties) a 4-bed detached home to rent could be had for £1500 -ish rent a month.

[Youarentkiddingme]

Those figures are way above anything I can comprehend - 2.4k a month rental seems a lot but relative to income?

What about looking at smaller houses in a cheaper price bracket but where you can add a large conservatory or extend, convert garages or do a loft conversion? Space can always be created.

Also what are the plans? To sell the larger house once children are gone? Would you lose money by the equity then being eaten up by simply paying off the mortgage?

Personally I'm for buying (and I'm a renter!) but long term it needs to be financially a better solution.

[PollyPerky]

sorry- read your first post and see you have a combined income of £200K.

You ought to save. The biggest worry for a lender is your poor money management- debts and no savings.

[Curioushorse]

See what a mortgage broker can do. We were initially refused a mortgage last year as I was on maternity leave and therefore our last three months' income looked very low- but a broker was able to sort it out and we got a mortgage that saved us hundreds of pounds monthly on the ones that we had initially been looking at. You might be surprised about what they can do when you have a very high salary.

[Curioushorse]

Sorry, I wasn't including myself in that 'you'. We don't have a very high salary, but OP does! I'd be surprised if that didn't count for something!