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AIBU?

To get the biggest mortgage have been offered for the house of my dreams?!

56 replies

Givemeyouropinion · 24/06/2018 14:31

Help. A house has come up in our area tjay is the house of our dreams. Almost! It ticks all of the boxes bar one, the third bedroom is small
Which ideally would be double the size. The issue is if we bought the house we wouldn’t be able to make the bedroom bigger or extend d Into the loft as we’d be maxing ourselves with the mortgage payments. Another thing I’m worried about is not having as much disposable incomes for the next couple of years for cars/holidays/treats is it worth tjay for an amazing home?! Both of our income is going to increase in the next couple of years we just don’t know by how much, I just don’t want to miss the opportunity to buy this gorgeous house but I’m scared I’m thinking with my heart rather than my head which I do tend to do 🙈

OP posts:
NomNomNomNom · 24/06/2018 14:40

What's amazing about the home? Is the area great? How stable are your incomes? Would you have any emergency funds? Would you be able to afford income protection insurance and life insurance? How old are the DC?

unintentionalthreadkiller · 24/06/2018 14:42

If you can afford it, great. If not it's too expensive!

NotSuchASmugMarriedNow1 · 24/06/2018 14:46

Go for it. I've never known anyone to regret doing this IN THE LONG TERM

greendale17 · 24/06/2018 14:46

Another thing I’m worried about is not having as much disposable incomes for the next couple of years for cars/holidays/treats is it worth tjay for an amazing home?! Both of our income is going to increase in the next couple of years we just don’t know by how much

^I wouldn’t. You are leaving yourself with no contingency whatsoever. What if you get pregnant, get ill or get made redundant.

MyKingdomForBrie · 24/06/2018 14:50

Tricky. We are over extended at the moment as we have no spare cash at all but at the same time I don't regret our house (except for the tiny fourth bedroom!)

What will the house actually need doing as opposed to what you would like to do? We need to rewire and replaster the ceilings and get a new boiler and we can't (didn't know til we moved in) and it's quite difficult.

Sallycinnamum · 24/06/2018 14:52

No I absolutely wouldn't. DH and I have always made sure our outgoings can be managed on one salary if one of us is made redundant or is ill.

Quite honestly with Brexit on the horizon I absolutely wouldn't be stretching my finances no matter how secure you think your jobs are.

LapsedHumanist · 24/06/2018 14:54

We’ve just come out the other end of similar. Took us three years to save/see income increase to point we could afford the work, then organising warrants and doing the work took another year.

It is an amazing feeling now.

First couple of years (no hols and scrimping a bit) were rubbish though.

On balance, well worth it.

That said, I think that a Brexit related market correction might happen next year in some places, so you’d have to be sure you are in it for the long-term, depending on area you’re in.

SweetSummerchild · 24/06/2018 14:56

We bought in 2002 and got the maximum mortgage possible. That was when interest rates on a mortgage were about 6%.

The hosue needed a lot of work. There was artex on walls as well as ceilings, and our aim was to extend. The mortgage just about killed us and it was 4 years before we could even begin to think about kids.

We finally extended and did the bulk of the work in 2015. Inflation and pay rises (along with low interest rates) mean the mortgage payments are less than we would pay in rent on a 1-bed flat.

I don’t regret taking out the maximum mortgage on the house of our dreams.

diddl · 24/06/2018 14:58

No because it isn't the house of your dreams?

Mummyoflittledragon · 24/06/2018 15:01

Pretty normal to not be able to afford these things imo tbh when you first get your property. The only current caveat I see is Brexit. At some stage soon there will be a drop in house prices. The issue is, will there be a rise first.

placemats · 24/06/2018 15:05

I would never buy a house with a tiny third bedroom. It's a game changer when it comes to selling it on. Unless it's your forever home.

Fed · 24/06/2018 15:08

There are plenty of houses. Don't crucify yourself financially for a house. Get the biggest you can afford and make it nice.

CoughLaughFart · 24/06/2018 15:10

If the third bedroom is too small, you can’t extend and it’s over budget, it’s not really the house of your dreams, is it?

CiderwithBuda · 24/06/2018 15:20

It’s not really amazing if it doesn’t work for your family’s needs.

FilthyforFirth · 24/06/2018 15:21

How long are you planning to stay? A small 3rd bedroom is a bugger to shift when it comes to selling. We have dismissed so many houses as the 3rd room is too small

VanellopeVonSchweetz99 · 24/06/2018 15:22

Don't let your emotions take over. This one doesn't sound worth the stress tbh.

longtompot · 24/06/2018 15:26

I would say don't do it. We have a much lower mortgage than we could get which helps us not get too stressed with paying it. Plus, we have a bit of money to do things around the place. The tiny third bedroom and not being able to change it would irk you after a while.

VladmirsPoutine · 24/06/2018 15:31

Putting yourself in a position where you'd have little to no contingency funds is a very very bad idea and one not to be encouraged.

category12 · 24/06/2018 15:32

Keep looking.

Floottoot · 24/06/2018 15:39

If it really IS the house of your dreams, I'd say to for it, absolutely.
We could have borrowed more than we did, when we bought 18 years ago, and had we have done, that extra spend would probably have been worth triple now, if that makes sense. (E.g. £110k house then worth £250k now, whereas £135k house then might be worth £320k now).

Our house has 2 double bedrooms and a box room when we bought it. We extended last year, to create a new, large bedroom, with an en suite in what was the box room. Previously, our 12 year old son had the box room, with enough room for his bed, a chest of drawers and a tall IKEA storage unit but that was all.

It's pretty hard to find a 3 or even 4 bedroom house where the 3rd/4th bedrooms aren't pokey, but a 2 storey extension doesn't come cheap. Have you seen less perfect houses that you could afford to extend?

AnnabelleLecter · 24/06/2018 15:39

Unless you have a huge budget you will normally have to compromise on something.
Having not as much money for holidays and treats is ok as long as you still have some left over otherwise a life spent working just to pay the bills and mortgage would get very boring very quickly.

Sleephead1 · 24/06/2018 15:41

this is probably a negative view but I always think what if one of you lost your job could you still pay it ? what if you and your husband split could you afford to stay? it's happened to a friend of mine she can't afford to pay it without his wages he's on a lot of money she isn't. Shed in a awful situation not helped by it bring in negative equity but she can't afford to stay and can't get really afford to buy anywhere else due to negative equity . So I would be reluctant to stretch yourself so much but only you know your relationship, finances ect

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Fifthtimelucky · 24/06/2018 15:54

If people had to wait until they could afford a mortgage on one salary, most people would never buy at all.

I say go for it. Do without treats for two years and extend when you can. We've lived in our house for 18 years and have extended it three times as we've been able to afford it. We couldn't have bought a house this size 18 years ago and extending is cheaper than moving.

Floottoot · 24/06/2018 16:01

fifthtimelucky, that's exactly our experience.
Possibly DH and I have a different life ethos, with regards to money, as we have always been self employed in a particularly insecure industry; we are used to instability and feast or famine times, so don't worry about the "what if you lost your job?" scenarios , because we've never had a steady fixed income.

lifechangesforever · 24/06/2018 16:04

I personally wouldn't.. aside from the fact that it doesn't sound like the dream house at all.

The monthly payments on a maxed out mortgage really do start to sting after a while.

Also, how would you cope if the interest rate goes up?

My mortgage fixed rate is due for renewal in March and I've already started looking at the renewal .. if it's going to be as it stands today, that's another £100 a month we're looking at on a £135k mortgage.

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