About to buy a house which we can no longer afford. Absolutely gutted

[stressandmorestress]

I honestly don't know what to do for the best. We are due to complete within a week, I now don't know if this is going to be possible due to pending lockdown but my partners a CIS worker and just been sent home and will not be paid for forseeable. We are about to take out a mortgage of £146k. I'm an nhs worker so my job and pay is safe but my salary is around 20k less than his and my wage would only just about cover the mortgage, bills and car insurance etc. Wr wouldn't have a penny left. We love this house so much and have worked really hard to be able to finally buy a house of our own. Have bought everything for it and been so excited for months. I've never seen him breakdown and cry in the 6 years I've known him and it's heartbreaking. He wants to pull out as he's so worried about it being taken of us and us not being able to afford it. What the hell do we do?

When they asked what his employment was you both told the truth, because it was true at the time. That's it. Done.

@RJnomore1 I can’t see any report on house sales going in hold in Scotland. Can you point me in the right direction please.

It was definitely in a news article at the end of last week but the link is broken now - I wonder if they misinterpreted it as per @DesLynamsMoustache

Sorry for the confusion.

Thank you. No worries at all. It’s all so confusing.

I would also just complete and move and get him to get a job to cover you for food etc while it settles down.

Well although the sellers were keen to complete end of this week as were we, they did say they wouldn't be able to get a removal company if there was a lockdown, so probably adds another few weeks on top which at the moment I'm unsure if it's a good thing or bad.

We had to pull out of ours on Friday. Sympathies.

@CastleSalem so sorry to hear this, I know there's so many other people in the same situation. I just want to go to sleep and not wake up until this is over I'm not sleeping, eating and have the worst anxiety I've ever had.

It’s no fun, is it?

Would it make you feel any better (I suspect not!) if I said we’re also about to have to find somewhere else to live in the middle of a pandemic? — we moved countries a few months ago and were living in a temporary rented house till our purchase completed. The owners of our rental are coming back from overseas, and need their house back.

I would not like to own a house I could not afford right now as a major recession is starting. What stress that would put you both under. We don't know how long this economic disruption will last.

I keep thinking about you, OP. Please come back and let us know how you're doing.

I really, really, really want you to be able to get your dream house!

I know it hard when you have been planning to buy a house, got mortgage approval and now for this to happen. I know its hard for you now. Your better off not taking on a mortgage at the moment due to your partner's work situation. Also at the moment it looks like their is a recession coming so house prices will probably fall.

One of my friends and her partner where in your position about 10 years ago. Their house purchase fell through due to last minute change in financial circumstances. A few other things happened to them in the following years and they were lucky not to have a large mortgage payment taking up a large portion of their income then. They are now in a better position.
Maybe this happened because in time a better job or house is in your future.

Keep in mind that if you have already exchanged (and if you are due to complete next week, you almost certainly already have already exchanged) you have committed to the purchase and pulling out now may mean that you incur very large costs without owning a house at the end of it.

I strongly advise you to speak to your solicitor regarding the contract and find out what the worst case scenario is if you do not complete. You may decide that it is worthwhile proceeding.

@time40 that's so kind of you, thank you. The solicitor actually emailed me and informed me that they had taken the decision to hold off on any exchanges/completions at the moment until lockdown is reviewed in 3 weeks and will arrange after that, so I am glad that we have another few weeks to properly think about things and see what happens with my partners work as he may be entitled to the 80% having looked into it although not certain yet. I'm feeling better today, the stress and worry over the past few days have really wore me down. I'm just hoping and praying that things work themselves out, I will of course keep you updated

I have also been worried about the house prices dropping a lot but we do intend for this to be a long term home, possibly around 10 years or more? So I think even if the house prices do drop, hopefully they will pick themselves back up by the time we would like to move in the distant future. It's all a bit of a gamble

That's good news, Stress. Things could have changed a lot in three weeks, and at the very least it gives you time to think.

Yes, I think you have the right attitude to possible drops in house values.

Good luck - and I will be looking out for an update!