2 years into our mortgage and im fed up! Does it end?

[Asia98]

I feel lucky that I have managed to purchase my dream house. However, 2 years in of paying, I am dreading another 13 years of this! I miss our previous luxuries. Does it end? does it get better??

Surely if you're paying all that money on a mortgage and you can no longer afford luxuries, then you can't actually afford the mortgage?
Id be miserable if I had to go without luxuries. Not sure if you have kids but half terms & summer holidays are expensive. I couldn't put all into a mortgage (we have a mortgage of 20 years) knowing that I couldn't give my children the experiences and fun they deserve in their childhood.

Can you get a second job ?

@Hankunamatata

Change the term to 30 years and have some luxuries

For the love of god and brain cells, don’t do this.

And anyone who is tempted to do this, Google ‘compound interest’

As Einstein sort of said, there are 2 types of people in the world

Those who understand compound interest, and those who pay it...

What's your take home income per month?

@cupsofcoffee

wait?? rent is more expensive than a mortgage in the UK? How is that possible? Wouldnt everyone buy then? or is it very difficult to get a mrotgage there?

Rent is generally much more expensive than a mortgage, but many people find it difficult to save the deposit that's needed to buy in the first place.

Our mortgage is £300/month. Rent on a similar house would be £500/month.

wow 300 a month for a mortgage? May I ask what sort of house you can get for 300 a month. Also is that for 35 years. It does sound good if you are able to save a deposit!

wait?? rent is more expensive than a mortgage in the UK?

Err, not only in the UK. My salary isn’t enough to get a mortgage but it’s enough to pay rent which is a third higher than a mortgage repayment.

Where are you an Expat from? Unless you’re on a variable mortgage or the fixed rate has just ended, how did you not think that a tripling of your housing costs would not impact you?

You’re paying so much because the term of the mortgage is half of the usual mortgage term. If being a homeowner in theses circumstances, you could sell a revert back to being a renter.

£4200 a month a month !! Could you extend the term of the mortgage, or move to a cheaper property ??

Stealth boast that you have a short mortgage ?

@overnightangel

So your mortgage is 3600 a month... which over 15 years values your house at around £650,000 ..... and you’re bellyaching because you now can’t afford a cleaner to clean your luxury house?

I don’t know what country you’re in but presumably self-awareness is in short supply

God I wish mortgages worked like this, you haven’t factored in any interest.

In my case I found just trying to earn more money was the answer. (My mortgage cost £90,000 year at one point, interest only - that was extremely high, when interest rates were much higher; not fun but worth it in the end)

@Asia98

I am an expat living abroad. So rent with the currency here was 1500. But now I am paying 4200. Because interest levels are sky high here banks don't give above 20 years with 15 being most common.

We used to be able to do loads, go out for meals, order in have a cleaner come in etc and right now I have had to cut out on loads. Right now I want to do a pergola in garden yet its going to take a few months to raise the money! Before the mortgage we wouldnt have to think twice to get something done. We pay the mortgage, bills, petrol, food and thats about it. Once every 2 months we are able to buy something extra

If the differential between rent and buying is so huge where you are, why did you bother? Here in the UK people want to buy because it’s at least as cheap, and in many places cheaper, than renting, with the added security of not facing eviction on a whim, because many landlords have expensive buy to let mortgages which are more expensive than those for owner occupiers.

What prompted you to make your decision? If those reasons are still valid surely you wouldn’t be regretting it? If I lived in mainland Europe I’d probably never have bothered buying.

@HellonHeels

What's your take home income per month?

I earn 5,500. DH gets 6,200 (he used to have a second job which was the reason we went for our house however lost that due to covid)

• We spend 4,200 for mortgage.
• electricity is around 1k in summer (you need an air con here)

and in winter gas for heating is around 900 (so we give this amount all year other than the odd month in spring and autumn where weather is fine without heating or air con.

• around 200 for gas in summer and electricity in winter
• around 600 for petrol for both cars.
• DS nanny gets 3k (not much more expensive then sending him to nursery)

- DS is 2 so he has his nappies milks etc. A carton of milk here is 15! Ds gets through 1 every 2 days.

Then the rest is food water and the odd clothing item or toys.

Little sympathy from me I'm afraid.
Surely you should have done calculations beforehand and worked out exactly how much it was going to cost and how that would affect other outgoings. Also, you should have considered worst-case scenarios such as job loss (which is what happened), illness or pregnancy and maternity pay.

Daft to ask "When is this going to end?" Obviously, it's going to end in 13 years when your very short-term mortgage runs out.

Abu Dhabi?

Whatever the country - you’ve lost sight of the situation in this country. Understandable. I had friends similar.

Then they returned. And they struggled to say the least!

Couldn't read and run

I'm going to ask MN if they can organise a fundraiser. Pergolas for ex-Pats.

What’s unusual about your situation is that you bought where you’re at.

Friends saved like trojans and then bought a outright. In Richmond!

wow 300 a month for a mortgage? May I ask what sort of house you can get for 300 a month. Also is that for 35 years. It does sound good if you are able to save a deposit!

Not a very big one, lol. We have a two-bed terrace with one bathroom and a garden.

It's a 20 year mortgage.

Sounds like it isn't just the mortgage, but the fact in the last few years you've had a child with associated costs, lost part of your income and moved into more expensive housing? That is a big loss in disposable income so no wonder you feel it!
Only way round it is to increase your income or find cheaper childcare...

@BeingATwatItsABingThing

wait?? rent is more expensive than a mortgage in the UK? How is that possible? Wouldnt everyone buy then? or is it very difficult to get a mrotgage there?

Because saving up for the deposit is crippling!

And the property owner, plus lettings agent, both have to make a profit on that. So, of course it's dearer to rent. Add to that affordability checks which state that, for example, you can't afford £500/month mortgage whilst you pay £1900 rent a month without issue, and you get people trapped in renting without a hope of ever getting themselves their own property.

It will be a drop in the ocean but a 2 year old doesn’t need to be on formula
Regular milk is fine

Here in the UK the rent you pay is usually much higher than mortgage, so we are more than happy to pay it. 30 year repayment is much less painful than 15 years, although cost more in the long run

Our main reason in buying was because we decided to settle here. We have been here for 10 years but always assumed we would move back to the UK. 3 years ago we decided we would stay here.
Renters here have no rights at all. In the 8 years we rented we had to move houses 6 times. Either the landlord wanted to increase amount to a ridiculous rent, or landlord found a better rented (someone who paid more), once the landlords married son wanted to move into the house so we had to go, once the landlord divorced so had to giv eup the house. Each time we were notified a month or two before and were rushed to find a new house.

Not to mention moving was ridiculously expensive, moving into a new neighbourhood, adjusting to new house and the worst was each time we moved something would break due to the transport! It just got so stressful we decided to buy.

At the time DH had 2 jobs so we fell in love with our house now and decided on that even though it was quite a bit more than what we had planned. Move down a year and DH lost his second job so right now we are scrapping by. I am grateful as we have a house and are not hungry but its starting to really stress me.

@Sparechange

It will be a drop in the ocean but a 2 year old doesn’t need to be on formula Regular milk is fine

He is on cows milk :) cows milk is very expensive here. Actually everything other than bread and pasta is expensive here

@WaltzesWithSnobs

Couldn't read and run

I'm going to ask MN if they can organise a fundraiser. Pergolas for ex-Pats.

I’ll donate! It’s a human rights violation to not have one.