To buy a £700k house on £67k

@pinkbaglady

How many times are you going to make this nonsense point?

There is a huge middle ground between spending 15% and more than 50% of net pay on a mortgage, which includes almost every mortgage holder in the country.

The fact that the absolute extremes seem to have all found this thread is bizarre!

Yeah but you don't have to get a four bed detached. Three bed flats can be big enough for some families

Our first house was not our ‘dream home’. We got the best we could afford at the time. We renovated the garden, decorated and carpeted throughout, we had the gutters changed and a new boiler installed as well as a few upgrades like new doors, flooring etc

we stayed in the house for a couple of years and then sold it at a modest profit. This is how we then had a bigger deposit and money to cover fees for our next home which is our dream! I appreciate the cost of the cheapest houses in the location you want are unaffordable anyway but is there anyway you can start small and build up.

Its not the preferred route obviously and more hassle but in a few years when you’re then looking at properties you do actually want it would be worth it

I don’t think 15% is extreme. It’s what we’d be happy to spend in relation to our saving and investing.

and we’re very comfortable and well off following this approach.

in fact, since we’ve paid the mortgage off, we might not even move to avoid ever paying a mortgage again. 0% of our salaries going on a mortgage. Extreme!

Surely, though, you can see that for many people spending only 15% of their take home on a mortgage would not be a realistic goal?

So OP, have you discussed it with your wife?

I think it’s clear what’s happened here. Your middle class friends (with Bank of M&D) bought £300-400k houses 10-15 years ago (post 2008) and they’ve made bank. You perhaps have similar jobs, and you want a similar house. Unfortunately you missed the easy-money years, and you are going to have to just live with that. It may not have been your fault - perhaps you weren’t sure where you wanted to live long term, or had some other reason as to why you didn’t buy.

You’ve got a fairly incredible amount of money as a deposit, be thankful for that - if you didn’t have that, you’d be looking at £150-£200k properties with your income. Stick to £450k. If your wife can’t handle that, then I am not sure what to advise.

Why would you only buy a house once? Families get bigger, then kids leave home, you might get other jobs - or you might only be able to afford a smaller house the first time you buy. That's very normal. You cut your suit to fit your cloth.

@Polledja have you had a chat with your wife? Have you shown her this thread? Just wondered how it was going

I don't think the op is coming back to this thread.

Don't do it. You'll regret it for the rest of your life.

I understand the desire for a £700k house as I'm sure it's bigger and more lovely than a £500k house in the same area but if you can't afford it, then you can't buy it and stretching yourselves to buy it would be madness.
12 years ago, we bought our house for about £450k and we could have afforded £550k. Because of the lower mortgage, we have been able to do lots of nice things with our kids on a regular basis and live a nice life and have fun things to look forward to. We have enjoyed not having money worries. Your wife is too focused on the dream house.

Would you even be given a mortgage? I think it might be tough to meet the affordability criteria for a good rate.

So, basically, no, I don't think you can or should buy a 700k house.

What boat? You have £280k in cash and a joint income of almost £4k a month. Unless you live in Mayfair, you can certainly buy a house. Just not a £700k one.

Regret is such a waste. Just draw a line and buy a nice house you can afford!

I think you would struggle. I am on £3400pm and my mortgage is just under a £1000pm. The money is just about enough for me and 2 DC, and any bigger expenses have to be carefully budgeted for.

@Polledja

I think you need to reframe your 'regret' - your deposit of £280k is huge.

Many, many people do not make this kind of profit on a starter home/ flat. Plus you have had years of landlords doing maintenance etc which to be honest, as well as being expensive, is also a total ball ache to manage / sort out

He is looking back with hindsight.

Of course buying in the early 2010s was the right move. As I said before, I’m sure his friends did this.

If he’d gone big with even £150k deposit then, £150k mortgage (5x £30k salary). Sold in 2016/17/18-ish for £400k-£450k. Got some more money from bank of M&D, say £50k. Extended mortgage on slightly higher household income, say £250k (5x £50k). He’d have bought a £500k-£600k. This would now be worth £600-700k.

plus he’d have paid no rent for 10 years+.

Boat missed.

I'm sort of in this position accidentally in that I'm a single parent making a net of c.£4k and have stayed in the family home which has a c. £350k mortgage after buying ex out (£1600 per month). I wouldn't have chosen to buy such an expensive house on my income and like others have said you probably won't be offered such a high mortgage anyway. I might end up selling if I'm struggling on what I have left after mortgage.

But I do think mumsnet is very conservative on mortgage borrowing (hence all the posts from people on very high incomes saying they would never borrow more than £100k) etc.). It's a risk-adverse financial strategy to borrow such a low amount but not necessarily a particularly sensible one long-term. My house has increased in value by £150k in two years apparently. If I had bought a house of half the value I would "only" have made £75k on it. Taking the risk of buying a more expensive property than I needed two years ago has given me enough equity to buy a small place outright if I want to despite the financial chaos of divorce etc. Of course there's risk and property prices might not increase forever etc. but I think there's a middle ground somewhere between a tiny mortgage and a huge one.