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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think we could manage a £2200 mortgage payment

388 replies

Dyr · 03/08/2023 09:58

on a take home pay of £4k.
After purchasing the house we would have £40k - £50k left in savings / investments.
The repayments would be about £2.2k per month but our combined take home would be £4k, and due to the jobs we are in its unlikely to increase. late 30s/early40s with 2 kids (primary school age)

OP posts:
mandlerparr · 04/08/2023 18:03

I would only take on a mortgage that big with that income if it were the lowest in the area and any other choice would mean actually paying more.

BeanieA · 04/08/2023 18:05

What is going to happen when the mortgage rate goes up again. Far too risky in my opinion

sgtmajormum · 04/08/2023 18:28

I would not want to be spending more than 50% of my income on essential living costs. That mortgage would be over 50%
It maybe just doable now, but what if your circumstances were to change unexpectedly? You would be screwed.

Redragtoabull · 04/08/2023 18:37

Heading for a financial hiding OP! No way, absolutely no way do that, go for a smaller house elsewhere, a bigger house in a not so affluent neighbourhood and definitely use savings to bring the mortgage down and then start saving for a rainy day. Simple things like daily 'round ups' in your banking app, you can double the 'round ups', money you shouldn't miss and save what you don't spend. Or save and then budget, best way forward

clarehhh · 04/08/2023 18:39

Why not reduce savings and therefore reduce the payments much more financially astute to do that.

Lolaandbehold · 04/08/2023 18:43

For a year during covid I had a mortgage repayment that was about 70% of my net salary. Luckily it was during Covid so my outgoings were small but it did used to worry me.
if you see a bit promotion or pay rise ahead I might consider it but the more risk averse would say that it could be quite tight especially if one or both of you were to lose your jobs.

Diva66 · 04/08/2023 18:51

YABU. There will be energy, water, council tax, insurance, etc. etc.

Createausername1970 · 04/08/2023 18:55

Eddyraisins · 03/08/2023 10:06

Example
Council tax 200
Gas abd Elec 200
Life ins 40
House ins 20
Car cost 100
Food 400
Subscription £30
Phones 30
Net 20

Total £1040 add in mortgage
£3240

Leaves £760 for everything else. Birthdays, Christmas, holidays, fun, days out, petrol.

That's quite conservative estimation. Our Council tax is a lot more than that and during the winter we were £300 on gas/electric.

Honestly OP? We have a joint income of around £3.5k and no mortgage and although we are not on the bread line we aren't rolling in it. I wouldn't feel comfortable with that level of financial commitment, especially with two children - they get very expensive. We are currently helping our boy with driving lessons and that on its own is over £300 a month.

toxic44 · 04/08/2023 19:04

And if interest rates go up again? The rainy day you're saving for wouldn't be that far off.

KentishMama · 04/08/2023 19:04

I think this sounds nuts. We have a big mortgage, but it still only comes to c. 30% of our take-home pay. And that wasn't planned - it was under 25% until the mortgage rates went crazy last year.

Would you actually meet the affordability criteria for a mortgage of that size?

RockyReef · 04/08/2023 19:22

We have a joint net pay of just over £4k (husband works FT, I am
PT) and a mortgage of £250k on a £1m house. Our repayments are £1100 ish and we are finding things a bit of a struggle at the moment. The cost of living is so high, and we have two pre-teen children at primary & secondary school. We live fairly frugally, no luxuries bought and we can’t afford overseas holidays for example. There’s no way we could afford a mortgage payment twice as big (although obviously some of our outgoings might be higher than yours would be, we live in a giant old farmhouse which is a nightmare to heat and needs lots of costly repairs).

Circe7 · 04/08/2023 19:32

I think it’s too high (and I say this as someone who has accidentally ended up with a £1600 mortgage on similar income) but if you are going to do it I disagree with posters saying use savings to reduce the mortgage. You’re almost certainly better putting savings in some sort of low risk investment. Plus that way you have liquidity and a buffer. Otherwise you’re effectively paying for losing access to your money. Obviously if you might be tempted to spend your savings on stuff you don’t need it’s not a great idea.

If you’re willing to take slightly more risk on savings and invest in the stock market you can pretty easily make 10% a year. I do this with little experience and fairly safe stocks. It’s also tax free in an ISA.

Tessabelle74 · 04/08/2023 20:18

No way you'd get it anyway. Stop dreaming and get real

Charcol · 04/08/2023 20:49

dont do it. Not worth it.
30-40% of salary on mortgage is high enough. talk less of 50%+

Virginsexonthebeachplease · 04/08/2023 21:45

It seems like a lot. Our joint take home pay is over 5K a month and our Morton's is about £1300. They feels comfortable but you are talking about a lower income and much higher mortgage so no.

pollymere · 04/08/2023 21:51

When we got our mortgage we had a combined income of about that. For a mortgage of about £800 a month. That was the maximum they'd lend us. I have lived off a single income renting at that amount but it's amazing how owning a house eats money. And interest rates were half what they are now.

I think it would cripple you financially.

Wonderfulstuff · 04/08/2023 22:02

I dunno, I think this is pretty normal in the South East. I know so many people who's mortgages are now over 2k due to the interest rate rise. But I'm not sure it's a position I would knowingly jump into.

FastBlueHedgehog · 04/08/2023 22:35

Madness. Our combined take home pay is about 8k and i wouldn't do this. We've chosen a more modest house and very comfortable day to day living and good pension. Mortgage will be paid off this year and I cannot tell you how good that feels.

AbsoFuckingLutelyThis · 04/08/2023 22:38

Dyr · 03/08/2023 23:03

Thanks everyone for your input, the universal suggestion is, 'don't do it'. I am going to speak to the missus to reduce our budget, and target a lower monthly repayment

Lols! You would never be approved for that anyway 🤣🤣 so no need to rethink your budget. Get a different broker too.

cinzanoandcoke · 04/08/2023 22:39

Nope, way too much. Don't be swayed by how much they'd lend. We looked into a re-mortgage recently to buy a second property. They'd lend us 5x what we thought we could afford. We know we couldn't afford the repayments. Insane.

Ohyousillydivvy · 04/08/2023 23:18

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LoisLane66 · 05/08/2023 00:41

Base rates have just been hiked and will rise again you can be sure unless and until food prices come down.

FedUpWithEverything123 · 05/08/2023 04:13

To echo everyone, there is NO WAY that take-home pay would support that mortgage.

Sheffieldbabe · 05/08/2023 04:20

Way way way too right. If you needed house repairs and a new car, were unemployed or had anything else go wrong, you’d have to use your savings and with such a high ratio you wouldn’t be able to save to replenish what is spent. Your savings will end up supplementing your income.

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