To think we could manage a £2200 mortgage payment

[Dyr]

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)

£63 left over sounds like a pretty miserable life. That wouldn't even get me a hair cut.

The difference between rent and mortage though is renters don't usually have to budget for maintainence etc..

I just spent £130 this morning to fix an electrical issue that suddently occured in our kitchen this week (couldn't put it off as it meant the oven and hob didn't work without tripping the electrics)

No!!

On paper mine is 45% of my current take home pay as mortgage is in my name only (long story) and when I took it out I was full time, now part time.
But in reality DH pays towards it so it is less than 30% of our joint income and that’s hard enough. I would never do more than 40%, 33% being the aim.

Quick calculation shows that two salaries of 38k could borrow this much even with high LTV for those saying its not possible. Doesn't make it a good idea though.

And what if there is an emergency? Kids school trip, unexpected bill?

Why do you need such a big mortgage?

Interest rates due to go up today.
Only £63 for emergencies any special events etc. I think you are either very brave or slightly mad.

Based on what you’ve said, no, I don’t think you can afford it and I would be very surprised if you get a mortgage offer on that basis.

I think you need to sit down and look at the numbers. It wouldn't be an ideal at all, but certainly when we were renting, at least half our income was going on rent, so I don't see how that would necessarily be less desirable with a mortgage beyond the associated risks of defaulting, etc. Our mortgage is £1700 per month and our income is more than £4K but probably less than £6K (I don't actually know how much as dh is self-employed, so doesn't actually get a monthly salary that is the same every month). We don't struggle, but we always have some sort of nest egg for emergencies and we don't spend much except on essentials (for example, no coffees out, no gym membership, no fancy cars on finance, we do camping holidays, etc.). I love our house and our lifestyle here and it was very worth what we paid for it.

If I had to choose though, in the current market, I'd look for a decent deal on a property (there are deals to be made as the market is slower) and put more deposit in for a better LTV ratio and better rate.

£63 a month after all expenses is nowhere near enough. What happens if a boiler breaks, your children need braces? Car fails MOT?

£63 a month isn't even an extra tank of fuel a month.

Just to echo what others have said.
It is too much once you add on other bills.work out your monthly costs now and on extra for my house insurance, energy costs and see where you end up. Now what about clothes, shoes, hairdressers, birthdays and Christmas etc. Then finally days out and meals out. Any holidays would come from your savings.

i would also consider holding on to about 10-15k of savings unless you have another imminent large purchase that justifies more and put the excess to buying the house.

worrying about money is such a drain , it sucks the joy out of life. Don’t do it

And that wasn't a big, red blinking light?

The BoE may put interest rates up today which will eliminate your £63 and then some.

Unless you are prepared to be uber frugal or expecting a big income uplift soon you can’t afford this.

Our take home pay is around that, our mortgage is £850pcm which feels high to us.

less that £100 pcm for incidentals after bills and expenses is not great. What happens if something goes wrong, eg the boiler, windows, or car?

There's just no way in which this works op. What you have got there is less than £16 contingency per person each month. That's just not responsible.

Our take home is about £4800 and our mortage is £1000 pm (it is actually £800 but we overpay).

That is comfortable and allows us a fair amount wiggle room for savings and money for fun (we holiday a couple of times a year and eat out/go to the pub at least couple of times a week) - but we don't have children or a car.

I think it would be very tight, but I also think that depending on what part of the country you are buying in, that a lot of the posters saying they wouldn't want to pay more than £700 - £1k on mortgage on that sort of income are in cloudcuckooland.

Quick look round locally and the minimum rent for a 3 bed in my not especially nice part of Zone 3 London is £2k a month - and that wouldn't get you a garden or much space. 2 beds aren't much less.

You won't have much wriggle room and I wouldn't ncessarily advise it - but I also don't think you are barking mad for considering it either given you may be paying not far off that in rent and not appreciating an asset at the same time.

I think a lot of posters on this thread got their mortgages when interest rates were much lower.

There isn’t much choice of houses and the moment and everyone’s mortgages are getting more expensive. Mortgages that are 1/3 or more of take home salary are going to become much more common much how in lots of places spending half your salary on rent is pretty normal.

I think you know the answer now then. Think about how much you need as cushion every month.
putting money side for birthdays, Xmas, car costs and holidays monthly really helps.
Think about how much for that kind of thing plus your expected expenses. How much do you feel comfortable with their being left every month for Boiler service, new furniture, vet bills, fun etc and saving.

So over 50%?
Nope
Madness

What would happen if the interest rate went up?

Our monthly household income is more than that and out mortgage payment is £900 for reference

You are crazy for even considering it!
We have similar take home pay and since the cost of living rises it feels tight with a mortgage of £1000. Fortunately I've been able to increase my hours at work so we can still afford extras such as holidays, birthday & Xmas presents etc

I think you would end up finding that you would need to constantly dip into your savings to cover all the extras. They would be gone within 10 years and then what?

Hopefully they’d fix for 5 years. Still difficult if salaries don’t change though!

@Dyr what is the mortgage rate? If it’s high then I would go for it. If it’s under 3% I would say no. You’d hope if it’s 5/6% then it will reduce in the next few years but it’s a gamble.

You might be able to borrow it on paper in principal but I'd suspect with £63 left after expenses you will fail on affordability.
I wouldn't do it personally. If you're set on the house use the savings to reduce LTV and therefore payments, and then the money you "save" on the mortgage each month goes back into savings.