Pulling out a house near to exchange

[HappyKite2067]

We are near to exchange of our new build house and I’m now having huge doubts about going ahead with it. I’ve had a bad gut feeling throughout but as it gets closer it’s getting stronger!

Reasons:

1. Estate management fees and people telling me to ‘run away’ as they are life ruining
2. The cost of the mortgage is so much higher than our rent, and I’m genuinely worried we can’t afford it- I’ll only have £200 disposable income after all bills, petrol and food, and other half £500. At the moment, we have around £1500 left over between us.

Reasons why I’ve talked myself into going:

1. I need to move for my new job
2. We’ve been renting for 2 years and have secured an okay fixed deal
3. There’s very little choice in the area we are moving to and new build is probably (even with mgt fees the most cost effective)
4. We are TTC (although how we can afford one I don’t know)
5. We are both going to have pay increases next year and the year after.

Am I being unreasonable to pull out and stay renting, and maybe choose to rent closer to work to have more disposable income and wait for an older new build which needs less work?

You sounds like you’ve really
thought it all through.

I don’t think there is ever a good time to buy a house or a have a baby - you just figure out how to cope.

As someone else said though (I’ve not read all the thread so sorry if repeating), £700 leftover per month would not cover full time nursery fees so that’s something to consider.

good luck OP

Renting is like burning money. £700 a month disposable income is not bad and will hopefully increase over time also. Get a decent broker you could definitely get less than 5% interest.

Surely it's all relative? £700 may be plenty for you in your area. You don't even know what part of the country they will be living in.

Get the house before you have a baby
because if you apply for a mortgage when you have a child they will take that into account when assessing how much you can borrow

Buy a house but not a new build and never anything with management fees. Difficult to sell and no guarantee they won't go up.

I get your concern around escalating management fees, however it appears you would bi in a residents controlled scheme,to me that is the best scheme you could possibly have to keep rises in fees in check, it should be a non profit so no exhorbitant management fees on top! That and 700 a month disposable income puts you in a stable financial position, stop worrying start getting excited😁

thank you everyone! We went through with the move so fingers crossed 🤞🏼 we love it so far!!! but we will have to keep an eye on management fees and bills!