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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think our mortgage is not affordable ?

247 replies

Anxiousaboutmortgage · 12/02/2025 07:34

I am watching another thread on this topic and it got me even more worried about what we are about to do!
We are about to buy a property that costs 680k with a deposit of 115k
Our take home pay (both working) is 7980 per
Month our monthly mortgage (fixed) comes around 2888
Is that too much ? We are moving for better schools our kids are 5 and 7 and ideally this will be our "forever" home
We will have around 20k left from our sale for any needed work and we have another 20k of savings
We don't have any car loans etc . Our current mortgage is much lower though which scares me A-lot !

OP posts:
PoppyBaxter · 12/02/2025 08:21

The economy is in the doldrums and we're clearly heading into another major recession. Lots of employers have started to make redundancies.
So I would position yourselves, if possible, to make sure you can cover all of your outgoings on one wage. That's the position we're in and it's a big comfort.

JimHalpertsWife · 12/02/2025 08:22

Personally I wouldn't be comfortable with my mortgage being 36% of my take home pay (regardless of the actual figures involved) but with the amount of money you have coming in, it's possible that the remainder of your daily costs attribute to a way lower % of take home than mine do.

mitogoshigg · 12/02/2025 08:25

The percentage of income is t as relevant once incomes reach higher level. £5k after mortgage is more than most earn!!!

No one knows your outgoings op though, if kids are in private school its very different

Commonsenseisnotsocommon · 12/02/2025 08:28

I personally wouldn't be comfortable with less than 6 months worth of mortgage payments and utilities in savings and I would opt for a slightly cheaper property to make this happen. 20k would go surprisingly quickly and not very far with the overheads you're suggesting. I also notice you're getting a bashing for having a good take home sum. Enjoy it and don't let the bitter/jealous ones on here get to you.

BMW6 · 12/02/2025 08:30

Damnloginpopup · 12/02/2025 08:19

Can you take in ironing to make ends meet?

Excellent suggestion!

littleblackcat247 · 12/02/2025 08:33

Enjoy it and don't let the bitter/jealous ones on here get to you.

Aye - no one is bitter or jealous. Just incredulous

And where is the OP? Never to return?

Didimum · 12/02/2025 08:34

We were in a similar position, OP. Monthly take home of about £9550, mortgage payment of £1400 for our old house. Then we moved up to a bigger property (also mainly for school reasons), and our mortgage was around £3300. It was quite an adjustment when it finally hit for month to month practice and not just the idea of theoretically paying it.

We also had a nanny for 25hrs a week that sucked up an awful lot of money. We’ve now been here a couple of years and got a better mortgage rate off £3k, only have nanny for 10hrs and I don’t outsource anything else (we do all the cleaning, laundry, garden etc). It’s quite relentless when we both also work 40hrs a week but the cuts in spending have been worth it to live in a house and area we love and where the kids are so happy at school.

ZimbleFox · 12/02/2025 08:34

How are your salaries split? I'd be more comfortable with this if the salary split was even, less so if there's a much higher earner.

I've been made redundant (less than 2 years service so no payout) and it was so much easier because i knew we could afford the mortgage on one salary.

H0P · 12/02/2025 08:35

Didimum · 12/02/2025 08:34

We were in a similar position, OP. Monthly take home of about £9550, mortgage payment of £1400 for our old house. Then we moved up to a bigger property (also mainly for school reasons), and our mortgage was around £3300. It was quite an adjustment when it finally hit for month to month practice and not just the idea of theoretically paying it.

We also had a nanny for 25hrs a week that sucked up an awful lot of money. We’ve now been here a couple of years and got a better mortgage rate off £3k, only have nanny for 10hrs and I don’t outsource anything else (we do all the cleaning, laundry, garden etc). It’s quite relentless when we both also work 40hrs a week but the cuts in spending have been worth it to live in a house and area we love and where the kids are so happy at school.

You do the cleaning and laundry yourselves? And the gardening?
Must be awful

H0P · 12/02/2025 08:36

Sorry that's enough of my bitterness, I'm just jealous 🤣

Original poster
Anxiousaboutmortgage · 12/02/2025 08:37

My worry is that if one of us loses their job then we will be in big trouble . If one of us loses their job now we would be fine as our mortgage is 1200

I know we are fortunate and 680 k is just a normal house in the area we are looking at not a mansion ! I guess my worry is that i will have to really think about spending while now i am not

OP posts:
Original poster
Anxiousaboutmortgage · 12/02/2025 08:38

PoppyBaxter · 12/02/2025 08:21

The economy is in the doldrums and we're clearly heading into another major recession. Lots of employers have started to make redundancies.
So I would position yourselves, if possible, to make sure you can cover all of your outgoings on one wage. That's the position we're in and it's a big comfort.

This is what worries me really ! Everyone talks down the economy if the house prices went down we would be trapped

OP posts:
Didimum · 12/02/2025 08:39

H0P · 12/02/2025 08:35

You do the cleaning and laundry yourselves? And the gardening?
Must be awful

Show quote history

Do you want to do a poll on Mumsnet of the % of households, especially high earning households, who have cleaners?

Do you also want to do a poll of full time working parents of young children who find keeping on top of the cleaning and housework and gardening a bit of a slog?

My post is directly to OP to highlight where we were able to cut costs in order to meet a higher mortgage payment and not add extra worries about money.

Take your attitude elsewhere.

Didimum · 12/02/2025 08:41

Anxiousaboutmortgage · 12/02/2025 08:37

My worry is that if one of us loses their job then we will be in big trouble . If one of us loses their job now we would be fine as our mortgage is 1200

I know we are fortunate and 680 k is just a normal house in the area we are looking at not a mansion ! I guess my worry is that i will have to really think about spending while now i am not

I therefore agree with the poster above who suggests a 6 month cushion of mortgage and utilities saved. We do have this and it’s helps mentally. We sacrifice a lot of work on the house for the future when we have more money to put on it, only do what’s necessary and DIY an awful lot ourselves.

mariaberria · 12/02/2025 08:42

PoppyBaxter · 12/02/2025 08:21

The economy is in the doldrums and we're clearly heading into another major recession. Lots of employers have started to make redundancies.
So I would position yourselves, if possible, to make sure you can cover all of your outgoings on one wage. That's the position we're in and it's a big comfort.

This. Paint out a worst case scenario. Also if you haven't gone through expenses then do that now. Personally I think that's far too much debt but that's me. My brother really struggled when interest rates went up and his mortgage of £2500 increased substantially.

Also do you have children? I don't think you mentioned.

TickingAlongNicely · 12/02/2025 08:43

Its always sensible to be cautious. So look at it practically

How much money do you put monthly into savings currently?
Is there any small changes you can make that will add to the savings that won't make that much difference to your lifestyle? (Mindless spending for example... takeaway coffees, extra snacks out, subscriptions you don't use, travel passes that aren't saving you money...)

Try and work out if your panic is justified or just a shock reaction

rwalker · 12/02/2025 08:43

How secure are your jobs to guarantee that level of income for the years ahead

but it’s the interest rates that would worry me say that as someone who saw my mortgage payments double in the 90’s

Cookiesandcandies · 12/02/2025 08:46

We have similar income and mortgage costs. We save £2k per month (but use that savings pot to fund holidays etc too) and I never feel like I can’t afford something that’s less than £200-£300.

We added £15k to our long term savings last year, and spend £10k on a holiday so without the holiday we have £25k spare in the budget.

Totally do able.

koolkatdad · 12/02/2025 08:47

You say your minimum payment is 2888, but I'd make your actual payment 3500 (should still be easily doable on your incomes and also without penalty with regards to any early repayment charge). You'll pay off the house faster, but also importantly those payments go into an overpayment reserve so if someone loses their job etc you can just not pay the mortgage for a while until they get their next one. It will take some time and the risk is greater earlier, but once you've been in the house for a few years and have built up a substantial overpayment you'll be able to relax more. Important to note that your minimum mortgage payment will go down doing this, so make sure you're always paying in your fixed 3500. A quick input into the MSE overpayment calculator shows that you would pay off the mortgage 7 years early and save nearly 100k in interest. You also have the flexibility to stop the overpayments if you wanted and go back to the minimum, which would be less than 2888 after a few years if you wanted to beef up your pensions instead.

Starlight1984 · 12/02/2025 08:48

(not so) humble brag 🙄

JimHalpertsWife · 12/02/2025 08:49

littleblackcat247 · 12/02/2025 08:33

Enjoy it and don't let the bitter/jealous ones on here get to you.

Aye - no one is bitter or jealous. Just incredulous

And where is the OP? Never to return?

She created the thread an hour ago, chill

Original poster
Anxiousaboutmortgage · 12/02/2025 08:52

We have two primary age children . The reason for the move is good state schools . We do not have any expenses for childcare apart from clubs which come around 200 a month
To be perfectly honest we do not "budget"as such ( i know we are fortunate so don't jump on me ) but i am aware we will need to with the new mortgage .
My logic said if the bank is giving us the money then they must think we can afford it but then i think of the crash and change my mind !
I guess i'll need to really get into the numbers and see what we spend but i am sure that would be too much as after we save/invest we don't really check on our spending

OP posts:
Original poster
Anxiousaboutmortgage · 12/02/2025 08:54

Starlight1984 · 12/02/2025 08:48

(not so) humble brag 🙄

I don't get this really ! I did not say we are struggling. I am just worried if the state of economy changes and if this is the right time for such a large loan 🤷🏻‍♀️

OP posts:
Completelyjo · 12/02/2025 08:54

Anxiousaboutmortgage · 12/02/2025 08:52

We have two primary age children . The reason for the move is good state schools . We do not have any expenses for childcare apart from clubs which come around 200 a month
To be perfectly honest we do not "budget"as such ( i know we are fortunate so don't jump on me ) but i am aware we will need to with the new mortgage .
My logic said if the bank is giving us the money then they must think we can afford it but then i think of the crash and change my mind !
I guess i'll need to really get into the numbers and see what we spend but i am sure that would be too much as after we save/invest we don't really check on our spending

How do the mornings/ after schools and holidays work? Have you got family available to look after them every day? £200 a month to cover all school wrap around isn’t a lot!

My logic said if the bank is giving us the money then they must think we can afford it but then i think of the crash and change my mind !
Not really, spending habits are more important.
If your current mortgage is half the amount do you comfortable have £2k left over at the end of the month at the minute? This will tell you whether it’s easy for you to afford the new payment or whether it will require a lifestyle change.

Dweetfidilove · 12/02/2025 08:56

It's perfectly understandable to be at least aware of possible risks / job loss.
Maybe to £20k to do up the house can instead be your rainy day savings, in case they worse happens.
The work on the house can be done at a more gradual pace or DIY, until you've managed to expand your savings buffer.