To think our mortgage is not affordable ?

[Anxiousaboutmortgage]

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 !

We are in the same boat! Mortgage is currently £1200 pcm and the new one on our max house value is coming in at £2500. We also have a car on finance at 600pcm but no childcare costs now youngest gets free hours.we can afford it and live comfortably : But then we are in a position to do it now and get a longer term mortgage than if we were older so really don’t know what to do!

To me it depends on the security of your jobs, and how much you can realistically save with these repayments plus all other outgoings.

We have a similar sized mortgage though higher total income and one DC. Repayments are fine and we are able to save. However, the thought of one of us (especially me as the higher earner) losing our jobs really scares me and I've been told there is no such thing as redundancy insurance any more. We are trying to save up a really good emergency fund because of this.

The questions I would ask myself are:

1. Can we do this and build up our savings at the same time
2. Realistically how secure are our jobs

The way we look at our finances is the house should be 30% of our income (after taxes), we have 1k as an emergency fund and 6 months of expenses saved up. If you meet all of this criteria then yes you can afford it.

Obviously this assumes you have no debt to pay off other than the mortgage.

Did I say I can’t afford them? No.

I choose to put my money elsewhere because I don’t NEED them. House renovations, nanny, holidays, experiences for the kids, etc?

I’m also helping to support my mum after my dad recently passed away and left nothing for funeral expenses. Oh and my sister whose husband left her and their two young kids after having an affair for 5 years.

Curb your attitude. It’s not welcome or relevant.

No one is putting an article on the news. It’s an internet forum. Why aren’t people from all income brackets allowed to discuss finance?

Again i do not have 5k left over ! 3k is the mortgage without any bills ! Can you read ?

@Ph3 no other debt apart from mortgage no credit cards /car finance etc . The mortgage will be more than 30% on its own without any essential bills on top

Wow. That's rude.

The poster clearly mean "money to play around with" as in money to shuffle about and allocate to different pots/bills/needs, not £5k as "play" or fun money. No need to start sniping back.

Anyway, here's a useful tool to run through to list all your bills and outgoings so you can accurately see how much fun money you'll have.
https://www.stoozing.com/soa.php

@FarmGirl78 thanks for the link
Is not really rude if you see the responses of that poster . She cant understand how i earn so much money etc etc

You’ll always get this op. People who cannot help themselves but snipe at others and are massively unhelpful. You can see how Labour got in with the irony being they are now going to cut welfare as these attitudes are destroying productivity.

Because many are sheltered from actual costs because they don’t work or do the bare minimum and are sheltered with UC, they have no clue how quickly money goes when you’re paying full tax, council tax, rent/mortgage, massive commuting costs, childcare etc. They don’t have to understand because they are heavily subsidised by people like you. Won’t stop them being awful though.

@Andwhoisasking but i never said i am struggling or anything . I earn 60k in a professional job i am fortunate that my parents were very strict with us to get a good education as they didn't have that luxury . They provided for us all their lives so we don't have any debt . I am aware how fortunate and privillaged i am but that is not the point of this thread .

I know. As you’ve found though it doesn’t matter - not on MN.

I think you need to expect that if the proposed "housing crisis" plan of building a shit tonne more "affordable" houses comes to fruition.

But you can't live your life on what ifs. You plan to live there forever so all you can do is not spend more than you think the house is worth to you. There isn't a cheaper version of your house so it comes down to you as a consumer whether its a price you're prepared to pay.

Unfortunately no guarantees in life, you just have to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Fwiw from what you've said, it sounds like buying it is a reasonable decision. You'll both be employable if you lost your jobs and you have a savings buffer. Just have a play with a budget before proceeding.

Hang on I'm not on UC, I claim no benefits. I have a modest wage though. OP and partner are high earners.

There are people in the middle, you know, average people

Really depends on what you do: our last house/kitchen (albeit directly before covid so miles cheaper) we spent £15k and that covered the room totally gutted, old concrete floor dug out, new joists and subfloor, engineered wood, worktops, lighting, plaster, some roof repairs, back door, kitchen door and some other stuff I can’t recall; new layout so plumbing and electrics changed too. Kitchen itself including appliances was cheap from IKEA and we got it on 0% loan to stretch our reno budget further.

If it’s just changing carcasses, appliances and worktop but not touching the room itself beyond a paint refresh that’s miles cheaper. But prices for labour and materials on things like plaster, electrics, joinery, etc, have soared in the past five years.

If it’s a house in good working order, £20k is fine, though not generous, to do some bits. If it’s a creaky money pit like all of mine seem to be… Basically don’t go in planning to do big work with £20k! Anything you do in an old house uncovers some DIY fuckery that has to be undone.

This thread is so frustrating! OP isn’t saying at any point that she is struggling or hard done by, or comparing herself in any way to people who are in financial difficulty. The OP isn’t worded in a goady way.

There are obviously lots of people who are genuinely in precarious positions right now, which is awful. But this doesn’t mean that other people are not able to have (relative) concerns or seek advice.

It seems that, on any thread on here where the poster is perceived to be doing well, everyone piles on to call her tone deaf. Yet if anyone is really struggling, they often get kicked whilst they are down!

Yes, you can manage, but personally I wouldn't take the gamble. The job market is horrendous at the moment, and if either (or both) of you would lose your job, it would be tight.

Also - if your new property is larger, your council tax and insurance will go up, too.

@nationalsausagefund we are planning to move the kitchen were it was before ! It used to be at the back of the house but they converted the garage and put the kitchen in there to make an extra living room 🤷🏻‍♀️

@NoMoreCoffeePlease is a bit bigger so the council tax will definitely increase i am doing a spreadsheet now and will share my findings 😬😬

There's a few things to consider

Have you a long term fixed rate , or have you thought about surviving interest rate rises.

We bought a top budget house in early 22 but only by getting a 10 year fixed rate of 1.9%. Fast forward 3 yrs and if wed had a 2yr fix would have been paying 750 a month more in interest . If the same applied to you you'd be looking at around 1500 more each month

Is it a very large house in a cheaper area or slightly bigger house in an expensive area. If it's the former then maintenance costs can become a bit scary.

@Anxiousaboutmortgage I think maybe you're the one who can't read as I specifically said "5k left over after the mortgage" 🙄

You'll be fine, unless one of you loses your job, then you'll be back asking how to cope ;-)

@SeaShellsSanctuary1 is a bit bigger house in a better area . Is around the same size to be honest just a detached one
@biscuitsandbooks i will not engage with this any longer is 5k left without paying any essential bills