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Original poster

Who wins the prize for the biggest MUMSNET MORTGAGE?

251 replies

NotAnOtter · 13/01/2007 22:51

I am in the process of moving and dp and i are debating borrowing the most hideous amount of money - basically over 5 or 6 times earnings.

Anyone care to share ( feel free to name change!!) what horrors they owe?

Go on - make me feel better!

OP posts:
handlemecarefully · 14/01/2007 00:08

Brilliant Jan!

jajas · 14/01/2007 00:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
NotAnOtter · 14/01/2007 00:09

bloody hell janh how nice!!!!!

OP posts:
jajas · 14/01/2007 00:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

jampots · 14/01/2007 00:13

we're in the process of selling our house and hope to rent elsewhere - so no mortgage hopefully here

VeniVidiVickiQV · 14/01/2007 00:13

Ours is £151 now. Had to borrow a few when I was out of work for a year.

Its now equivalent to 4 x our combined salaries. Interest rates have just gone up and we are struggling, tbh.

Dont do it NAO.

Troutpout · 14/01/2007 00:30

57k
and only 8 years left

Troutpout · 14/01/2007 00:31

will be upping it soon though ...wanna move

CountessDracula · 14/01/2007 00:34

surely it is entirely dependent on how much you earn

Ours is big but costs us a lot less than a quarter of our monthly income (and it is repayment not interest only)

I think affordability is more of a factor than how much the mortgage is

Original poster
NotAnOtter · 14/01/2007 11:39

bumping this for day lot!

OP posts:
bran · 14/01/2007 11:58

I really wouldn't recommend borrowing that much (although it's easy for me to say as we don't have a mortgage except on a property that we rent out and the rent covers that). Historically when the banks start giving mortgages higher than 5 x income it's often a sign that the market is about to go down. The Central Bank is also hinting that they might be putting rates up again in the near future to try and reduce borrowing.

nogoes · 14/01/2007 12:09

£156k (4 x income) it is crippling us.

granarybeck · 14/01/2007 17:17

Oh gosh, I don't know whether this thread makes me feel better or worse! I'd just searched mortgage payments after going to view a house.

We have moved from the north where we had a relatively small mortgage. But to afford a house just big enough to fit us in here (moved to herts) we are looking at borrowing about 4.5 times our income, and that is over a much longer term than before.

But I think the percentage of your monthly income that your payments are must be important. Does anyone know what a recommended 'don't go over this percentage' amount is. I think ours would be just under 40%, which is way more than before. But we moved here in the hope that dh's salary will increase.

I think it is just such a shock after living in an area where house prices were low. I am torn between thinking we are mad to take on this size of debt (not that we have huge amount of choice) and, as notanotter said, we might as well stretch as much as we can now - dh is 35, I'm 30 this year.

SuperMumNot · 14/01/2007 17:21

£150K on a house worth c. £800K , so probably not too bad?

We have investments/ liquid assets of more than £150K so I guess we're technically not in the red either really.

dinny · 14/01/2007 17:22

ours was big but had become used to it. but it is nice to have sold to rent for the moment.

my ambition is to achieve mortgage-free living (obv own property, not like at present!)

Original poster
NotAnOtter · 14/01/2007 17:22

gosh - i far and away win the bloody prize so far
depressing

OP posts:
TheArmadillo · 14/01/2007 17:24

ours is 4x our income and it is a struggle. 70% of what dp earns per month goes on mortgage repayments. We have to have a lodger to help pay bills.

I love having a house that is ours, but if I could go back in time I would probably not buy one.

pooka · 14/01/2007 17:41

Did have £165000 mortgage on a £430000 house.
But..... PIL's came into more money and paid it off, and BIL's too.
It does feel very liberating, particularly as the monthly payment we've saved was pretty much exactly my part-time salary when I was working. I gave up work when I had ds in 2005, was running though my savings, so very very fortunate.
Of course the temptation is to move into something bigger (a final destination house I guess) and take out the same mortgage we had. We could manage, but we are resisting for now.
I remember how excited my mother was when she finished paying the mortgage on this house (we bought it off her) and she had had an endowment policy which more than paid it off. It has made her retirement much more financially secure. But when she and my father bought the house they really really strugged with a 13% interest rate for a while (1970's).

iota · 14/01/2007 17:54

we paid off our mortgage 3 yrs ago [smug emoticon]

Tutter · 14/01/2007 17:56

agree with cd - the absolute figure means little. only in the context of affordability and the value of your house does it start to become scary or otherwise

my mum told me she didn't sleep for a few nights when she found out how much we paid for our last house (£shedloads) but she doesn't have the foggiest how much dh earns (relatively £shedloads i am fortunate enough to report) or how big our mortgage was (quite a lot less than the value of the house)

Tutter · 14/01/2007 17:57

(we're now renting for a year - we have no mortgage and money in the bank) (but er, no house )

granarybeck · 14/01/2007 18:01

We're in that position Tutter and its quite a strange feeling for me - freedom in one way at having equity (some, not loads) in bank and no mortgage but then from sometimes feeling like we don't have a house - which we don't!

MrsBadger · 14/01/2007 18:06

3 times combined earnings - we considered stretching as far as you NAO, to live in a bigger and/or period house and/or posher road, but when we saw what the 3x got us it was perfectly nice and a lot less money, so we did the sensible thing.

Still only managing camping holidays though - I can thoroughly recommend them for economical breaks...

becaroo · 14/01/2007 18:08

My sister has a....gulp...300k mortgage. they have lived there for 2 years and are now desperate to move as my BIL has had to take a less well paid job (he is a self employed computer consultant). Trouble is, they cant sell it. They put it on the market last summer for 375k and nothing happened. Then another house exactly the same as theirs went on the market at 319k so they have had to reduce their asking price too. Nightmare situation. Dont do it.

ludaloo · 14/01/2007 18:12

we don't have a mortgage...or a house

still renting! I don't think we will ever get on the bloomin property ladder!