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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:
Tutter · 14/01/2007 18:14

but becaroo, if you earned £200k and got £100k bonuses, why wouldn't you...?

Harrogatemum · 14/01/2007 18:19

Was £290k, just increased it as not working at present (on maternity leave)...needless to say is interest only.

ParanoidSurreyHousewife · 14/01/2007 18:22

A mortgage of 5 or 6 times earnings only makes sense if you are expecting significant pay increases or other random injections of income (eg bonuses/inheritance etc).

We were offered a mortgage of over £1m on a particular property, though ended up with significantly less than that as we opted for a less demanding (and significantly less impressive) property. But we both had generous share option schemes, and annual bonuses (and we hope to pay off the mortgage at the end of this month - awaiting bonus details this week!).

The size of mortgage per se wasn't offputting (well ok, possibly a bit), but the particular property would have required a lot of management and upkeep which wasn't really that attractive a prospect for us. Financially I think that for us the main risk was that we had to both stay in a similar line of employment for about 10 years to be able to pay off the mortgage. The city can be an uncertain place and we didn't fancy the extra pressure.

noddyholder · 14/01/2007 18:33

We had what was a huge mortgage for us on our last house.It was miserable tbh not being able to live now and always justifying by saying Oh but the house is worth X.We sold it,bought somewhere cheaper but it needed masses of work so had to have a mortgage again but we are about to sell it and will be mortgage free in about 4 months and will still have a lovely home.It is important to live and enjoy life now for me as no one can predict the future adn you amy regret no fun/holidays when you are too old to enjoy it.

lulumama · 14/01/2007 18:35

one thing you can do, especially if you are borrowing 5 or 6 times your income is to get a fixed rate mortgage...although if interest rates go down,you don't benefit,but it saves you finding the extra £50 , £75 or £100 a month,whatever it might be, when rates rise

and take out life insurance and mortgage protection policies !

wheresthehamster · 14/01/2007 18:39

Iota - you beat me to the smugness!

We cashed in our endowment last May and paid off the mortgage.

Fantastic feeling! Ok it was only 60k but it was still a burden.

Judy1234 · 14/01/2007 18:42

Mine is nearly £1.1m but only because I got divorced and had to pay him a fortune. I would have had no mortgage if we hadn't got divorced. You sit there thinking £1m.... is being free of this worth £1m...... all our savings, all my shares, his help at home, with the children, his income, such as it is... £1m.... yes. Think it was. Happiness before money.

Lullabyloo · 14/01/2007 18:47

blimey Xenia...I'm feeling quite good about the 135k we owe

Original poster
NotAnOtter · 14/01/2007 19:03

Xenia currently in the lead but we all know you take what Xenia says with the proverbial pinch of salt

OP posts:
Judy1234 · 14/01/2007 19:05

Oh wow, I'm not believed. I wish it were invented. Doing my best to reduce it. My life would be very different without the mortgage. The children's father bought his house for cash.

madameBallet · 14/01/2007 19:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BuffysMum · 14/01/2007 19:12

our mortgage isn't huge for where we live BUT it is still 4.5 times dp salary and I no longer work.........

BuffysMum · 14/01/2007 19:14

Just wanted to add our repayments are considerably cheaper than renting an equivalent house....so you're stuffed in the SE really

pookey · 14/01/2007 19:26

6 times joint salary its working out ok because we had a fixed rate and good deal. Risky though as we will have to remortgage soon.

Original poster
NotAnOtter · 14/01/2007 19:30

feeling calmer tonight - these are more like it!

OP posts:
Chipstick · 14/01/2007 19:35

I work for a major high street bank and we regularly get customers coming in asking for 5/6 times their salaries and absolutely they can afford the monthly repayments.
Its only when we speak about the council tax, utilities, insurances etc they realise the true extent of what they are taking on.

We are fortunate to live in a lovely large 4 bed detach which I adore but the running costs are not far off the monthly mortgage payments.

I'm very envious of anyone with a mortgage under £100k let alone mortgage free, you lucky devils!!

WideWebWitch · 14/01/2007 19:38

I think you win Xenia...

OliveMumsnet · 14/01/2007 19:39

Try not to post on threads like this, but couldnt resist.

My house is worth £2.5 million and thanks to my brief stint working in an exclusive club in Soho we are mortgage free.

Preen preen

belgo · 14/01/2007 19:40

Olivemumsnet - what were you doing in the club

Original poster
NotAnOtter · 14/01/2007 19:40

now THAT is plain unfair!!!

Alas - Xenia no longer wins!

OP posts:
themoon66 · 14/01/2007 19:40

Notanotter.... you are in Ilkley aren't you? I'm from Ilkley and I'd love to move back, but could never afford to.

smittenkitten · 14/01/2007 19:41

i have kept our mortgage (and consequently our house!) small. i have seen too many people stay in jobs they hate to service a huge mortgage - not something i ever want for me.

Original poster
NotAnOtter · 14/01/2007 19:42

Yes Themoon66- nasty house prices! Good shops and bars though ( cant afford to go in them though due to the former!)

OP posts:
lapinrose · 14/01/2007 19:46

ours is £200000 on a house worth about £275000, when both working it is manageable and we deliberately pushed ourselves when we had 2 good incomes (good in our eyes anyway, am sure some would view it as pocket money!) to get the best house we could.

lapinrose · 14/01/2007 19:48

olivemumsnet!