Spending £1,600 on mortgage - yay or nay?

[nomoneyhoney1]

Our income varies but it's usually around £3,500-4000 a month net. Would we be bonkers to pay £1,600 a month on mortgage?

No DC yet but hopefully soon so there is maternity leave to consider and then childcare (nursery circa £1,400 a month). If we have to pay £1,400+£1,600+bills we'll be skint!

Getting this mortgage will deplete every penny of our savings. Our current rent is £1,100 but we live in a horrid one bed flat. £1,600 would be for a new two bed.

Income used to be £4,500 but I've gone self employed. Hope to get it back up.

We do, but that's for a 4 bed in a naice Bucks village. Seems steep for a 2 bed flat

I think you'd struggle - I pay £1.8k for mortgage, nearly the same on childcare and our usual HH income is nearly twice yours.

Interest rates are at a historic low will you be able to afford an increase in mortgage payments.

If you plan to have children in the near future then yes you would be mad. Interest rates will rise at some point so it will only go up plus you would either lose income or have additional costs for childcare etc.

That seems like a real mill stone. If you haven't even had kids yet then your earnings will almost certainly decrease and costs go up. I really would advise against as it will be miserable trying to feed that mortgage just for a 2 bed.

Yikes that looks like a lot to me - especially if you're pre children.

I think that's too much of your HH income.

I wouldn't do it. My income is the same as yours, my childcare costs around £200/month and mortgage is around £750. I don't feel skint but I would be with the outgoings you mention.

Our income is a little more than yours and that seems to much to me. Especially for a 2 bed place which you may grow out of quickly.

Fuck me, we really live in a mental age in a mental country. You have a really good combined salary and still would struggle to afford a mortgage and childcare. I really do think things are bollocks in this country. The cost of living is appalling. Assuming you live in Britain of course. If not it is bollocks wherever it is you live too.

Our mortgage is 2k per month and a household income of 5k approx. it's tight sometimes (which seems ridiculous - but I'm coming to the end of Mat leave soon) and it did wipe us out moving but we are in our 'forever house' all being well. I accept this is always dependant on where in the country you live though! Property is nowhere near London prices here so that has us a big old detached house in a good part of town. (20 year mortgage).

I wouldn't. Our income is ~£6000 per month and our mortgage is ~£1150. Childcare is much more costly than the mortgage (~£2200). If you are planning on having children, think really carefully about what effect that would have on your budget.

Just trying to remember the exact figures, but when we bought our house (2 bed) our repayments were about that, and our joint income was around £80k gross a year. I was pg with DC1 at the time.

We went for a fixed rate mortgage to protect against interest rate rises.

We were paying nearly that in rent so it wasn't much of a change, tbh.

We now have 2 DC and our childcare costs for them both will be around £1400 a month . Our joint income per month now is about £4,500 net. Five years in, our mortgage payments have gone down to around £1,300 (we switched at the end of our fixed deal).

I'm guessing you're in London too?

Hmmm I don't think it's a good idea unless you are going to get a pay increase in the near future.

By the time you add council tax, and utilities, fuel, shopping and once you add a child into the mix you won't have much left over for fun!

Good luck though!

Yes childcare costs are a real blow!

Yes, London. This is for a shared ownership property so it's not just mortgage really. It's mortgage plus rent and plus service charge.

Rent is limited to increase in line with inflation plus 0.5+ per year.

Service charge not limited.

Thanks all.

I don't think it's possible when you take childcare costs and maternity leave into consideration. Could you not look round at other areas. And if interest rates go up in a year or two what then. But I'm probably too cautious.

Our joint monthly income is c.£4k. Our mortgage is £780pcm and we are making overpayments of £220 so that should we require that money it's not committed already and the mortgage is accounted for.
I feel that committing so much of your income would leave you in a tight spot in differing circumstances, for example, if you were to start a family ignoring the fact you may need to pay childcare when your pay reduces whilst on maternity you'd need considerable savings in order to just afford the mortgage payments.
Whatever you decide, good luck!

May be able to get it down to £1,500 depending on mortgage rate etc

I think it is doable. I would recommend fixing in for 5 or 10 years just to ensure you can make your payments.
Have you considered a childminder? So much cheaper!

You could probably hire a nanny for that much

We're also looking.
Our income 4200
New mortgage 1200
2 children.

Have you actually had a decision in principle on borrowing the amount you want?

If you have only recently gone self employed you are going to struggle to get any mortgage at all until you have 2 years accounts.

Your worrying might be purely academic as, based on what you've said, you might not even be able to get a mortgage.

Yes, DH has had a decision in principle on his income alone.

Our childcare costs for DC1 were around £800 a month with a childminder, 4 days a week, 10hrs a day.