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.

Is his income much higher than yours then?

If it is and if you wouldn't loose too much if you stopped working then it's worth considering?

Do you earn more than the childcare costs might be?

But if you do the sums. On a lower paid month £3.500. So £1600 for mortgage and £1400 for childcare. Which comes to £3000. Which leaves £500 for Council tax, food, travel, clothes,gas electricity and other things. It isn't possible using these figures.

The rule of thumb used to be to budget around 1/3 of your monthly net income on your mortgage. But I am vair old, and house prices have rocketed since then, as well as childcare fees. Mind you, when I bought my first house over 20 years ago, it certainly didn't seem any more affordable.

No, it isn't possible.

Maybe we'll skip the whole kids thing.

Both home at 8 today, starting on dinner now, both in horrid moods... Can't imagine things will be better with DC.

Feeling a bit glum.

Thank you for all of your thoughts.

Oh cheer up nomoneyhoney1. I feel guilty now I was such a pessimist. And there are alternatives with childcare. Childminders are usually cheaper than nurseries and you could consider a nanny share. But no point in ending up in serious debt was what I was trying to say.

No, you are quite right Vivienne. Realist not pessimist!

OP, how much do you each earn and how much is the mortgage you are thinking of?

If your DH has a DIP for a mortgage of £1600 he must be earning the lions share of your net joint income (although it's impossible to guess due to length of term etc)

If you earn significantly less then it might be worth being a SAHM in the short term to avoid childcare costs.

Your dream of owning a house might be a bit optimistic at the moment but likewise it seems a bit drastic to give up thoughts of a family as well.

I said in a further post this is shared ownership - sorry, I should have been clearer at the start. The 1600 includes mortgage, rent and other costs (but not bills, council tax etc). DH and I earn roughly the same.

I think as not all the £1600 is mortgage it's a bit more realistic. My advice would be to take out a mortgage now, but put DC on hold for a couple of years. In the meantime throw every penny you can bear not to spend at the mortgage to bring it down ready for when you have maternity leave/childcare costs.

If you spend £1600 on mortgage/rent, then let's say another £1000 per month on bills that should leave you with around 1k per month to save/overpay - if you could do this for a time you would buy yourself more security for when rates rise.

Really depends on your priorities, if you really want kids don't put it off otherwise you could regret when it's to late. Can you buy a property in a cheaper area? Also if your buying new build you are paying a premium, once again if you can live with something that's a bit run down but would give you the chance for children it might be worth it.

But how would you fund it when your income is only around 2k if you took maternity leave.

We pay £1400 a month in mortgage and have take home pay of £3300. We have 3 dc, but no child care costs. It is doable but can be tight. We have fixed for 5 years, so no rate rises imminent. I think you'd be ok, but not sure about your child care costs. They could be very high.

% wise, it's about the same % of net income as we spend. Our net income is £2500 and the mortgage is £1100, so the mortgage takes 45% ish, leaving us with £1400 pm for everything else.