Did you panic when house buying about mortgage amount...

[Greyhorses]

We are starting to get the ball rolling with mortgage figures and speaking to an advisor.

We take home 2500pcm roughly and have been advised that we are looking at about 800pcm on a repayment mortgage on the cheapest style of houses in our area (small terraced/semi) Houses here are expensive and moving isn't an option!

Did anyone else panic at the sheer amount of mortgage you are paying out? It does not seem to leave a lot after mortgage is paid? I am worried we will get in and regret our decision or get ourselves into a mess!!


:-)

[Seminyak]

Our mortgage (£800pcm) is less than our rent was by £400! For us it was the deposit that was horrific!

[Seminyak]

That was rent on a crumbly 1 bed where you had to walk through the bedroom to get to the lounge as well! Bah!

[AnitaManeater]

I did panic about it, but that's because the mortgage is in my name only. I take home about £700 a month, plus child benefit, tax credits etc. My mortgage is £236 a month. I went for a house and repayment figure I could cope with if I ever ended up a lone parent again. I pay 2.79% interest as I had a big deposit.

In reality, I live with DP and our joint take home each month is £3k. However I overpay the mortgage and save religiously. I am a born worrier and whatever the figures were it would have scared me

[Hotbot]

Have you worked out the difference in repayments for a 135,ool , there may be very little difference it may surprise you .some vendors may ask pay the stamp.

[Mrsladybirdface]

our mortgage is £800 about 17% of take home but that was still £100 cheaper than when we rented in the same area for a similar property.

In saying that we have a loan to pay for renovations so actual "house" is £1100 but in 5 years time that will be cleared (and we can have a holiday).

There was no panic here because of the rental prices round here.

[Greyhorses]

At the moment we live with parents (both sets!) and pay no rent hence no real idea. We have been saving for the deposit but have paid off some debt etc too and OH has only been working a few months doing supply work (although he has a contract to start fully in the new year) but this sort of explains why we only have 5%. We have approx 10k in savings for deposit, legal fees and the cost of basic furnishings. We have lots of small items but would need sofa/ white goods. We can't really stay at home much longer for a number of reasons although we have a few months to pick somewhere!

I have thought about maternity leave etc and this does worry me but I thought most people just muddled on!!

We have worked out a spreadsheet and factoring in all costs (2x cars, 2x cats, 2 dogs, petrol costs, bills, loans and a mortgage figure of 800pcm) I have worked we will have roughly £350-£400 left over for food/emergencies/xmas/holidays/ going out. I think this will be tight but manageable?? However if anything changed this could be swallowed up easily...
I am not sure if we could cut down anywhere though as I have not budgeted for sky or anything that is a luxury (except pets but they are not going anywhere and only cost 40pcm as I am a vet nurse and get massive discount on everything!!)

How else do people do this though as there is not much cheaper than this price in the area, I am envious of those 200pcm figures but we would not be able to buy a garage for that here :-(
We have not looked at any figures above 125k as we want to avoid the stamp duty, I didn't know the vendor may pay it?? I don't think the mortgage would be too different a month as the difference between a 5% deposit and a 10% deposit is tiny, hardly worth the extra months of saving!

Thanks again!

[AntoinetteCosway]

We pay about £750 a month (which includes an overpayment) on quite a lot less than your joint income. It's totally possible. Shop at Aldi

[merryxmasyafilthyanimal]

Sounds fine but at 12% interest it could be £1,500 a month, for example.

[CalamitouslyWrong]

You need to move out soon, so comparing the possible mortgage with what you'd need to pay in rent will probably help you to decide what to do. You have to pay one or the other.

Our mortgage (on a 4 bed) is slightly less than what we paid in rent on a 3 bed. And our energy bills are much lower because it's not a draughty I've box. I used to pay £750 a month rent on an income of about £2000 PCM after tax and we were quite comfortable. Perhaps that's because it was better than £700 on an income of £1200, which is what I'd been living off for years before that (totally unaware that we probably should have had some housing benefit and FSM because they try to keep that as quiet as possible unless you're already on benefits).

[CalamitouslyWrong]

But do factor in increased interest rates into the calculation, as they will go up at some point.

[specialsubject]

vendor won't pay stamp duty unless you get a deal on a new build might as well live in a shoe box.

xmas and going out are luxuries and so are holidays - lose Xmas!!

also worrying that you have loans.

[Greyhorses]

Thanks again everyone.

We don't really want a new build and are looking at something slightly older or possibly even something that we could do some cosmetic work too (nothing too much though!)

Looking at rental it is pretty similar to mortgage prices if not slightly higher, we could proberbly get a small semi for around 600 PCM if we were renting, however we have the problem of having two large (non rehomable) dogs and two house cats which make renting impossible!! The rental houses in our area all seem to be in the worst streets too, although maybe this is a generalisation!!

With regards to loans. OH has student loans and also a car loan which is £140 a month. It only has a couple of thousand left on it and it is paid, however we have factored this into a monthly spreadsheet along with my car finance which is £240pcm as I needed a decent car with good mpg as I commute a huge amount (and I got free service, tax and mot with the deal) however I do slightly regret this now I am stuck for another 2 years and I wish I had got something cheaper but it is in negative equity so if I get rid it will cost me a large chunk of savings and I will be car less for work.
I have been honest with the mortgage company and the max lending figures include the loans. (It was around 160k we could borrow without the loans and £135-140k with them) It also has helped my credit score a huge amount according to experian?

Both stupid mistakes made in early twenties we are paying for them now!!

Thanks again!

[CalamitouslyWrong]

If you only have £350 left a month to pay for everything that doesn't come out by direct debit, then £40 on pets will feel like a lot. Also, you are responsible for stuff that goes wrong in the house. So the boiler breaking, or a leak etc will be incredibly tough with so little to play with.

Have you factored in buildings and content insurance? It's also sensible to have some kind of life assurance that will cover the mortgage because you never know.

[Greyhorses]

Sorry calamitouslywrong maybe I worded that badly!!

I factored in everything I could think of including pets, insurances (home,contents and cars) loan repayments, bills etc, basically everything except food and included a £30 savings for an emergency fund . The £350 would purely be for food/entertainment/any extras which I'm sure will be swallowed up. I have accounted for everything I could think of in my spreadsheet.

I don't spend any money on extras such as clothes or bags or alcohol hence the pets ( in particular my dogs) are my hobby as I do work the younger one and we spend a lot of couple time walking etc soI don't mind spending £40 a month on them. My OH is always working into the small hours and they are my main company. They would not be rehomed under any circumstances as they are family, it's the only thing I refuse to give up!

I have not however thought about life insurance! That's another thing to look into!
:-)

[CinnamonPorridge]

OP, sounds ok to me.
Remember when in 5 years time you have paid off on your mortgage you can remortgage and get a better LTV (this should keep fears about rising rates at bay).
I would overpay as much as I can as long as you don't have kids.

We paid roughly the same renting as now on mortgage. And our ratio is rather 2/5th of mortgage/income as I don't work atm.

Both times we bought I had a few nights of panic, I think it would be unnatural not to feel a bit queasy. It means you know what sort of responsibility you are taking on.

Good luck with the house hunting!

[Moreisnnogedag]

We are in this boat. I'm the sole earner and was shocked at what the bank was willing to give us compared to what I felt was affordable, especially considering that interest will go up.

I think you adjust to your income. I was getting all twitchy until I remembered back to our student/recently qualified days when we lived on a lot less. I also think that at least you are paying into something rather than just handing it to someone else.

[cantthinkofagoodone]

I think it would be tight but standard nowadays. We're in the same boat.

Teaching should increase annually and can do marking to get extra pay

[LilMissSunshine9]

Greyhorses you can make that money work for you, switch to shop at Aldi's if you can. Whenever something is on offer I bulk buy e.g. washing liquid and softener and loo roll, so that at least for 6 months I don't have to rush out to buy it and pay full price.

When you do move don't plan to buy too much furniture, just the basics like bed, sofa, wardrobe etc. I had made so many plans of what I would buy but glad I didn't because after some time of being the place you really understand what you need and what you don't.