Are we crazy to double our mortgage!

[onthefence23]

We need to move, schools are bad in our catchment and we live next to a couple experiencing DV.
The emotional strain of hearing shouting and banging as a DV survivor is terrible.

We have enough equity and savings to upsize to somewhere we would never have to move again but it is still a bigger mortgage!

One DD and can't have any more kids.

Both in secure jobs, after tax/pension/student loan etc I bring home 2300 and DH approx 4500

New mortgage would be 1020

Nursery is 680 (with tax free childcare)
Utilities 400
Cars 400
Fun (gym/tv etc) 120
Charity dd 50
Shopping (food and toiletries etc) 450

On paper it looks fine but I'm having a wobble as current mortgage is 400 on our small starter home

Ratio of deposit/mortgage is 40/60

I appreciate we're lucky to be considering upsizing at all but feeling a bit nervous at the state of the world

I get that, it's hard to know whether or how to ask for advice on an objectively good position without sounding like a dick

I grew up in extreme poverty with a parent in prison so it seems crazy to choose a mortgage of 1000+ a month tbh.
Dh grew up in a middle class household and didn't have the same money worries so just looks at it on paper and thinks it's a fine because he's never had that feeling of just about keeping the wolf from the door

My mindset is to hunker down and spend as little as possible so I can tend towards being a bit miserly tbh

I have 3 brothers who've also done well after uni and are all the same and a bit tight tbh

I know we're very lucky and we give a lot of financial help to my DM who still struggles.

You bring home about £6800 a month and your outgoings are less than half that with a bigger mortgage and you are concerned? We bring home a little more, with a £2k mortgage and £1200 a month childcare and do more than ok. I think you'll be fine!

I honestly thought you’d be doubling from £1500 pm to £3000 when I opened this.

£1,020 is easily affordable on your salaries with your outgoings. In fact you should also be able to max out 10% overpayments per annum with no effort.

Do the move before your dc starts school, it’s the easiest time to do it.

We recently did this and it was so worth it. I'd have stayed put if it was up to me as I like to play it very safe but DH persuaded me and I'm glad he did!

What does your DH do that pays so much?!

That's a tiny mortgage given your income!. Nothing to worry about

Personally, I think you have more than enough income to afford that - but I would also be factoring in overpayments, a 32 yr mortgage in your early 30s is quite long. See what your repayments would be to pay it off before you hit 60.

Also bear in mind that life insurance (presuming you have it if you have children) will be more expensive to cover a bigger mortgage, and as others have said, higher utilities and more expensive council tax.

Having said that, I would move in a heartbeat (and did) for better schools so it will be well worth it I'm sure.

A regional manager for an exercise/gym/leisure club type supplier :) basically sales which is what he started as selling gym equipment and moved up the ranks as he gained experience

Thank you good advice, I think we're going to try and set the dd up for the mortgage plus 10% and see how we get on. Appreciate everyone's input I think it's clear my perspective is a bit skewed!

We have just gone from £850 a month to £1630 on our mortgage to upsize as well as move to a nicer town. Our combined take home income is about £800 less than yours (I only work part time)! Granted we have no childcare costs as both DC are primary school age now and DH gets a sizable annual bonus on top of the above.
We are watching our spending more than previously, but it's definitely doable!
I also hope that after our new 5 year fix runs out that interest rates will have come down again slightly.

Read up on compound interest.

You are throwing money away with such a long term on your salaries. Actually I think you should pay it off in 10 years.

We overpay but our mortgage bill is almost double your new one with less income than you, and we have childcare bills of a similar order. You’ll be fine.

Stealth boast

1000 mortgage out of 6500 income is making you panic?!

Surely you can see from your outgoings how much you have left each month to easily cover the new mortgage. I honestly think you could pay around £2000 mortgage and still be fine. Why don't you have a shorter term like 20 years for the mortgage instead. Or at least plan to overpay each month as much as possible to save on all the mortgage interest.

Omg, I live overseas and in the area where real estate is crazy high. Houses are averaging a million American dollars and a lot of people pay almost half of their income on mortgage or rent.

You can afford it and your current home sounds miserable. I’d definitely be moving on.

So, interest rates on savings accounts have gone up a bit, and presumably you're on a low % fix at the moment, but you would have been better off overpaying the mortgage. The debt you were/are accumulating is more than the interest on your savings.

This person is not the norm.

Most people would choose to pay their debt back quicker due to rates as they are, especially early on in the term - when the debt is highest.

And most people would have a mortgage of 25-50% of their take home pay.

@ThankmelaterOkay Oh ok that makes sense.

@onthefence23

I'm sorry you had such a tough childhood!

whether you move or not, definitely look into GOOD insurance. Probably best to start a new thread asking for advice.

if I was your age again I'd definitely look at decent life insurance & redundancy.

Those figures look perfectly acceptable! It's still a reasonably low mortgage to income ratio.

choose a house you feel could be for a long time & you really can't go wrong.

it's an exciting time of your life, try to enjoy it!! 🌷

We doubled our mortgage in 2021 (from £750 a month to £1500 a month). Moved house for many of the same reasons, better location, more space, good schools etc. We've definitely felt the pinch, but that's partly because we took on a fixer upper in order to be able to afford to buy in this area. We had the house valued for our upcoming remortgage last week and it's gained over £100k in value just in the last year, so for us it's been worth it overall so far. I think if you can afford to take the difference hit and buy smart (or as smart as you can in the current market!) then you can't go wrong really.

@iamenough2023 @ThankmelaterOkay is right I'm seeing more and more from this thread that I am not the norm!

While we have made overpayments we probably haven't as much as we should due to DH being a bit complacent and my worried about not having accessible funds.

I mentioned upthread that I had some complicating factors as a child and then an abusive relationship early 20s that are affecting my decisions I think!

@MarchMadness23 I do thank you, that's a lovely sentiment and most of the time I can't believe how lucky I am with a wonderful family and job I enjoy. It's hard to shake the feeling that it's someone else's life sometimes, that I don't deserve it and it's all going to come crashing down. I thoroughly blame an abusive childhood for that though!

🙄

I think you would be silly not to get a better place on those numbers.

And you can manage the risk further too

• insurances (life, critical illness)
• savings
• overpaying your mortgage even slightly to build a cushion

(But don't forget to spend money on enjoying life too,)