AIBU to start our family in this house

[Sonnywith]

We are living in a housing association property under a first time buyers rental scheme, the development we live on is a mixture of shared ownership and rent to buy, and also a small amount of social
housing. Lots of other couples and families here and area feels safe with everyone looking out for each other.

We had our hearts set on buying somewhere this year, forever goal of ours. We have a small deposit in a bank account and continue to save. We only have 5% and it will take a long time to get to 10%. After DH and I sought advice from a few financial advisers and did some of our own research, as well as snooping on some similar threads on here, we have come to realise that it would be stupid to put 5% down on anywhere at the moment because of the risk of negative equity when it comes to remortgaging (or worse we might be unable to move in the future) - that money will be lost almost immediately as house prices are forecast to fall sharply

Lots of new house builders are currently offering a 5% deposit boost which would get us to 10%, so this could be an option. I would sleep better at night knowing we had more money in the property.

Overall it seems a bad time to buy unless you can afford something that you will live in for ten years or more. We are secure here and without a shadow of a doubt it’s far cheaper than mortgage repayments would be at the new rates, I’m talking hundreds of pounds difference

We had planned to start a family later this year but could this jeopardise our chances of buying anywhere at all once we have a dependent? We have thought about the cost of childcare as we both work FT but have offers of family support. The pros of doing it whilst still living HA mean we would have more free cash in my maternity leave as rent is much less than a mortgage would be.

I feel as if we would get a good deal on a house if we aim to buy with our deposit in 2024/2025 but would having a baby in tow hinder us?

YANBU- but unfortunately you cannot predict the housing market, and even less certain is your fertility, there’s not much point planning when to have a baby. If you want a baby and can afford it now, I’d start trying.

Having a baby in tow wont be a problem if you can afford the mortgage by the time you have a good deposit

Can you set aside the amount you'd pay in mortgage (minus the rent) and transfer it straight out of your bank into savings at the beginning of the month?

Obviously maternity will change this but get used to living on the lesser amount and build up your deposit.

What you are losing is several years of mortgage payments but unless you are over 40 this probably doesn't matter too much.

The early years are generally the most expensive. Are your salaries evenly matched? Would you go back full time? The danger is your earnings drop for a mortgage application.

All worth considering but staying where you are to take the pressure off isn't necessarily the wrong decision, especially with the current state of the housing market.

Thank you for this. Earnings will be even, if anything I earn a tiny bit more & married. I do intend on going back full time (know this can change) but I love my job so I would always want to do at least 4 days. Good idea about setting aside think we’ll definitely do that. And yes we’re still 20s :)

Thank you, we do have the deposit and aren’t planning on changing our incomes in fact DHs should go up

Thank you, we can, just worried life would get in the way and we’d never buy but at the same time we likely only want one and we’d be much more secure and financially comfortable to stay here for that even though this house isn’t perfect.

Just bumping this

Anyone got any more thoughts?

I would stay where you are, it’s secure and safe. It may take a while to get pregnant, it may happen at once!

Hey OP - we bought our first house last winter (early 30s) with three kids in tow neither of us are on particularly high incomes. We rented prior to buying - they did factor in dependants during the mortgage process (we had three under seven at the time) but we still managed to buy.

If I could do it all again I'd personally of bought before having my family- but we privately rented so ended up moving a few times before buying - I found this stressful esp as my eldest had started school. In my experience I wish we were settled in one forever house - and the kids had no upheaval of moving areas, alongside the stress of renovating which would be far easier without small people under foot.

It sounds as though your current home is more secure - is there any schools and nursery's nearby? Will you be moving to the same area or further away?

Whatever you decide best of luck 💗

Thank you x

Thank you! Congratulations on the house. Did it affect how many lenders would consider you?

There’s two lovely village primary schools nearby with excellent Ofsted and also lots of nice walks, and even a cafe & soft play about a 20 minute walk away. It’s a fantastic area. We also have a lovely big garden. The house itself is quite small - two bed, two up two down, so we’d have to be creative with storage. But I’m sure that’s more than fine for two adults and a small child. We would hope to buy when things have settled house market wise, that looks like it will be better / more deals available in early 2025 so we would have a young baby most likely. We would want to buy round here which we can afford but it would be so much more money per month to do it now - conversely that cash would make things easier and give us more freedom in maternity leave

I do just have the worry we would never buy, for some reason. This is irrational I’m sure as we both have good income which is secure and intend to go back to work FT

New houses you pay more for the same space than old ones, and they are not always well built- a tradresman was telling me recently that the design life of some new houses is a mere 70 years these days. There are upsides to new houses, like all stuff being included but for someone with limited finances, I'd say they were usually a poor option. They're like new cars- some people love to get a new one regularly, but over the years they will always pay out far more than those who buy decent 2nd hand ones. If you aren't confident buying a significantly older house (and they can cost more to heat) think about one that's just a few years old. You can get a surveyor in to check it out thoroughly, too, which you can't if you buy off-plan. My favourite period is a bit towards the older side- 1960s. Big windows, and usually bigger rooms, rather than titchy ones built to squeeze in cramped ensuites, for example. When you get to pre-WW1 houses as we currently are, you're looking at needing to be pretty hardy in the winter months.😝

They definitely can be smaller, I suppose it’s swings and roundabouts though we’re more likely to lose equity in this market in an older house with 5% deposit than a new house with 10 percent! See your point though :-)

It’s always just tricky knowing what to do and feeling like you’re not doing things in the traditional order

We bought our first house last year with DD in tow (then 4). The only thing that might affect your affordability checks is if you have big nursery fees- fortunately DD was about to start school so we didn’t have to count these in our checks.

Ah nice. That’s good to know. Did it affect with lenders would consider you?

Not to my knowledge but we went through a broker (London and Country, they’re free and were very helpful) so they just took all our details and went and found the best deals available for us.

Thats good to know, thank you

Just seen that first time buyers will now be paying £12k a year in interest alone, on average. Gosh. Really does make me feel like staying put!

I wonder if we will see more people renting as rates continue to rise