Mortgage v take home pay

lwcus78

16% of joint income at the moment but will increase to 24% after I drop to part time hours after little bump arrives.

Ebe_Scrooge

It's worth considering what the future might hold. It's impossible to predict these things, but try and make a sensible judgement. One school of thought says stretch yourself now, this will buy you a better house. Then if your salary increases, or your receive a windfall, the payments remain the same and you're then pretty comfortable.

BUT

If you really stretch yourself, what happens if interest rates go up, or you have an unexpected large bill ( car blows up, central heating needs replacing, etc. ) ? You could then find yourself in serious problems.

Sorry, not a definitive answer, but well worth thinking about.