Should we stretch ourselves for the perfect house?

martindow

I'd just be a bit wary of stretching to the limit while bank rate is 0.5%. What would happen in a few years if it goes up to 1.5% or 2.5% or more? Historically rates are extremely low at the moment.

Squish_21

Make offers for what you know you can afford. really scrutinise your finances down to the last penny and leave yourself some leeway and keep an emergency fund spare then it could well be worth paying the extra for your forever home.

It might be worth getting a longer term fixed mortgage e.g 5yrs or more? Thats my plan anyway, a 5 year fixed so interest rates can do what they want and I know where I am with repayments.

Dunno if that helps.

loveGSDs

hello,

i agree with most of the posts here, better to move once to your forever home.

iv also found my forever home, however its gonna be a stretch too so iv increased my deposit target, just means il be stuck in my current house a lot longer than id hoped for!

i think ur right not to increae your offer, the sellers will probably realise that there isnt hundreds of offers flooding in and they should take what the can.

all the best

xx

beccad

How would you afford it if you lost a job, interest rates went up etc.? Or you could increase the length of your mortgage I suppose. Add another five years to the length and the repayments would come down somewhat.

If you're buying for the long term then it's usually good to buy as much as you can afford.

Running_Horse

Most people stretch themselves because that few thousand usually makes a huge difference. And for most people it turns out OK after a few years of struggle. We went beyond our initial budget, but backed away from the perfect house just beyond our new higher budget. Only you know how secure your jobs are, and how you would cope if the worst happened.

maria6259

Can you look around and get a better mortgage deal? A fixed rate one might be more suitable (even though they are higher than SVR to start with) as at least you know what your payments are going to be.

Taking into account other comments about job losses etc, if you feel secure, I would definitely go for it. You can always sell it again!

Good luck