looking at moving home, although i think were out of our depth!.

bootman

I would be worried about that size mortgage on your income. I am a bit like you, I fall in love and want it, not really thinking it through. Having stretched myself during the last house crash and rate rise and ending up losing the house I feel I am a bit more cautious and realistic now.

Just be careful with the rate rises.

benood

Hi - wow quite a big income multiple mortgage - my first instinct was to say steer clear, however, if you can get your ideal house it's worth researching. You need to talk to a mortgage broker urgently, and I'd certainly be looking for a fix on the mortgage rate for 4-5 years - to cover you until your OH goes back to work. You've got a good slug of equity in the property so if you're confident in your job and that you can live on the remaining money take a punt.

But, get your place on the market asap, and don't increase your offer until you've got a buyer in place (your offer is nearly 95% of the asking price so not cheeky at all), try not to fall in love with this house - you'll struggle to get a good deal if you do!

theGrinch

I would tend to start lower at 90% of asking price so say £373,000. I would only use a specific amount on your best and final offer.

Using it too often in the process will lose the impact, but as a last resort then its much better. so for example a best and final at £397,555. the idea is you have stretched to the very last £.

stolt

many thanks for the different replies, it helps so much to see here someones thoughts on the situation. Like people have said when you fall in love with it, it makes literally everything so much harder.

We are under no illusion that it going to be hard, but my mum and dad did a similar thing a good few years back and played it very close to the bone but it all worked out in the end, likewise a few other people i have spoken to have all dome similar things and not regretted it.

i understand that we will have a very different lifestyle to what we have now.

I am due to speak to a advisor tomorrow re the mortgage, i have been playing with figures on the online calculators and maybe i get a interest only mortgage or a part interest part repayment mortgage which would free up some spare cash in the first few years.


one good bit of news is when we did our calculations when made a mistake and included a loan to my mum and dad of 21k back into the sums, as that money is still being paid back at 150.00 a month we have now included that in our equity and will continue to pay it off each month, so therefore we have another 21k so now if we can get the house for 400k tops we will need a mortage of around 168k which is alot better figure and one which seems quite reasonable in todays market, again this is base don our house selling for 300K but i'm hoping for 330K.

the vendors have said that they want over 400k to go ahead with the sale...

stolt

a further update, we had the estate agent which is acting for vendors to price our house up, he thinks around 300k mark. I ask him to be honest on the phone regarding the house we want, now i dont know if the vendors are playing a game or he is.... i dont know who to trust. the estate agent said that the vendors have told him they will accept 410k on the house to take it off the market (obviously ours isnt on the market yet, but were sort that out tomorrow).

he said in his opinion that the house were buying is in his opinion worth anything for 395-405k and he thinks that if we had a independent valuation taken out for appx 150pounds the price will be near to that than the 410k they want, so he said offer the 410k and then wait for the vaulation to get it down in price, this is all relative because were not in a good position on our house, plus i was hoping our house would be worth more than what he has quoted.

he also mentioned that the hosue we like havent had 11 viewers as they have told us....

I was thinking that our house should be put up for around 305k, i obviously want more because i can borrow less for the next house, do you think we should chance our arm and try for 315k. The estate agent said if you overprice it they will still knock you down with the survey being done anyway. This is all based on a 3bed detached house in rayleigh, essex.

descisions decisions.... really confused now on what to do...

Mrs_Optimist

What the vendors want and what a buyer is prepared to pay is often quite diffrent.

Glad you have looked at your finances more carefully. Let us know how you get on.

stolt

thanks, yes i will let everyone know. Like you said at the end of the day the buyers determine the price of the house. and it looks good so far for us that nobody has put in a higher offer for the house.

seven-day-weekend

Have you considered what might happen if the 'one salary' (yours) dries up/reduces for any particular reason? Like illness? Redundancy? What if you lose your job and can't get a comparable one? What if you become too ill to carry on in the job and have to have a lower paid one?

Sorry to be gloomy, but you do have to think of these things IMHO.

Does it matter if your current house is 'devalued' by the flats? How do you know it will be? Does the developer even have planning permission yet?

I personally would stay where you can afford.

stolt

seven-day-weekend wrote:

Have you considered what might happen if the 'one salary' (yours) dries up/reduces for any particular reason? Like illness? Redundancy? What if you lose your job and can't get a comparable one? What if you become too ill to carry on in the job and have to have a lower paid one?

Sorry to be gloomy, but you do have to think of these things IMHO.

Does it matter if your current house is 'devalued' by the flats? How do you know it will be? Does the developer even have planning permission yet?

I personally would stay where you can afford.

i havent thought about that, but to be honest if i lost my job i wouldnt be able to afford the house we live in now anyway. I suppose i couldnt think like that because i would never had got on the property ladder in the first place.

the flats and development kick started this all off, they havent got planning permission but the government has suggested to all council that we all need to encourage more houses and especially flats, but they dont want them built on greenbelt land, this was said to me by a councillor, he thinks it will be very hard to get it stopped and to make sure i'm aware that whatever happens something will be built on there, even if its less flats and a house, the parking for the flats means that the new residents will be looking into everyones front rooms as they park up, this is the whole reason we liked this road, it was quiet the neighbours were all retired etc and the kids were happy playing out in the street. I dont want to get 6 months in the year build and wish we had moved i dont think any buyers will buy mine if the road has lorries and diggers all over it.

mrsc_4

I just want to add my thoughts, I feel in love with the house we live in last August, it wasn't over budget but we have a mortgage of 187K on joint salaries of 55k that scares me!! We in theory doubled our mortgage when we brough the house!!!

Even with the interest rate increase (we're on a tracker mortgage) we can still afford it and have budgeted, but we plan to have a family in the future and I was concerned whether we can/could afford the mortgage and I think we can but it will be tight at the end of the day if you LOVE the house that much and you have done your sums and its affordable then I say do it,

PS - we're in Wickford, used to live in Rayleigh its a lovely area.