What percentage of your income was on monthly mortgage (FTBs)?

Tancred

Lizling wrote: »

My mortgage is 42% of my monthly pay. It's manageable and I'm putting money aside each month to overpay, but I wouldn't want to go much higher.

Still, beats paying rent of 66% of income and trying to save for a deposit on top!

It's all relative. If you take home £6k a month then paying 42% of it is perfectly doable, whereas if you take home, for instance, £1.5k a month then quite clearly it isn't!

Tancred

khgibb wrote: »

Actually, my current commute is 1.5 hours each way at the moment as I work in central London (which is not an affordable place to live, and also not a good location as my husband does not work in London). There are plenty of cheaper places to live but they are no where near train stations so I've had to give up work to live there.

Have you considered finding another job closer to where your husband works? Living near a train station is ideal, but prices will always be higher in these locations. Consider driving to a station and parking there.

Southend1

Tancred wrote: »

It's all relative. If you take home £6k a month then paying 42% of it is perfectly doable, whereas if you take home, for instance, £1.5k a month then quite clearly it isn't!

Well I manage 43% on £1600 a month! Needs must. One just learns to be frugal in other areas!

charleyroo

mine's 23%. currently stuck between enjoying life and the fact it's 23% or pushing the boundaries to a bigger place!

DevilsAdvocate1

If you are disciplined, I would take an interest only offset mortgage out over a long term, say 30 years. I would treat it as a repayment mortgage and make this my minimum payment every month. I would then overpay as much as I could in the 2-3 years you have before having children (plus the 9 months of pregnancy). This gives maximum flexibility. But you would have to be disciplined.

This is basically what we did. I used a mortgage calculator to work out what we would have to pay each month had we taken out a repayment mortgage. I then setup the direct debit for this amount. Every year when there is a pay rise, I increase the monthly direct debit. So this year, DH has a £40 a month payrise. £20 of this will go into the mortgage. We are down to about 15 years now and overpay by around £200 a month. It would have been paid off but 3 years agao we added a massive extension and increased the mortgage by £70K.

You've managed to save a large deposit, so hopefully, you will be able to overpay while you are both working. Even £100 a month overpayment can make a huge difference.

HTH. D.

Tancred

Southend1 wrote: »

Well I manage 43% on £1600 a month! Needs must. One just learns to be frugal in other areas!

You are punishing yourself needlessly. You have to balance the mortgage against other financial commitments, and also saving properly for a pension.

caeler

59% (39% mortgage) of my income pays for mortage and all bills including food, going out, everything. I'm not currently over paying my mortgage but I am repayment so that is something. I intend to stick to healthy monthly savings to max out an ISA each year then overpay with the rest.

Takeaway_Addict

24.3% on my house I live in and 43% when I add the other house in as a liability

Southend1

Tancred wrote: »

You are punishing yourself needlessly. You have to balance the mortgage against other financial commitments, and also saving properly for a pension.

I do save for a pension - I have c. £30k in a DC scheme from a previous employer and 5 years in a FS scheme, which is my current employer's scheme - I contribute 7.5% of my gross salary. (I am 31 yrs old)

I also have 6 months wages saved as an emergency fund. I save monthly for car expenses and replacement as well as putting money by for house insurance, repairs etc.

I'm even managing a foreign holiday this year - only a week in Majorca but good enough for me!

It is manageable- it's just about budgeting properly, not buying plastic crap you don't really need and not paying for things on credit. :money:

Southend1

Also I should mention owning my own place is cheaper than renting!