How much is too much?

Zippeh

Im 33 my wife is 35 and we earn 40k and 35k respectively. Our mortgage stands at 88k with 19yrs left. We've seen a house that we like that would take our mortgage up to 225k. This seems mental to us so I was wondering what kind of levels other people are mortgaged up to.

themull1

I'm 46 and have 22 years left on my mortgage, i currently owe 67000, i had to buy my husband out when he left and get a longer mortgage.

jules888

That would be a massive mortgage!
Never had a mortgage of more than £43500 and that was too big to us!
Been mortgage free for 7 years now,since aged 40!

Jhoney_2

My mortgage is 1/3 LTV and hoping to reduce that to 1/5 in the near future.

bettywurzel

We're both 34 and will be remortgaging shortly from £54K to £175K. This will be our home forever though, so to us, it's worth investing in. We're also doubling our term from 15 years that we have left now to 30 years. Scary!

andyfromotley

Zippeh wrote: »

Im 33 my wife is 35 and we earn 40k and 35k respectively. Our mortgage stands at 88k with 19yrs left. We've seen a house that we like that would take our mortgage up to 225k. This seems mental to us so I was wondering what kind of levels other people are mortgaged up to.

Well at 3% your mortgage payment will come out at about £1100
You joint take-home pay (without pensions/student loans etc) should be in the region of £4700.

This obviously gives you a repayment/income ratio of about 23% Which i guess most people would consider manageable. Obviously it depends on your p[lans and outgoings. I had a similar size income and mortgage some years ago. I had it on a very long term fix as at those sums, rising interest rates can induce a feeling of terror!!

All just rough calc btw but they're about right.

Zippeh

Our take home is closer to 4450. I pay 200 into my own PP out of that. We're lucky in that we dont have any other debt and live fairly frugally. I agree that the thought of rates going up terrifies me with that amount! A percentage point or two and we'd be crippled!

Zippeh

bettywurzel wrote: »

We're both 34 and will be remortgaging shortly from £54K to £175K. This will be our home forever though, so to us, it's worth investing in. We're also doubling our term from 15 years that we have left now to 30 years. Scary!

This would be our 'forever' home as well, which is the only reason we're considering such a bonkers idea!

Let_Us_See

It is all relative to where you live in the UK and available income. This week a basic beach hut was sold in Dorset for £155,000, and I imagine this would purchase a decent home in many parts of the UK.

comeandgo

A quarter of take home pay on mortgage payments, out of a fairly decent monthly income and you think a small increase would cripple you? Our mortgage is nearly all paid but at one time we were close to £170k for the mortgage but the house was worth £300k so at no time was I ever worried as we could always sell it if things got very tight. Also your wages should increase and if you are worried on interest rates increasing go for fixed rate for as long as you feel comfortable with.

Zippeh

comeandgo wrote: »

A quarter of take home pay on mortgage payments, out of a fairly decent monthly income and you think a small increase would cripple you? Our mortgage is nearly all paid but at one time we were close to £170k for the mortgage but the house was worth £300k so at no time was I ever worried as we could always sell it if things got very tight. Also your wages should increase and if you are worried on interest rates increasing go for fixed rate for as long as you feel comfortable with.

I guess my comment on it crippling us is indicative of my approach to money! Cautious. The house is up for 375k so thered be a very decent chunk of equity in the house should things go belly up for us.