We can't afford to live together and have children

jackieblack

JPB156 wrote: »

That's the thing we can afford it now and to a certain point if it goes up.

And that puts you in a much better position that a lot of other people.
It's normal to have some worries about what the future might bring, but it's not normal to be paralysed with fear over it!

Make some contingency plans in case interest rates rise in the future, but go for it, take the plunge, jump in with both feet and ENJOY!

JPB156

What sort of plans do you suggest?

Angry_Bear

I have a higher income than you two, but because I'm single (and therefore have a smaller tax-free allowance than the both of you combined) and contribute a reasonably high amount into my pension, my take-home pay is around the same as yours.

My mortgage is significantly higher than yours and the monthly payments MUCH higher (I suspect a shorter term). I live comfortably enough and regularly add to savings. If something horrible happens, be it interest rates or something else unexpected, then the savings I've been putting away will probably cover it. If something they can't cover comes up, then it's not something I could reasonably be able to predict and I'll have to decide what to do about it then (possibly sell up or increase the term of my mortgage).

And while there are no guarantees in life, with a 40K deposit, if you end up in negative equity in 5 years time and can't sell, I'll eat my hat!

ETA: Your options could be to build up savings, to make mortgage overpayments, to look for a job with better prospects, to retrain, to consider extending the term of your mortgage if anything really unexpected happened.

Pixie5740

More is lost to indecision than bad decision.

Loz01

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

Another angle, is it really fair on your parents that they are still housing and supporting you long after they would probably have expected you to move out? Do you not think it might be nice for them to be able to live as a couple, and have the kind of life that most parents of grown up children have?

Its not just you and your girlfriend you should be considering, its them too.

This is true but sometimes it is VERY difficult to actually move out. I'm 30 and I still live with my Mum, pure and simply because of the fact Im saving but can't afford to buy anywhere. Don't assume everyone my age is kicking back loving their life, I don't want to be here aged 30, its kind of embarrassing! The OP seems to like to dither a lot but it doesn't mean him and his girlfriend enjoy living home in their childhood bedroom.

JPB156

We don't enjoy it me even more than her. It has caused tension between us in the past because we felt our lives were wasting away just living at home.
We will have savings behind us although think they will go on childcare, and be able to save a bit and overpay over the first five years while it's fixed. Maybe we will be able to to fix again after that's up.

I keep looking at worst case, which is our pay never goes up, apart from maybe pay rises to cover increasing costs of other bills, and that during the first 5 years the variable rate we will be on will go above what I could see as our limit of 9% and stay there for the rest of the mortgage

Mojisola

Pixie5740 wrote: »

More is lost to indecision than bad decision.

JPB156 wrote: »

I keep looking at worst case

Proving Pixie's point!

It's sensible to be realistic about the risks but, if you only consider the worst case, you won't do anything.

If you thought as long and hard about the statistics for car accidents, you'd probably never leave home.

Candyapple

JPB156 wrote: »

I keep looking at worst case, which is our pay never goes up, apart from maybe pay rises to cover increasing costs of other bills, and that during the first 5 years the variable rate we will be on will go above what I could see as our limit of 9% and stay there for the rest of the mortgage

Why do you keep looking or thinking about worst case scenarios? You've had 15 pages of advice saying to stop worrying so much about things you have no control over and to deal with things as they happen at the time - yet you persist in churning out the same regurgitated comments about rate increases / how will you cope.

In your post above, you've already got your money tied up now in childcare and you don't even have kids yet!!

Who knows what the future holds for you and your partner. You may not be able to have kids. You may split up. You may have an accident and die or end up never being able to work again. So many what ifs! The point is, you can overthink things so much that you end up not being present in daily life and will end up living in limbo paralysed by fear (sounds like you right now).

You have a £40k deposit. You have found a house you like. Get the mortgage and move in with your partner and get on with your lives - or don't. Just please stop with the inane drip feeding drivel woe is me posts.

Caroline_a

Here's a scenario for you OP. You buy the house. You lose your job the week after. Then what do you do?

JPB156

I've managed to not worry about losing jobs. A mortgage 4.5 times salary is considered excessive on some websites, does it sound too much