Am I to old to buy my own home

groovy_chick

I'm soon to be 47 and have just had a (95%) mortgage agreed over a 23 year term. There was no difficulty with my broker getting a mortgage for me up to the age of 70 and I think there is scope to go higher than that if you really search around.

I don't particularly want to be working / paying this mortgage until that age, but I have plans to overpay or maybe even downsize when my children have flown the nest, so that I am mortgage free earlier.

The bigger your deposit, the easier you will find it.

Good luck.

MEM62

Dave_Saver wrote: »

I have a girlfriend but no plans to move in together, my son is 21 and lives with his mother ( my ex) , I earn around £23000 a year and have cleared about £4000 in debt since last August. My remaining debt is on 0% and will be cleared this year. In my frugal living plan I think I can save a total of £25,000 by the end of 2021 if I and still living with parents. I live in Ellesmere port and could buy a house from £100,000 -£125,000. I have very little pension provision, I stayed in the new work pension scheme and my contribution goes up to 5% in April and my work will contribute 3%

Retirement requires both a place to live and an income. If you do not own your own home then you will be paying rent into retirement and therefore your retirement provision in terms of pensions etc needs to be higher. It is a trade off as to which you prioritise although, I personally think that it will be advantageous to own your own home. Based on the rate at which you can currently save buying a house is most certainly doable. I would save to the point where you have a healthy deposit, you legal fees and an emergency find put to one side and the look to buy. In respect of your pension, if you can afford it try to increase your contributions - your future self will be extremely grateful.

Norman_Castle

If you've never owned a property start a HTB ISA and put as much as possible in.

hazyjo

Bloody hell, you're a spring chook! I'm 48 and bought again at the end of 2017 (was 47). Realised I had to take a shorter mortgage, although many offer them until you're 70 ish now. Wouldn't even have crossed my mind to wonder if I'm too old!

Soundgirlrocks

Dave_Saver wrote: »

I live in Ellesmere port and could buy a house from £100,000 -£125,000. I have very little pension provision, I stayed in the new work pension scheme and my contribution goes up to 5% in April and my work will contribute 3%

If you can get a 2 bed place you could also look at getting a lodger and use that money to boost your pension

TBagpuss

Also, if you buy, you will be paying a mortgage. If you don't, presumably you would not be planning to stay with your parents forever, so would be paying rent - you wouldn't (long term) have that income 'spare' to pay into a pension.

I think wha tI would do in your position is to keep saving hard to clear your debt a nd build a depoit, buy a house and then focus on saving into a pension. However, you could if you wanted consider putting most of your savings into the depist but also slightly increasing your pension contributions, particularly if your employer will match them, so that you are getting a bit of a head start on saving for the pension.

If you are able to buy, you could consider getting a lodger to boost your income, to help save more toweards a pension.

FruitBat

I’m about to complete on the 22nd of March and I’m 43. I was in an IVA for 6 years then spent the last year saving for a deposit. I don’t think any age is to old as long as you can pay it off before you retire.

shortcrust

I bought my first house on my own at 42. Didn’t really cross my mind that my age was a problem, apart from having a mortgage term that runs into my late 60s.

skint_chick

The house prices you mention would probably mean that mortgage payments are around the same as rent if you go for a 20 year mortgage - so at the end of the mortgage you would own your place outright rather than still having to pay rent. The only other thing to consider is property maintenance, so as long as you keep some money aside for that and you're happy putting your savings into a home then it might make more sense. Otherwise if you keep your £25k in savings and rent then with a bit of growth you might have 10/12 years worth of rent once you retire.

If both you and your parents are happy with you living there then save as much as you can while you have the chance then review the situation when it's time - by 2021 a lot could have changed with your job, relationship status, and life. There's nothing to stop you adding extra bits to your pension as well as saving, you can do this every month or whenever you have spare money.

BikingBud

bouicca21 wrote: »

Go for it, on those figures it’s more than doable. And owning rather than renting in retirement makes a huge difference to living standards.

You mean mortgage free I take it? As lots of people say they "own" their home, denying the fact that they still have a massive loan attached.