23 Year olds solo quest..

lollipops96

Hi all,
I’m 23 years old and live up in the cold north and bought my first home in December 2019. I bought it for 81k with a 10% deposit meaning my mortgage is 2.39 fix for 5 years at £323 a month, with Atom bank which allows 20% overpayments each year. I’ve done the usual paint and TLC to the house and extremely happy with how it’s came on, I have a salary of 20k and a second job which is sometimes an extra £200 or so a month depending on how much I work. I’ve made my second mortgage payment and I overpaid by £126 to make February’s payment £450. I have a couple of abroad city breaks coming up so going to try and enjoy myself with only being 23 I still want to enjoy life but I also would love to continue to overpay but know that sometimes I might only be able to pay the £323 and I need to remember that’s okay too. If you’ve got this far I appreciate you taking the time to read this  

IndiJonesi

Hi Lollipops96, I've just popped in to say very well done on not just starting your mortgage journey but for working at overpaying it too.  Good luck, IndiJonesi 

South_coast

Good luck lollipops 😀 I was still finishing Uni at 23 and came home to find I was unemployed, broke and miles behind my peers, so you're doing brilliantly already just by getting your very own home, let alone overpaying. I love a good city break, looking forward to hearing about them

longway2go

Good luck with your overpayments.  If you can enjoy life and make some overpayments then all is good 😊

Working_Mum

Oh how I wish I had had the foresight to overpay my mortgage at 23!! I would have been mortgage free years ago and living a full life - good luck with your journey - your 40 year old self will thank you!

PasturesNew

One way to look at it is by ensuring your monthly mortgage and overpayments are at least worth the value of a local 1 bed flat rental.  Or, to look at it from an agent's perspective, with a salary of £20k they'd allow you to rent a flat at about £665/month.  Agents would consider £665/month rent to be "affordable".  That gives you a high figure as a goal, but you're still allowed to just pay the mortgage on any month you choose. 

lollipops96

Thanks all for your kind comments! I have contacted my mortgage provider and asked them to up my payment by £200 this month so £523 will come out on the 1st April, as I switched banks and received a £150 bonus, Hopefully after this I will bring to 71k left. My 5 year ‘plan’ is to get to 5 years and I owe less thank 50k. Will see how that plans out.. 

regularsaver

Fantastic work! Not only getting a mortgage at 23 (I wish I had got one so early) but also to begin overpaying already. I have only just began doing that myself. Keep up the good work and I shall keep checking back on your diary!

Greenglockenspiel

Wow congratulations on buying a home on your own and being so sensible! We bought our first house in November 2019 (me being 24 then and OH 23) and fully intend to overpay, but we are still doing work on ours and haven’t managed it yet Our monthly repayment is 3x yours though, we are unlucky and live in the south lol! Do you have a particular reason for wanting to overpay? I think establishing that (e.g. move somewhere bigger, retire early/financial freedom, quit your job to travel the world, etc) can really help motivate you.

lollipops96

Greenglockenspiel said:

Wow congratulations on buying a home on your own and being so sensible! We bought our first house in November 2019 (me being 24 then and OH 23) and fully intend to overpay, but we are still doing work on ours and haven’t managed it yet Our monthly repayment is 3x yours though, we are unlucky and live in the south lol! Do you have a particular reason for wanting to overpay? I think establishing that (e.g. move somewhere bigger, retire early/financial freedom, quit your job to travel the world, etc) can really help motivate you.

Thank you very much! Yeah house prices are dramatically different to the south, it’s crazy! I think it’s just having the security of knowing I have a home I own and I would love to travel more and work less, I’m in two minds, part of me thinks I should try and travel whilst I’m in my 20’s but the other part of me says still go on city breaks etc but try pay more of the mortgage off then you can go anywhere you like when I’m a bit older, so yeah I’m not quite sure yet