How much did you borrow for your mortgage? Bare minimum or extra for making it a home?

MovingForwards

Thank you @lookstraightahead I had to put in a 15% deposit (sub-prime lender), had about £750 left in the bank after moving and some of that, almost immediately, went on a tree surgeon.

Nearly 2.5 years later I've paid almost ¹/6 of the mortgage off, have almost 6 months mortgage in the bank, have 6 months bill, a year food money in the bank and other funds as I overpaid and saved from the off.

I'm quite frugal, have a fruit, veg and herb garden as I deliberately purchased a flat with a private garden and have already had one study break between jobs by making my wages stretch. I am now on the cusp of going PT to free up time for studying over the next few years as I'll have saved all the costs of studying this payday. It will also free up time for doing more makeovers in my home eg that !!!!!! kitchen as I'm happily living with my 60s shower room.

By the time my fixed rate is up I'll be back in FT or near FT employment.

RM_2013

Since living in our current house I’ve learned a lot more DIY skills and do all my own decorating because I really enjoy it so I’m already looking forward to getting the pain brushes out to make the new house “ours”.  We are lucky that it’s a nicely decorated house with nice plain carpets, wooden floors and nothing that needs changing immediately.

dannim12345

We were surprised how much we could borrow and comparing monthly mortgage payments to what we pay on our house now it just felt too much so decided to borrow a lot less than we could. 

jonnydeppiwish!

SuseOrm said:

I borrowed the absolute bare minimum and as I get bonuses little windfalls along the way I put it all into my pension with the purpose of withdrawing it when I get to 58 and spend in the 25% tax free component on clear in the rest of the mortgage that point I will have to beautiful kitchen bathroom bedrooms etc for now we literally just painting it.  

Great idea to prepare for retirement, especially early, but you also need to live life. What happens, god forbid, if you don’t live till retirement age?

Marvel1

The bare minimum, kept it low as I wanted to keep my outgoings low as possible.  

House does need doing - updating, but for me it's more why bother, I'm not materialistic, does not make memories or have fun with it.

[Deleted User]

I never borrow more.

Every house purchase i make i only borrow the sum for the house.

Yes, i've been in the situation where i had no lounge or dining room furniture .... i had beanbags and a coffee table so used that for 2 years !

It didn't matter though because i did not want to start with extra costs added ...... why start your new home/life with every penny of your hard earned money going out your account when you're going to need that extra to live on.
Furniture is a luxury, not a necessity, i will not go into debt for these things when you can get by just fine, for a year or two,  without

I then save and buy as and when - i save hard, buy quality that will last a lifetime, and buy things one at a time.
I will never buy cheap because it's not built to last and in a few years time you've got to pay out again for it.

Just my view on things !

Ramouth

I’m another for minimise your borrowings and be creative with your furnishings.  We did up our last house really gradually. I came to love the dated decor.  We did remove the carpets as they were a bit smelly but would have kept them of not.  

The vast majority of our furniture was sourced free to start with and then gradual upgrades (mostly second hand still - there is too much choice with new and we can’t make a decision!).  One of the things I like about this is that everything has a story and feels like a friend. 

housebuyer143

My first house we borrowed enough to get us into the 90% LTV band, because it was cheaper.  We had £2k left to furnish the house and bought a fridge, washing machine, a mattress and a TV. We then saved for everything else slowly and sat on camping chairs for a long time.

This time around we are much more fortunate and borrowed an amount we felt we were happy with for the payments at about 36% LTV. We already have all the furniture and have kept £50k back for savings and doing the kitchen and any other maintenance jobs. So I guess this time, we did borrow more than needed, but that was always the intention as I don't like having all my money tied up in my house.

It really depends where you are in your life and needs must really. I would have happily maxed out every penny had I needed to and saved again before decorating.

lookstraightahead

I find make do and mend, second hand, waiting for things and finding a bargain much more enjoyable, therapeutic and satisfying than trying to get everything new and matching. It's a bit like getting fit and eating well - really hard to start with but really enjoyable when it makes a difference.

I came into this house last year thinking I needed a brand new kitchen. That meant digging up the quarry floors, having new pipes laid for dishwasher etc. new units, cooker, the lot. Then I realised I loved my floor and worktop and previous owner's Rangemaster, , so thought I would just replace cupboards and tiles. Now I'm thinking new tiles and paint cupboards instead, oh and a new tap. I've saved tens of thousands of pounds just in thinking 🤣

housebuyer143

lookstraightahead said:

I find make do and mend, second hand, waiting for things and finding a bargain much more enjoyable, therapeutic and satisfying than trying to get everything new and matching. It's a bit like getting fit and eating well - really hard to start with but really enjoyable when it makes a difference.

I came into this house last year thinking I needed a brand new kitchen. That meant digging up the quarry floors, having new pipes laid for dishwasher etc. new units, cooker, the lot. Then I realised I loved my floor and worktop and previous owner's Rangemaster, , so thought I would just replace cupboards and tiles. Now I'm thinking new tiles and paint cupboards instead, oh and a new tap. I've saved tens of thousands of pounds just in thinking 🤣

There are companies that change all the door fronts etc and it looks like a whole new kitchen for a fraction of the cost. 
Saving money is fun lol