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

Ramouth

juliebunny said:

Some great insights here thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond.
I did the whole 'sitting on beanbags" thing in my first home. 
The carpets in the new place are vile with unknown stains probably from their doggie!!
I'm excited to decorate and DIY but it's my 3rd home now and starting to feel a bit like I've done it all before.

Good luck to everyone with their own projects!!

It doesn’t have to be an lol or nothing decision.  You could hold a little cash back to do the bits you feel are essential (I.e. replace horrible carpets) while holding back on the bigger jobs like new kitchen / bathroom.  With interest rates higher it makes sense to borrow less and save up to my mind.  

One thing you could do is work out the borrowing cost of the extra money (both with your fix rate now and at a nominal rate once the fix ends) and decide if you are willing to pay that amount per month for the rest of the mortgage to get what you want sooner rather than later.  A bit like deciding if you would pay that to rent the upgrades.  It might help to give you some clarity on your priorities.

Silvertabby

A little different for us.  As we were older first time buyers we only needed a 65% mortgage.  We could have paid an even larger deposit, but as we were moving from part-furnished Married Quarters to a very spartan new build we had to keep enough back to pay for carpets and flooring, curtains, and bedroom furniture.

Our mortgage rate was nearly 8%, and our monthly payments were twice the amount we had been paying in (heavily subsidised) Married Quarter rent.  My mother was horrifed at the thought of 'wasting all that money, when we could have stayed put'.  30 years later we are still here.