First House Regret or Not?

ReadySteadyPop

Best to focus on paying off the mortgage quickly, things are looking a lot more volatile now with credit markets etc.

ReadingTim

Sometimes there isn't a "good" outcome, just the least bad one.  Would the OP have preferred to have stayed renting/living with parents?  Personally, I'd prefer to pay my own mortgage, not someone else's.  

Oceanic815__

Bigphil1474 said:

Your first home is a 4 bed semi in a nice enough area which you can comfortably afford, and you aren't happy? My first home was a back to back 2 bed terrace in a not so nice part of town. Took us 30 years to trade up to a nice 4 bed semi in a nice enough part of town. I think you need to take a leaf out of your wife's book.

The mortgage may seem a lot now, but in 10 years time it will seem a lot smaller. It's currently 25% of your take home pay - in 5 years time, your wages will be higher, but your mortgage might not be. 

Typically, new builds have a 'new' premium. Basically, they'll probably go down in value in the first year to two, or at best just maintain that value. It might take 5 years before you see any real gain, but medium to long term, most houses go up in value. If you sold in 10 years, all other things being equal, you'd make a tidy profit. If you have to sell in the next 6 months, you might make a slight loss. But it's your home - why think of it just as an investment? If you rented a similar house you might still be paying £1k a month and get to live there, you move out, and you have nothing to show for it. At least paying a mortgage, you are actually getting that money back in equity. In our last house, the mortgage payment we made reduced the mortgage, and the increase in property value was more than the interest we paid, so we basically lived in the house for free, which we owned outright in the end and sold for somewhere better. Winner winner.

That sounds really good!!! But also complex, how does the value of your house reduce the mortgage? 

I am considering looking at regular overpayments come 2025 to help lower my term, which is currently 35 years, £942 a month, I'm 29 so I didn't feel too concerned about a longer term and I had already heard about overpayments  

Oceanic815__

RelievedSheff said:

Don't worry, most people go through this period of regret with any house purchase, not just the first one.

Thank you! I feel like I just had a very mini head rush 😂

horsewithnoname

RelievedSheff said:

Don't worry, most people go through this period of regret with any house purchase, not just the first one.

Never regretted either of my homes.