Your life post mortgage?
Your life post mortgage?
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Discussion

e8_pack

Original Poster:

1,384 posts

211 months

Saturday 1st December 2012
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So how many people have took on a big mortgage or know of people who have and how are you/they coping? Is it turning out as you expected or harder than you thought or maybe even a doddle? Do you think you're doing the right thing? any worries or regrets and how will you fare if/when the interest rates go up?

I was talking to the estate agent the other day and he says the mansions are moving quite well these days, when i asked how people afford such properties he did say that most of them were pushing it with down payments made up of the previously sold property.

I've saved over 50% LTV and maybe im just finding it hard to hand over my hard earned but at the same time paying all that interest back to the bank and borrowing all that money is very daunting. How do people sleep at night!

2 sMoKiN bArReLs

32,038 posts

265 months

Saturday 1st December 2012
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..and if rates go North it could be very scary!

When I had my first mortgage the rate was 18%!

Burnham

3,668 posts

289 months

Saturday 1st December 2012
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It gets easier over time,, and the key is to overpay when possible...be strict.

Im mortgage free now....well, sold both of my properties and renting anyway! Its a bit of a weight off my shoulders, but as money is so cheap to borrow, it wont be long until im mortgaged up to the hilt again!

Obiwonkeyblokey

5,400 posts

270 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
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ive got a prety hefty mortgage and also plenty of equity. Very tempted to sell, downsize and have no mortgage commitment at all before rates start to head north again.
We could pick up a nice 4 bed detached easily for the equity we have which makes me wonder why im commited to a mortage on a house thats clearly too big for us.

man maths.... meh.

VinceFox

20,566 posts

202 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
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i'd love to leave britain, move somewhere rural in italy and spend my days pottering around the roads on ducats and stopping for coffee now and then.

Hereward

5,133 posts

260 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
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I have a £970k interest-only mortgage. I could pay it off tomorrow if I wanted but with interest rates so low I'd rather keep my money in the stock market. If rates start to creep up then I'd look to reduce the capital owed.

zabba

2,284 posts

245 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
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I am 6 months into a mortgage with my girlfriend on our first house, 90% LTV and it took absolutely all of our savings and a bit of overdraft to pay the deposit and close to £10k in stamp duty.

Our rate is fixed for 2 years at 3.9%, and I think we could afford the repayment if rates went as high as 10%, although with a severe cutback in lifestyle!

I do feel vulnerable in not having any real savings to fall back on at the moment, but the overdrafts have just been paid off and I can start saving again. I should have a nice cushion in 6-12 months time.

It is fantastic to get our own place and out of the rental market though, so it's worth it for us!

Farmerpalmer

277 posts

194 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
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Hereward said:
I have a £970k interest-only mortgage. I could pay it off tomorrow if I wanted but with interest rates so low I'd rather keep my money in the stock market. If rates start to creep up then I'd look to reduce the capital owed.
Is this the worst " i am a millionaire" thread? you must be a well built company director? jester

MajorProblem

4,700 posts

194 months

Wednesday 12th December 2012
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Bought a big house when I was 25 at 5 x salary mortgage, now realised I've got better things to do so at 31 I'm selling up and buying a small detached bungalow which will make me mortgage free giving me a ridiculous amount of money to spend on cars and holidays.

Adventure before dementia.

e8_pack

Original Poster:

1,384 posts

211 months

Thursday 13th December 2012
quotequote all
Farmerpalmer said:
Hereward said:
I have a £970k interest-only mortgage. I could pay it off tomorrow if I wanted but with interest rates so low I'd rather keep my money in the stock market. If rates start to creep up then I'd look to reduce the capital owed.
Is this the worst " i am a millionaire" thread? you must be a well built company director? jester
Maybe so, but he has a point, interest rates are low so if your savvy enough with cash to invest you can make your money work harder for you than paying of the house.

AtticusFinch

29,045 posts

213 months

Thursday 13th December 2012
quotequote all
e8_pack said:
Farmerpalmer said:
Hereward said:
I have a £970k interest-only mortgage. I could pay it off tomorrow if I wanted but with interest rates so low I'd rather keep my money in the stock market. If rates start to creep up then I'd look to reduce the capital owed.
Is this the worst " i am a millionaire" thread? you must be a well built company director? jester
Maybe so, but he has a point, interest rates are low so if your savvy enough with cash to invest you can make your money work harder for you than paying of the house.
I'm mortgage free smile Spoke to Mrs AF re a huge mortgage and stick it on the stock market..................................Guess what she said laugh

e8_pack

Original Poster:

1,384 posts

211 months

Thursday 13th December 2012
quotequote all
AtticusFinch said:
e8_pack said:
Farmerpalmer said:
Hereward said:
I have a £970k interest-only mortgage. I could pay it off tomorrow if I wanted but with interest rates so low I'd rather keep my money in the stock market. If rates start to creep up then I'd look to reduce the capital owed.
Is this the worst " i am a millionaire" thread? you must be a well built company director? jester
Maybe so, but he has a point, interest rates are low so if your savvy enough with cash to invest you can make your money work harder for you than paying of the house.
I'm mortgage free smile Spoke to Mrs AF re a huge mortgage and stick it on the stock market..................................Guess what she said laugh
"you're not savvy enough so don't bother"

NorthernBoy

12,642 posts

287 months

Friday 14th December 2012
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e8_pack said:
Maybe so, but he has a point, interest rates are low so if your savvy enough with cash to invest you can make your money work harder for you than paying of the house.
Taking out a large loan against your house to gamble on the stock market is pretty much never going to be the actions of a "savvy" investor. It is far more likely to be done by someone who doesn't quite understand the risks.


RDMcG

20,895 posts

237 months

Friday 14th December 2012
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No mortgage for many years. Understand the logic of freeing up money for investment given the low interest rates.
However, if things go pear-shaped in the markets,then the mortgate remains and so does the monthly run rate.
For me,the key is to have my fixed run rate at a minimum level so that I do not worry about meeting any monthly repayments. I did have a mortgage on my first house (who doesn't?),but was never really tempted to buy larger and larger piles as time went by.

chimster

1,747 posts

239 months

Friday 14th December 2012
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No mortgage now I would be on.... cloud9

marcosgt

11,502 posts

206 months

Friday 14th December 2012
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Finished mine in the Summer.

When I read the title, I was expecting it to be asking how life had changed after paying it off.

In reality, it made little difference. With an endowment mortgage I was paying about £80 a month in the last year, less than £150 with the endowment, so hardly life changing.

Remarkably, with a little lump sum paying along the way, I actually took some cash out of the endowment(s) and they would have covered the original full mortgage as it turned out (we spent more on extending).

Nice to OWN our home, but life's little changed in reality.

There were times when even on my large IT Contractor income when we weren't flush (especially when the wife first gave up work), but we've never (luckily) ever been in real financial hardship.

That said, we don't own a mansion biggrin

M

Torquey

1,961 posts

258 months

Friday 14th December 2012
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If anyone has any advice I'd be happy to here it...

3 years into our first mortgage now. First 2 years was fixed, so last January (2012) I found myself paying far less..

I find I'm wasting around £300 a month at the moment as I have it left over, things were far more tight 3 years ago.

So what do I do with the left over cash?

1) Extend - I've thought about adding another bedroom to my 2 bedroom semi. Extension would probably cost around £15k and I'd hope the house would be worth around £15-20k more if I sold it afterwards.

2) Early mortgage repayments - boring and hard to do but could\would.

3) Upsize to a bigger house, costing around 50% more than my current. Probably 3 bedroom detached.

We are very happy with the area. Its the smallest house in street of bigger nicer house.

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

228 months

Sunday 16th December 2012
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Don't take this the wrong way but £300 spare at the end of the month isn't a lot at all. If rates go up that's £300 gone easily no question.

As for extensing? If you mean loft £15-20k is very cheap try doubling that, if its a side extension with proper roof not cheap flat roof it will be in the order of £70k +

Depending on yor mortgage rate I'd chuck it into a cash ISA for the next 5 years its £18k you can dump into your mortgage loft extension maybe etc