# I want to get in best position possible to trade up



## spottydog (2 Sep 2009)

Age: 37
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 37

Annual gross income from employment or profession:45000 
Annual gross income of spouse:JSA 200 per week 

Type of employment: e.g. Civil Servant, self-employed 
Private sector, full time

In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
Saving, trying not to spend more than we take in 

Rough estimate of value of home 230000
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 214000
*What interest rate are you paying? Tracker ECB + .8%*

Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc NONE!

Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Getting there 
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? 1500

Savings and investments:
€6000 

Do you have a pension scheme? yes 

Do you own any investment or other property? no 

Ages of children: 3 + 1

Life insurance: yes 
Other costs - P/T creche costs 427 pm.  


*What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you? *
*I have been trying the last couple of years to get as debt free as possible, thanks to a cheque from the Revenue we finished paying off the car loan.  We still owe a bit on a cc but getting that down asap. We have really turned our spending habits around and we have a budget that works for us.  My OH is out of work at the moment so there is no question of getting a mortgage at the moment. *
*We would like to trade up sooner rather than later so what would we need to do to get into a position to be able to do it?  If we get into negative equatity is that the end of a trade up?  are the banks expecting us to have 1000s put away before they will consider us? *
*Also I would like to upgrade the car but the one we have will do.  So do we just drive it until it falls apart or is it a good time to trade in?  It would mean anther loan. *
*I guess I just want other people to review the situation and give their opinion.  *


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## Raskolnikov (3 Sep 2009)

Is your husband on Jobseekers Allowance, or Jobseekers Benefit?


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## sadie (3 Sep 2009)

We are a single income family earning 40k, with 2 small children. The most a bank would lend us is around 130k. Halifax refused us even the minimum 75k because their responsible lending criteria takes the 2 children in consideration and said we couldn't afford the repayments and live comfortably if we borrowed the 75k. We got approval from BOI for 100k, they possibly would have gone to 130 but not much more.

So when you say 'trade up' are you talking about taking on a bigger mortgage, or just moving house to a property with a similar mortgage? 
Are you managing on the mortgage repayments you have, like with money left over every month?


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## sadie (3 Sep 2009)

Oh I see, you are going to wait until your OH has another job before moving, didn't see that bit, sorry.


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## chlipps (3 Sep 2009)

As you have 6k savings, then i would use 1500 of that and clear the credit card as interest rate on CC much higher.

From the figures quoted, i dont think you are in a position to pay higher mortgage. Hopefully OH gets a job asap and that should help. I think you would have to sell your current house first before being able to buy another and based on other AAM posts, property sales are almost impossible. On the car front, if it is not too old and ok, then I think keep driving it. Cars are relatively cheap at the moment with very good deals but you will get very little for your own also


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## spottydog (4 Sep 2009)

hi 
Thanks everyone for the replies.  My husband is on job seekers benefit.  
When I'm talking about trading up I mean moving to a bigger house in a better area.  Where we are living is ok but not great, the house is a bit small but we can manage.  We can manage the mortgage payments at the moment but my husband will only get JSB for a certain time and then I am sure we will get nothing because of my income.  
Chlipps - I think I will take your advice and pay off the CC as soon as we get the next statement.  It will be great to get rid of it.  The car is a 02 and it is ok as well.  I suppose the bigger house and the better car are wants more than needs.  I think we are in a good enough position to weather this period without getting into trouble and I won't go for the car loan until OH gets a job at least.  
THanks
SP


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## chlipps (4 Sep 2009)

02 is not a very old car. If it is going ok, then keep driving it. they drop so fast in value

I would love to move house also but too much of a risk at the moment so I think safer to cut down the spending and save as much as possible until some more stability

Best of luck


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