Advice for FTB worried about amount we are borrowing

New twist to this, just before I go out and have a cigarette if I can nab one coz more headaches. Husband has seen a new development in Aughrim. There is one 3 bed left for €335k, so lower repayments, his big thing. I said no way, Aughrim->Bray with kids everyday then my trip into town on the dart no way...sure wouldn't we spend the difference in travel exps. Kids will be away at a ridiculous hour and it's a long drive. Also, we will want to move out of there within 5 years and it could be hard to get out of nomatter how pretty the village is. Son has got into the desired school, can't change now too late in the year and what a stupid distance. I would rather stay where we are and rent with less commute.I want the house in Wicklow and that is the end of it, everything is done now so no backing out. He is worse than I am worrying, I got over it to be honest and was looking forward to teh future. He is ringing and mailing me to explosion stage and I'm now upset and angry and not changing my mind.In the meantime, thanks for all your good wishes guys!
 
mag2006,

like you I wanted a particular house, parnter was not so sure to the point of emailing me details of other properties for sale, right up to an hour before we signed the contract.. I dragged him to solicitor, got contract and got my way.. 3 months later and partner has reluctlantly agreed that the house we bought was definately the right one, he even used the excuse that the hotpress was not in the bathroom and therefore there was no where to store towels.

as a mother of a child going to school in september, easy access to school was our first priority when looking at properties.

good luck with it..
 
Remember Wicklow is on the train line and close to N11. Important if kids end up in University in Dublin etc., higher petrol prices etc. blah blah.
Aughrim is lovely but is a good 15 mins drive to N11/Arklow train station.
 
savage commute , your are totally right. A 335k house in Bray would be great though
first time I heard the stay put option, run through it again willya.
I want the house in Wicklow and that is the end of it, everything is done now so no backing out.
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there is, you thought of Aughrim which means you have doubts.
he is quite right, your stress test failed on one income when I ran it.

Be realistic and work out your finances on a 6 month layoff on one income only.
 
2 Pack....we would never need to move out of the house in Wicklow due to the size of the house, location and commute etc. It's the right property to buy. We would go mad in Aughrim, for one husband is the one who hates long drives more than me and he will hate it regardless of his arguements and I can see us changing car coz of it aswell so add €200 pm for new car loan. So it's crazy...just off the phone to him actually and he relucantly agreed with me so no calls being made to solicitor. BTW...I never wanted to go to Augrim and he is the one who spotted the house not me so no doubts.

Molly....your the same as me totally....it's a hard battle though isn't it especially when you know deep down that once you get into the house he will be delighted with the descision made. It's going to be handy enough getting kids to school/creche in the mornings from there, not a big change to their waking up time etc..

Stress test failed or not we will be okay....I have been on unpaid maternity leave twice so we have had to live on one income before for over 6 months and belts had to be tightened but only minor really and we were fine if not better off in a wee way...kept me out of certain shopping centres and oggling kids clothes!!!!!!!!!!
 
As for your house purchase decision- we bought a house we could barely afford 7 years ago and are so happy we did. It was very stressful at the time, our incomes were low and banks were a lot more conservative in their lending criteria. But as pointed out earlier a family home is a different financial proposition than thinking about buying an investment property. An investment must return an income, a family home is just that- a home. As any FTB will confirm the first year or two are the most difficult and thereafter it gets a little easier to manage with each passing year (just let inflation do its job). Best of luck with it.
 
Hi Mags, we just bought our house and we were had the same worries and doubts - what if the market crashes, are the repayments too high.... The minute we got the key and I walked into the garden, knowing I can paint everything purple if I want to is so worth it. Been renting for years, not being able to change a thing, always worrried about having the rent increased or having the lease cancelled, never being able to build a nest. Now we've got all that and we're delighted. Who knows what's right or wrong or if the market will crash and if yes by how much... No point living in the future either, just do what feels right now! (And by the way, I think Lidl and Aldi are fab!)
 
Ooops..sorry Ccovich..you know yourself when a woman starts ranting!! Petal, totally agree with you, cannot wait for my kids to have a back garden to play in and have their own space and have whatever they want in it, also to get my hands on decorating their bedrooms....whoppie....I already have decided what I am doing with it. As for the Kitchen....MY OWN kitchen to have it the way I want it...no cheapos out of Powecity or dodgy hinges on the presses. The sittingroom...no more bargaintown sofa's or oversized dining tables with sharp corners. We are buying a family home for life and nothing wrong with that so nothing to loose really. Hubbie seems to have chilled now so thank god. I hate smoking!!!!!!!!
 
Mag2006 said:
I hate smoking!!!!!!!!
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Give 'em up. Best thing you can ever do for yourself and your children. Ever. Trust me. I'm off them about 8 months and I cannot think of a better decision I have ever made in my entire life and that includes putting €400 on Brave Inca for the champion hurdle at 6/1 last year

Also, your life insurance will go down, as will your Mortgage protection insurance. Not to mention the ~€2K you will save every year from not buying the things which you can put to the mortgage!!

And your children won't grow up breathing in smoke and becoming addicted to them without even knowing it. If you can't do it for yourself, do it for them. They'll thank you in the long run.

Best of luck with the mortgage, I'm sure all will be fine. I'm in a similar boat myself so I'm hoping all turns out fine with me too.
 
892896 said:
Your Salaries should increase 4% P/A which you should take into account too.
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I wish someone would tell my employer that the company is in it's 4th year and not only are they refusing all requests for any increase in wages over the 4 years but they are now clawing back any small perks (such as company mobile) and dumping the work of people who have left in exasperation onto us fools stuck there to save on the wage of replacements! Celtic tiger and wage rises in line with cost of living expenses my eye

Best of luck with your purchase, mag2006, hope all goes well for you.
 
When I bought my first place, I traded down the car, I cut down on what I ate in the canteen and I cut socialising to a minimum, also had sleepless nights for about 3 months. That was in '97 and after a number of months things improved. Nearly everyone goes through the horrors when buying their first place.
 
We don't go out at all, lack of babysitters etc plus we don't really want to go out honestly, baby still a bit young anyway for us to leave her. I love a bottle of wine at home!. So we don't waste any money on a social life, plus we both bring our lunches into work everyday for a long time now so that's another saving.
Well today is the big day and we are both excited about the future but I would be lying if I said we are worry free coz certainly are not but hopefully this time next year we will have got through the first year and be in a good position in life!.
Ballyman...I only smoke the very odd time...usually grab one when I am up the walls over something but never smoked near the kids or in the house. Hubbie non smoker and he goes mad when I have a smoke, don't blame him. I was watching a brillilant programme about smoking on BBC2 last night, anyone see it...put the fear of god into anyone who smokes and would put you off. It's worked on me but the way it was researched and presented was brilliant, they should show it again & again!!!.
 
I really wish the best of luck to you guys... Give the bank a shout and see what their "special introductory rate for the first year" is. If 3.75/3.85 is the going Tracker rate at the moment you might get 3.3 or 3.5% for the first year. Just to make things a little easier on you guys...

I have a theory on fixed rate mortgages - they are designed to captalise on peoples fear as much as anything else... An accountant friend of mine working in BOI showed me stats that proved over virtually every 20/25/30 year cycle you were better off on variable rather than fixed mortgages, he also pointed out you could be lucky opting for fixed at certain times etc., but over he majority of the time variable was best.... Fair enough I said, but what about the uncertainty of variable (or tracker rates) if you are willing to pay a little extra for security.... Simple logic kicked in and we came up with this ---- (only for the financially disciplined - which you seem to be)

Get a fixed rate payment option - say 4.5% for 5 years (35 yr mort 400k)
= €1,990 - don't take this mortgage, but use it as a basis
If the current Tracker rate mort is 3.7% = €1,688. - opt for the tracker mortgage......

Now using the fixed as a basis-------

Save the €302 difference every month (into a special account).......
If the Tracker goes up to 3.9% = 1,735., now only save the new difference which is 255.

If your tracker goes to 4.5%, 4.6% or 5% firstly you are in the habit of paying 4.5% a month anyway secondly dip into your savings from the months you made cash..... It's a way of taking a proportion of the risk out of the sitaution while still not being stuck with a fixed rate.

Also - Lidl and Aldi are great spots, myself and herself always look at each other after we've shopped in Tesco's and go how did we spend soo much on 3/4 bags of basics and the same money in Lidl and you'd need a trolley to carry it all. Never mind the feeling of being conned after walking out of Marks and Sparks or Superquinn...

Your sensible people, you'll get through tough times (even if you have to extend your mortgage in 5 years from the 30 left on it back to 35 - or take a 3 month break from it etc. - which are all costly options, but get you through....)

Best of luck - let me know how you get on.
 
Wow. What a thread! My thoughts...

You have thought this out well. Some comments
  • The bank have been reckless in lending you the money (in multiples of your salaries)
  • The bank know the repayments will be made - Not if you lose your job(s) - but then they don't care because they have a charge on your home
  • You were worried if rates go up. You used the wrong word, Not if, but when
  • House crash doesn't make a jot of difference if you're not selling
  • Gee! You're going to be old when the mortgage is paid off
From posts you have made you weren't really looking for peoples comments, just reassurance. You have thought it out well, if not totally balanced.

If you're happy with it then go for it.
 
Thanks Delboy, really good post which I am printing off and going to phone the bank again today about the tracker....we were thinking about it the other day actually. It's much easier I have found just going direct to the bank without a broken coz we were going to go the broker route but found him a terrible headwrecker & he made one big mistake on us which nearly cost us mortgage approval so got rid of him. When we went to our own bank we god the nod the following day from them and they have been very professional I have to say and I was prepared for the complete opposite.
I don't know if we can change our minds on the chosen rate though now as loan offer complete and signing in an hour and a half. I'll ring them.
 
  • The bank have been reckless in lending you the money (in multiples of your salaries)
I disagree here, we are earning good salaries which increase every year and we have excellent earning potential in our jobs so that was a big factor with mortgage application.

  • The bank know the repayments will be made - Not if you lose your job(s) - but then they don't care because they have a charge on your home
They will never get my home-never ever, not stupid enough to let that happen.
  • You were worried if rates go up. You used the wrong word, Not if, but when
Yes- but we will always have options.
  • Gee! You're going to be old when the mortgage is paid off
If we stick to 35 years yes but we are still young enough to make the money to shorten our mortgage at some stage as we both don't want to still have a mortgage in our 50's.

Smi1er said:
From posts you have made you weren't really looking for peoples comments, just reassurance. You have thought it out well, if not totally balanced.
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-Thanks, I feel we have been very sensible and realistic in planning this and left no stone unturned so I can't see this blowing up in our faces at any stage.
 
Quick point on
we were going to go the broker route but found him a terrible headwrecker & he made one big mistake on us which nearly cost us mortgage approval
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I used a broker to find the best deal and do the introductions. Once I had a good deal, I did not speak to the broker again until it was time to pick up my allocation from him towards legal fees (long story). Kept him out of the logistics that affect accuracy and timing of loan cheque and just dealt with the bank directly at that stage.

Worked v.well.
 
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