tatty

I hope i'm not going to make a fool of myself by admitting that I thought the total cost of interest-only and repayment were the same over the life of the mortgage. I thought the only difference was defferment of the capital repayment til the end of the term. Have I grabbed the wrong end of the stick completely?

Thanks for the replies. I'm not sure if the thrust of my question has been missed (or i've missed the answer). If i'm making tax-free contributions to my pension and then commute a tax-free lump sum on retirement is that not a very efficient way of paying for a house if i've opted for interest-only? Otherwise wouldn't I be paying the capital out of taxed income over the life of the mortgage which wouldn't have the benefit of 40% tax relief at both ends?

I should have explained it's incremental based on time. Starts around 35k rising over a number of years to approx 75k basic. I probably should be clever enough to work it out or pay for advice. However, I doubt a mortgage advisor will rip my argument to shreds and give me the worse case senario like i'll get on hpc.

Needle, I'm an air traffic controller so the chances of me being made redundant are pretty remote to be honest. Our pension fund is in a healthy state and since we're half-owned by the government I would suggest quite robust.

zzg113, It's a final salary scheme with retirement available at 55 on 2/3 final salary of 75k basic. I'm contributing full avc's on top so the figures are correct at todays rates. One of the guys at work has just retired and the lump-sum payout reduced his annual pension to around 25k. He may have been lying about the numbers but they seem sensible enough to me. Do they not stack-up?

My missus is nagging about buying (I imagine i'm not alone in this); anyway she has accepted that we're not in a rush and a 12/18 mnth wait should have limited risk. My question though is this: I'm in an excellent pension scheme that will pay a tax free lump sum on retirement plus a very generous annual income. If the cost of the house I buy will be covered by the tax-free pay out does it make more sense to take an interest-only mortgage rather than a repayment. I can't see a downside since, as I understand it, i'll be getting in effect double tax relief to buy my house. Once on the contr

Terraces in that street went for £10500 in May 2000. How can anyone possibly, ever, at any time, think that 60k is now a reasonable price? Guesses for the asking price in July 07?

So as a first time buyer i'm pretty much shackling myself to, say, a 1 bedroomed flee pit when the market falls? It could be years before it recovers its value and i'd be stuck in it with my girlfriend, unable to have children or move my life forward. Rent and wait for the price falls over the next couple of years rather than ruin your life seems to be the advice?

..how do you move house? Can you sell? Do you have to clear the debt with the lender or can you roll it over into a new mortgage with another lender?

I've posted the story of my girlfriend before. She gave up a well paid job for a life on benefits. She was sick of working and missing out on her son growing up. She's been given a very nice house with sea views, no council tax or rent, tons of benefits etc. There are 4 other single mums on the same row as her and not one of them intends to go back to work. The most amusing thing was when her friends told her to claim for 'essential' goods for the house. No checks were made and a cheque for £1000 dropped through the door with a warning not to claim again for...6 months!!!! I didn't know whet

2 bed flat (nice conversion to be fair) overlooking Saltash passage. Marketed at £180k, now asking £150k. The other 2 or 3 have also been reduced by 30k -from higher prices- but no takers. I make that just shy of 20% off but the developer hasn't shifted one as of yet.

Hi everyone. Usually a lurker but I couldn't resist adding my two-penneth worth. I have first hand experience of where your taxes are disappearing and for that matter social housing (what's left). My long-term partner has a 5 year old son from a previous relationship and left an average paid job (be that mean, median or modal) to move down to Plymouth whilst I took up a job elsewhere during the week. She applied for social housing when she first arrived in Plymouth and was told there was at least a 6 month wait even though she was a single mother with a child. On enquiring why she was told