Many people like the idea of owning their own house. However, they may feel that they are too young or too old. There are advantages and disadvantages of getting a mortgage at various ages and these will be discussed below.
- 18-25
You can get a mortgage from the age of 18 and it can be good to start early. If you get a 25 year mortgage you will be able to have it paid off before you are 50 and then have time to enjoy the house that you own. The problem with starting very young is that you will not have much time to save up for a deposit. This means that you will have to borrow more money and the repayments will be higher. You may have to pick a cheap house in order to be able to afford the repayments and this may mean that you will have to move in the future to accommodate a family. Many people do this and see their first house as a step on to the housing ladder and a good investment.
- 26-35
At this age many people are in relationships. This means that there are two of you to be able to cover the cost of the mortgage, which can really help with the repayments. You will have also have had time to save up for a deposit which will not only keep your costs down could open up more mortgage options for you. You may be able to borrow more money, because you are likely to have a higher paying job and a bigger chunk to put down. However, this is also the age category when many people have children. This means extra expenses and so the repayments may be diffiuclt to manage and also one partner may be out of work to look after the children, which again could make things a struggle financially.
- 36-45
Many people getting a mortgage at this age will have a family to support. This means that they may have had little chance to save up much of a deposit. They may also have a lot of expenses such as household costs and school fees etc. This could mean that monthly outgoings are high and leave little left to cover the cost of a mortgage. However, most mortgage costs are lower than rent so it could help financially. If you are in the older part of this age bracket then you will not be able to get a mortgage for a term longer than 20 years because the lender will be unwilling to allow you still to be repaying during retirement.
- 46-55
There are not many people looking for a first time mortgage at this age. It can be very difficult to save up a deposit at this stage in life when you have a family to support. There is also not much time to pay it back and so you would only be able to get a term of 10-20 years which is quite low for a mortgage.
- 56-65
By this age lenders may be reluctant to offer a first time mortgage. At so close to retirement, there will not be many wage earning years left to pay it back. However, as children may have left home, it may be easier to save up for a significant deposit. This can be helped by both adults being able to work as there are no children needing care and the fact that older people can usually earn more because of their years of experience.
About Author:
Loren is a freelance blogger who occasionally writes on finance and relationship, She recently read an article at Ratesupermarket about mortgage rate and found it very useful.