So is my mother just stuck in the past??
With knowing your income level there is no way of saying if a 95K mortgage is reasonable or not.. If we go back to your mother's time, a before the Celtic Tiger, a sensible mortgage application was one where the applicant had saved 10+% of the price and was looking borrow about 2 to 3 times their annual income over at a max. 20 years. This is till the kind of situation that exists in mainland Europe and I'd suggest is a good set of rules to go by. How do you stack up on that?
Another question is do you have a rainy day fund build up - enough cash to cover your family's living expenses for say at the very least 3 months?
As to price, no one can tell you what it will be like in 5, 10 or 15 years time, yes there is a lot of property around, but the economy will eventually pick up as well... If you are buy a home rather than make an investment, then negative equity should not be a concern as long as your finances are in order.
If you can tick all the boxes for:
- Have rainy day fund
- Mortgage is 2 to 3 times annual income and for 20 years or less
- Not buying for investment
- Stable job
Then your mother should not have much to worry about, if not then perhaps she has good cause, since she knows a lot more about your situation than we do.