Would you do this?

stedwell

Hi, I would appreciate some honest thoughts on this.
Our mortgage ends in 5 years. BUT we are finding it increasingly difficult with the lack of space in our house with 2 teenage daughters. We are considering buying a bigger house by extending our mortgage to another 20 years. We don't aim to ever pay it off but to have the space while we need it now. We will sell and downsize when the girls are older. By extending the mortgage so much our monthly payments will only increase slightly. Is this a mad thing to do or would we be making the best of our situation?
Thanks

epz_2

in a stable market yes its perfectly sensible, in the current market where mortgage rates are swinging about wildly and prices are dropping like a rock less so.

essentially you are taking a geared bet that interest rates will stay around their current level till you are ready to downsize and you can sell for approximately the same as you paid.

A point to remember is a 10% drop in price of a 300k house is 20k more than the 10% drop in a 100 house. if you ever get into the situation where you need to sell the hit taken by buying a declining asset will be larger

PasturesNew

Do you have a large enough garden for a cabin? You can get some nice ones these days for as little as £10-12k.

poppysarah

extend the house you're in - do they not have their own room each?

How old are they?

debs66_2

my opinion, for what it's worth, is yes, do it.

i am a sensible person with no debt other than a fair sized mortgage, but since my dad died i have been more tuned to the idea of having a quality of life, and to have the best relationship i can have with my kids.

my personal opinion is that the best thing money can buy is space! Families on top of each other are usually warring families, because that lack of privacy and a place to 'time-out' is not available to them.

I too have two teenage daughters, and i pretty much started again with a full term mortgage to do the same. We increased the size of the house, and ultimately moved to a better location - actually, the most desired part of town, which i say because from a selling point of view in a few years, it ticks more boxes than my last house.

Cabins are a good idea, and so is extending, but neither were possible in my last house, because of garden space and shared driveways etc.

My one point I will raise, is that once you move to a bigger house, in a better neighbourhood, moving back down isn't easy, and you may find you just sideways step later in life, to a smaller, exclusive place, that is perhaps cheaper to run in terms of maintenance, utility bills etc.

I great piece of advice was given to us this week re selling and moving on, and that is that it isn't about what's right and wrong in terms of the market, it's what's right for you now! It's your life and your family. Breathing space will reap dividends, and don't forget, being a great mum/dad isn't necessarily about how much money you have in the bank.

Let us know how you go on and good luck!

slummymummyof3

I would really look at extending. You can extend up to 70 cubic metres for a detached dwelling (single storey) under permitted development rights (no planning required unless conservation area etc and providing you haven't already exercised this right with a conservatory etc.) You will probably find extending is a much cheaper option especially in this climate - builders want work and are more likely to negotiate. Why pay estate agency fees, legal fees and stamp duty when you don't need to....that is money that could have gone towards an extension! Double storey extension would need planning. The nice thing about an extension is that you choose your accomodation. Look at your current property as a blank canvas....just because a room is currently used as a certain room doesn't mean it needs to stay as that room.

LandyAndy

How old are the daughters.

Your plan makes far more sense if they are 13 & 14 and could be with you for another 10 years than if they are 18 & 19 and could be gone in 18 months.

mlz1413

Can you can afford to pay the mortgage when increased? And can you afford that increase until the girls move out? If so then I'd say extend (the mortgage) and enjoy the space.

Problems you may encounter are LTV, many mortgage companies aren't lending above 75% (as prices are dropping) and are charging huge fees, approx 2% of the house value. So this maybe a limiting factor.

My last thought is that you should be happy with the decision you make. If living on top of one another means you can have holidays, new clothes, a decent car then these things go a long way in everyday day life too. If borrowing more will mean pulling in your belts and worrying the car or heating need a repair will put equally as much stress on you.

Not sure what extending you can do (on current house) but you could always board out the loft, have a light put in, buy a good loft ladder and put bean bags and a stereo up there so the girls have 'a place of their own' without converting (if its even possible) at £30,000+ into a master bedroom and ensuite.

Dinah93

slummymummyof3 wrote: »

I would really look at extending. You can extend up to 70 cubic metres for a detached dwelling (single storey) under permitted development rights (no planning required unless conservation area etc and providing you haven't already exercised this right with a conservatory etc.) You will probably find extending is a much cheaper option especially in this climate - builders want work and are more likely to negotiate. Why pay estate agency fees, legal fees and stamp duty when you don't need to....that is money that could have gone towards an extension! Double storey extension would need planning. The nice thing about an extension is that you choose your accomodation. Look at your current property as a blank canvas....just because a room is currently used as a certain room doesn't mean it needs to stay as that room.

The planning advice here is innaccurate. The regulations changed on October 1st, and there is no longer a 70 cubic metre allowance, now each extension is decided individually. If you are considering extending write to your council and ask if you need permission otherwise you could be subject to enforcement action for unauthorised development. The regulations are actually looser for most extensions, including 2 storey, so it is a very real option to consider.

baileysbattlebus

debs66 wrote: »

my opinion, for what it's worth, is yes, do it.

i am a sensible person with no debt other than a fair sized mortgage, but since my dad died i have been more tuned to the idea of having a quality of life, and to have the best relationship i can have with my kids.

my personal opinion is that the best thing money can buy is space! Families on top of each other are usually warring families, because that lack of privacy and a place to 'time-out' is not available to them.

I too have two teenage daughters, and i pretty much started again with a full term mortgage to do the same. We increased the size of the house, and ultimately moved to a better location - actually, the most desired part of town, which i say because from a selling point of view in a few years, it ticks more boxes than my last house.

Cabins are a good idea, and so is extending, but neither were possible in my last house, because of garden space and shared driveways etc.

My one point I will raise, is that once you move to a bigger house, in a better neighbourhood, moving back down isn't easy, and you may find you just sideways step later in life, to a smaller, exclusive place, that is perhaps cheaper to run in terms of maintenance, utility bills etc.

I great piece of advice was given to us this week re selling and moving on, and that is that it isn't about what's right and wrong in terms of the market, it's what's right for you now! It's your life and your family. Breathing space will reap dividends, and don't forget, being a great mum/dad isn't necessarily about how much money you have in the bank.

Let us know how you go on and good luck!

We moved during the last recession from a 3 bed house to a 5 bed with a study, our children were 11,12 & 13, and we live in the south east and families live in the north east and yorkshire, so visiting for an afternoon or day wasn't an option for them. It was the best thing we ever did.

The house was in a better area, about the most desirable area where we live, closer to the high school and close to an excellent junior school.

What we gained by moving space wise would have been impossible in our existing 3 bed house - we could have put a a bedroom and a bathroom over the garage and built a new kitchen behind the garage, the cost was about the same as moving to our new house. Apart from the extra bedrooms the actual living space in the new house was so much bigger.

We are ready to downsize now, it will probably happen in the next year or two - and it is hard. We decided a brand new property was probably the way to go, from a maintenance point of view and I have been looking for about a year now. I started off looking at 2 bed places and thought - I could never live in something that small. Then it was 3 beds - and it was - god that living room is small and so is the kitchen. So then it was 4 bed places - which is what we are still looking at.

In your position with only 5 years left on your mortgage, would you be happy to commit to an additional 20 years? We had 15 years left on our old mortgage when we moved and we went with another 25year mortgage. My thinking was that as long as it was paid off before retirement it would be ok, and it will be.

debs66_2

To the person who says extend, I have to state again that it isn't always possible.

My last house was a 3 bed semi with shared drive. We couldn't extend to the side, front or back, because of the plot and site restrictions, and the roof wasn't a full pitch height, so couldn't go into the loft. Had I been able to extend, I might have done so, but then again when the family from hell moved in across the road, I would have cried at the amount I'd spent on a property to still live across the road from them!

The move brought us not only space, but peace and harmony in a leafy cul de sac with older neighbours, and while you're feeling relaxed as a family, you get on better. My girls are now 19 and 16 and starting to fly the nest, but we have had 5 great years of fun and happiness, all doing our own thing in our own space, and meeting in the middle for dinner and chats etc. I couldn't have a better relationship with my kids, and they now have an increased awareness of what they want and can achieve, and are subsequently setting themselves high standards at college. I've also got them both out working part time in between! I've done my bit - it's their turn now!

With the right house in the right location, I would say extend every time, but if that's not possible, why waste years of good memories to save a few bob when the kids have grown up and left?