Would you relocate to pay off mortgage?

Xbigman

I'm definately thinking about downsizing from a 3bed terraced to a 1 bed flat. Problem right now is that flats in my area have been pushed up pretty close to house prices by FTBers. As I'm hoping to pay off the mortgage over 8 years this will probably be an option in 10 - 12 years time (I'll be 55) to boost my pension. I plan to keep an eye on relative prices and jump if the timing looks right and ignore my mortgage, or not, status.

I have a close workmate who is selling up and moving 130 miles south to Devon. It looks an attractive option to swap a 3 bed terraced for a roomy 4 bed detached with coast views. But he has done his reasearch well. Incomes down there are a lot less than Bristol and he has spoken to several people who regret doing it as there relative mortgage costs are higher. His current plan is to do it once mortgage free and then commute. 21k a year vrs 15k certainly makes commuting attractive.

The other option I see for Bristol is to live in Wales and commute in. A number of welsh boys do this where I work, sharing transport costs, and they are all mortgage free now. Downside is that they are tied to living where they are as they could not afford to move out of Wales. Luckily, being welsh, they are happy to stay.
Regards




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suki1964

We are in the midst of doing it right now - moving to N. Ireland from London. Swapping a two bedroom terrace for a 5 bedroom detached. We wont be quite mortgage free but aim to have it cleared in 3 years. Luckily hubby is a builder and with the amount of development in NI work for him wont be a problem. True he wont be paid london rates but we also wont be paying the high cost of living we pay here.

Jillinoz

I did this - but in a convoluted way!

I lived and worked in London in the late nineties and bought a two-bedroom apartment in a gated community in East London for £120K, with a £30K deposit in 1999. Work then took me to Sydney for almost three years, so I rented out my London flat, but decided on my return that I couldn't bear the thought of the twice-daily human sardine routine (AKA travelling by tube) that is an essential part of living in the capital.

I therefore sold the apartment in 2004 at a £120K profit, which I used to buy a three-bedroom loft apartment in Hebden Bridge, which is a quirky and picturesque market town in the Pennines, and allegedly the fourth funkiest town in the world (well, according to BA magazine, anyway!).

It was a fantastic feeling to be mortgage free at the age of 37.

I met the soon-to-be-ex-OH the day after I moved in to my dream bachelorette pad (trust a man to muck it up for me! ) so I sold up in Hebden Bridge a year later (making a profit of £15K) so we could buy a joint property, this time in North Yorkshire.

He is currently buying me out of that house, and I am using my capital to buy outright a £200K three-bedroom penthouse apartment with stunning views across the countryside.

Being mortgage free - and extremely frugal, to boot - has allowed me to downshift massively in my professional life. In fact, I have just completed a training course to achieve my dream career of becoming a florist.

So, now I'm on the cusp of 40, completely debt and stress free, with a great new home and a new career/business that I know I'll be passionate about. All I need now is the new man to match!

shazrazmataz

My situation isn't quite the same but similar if that makes sense !

Seven weeks ago we emigrated to Australia, we sold our house, car & most of our wordly goods.We paid off our mortage & credit cards, we were lucky as we only had a small motgage & we managed to make a big profit on our house:D

Today we are debt free,no credit cards, enough money in the bank to live off, we own a brand new car, hubby has a better paid job than what he had back in the UK but we are in a rental home for the next 12 months until we decided where we want to settle.

We have put the house sale money in a high interest account which is tied up for the next 11 months. I am looking forward to buying/building our new home as the houses are a lot cheaper out here plus they are also a lot larger

pozalina

This thread is really inspiring!

I'm still on my first house (had it a year now) and living in Nottingham, so not much chance of downgrading anywhere nice. I lived in london for 8 years where I couldn't afford to buy at all on my own. This was a big factor in me moving north (plus family are up this way). I know there'll be a time in a few years when I want to get a bigger house, but I'm gonna try hard to resist so I can become mortgage free. Current house is 3 bed semi so unless we have more than 2 babies we should be fine forever here. Luckily we both love the house and the area is ok too.

Well done to you lot who've got mortgage free, hope to join you in a few years!

Prudent

I have never been in that position as I live in a reasonably priced (though not excessively cheap) part of Scotland.

Four years ago I wanted to move to England (after a marital break down). I realised that by staying here I could provide a better, and eventually mortgage free, home for myself and daughter here.

Now I am mortgage free and have some savings - but can't bear to sink everything I have saved plus equity into a house in England and take on a mortgage.

Gingham_Ribbon

We couldn't really manage comfortably in a smaller place and the only way of getting a cheaper property would be to move to a part of town with lower property prices. But I don't think it would be worth it for us. We love living in this area and feel safe here. Although I'm looking forward to being mortgage free, feeling safe and happy where I live is a priority.

We are lucky enough to have a mortgage around a third of the value of our home. My husband has been overpaying since he bought it 8 years ago. The overpayments have just always been part of our budget so we never consider them as 'extra'.

skintchick

I could move back to the Midlands and get somewhere bigger for less money!! But I wouldn't want to. I'll keep my one and a half bedder (!) in lovely location thanks.

Alfietinker

This is something we're hoping to do in a couple of years time. Unless we live like Puritans we can't aim to be mortgage free, but could reduce our mortgage to about £40k.

If all goes well we would actually be upgrading our house in the process!

We live in East Essex (OH, me, 2 cats and soon to be 3 chickens ) and thankfully bought our house for £90k (70k mortgage) 4 years ago. We've improved and extended in this time and now have a 2 bed, 2 bathroom, 2 reception semi. Our next door neigbours, without the extra bathroom and utility room, plus smaller rooms sold last year for £162k! So, we're hoping we could get £170k max.

Our mortgage currently stands at approx £65k, with a £11.5k further advance (to pay for extension). We're saving every penny to pay off the further advance by January, leaving us with approx £64k mortgage (re-mortgage due next year) Equating to (hopefully) £106 equity.

We've been looking at houses in Lincolnshire, around The Wash. We can get a 2/3 bedroom detatched cottage, with up to 1/2 acre of land for between £145-160k (this is average - not few and far between!)

We've worked out we could potentially save £20k a year, so in a couple of years time, we could be looking at moving, with a mortgage of £40k, with a better house in the process.

All this depends on (a) the house markets, (b) being able to find work around there and (c) I don't get too broody in the meantime!

I will be on this forum a lot!

domino

Our ultimate aim too. We have quite a lot of equity in our house and want to get away from town life. Looking maybe to the north but need to check out areas first before making any decisions. Anyone got ideas of good locations.. preferably coastal.