Should I stay put or move?

The_Lyfords

Can I explain. We live in a 4 bed semi (although 1 bedroom is downstairs and we have 3 upstairs, one of which is a box room). We have two children and plan for another so we would like to extend upstairs. We have decorated the house (apart from our room and hall stairs and landing). We have a mortgage for about 85% and as a result the mortgage company would not lend us the extra to extend. This is option 1 to stay where we are.

Option 2 is to move. We have seen a large 3 bed semi, every room is bigger but its only 3 beds. The whole house would need decorating from top to bottom but there is the possiblty of extending to the side or even the loft. We could get the house at a cheap price (old chap wants to move) but we would still have a 85% mortgage, albeit a slightly smaller mortgage.

Don't know what to do . I know the sensible option is to stay put, bide our time and maybe extend in a couple of years. But I don't mind a little diy and I like the idea of been able to make a huge house (with a massive garden) amazing.

The wife and I both work and hold down good jobs,

What shall I do???? We could do with some independent advice. Ta

BitterAndTwisted

If you have a house with 4 bedrooms and you only have two children, maybe three in the future I don't understand why you would need more bedrooms. Is there something I'm not understanding here?

Fire_Fox

How is it a four bedroom house if one bedroom is downstairs? Surely that is a three bedroom house with an extra reception room?

The_Lyfords

The bedroom downstairs is a play room / fourth bedroom. Ideally we would keep that as a play room and have all bedrooms upstairs

Fire_Fox

You will not be able to sell your existing house as four bedroom - the downstairs room is a playroom/ dining room/ office depending on the size and proximity to the kitchen. At the end of the day you will waste perhaps £10K in moving costs (solicitors, estate agents, removals) so you'll have nothing in reserve to develop the new property.

Why don't you complete a Statement of Affairs and post up the result on the Debt-free Wannabe board? They will comment on where you can trim your budget to save up much quicker than you think:
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
Also look at the 'Up Your Income' board, 'Gambling Loopholes' (easy to make a couple of grand with matched betting), and 'Old Style' for ideas on how to slash your groceries budget.

PasturesNew

Stay where you are, there's no benefit really to moving. Even with 3 kids, you could have them sharing two of of the three bedrooms, with the 3rd as a playroom (maybe the middle sized one) and have your bedroom downstairs. That way the whole upstairs is a child friendly zone and downstairs is the adult area once they're all in bed.

The cost of moving + decorating isn't worth it I think.

pie81

Sounds like in the short term you wouldn't really be any better off space wise or money wise in the new place... but you have itchy feet and fancy doing a place up...

Plus maybe in the long term (i.e. once you have the money to extend) the new place could be better than the old place... is that right?

It's really up to you whether the fun (?) of doing somewhere up and the possible benefits of the new place once done are worth the hassle, cost etc of moving. Personally I'd say with 2 small kids and another one coming shortly, it's not really the best time to take on a project and a financial stretch. UNLESS you think the new property is an unmissable opportunity that just won't come up later.

The_Lyfords

Thanks everyone