Moving to a cheaper house to be mortgage free???

niftythrifty33

Hi, new here but been lurking for years!
My husband and I got into bad debt years ago and have now been debt free (apart from mortgage) for about 7-8 years.
The thing is...it has been on my mind for a long time now to actually be mortgage free as well, even writing those words feels amazing!!!
I hate the fact that the bank make money out of us just because we want this and want that. One way I have thought of doing this is to downgrade our house and go against what everyone else is doing ie. keep moving up the ladder until they have a castle! We have a 4 bed semi in a quite residential estate. We have a motgage of 70k and the house is worth about 185k. if we bought prehaps a terrace down the road they are about 120k. which means we could pay off the rest of the morgage pretty quickly.

sorry if this is very boring but im feeling radical and wondered if anyone else has actually done this out of choice? My husband is 'kind' of in agreement!

thanks in advance

originalmiscellany

a) Do you have any children or need for your extra bedrooms?
b) What rate is your mortgage at the moment? If it goes upto say 6% (which it will in a few years) or even 9%, would you be able to repay it?
c) Are there features of your house you love? We live in a terraced and would love off road parking/no noisy neighbours!
d) How long has your mortgage to go for?

Answering these should give other people a few ideas so they can answer you more accurately.

CathT

Well done on becoming Debt Free. I guess if you are both in agreement there is no reason not to. Just be mindful of downsizing too much. I suppose it just depends what your priorites are and if becoming MF asap is yours then it may work for you.

niftythrifty33

To originalmiscellany:
thanks for your reply

a) we have 3 children, my husband would only move to 3 bed if we could convert attick or similar (personally i dont think theres anything wrong with sharing!)
b) our mortgage is 5.65% fixed until june 2012, after that, who knows?
c) we have off road parking and a big garden (overlooked like a fish bowl), and a big kitchen/diner. I would love a real fire and a view but hey ho!
d) our motgage runs for another 19 yrs.

Has anyone else done this for the same reason that I want to do it for other than being forced to do it (which must be awful, if its not from choice!)

thanks guys

newgirly

Hi niftythrifty, as a mum of three in a mid terrace house, I would have to say I would definatly stay put unless you have to move. we have twin boys of 10 who share, which is beginning to be a pain as even at that age they would like their own space. Don't get me wrong, ours will stay as they are unless we can afford to move or extend in the future, I don't think it will do them any long term harm at all!
We also had a some quotes for a loft conversion with dormer and en suite earlier in the year and the cheapest was £27K. together with the costs of moving, is their such a big reduction in the mortgage?
You have done so well clearing your debts by the sounds of it , you might make a great MFW. Maybe you could give that a go for a year or so and see if you still feel the same after that, it has made a massive difference to me joining this site and we have acheived far more than I ever thought possible, we were actually thinking of moving to a cheaper area a couple of years ago to reduce our big mortgage, but now I'm so glad we did'nt. I wish you all the best in whatever you decide, newgirly.

LilacPixie

Nifty - my advice would be stay put and think of cunning ways to attack your existing mortgage. We are looking to move to alot bigger as 3rd child on way and quotes for converting attic or extending over a garage are 25-40k. When you add that to any repayment penalty you may have on your mortage then really if I had your room I would be staying put.

The only people I know who have made such a move have either been forced too or have been older, kids left home with kids of their own and the garden/housework has gotten too much.

limpy-jim

Hi Nify - I am a long term lurker too - Just became a MFW my diary has just started and is at https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2772876, we are in similar position to your self - just two kids though but mortgage and term similar. I have to agree I would try to batter in and see what you can get it down to , before deciding to move. We stay in a four bed end terraced, so just have one neighbour who is mostly very quiet. We have plenty of space for eveyone which is great especially as the kids are getting bigger and having friends over more. As other posters have mentioned you could end up spending as much moving and adapting to suit you. Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

dimbo61

Not a good time to sell and buy and think of the costs!
You have done well to clear other debts so build up savings and OP the mortgage

niftythrifty33

Hey, thanks guys for all your advice. This forum is so great, its really nice to be able to share our ideas with others that are on the same journey. I will keep you all posted but have definately taken all your advice onboard and will try and get the latest idea out of my head and start overpaying the mortgage maybe until a time when houses are selling again.

Just had some bad news about hubbys job though, so maybe forced into it yet!!!

Baby_steps_2

niftythrifty33 wrote: »

Just had some bad news about hubbys job though, so maybe forced into it yet!!!

Hope all is ok and that you don't get forced into selling.