Downsizing too early in life

delmar39

On a brighter note than my anti social behaviour post, I'm wondering whether or not downsizing is a good idea at the age of 38. We live in a 4 bed new build on a plot of land in the middle of a village (so not a new development). We bought our house for just under £250k and have a mortgage of £150k. I'm thinking that we could get a nice 3 bed place for say leaving us with around £90k after fees etc to reduce our mortgage, have more cash in the bank and generally make life more comfortable than it currently is i.e. less mortgage to pay.

OH will be against this I think, but do you think it's a good idea or viable option at my time of life?

Only problem I have is that our current house has the potential to grow in value whereas a lower value house wouldn't grown as much.

Thoughts?

bigbigmamamoo

Do you have children? do you plan on having children? If so, how many?

If not, could you take in a lodger to help towards the mortgage?

Remember house prices can go down as well as up, so staying in the larger more expensive place could lead to a larger loss of money

missile

If you don't need four bedrooms move on. I would suggest, it is more important to consider where you want to be and what your requirements will be in long term. For example will you want to live in a family house where neighbours will have kids, close to amenities / work / travel links?

Unfortunately fewer bedrooms usually means smaller lounge etc. We wanted bigger living accomodation with fewer bedrooms. We found it hard to find a house to meet our requirements.

hazyjo

I wouldn't want to downsize until I needed to release some cash for my retirement or something. I suppose it all depends on what you want in the future and if you'd have enough from pensions, etc to be comfortable later on.

Jx

tyllwyd

At the end of the day, it is all about your own lifestyle - if it is just two of you and no thoughts of a family then you can pretty much please yourself.

At the moment, do you make full use of all the rooms in your house? Do you have hobbies that need space/storage/make lots of noise? Smaller houses usually have smaller plots & smaller garages - is outside space important to you?

I'd agree that if house prices shoot up, bigger houses move up more quickly, but if prices go down or stay fairly stable, then it's not a big deal. And if you don't need lots of space, then having money in the bank to spend/invest doesn't sound a bad idea to me. Maybe its not so much about downsizing too early, but did you upsize too early perhaps? (I know we did!)

Mum_of_3_3

Will you have more children? Do you have friends/relatives stay on a regular basis?

If the answer is yes, then I would stick where you are. The children will grown up and move on soon, that's if all your efforts with the police etc means they don't get moved on sooner.

You've also got to ask yourself whether you're thinking about downsizing purely because of the asbo stress at the moment. Again if the answer to that is yes, stay where you are or move to another 4-bedder don't downsize.

However, if you are finding it hard to pay the mortgage and bills etc then get out now and downsize. After all work/life balance has to be right and there's no point in paying for a big house if you're never there to enjoy it!

M_o_3

delmar39

Bigbig - we have one little un. We use one room as a guest room and one as an office. No plans for another little un, but we do talk about it from time to time.

Missile - as things stand we don't need 4 bedrooms. We're in the process of getting a laptop, so that will reduce the need for an office. I think three would do us.

Jx - I have two pensions. A local government pot and one from a private firm I worked for. OH also has a local government pension. My main reason for this idea is simply to make life easy. Not having to go out and earn a fortune to pay the bills. I just like having projects to work on, now we've moved and are settled (ish!) I'm bored and want something to focus on house project wise.

delmar39

Tyll - perhaps we did upsize too soon. We were lucky in that we both had houses when we met and made a bit. We simply invested that in the biggest place we could afford. If we'd have stayed in one of our first houses, we'd have had no mortage by now, but wouldn't have had the space and potential to make some more cash. Not sure really.

M_o_3 - we do have people stopping over from time to time, but not that often. It's rare that the two spare rooms are occupied at the same time. Perhaps our current issues are making me look at options that I wouldn't normally, but I have to say it has always been in my mind to free up cash and spend it. Life's too short and all that. We can afford the mortgage, but my job isn't exactly safe as we rely on funding from one of the government quangos that's under threat! Watch this space. I even overpay the mortgage a little each month. I've seen a cracking four bed place for £220k in the next village along next to my fav pub, but off the road in a cul de sac. OH isn't interested, not yet anyway...

westlondonbuyer

I don't think there's anything wrong with downsizing at all - you just want a simple life. I want that, too. I'm also in my mid-thirties and so's my husband, and we want to buy solely with the proceeds of our own pre-marriage flats. Our friends and family think we're mad. Yes, with our combined incomes we could afford an enormous mortgage and a place in a nicer part of town, but we're not getting any younger and there's a very big chance that our prime earning years are behind us, especially if we're lucky enough to have children (not under any illusions about the likelihood of that, wish we'd met earlier but that's life).

I want to be happy, do work I enjoy without worrying how well it's paid, and spend lots of time with the people I love. Working all hours and then worrying myself to death about my mortgage, just to show off how well I've done to have my big house, just isn't for me.

delmar39

westlondonbuyer wrote: »

I don't think there's anything wrong with downsizing at all - you just want a simple life. I want that, too. I'm also in my mid-thirties and so's my husband, and we want to buy solely with the proceeds of our own pre-marriage flats. Our friends and family think we're mad. Yes, with our combined incomes we could afford an enormous mortgage and a place in a nicer part of town, but we're not getting any younger and there's a very big chance that our prime earning years are behind us, especially if we're lucky enough to have children (not under any illusions about the likelihood of that, wish we'd met earlier but that's life).

I want to be happy, do work I enjoy without worrying how well it's paid, and spend lots of time with the people I love. Working all hours and then worrying myself to death about my mortgage, just to show off how well I've done to have my big house, just isn't for me.

Music to my ears. Re the kids thing, ours is only 2.5 and I'm 38 so there's still time. It is the best thing I've ever done and it's made me want to spend as much time as poss at home. OH had a job interview yesterday. She didn't get it and is gutted. She hates her current job so I've offered to go full time (I work 4 days looking after our little un on my day off) so that she can look for something that she'll enjoy. For this to work fully, it would be better for us to downsize. However, I just don't think OH would be prepared to do it she loves our new house not for material reasons, she just loves it. I love my job and am fairly senior within the structure, but I don't have to do 12 hour days to do my job (as you can tell by me posting on here!). I love your way of thinking and you have the advantage of having a similar thinking OH - a real bonus that. Makes for a very happy life. My brother in law has a similar relationship with his OH and I think it's great

ILW

I paid my mortgage off just before 50, could have gone for bigger place etc.
Still occasional wake up with a nice warm feeling that I owe nothing to anyone and at least what I have is all mine and cannot be taken away if circumstances change.