Advice Needed – To upsize or not?

diamondfreddie12

Can anyone offer any advice please? We are considering moving to a larger house and looking for some expert opinion.
We have seen a house we love that was originally on the market for £270k. Hugely overpriced, it was then remarketed for £250k. We’ve put a bid in for £247k and its been accepted. The house was purchased as a new build in 1995 for £245k.
We purchased our house in 1994 for £169k and have had an offer for £210k. Taking into account fees, money for new furniture etc we able to put down a £45k deposit on the house. We have been given a 5 yr fixed rate at 5.19% and our mortgage payments will only increase by £150 each.
I know no one can say what is going to happen to the market but is it foolish of us to move now? Both of our jobs are relatively safe (as much as any job can be at the moment) and we won’t plan on moving for at least 5 years. I’m just concerned that the house we are potentially buying hasn’t really seen an increase over the years and also worried about a house price crash.

I’m just looking for some reassurance and I’m starting to get worried I’m making the wrong decision by moving now…
Thanks in advance

BitterAndTwisted

No sensible person ever bought a house based on what they think prices will do over a five-year period. Which is fortunate because none of us has a crystal-ball. Sensible people buy a house because it meets their needs as a HOME and they can afford the mortgage payments on it.

diamondfreddie12

Do you have any suggestions as to what we should consider though?

thanks

hcb42

Doesnt sound like a huge risk to move, the difference in the house price growth over more or less the same period between your current one and the one you are buying stands out though. It has sold for almost the same as 16 years ago...? I appreciate some new builds are overpriced to start with, but is there any other underlying reason i.e. area more deprived? If not, and it's what you want, go for it.

azkaban420

Hi, these are my thoughts:

1) You love the house you're buying
2) It's bigger/better than your current one
3) Mortgage will only increase by £150 p.m.
4) You're buying the house at a relatively good price as sellers aren't making you pay for the increase they would like to have

Sounds like a win-win situation to me

Yes you could go around the houses (pun unintended) with the crystal ball thing about the housing market and mortgage rates going up etc but if this move suits your needs now, and you would be happy with it in the medium to long term, then I think it's a good move.

I've bought now, as I'm not prepared to wait for further potential price drops....I'm looking for a lovely home to live in, in the long-term, rather than a short term investment, which is a completely different ball game.

Hope that helps and good luck

Az

tyllwyd

I'd echo what the previous poster said, are the dates and figures in your original post correct? Do you possibly mean 2004 and 2005 rather than 1994 and 1995?

GDB2222

I'm trying to work out what's going on in your area. Your house has gone up from £169k to £210k since 1994. That's an increase of 24%.

Over that period, the average house price in the country has increased from £51,000 to £163,000 (Nationwide Building Soociety figures), ie more than threefold.

The one you are looking at buying has not changed price at all over the same period.

Also, in 1994, £245k would have bought a really, really substantial house in most parts of the country.

We have seen a house we love that was originally on the market for £270k. Hugely overpriced, it was then remarketed for £250k.

That's a really weird choice of words. It was 'hugely overpriced' at £270k, yet you've now agreed to buy at only 8.5% less. Most deals go through at around that discount from the asking price. So it wasn't hugely overpriced, or you've agreed to pay too much.

Anyway, to answer your question as best I can, the general thinking is that house prices are not expected to increase much over the next 5 years and could fall quite a bit. So, it's not a great investment opportunity, but you will hopefully be getting much more space for not a great deal more each month.

diamondfreddie12

woops, having a long day, I did mean 2004 and 2005!

diamondfreddie12

Forgot to add, the area we are currently living is apparently the best post code in our area due to the closeness to the M1 and also 2 top schools. The area we are planning on moving to is a village slightly outside the area (Milton Keynes) which has recently undergone a lot of development.

andy208833

Will getting the larger house effect your life i.e. with the xtra expense will you be able to live, have holidays, go to concerts, buy stuff etc

You can't just sit indoors all the time lovely as the house may be.

diamondfreddie12

nope, will have no real difference to our quality of life