Intermediate/Forever properties

Glastoun

We're looking to move from our current 2-bed flat (£60k, no mortgage) as it's not really child friendly for a number of reasons. But we have a few different options we could take:

#1: Buy a very nice 3-bed house in a good-enough area for £130-150k now, then put the flat on the market and sell by the autumn. This would leave us with a very small mortgage and thus flexibility in employment, and we would save for an upgrade to a 'forever' house/flat in 5-10 years time.

#2: Sell by the autumn, buying a very nice 3-bed flat in a desirable area for around £200k. This would leave us with a larger but still affordable mortgage, and probably still looking to move in 5-10 years time.

#3 Sell by the autumn, stretching ourselves to a £250k+ 'forever' house/flat in our perfect area and be done with it. This would obviously make us more reliant on our income (e.g. no career breaks/going part-time) and there's nothing to say we still wouldn't get itchy feet and move in 10 years time anyway.


So..... have you ever gone for an intermediate property and regretted it? And have you ever stretched for a pricier property and regretted it?

ValHaller

Glastoun wrote: »

#3 Sell by the autumn, stretching ourselves to a £250k+ 'forever' house/flat in our perfect area and be done with it. This would obviously make us more reliant on our income (e.g. no career breaks/going part-time) and there's nothing to say we still wouldn't get itchy feet and move in 10 years time anyway.

You are not ready for a forever house.

Wyndham

I always struggle with the concept of a 'forever' house. You never know what life it going to throw at you, and things change radically for a whole host of reasons. You may find you need to move to another area in a few years due to work, or family commitments or the fact that they decide to run a motorway next door to your house!

I'd always say look at what you can really afford, and do that. You can always move on later. If you stretch too far, then lose your job, you may also lose your house.

Glastoun

ValHaller wrote: »

You are not ready for a forever house.

Yoda could not have put it better himself - that is a very true statement, thank you. 8-)

Yorkie1

#1 is quite high risk if you end up not being able to sell the existing flat for 12 months - how long could you sustain paying two mortgages (assuming you have a mortgage at present)?

buzzyzoe

Yorkie, it says in the initial post that there is no mortgage on their current house.

I would say go for the cheapest option for now, it sounds like you're not totally sure what your 'forever' home would be at the moment anyway, so always better to go for the least risky option and see where you're at in 5 years or so.

dj.boz

Don't forget to calculate moving costs in between each house move if you don't go straight to your final 'forever' house. You'll be looking at £5k plus each time you move.

We planned on going from a 2 bed starter home (terraced) to a 3 bed semi, then move again in 4-5 years, once we worked out the moving costs associated with it, we just plumped straight to an 'end' house (4 bed).

gazter

dj.boz wrote: »

Don't forget to calculate moving costs in between each house move if you don't go straight to your final 'forever' house. You'll be looking at £5k plus each time you move.

We planned on going from a 2 bed starter home (terraced) to a 3 bed semi, then move again in 4-5 years, once we worked out the moving costs associated with it, we just plumped straight to an 'end' house (4 bed).

Very similar to the decision we just made. Bought our 2 bed new build in 2004. One bedroom is used as an office so no real chance of bringing children up in it.

After nine years we decided we wanted to move. We have looked at a fair few properties. The price point kept creeping up as we realised that we wanted our next property to not be a stepping stone, but somewhere we could live until retirement. (of course that assumes an awful lot of things about relationships, jobs etc).

We found this amazing house:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-26708010.html/svr/2707

It was really nice, my wife loved it straight away. But when we drove away, i had to explain to her that if we bought this house, and had children, we would have to move again when they reach ten or twelve. The main bedroom is really nice and big, but the two other bedrooms are quite small and wouldnt cope with a teenager. There was no room for expansion.

Shame as well, as a lovely house

carefullycautious

Wow what a lovely house.

Is there space for an extra room in the garden for the teenagers. Wooden structures seem to be all the rage for creating extra space.

hcb42

I would buy the £250K house and overpay the mortgage as much as I could and get saving hard (if not already) to make sure the rainy day fund was built back up in case.

It is the perfect area that would make me do that.

gazter

carefullycautious wrote: »

Wow what a lovely house.

Is there space for an extra room in the garden for the teenagers. Wooden structures seem to be all the rage for creating extra space.

Apparently the owners have special permission from the parish council to hang their laundry on the village green which is immediately behind the house. I wonder if that could stretch to a static caravan.....
Probably not...