Housing Plans

BGM

Hi,

I am looking to move to a bigger home in the next couple of years, i started saving at the start of this year with a view to actually purchase a new house with a new mortgage and rent my current home.

I'm just after some thoughts on what would be 'best' to do without actually whipping out the spreadsheets and working it out (which i plan to do much closer to the time anyway)..

Info points:
* My current flat is mortgaged at around 85% LTV and will be around 75% LTV by the time i want to move
* Money for new home will be circa ~30k but that needs to also pay for fees etc.
* Both homes will be in the south east
* I am under 30
* I have no children

Options are:

1. Keep current home, purchase new home, rent out old home until mortgage paid off in ~13 years.
2. Sell current home (at around £10k loss), use money + saving to buy new home... in future buy a new rental in a cheaper part of the country!
3. Sell current home, use money + savings to buy new much bigger home

I'm not keen on option 3, by the time i retire i do want to have two rental properties in addition to pension and other investments.

My thinkings on the options are:

* Might be tricky to sell, don't really want to sell at a loss
* I want (not need) a bigger home, but i am concious that money will be tight at first (not ideal for being a landlord!)
* Dealing with two mortgages each of >= 75% LTV will likely be expensive
* Concerned i won't be disciplined enough to save hard for rental property again if i sell the original..

so, what are the thoughts? i'm in no rush.. my target 'house buying fund' is about 3 years off, so lets have a discussion