House move / House swap

RancidM

Hi.

The wife and i purchased our house from her mother around 10 years ago. We have actually lived in the house a lot lot longer (the wife 40 years and me 20 years)

The postcode for our road is SW165LA.
House prices are around the £250k mark or so
our mortgage is currently around the £150k.
our house would be classed as needing modernization.
So the value would be maybe £220k or so.

there are some benefits as its very close to the train station and transport links etc...how much of a benefit these are i dont know.

Given that this was the first house we ever purchased and we were already living here. the whole concept of moving/selling/buying is just a minefield.

What i would like to do is move somewhere locally (<5 miles) but is a lot less busy. I would also like some where with a garage and bigger garden.

i assume that the simplest and most cost effective thing to do would be a house swap for someone who wants closer to the train station/transport links.

if it makes any difference our daughter and son-in-law live with us and pay rent. they both work in full time eployment.
My wife and i are both in full time employment.
i was thinking of getting a joint mortgage all round so that the children have some ownership with a veiw that in a few years when they move out they can use there part of the house as deposit to move somewhere else.

if it turns out that something like this is going to cost us £25k i cant imagine the wife going for it.

what would be the best way forward for us ?

SternMusik

A house swap in the sense of you buying someone else's house and them buying yours? I know someone who did this but it is rare I believe (quite difficult to find someone with exactly matching housing assets and requirements). It would still involve buying and selling the properties, even though you call it a swap.

The far more common strategy is to put your house on the open market, and start the search for your next property. I.e. you sell your current house to one person, and buy your next house from another person. This is called a chain. Take a look at rightmove to see what is available in your preferred location, and what the asking price is of houses in your immediate area.

Moving house is expensive - solicitors fees for buying and selling, estate agent fees (if using one for selling), stamp duty land tax on your purchase, fees associated with the mortgage (you'll need a new one for your next property), survey, removal fees, etc. SDLT alone is 3% of purchase price if buying above £250k.