Is it better to be mortgage free or buy bigger?

busiscoming2

If you are 100% sure you could get another job paying the same sort of money you earn now and can afford any interest hikes, I can't forsee any reason not to go for the more expensive option. Personally though I love the idea of owning outright and would probably go for the mortgage free option.

115K

Yolina wrote: »

*If* I ever consider moving in the future, then it would be to get out of London so that what I can sell my flat for would get me a nice house mortgage-free.

That is our plan too.:)

cayennepepper

It really depends on the individual and the circumstances. I have been mortgage free twice: paid off mortgage on my first house, bought a bigger one in a batter area, paid it off again, then sold it again to buy an even bigger one (another baby on the way ). We are moving in next month and I do not regret having a mortgage again because I know my house will keep its value (North London) and we can afford the mortgage.
Of course in an ideal world we would all like to be mortgage free, but for me having the space we need for our family, and living in a safe neighbourhood, is also very important.

Slinky

I have a friend who has just sold a 5 bed detached house and moved into a 2 bed semi ex-council house backing onto a school playing field, in order to be mortgage free. They plan to extend to accommodate both children in their own rooms. I can't help but think that once the novelty of being mortgage free has worn off, the lack of space and the location is going to bug her.

phoebe1989seb

Slinky wrote: »

I have a friend who has just sold a 5 bed detached house and moved into a 2 bed semi ex-council house backing onto a school playing field, in order to be mortgage free. They plan to extend to accommodate both children in their own rooms. I can't help but think that once the novelty of being mortgage free has worn off, the lack of space and the location is going to bug her.

Agree. When we sold our *forever* home in 2007 in order to be mortgage-free, we moved from a very smart conservation area on the S Coast where most properties (ours included) were large detached character houses to an area in Essex where, whilst not local authority (or ex-LA) the houses were smaller, cheaper and mainly owned by retired Eastenders. Not that I've anything against East Londoners - our former neighbour in the previous location was a known gangster masquerading as a respectable businessman in his million £££ house, so we were used to police raids - but these people were very intimidating. It was our own fault as we stupidly and unwittingly bought in an area where knife crime and drugs were rife and we were afraid to venture into certain areas even during the day :eek:

Our new home was a gorgeous detached Tudor building that had a modern estate built around it and those properties which were not owned by retirees were let out to the type of person you would be better not to make eye contact with......it was pretty rough

The *new* house was purchased for around half the price of our old one and was around half the size. Within days we knew it was a dreadful mistake and whilst we stuck it out for over three years, it was the most miserable we have ever been. Being mortgage-free wasn't much consolation.

I sincerely hope your friend has a better experience than we did

Slinky

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

I sincerely hope your friend has a better experience than we did

Fortunately for her, it's a pretty good area, but as I say it backs onto a school playing field, and is 100 yards away from another school. We're about 300 yards away from the second school and can hear all the racket of kids playing at breaktime, I certainly wouldn't want to be where she is. But then I don't have kids, she does, and sees the school (where her kids go) being behind her as some sort of benefit. Can't think she will do necessarily when they are older!

Goldiegirl

If it's going to be a 'forever home' (not that I'm a fan of that term - who can plan forever, when you never know what's around the corner.) then you need to be happy to live in it forever.


If you compromise on the property to be mortgage free, you might never be truly happy, when you know that the property you could have had was / bigger / in a better area / had a bigger garden, if only you'd taken on a mortgage.


It's a personal choice, but all I can say is I took on a large mortgage to buy this house in 1989, paid it off by 2006 and have never even looked at another house in the all that time. It was a big commitment, but I got the house I was 100% happy with.


But these are different times - maybe I'd do it different now.


But it's not wrong or bad to take on a mortgage that you are comfortable with.