Am I mad thinking this or...

pinkteapot

20vt-rs wrote: »

One thing we've just thought about is our cat, he's also part of the family and had him since 6-weeks, he's 4 now and not sure how he'd handle a move. Sounds silly perhaps but is a worry, where we are there are fields nearby which he loves, and this side there are main roads close by... Hmmm.

He'd be fine. Last year we got a 2.5 year old cat from a colleague who couldn't keep him anymore - she'd had him since he was a kitten so he'd only known one home. He was fine after a couple of weeks, and he lost his family as well as his house!

There's loads of advice about moving house with cats online, and how to do it to minimise their stress. Good guide here:
http://blogs.rspca.org.uk/insights/2014/08/12/moving-house-make-sure-your-cats-are-safe-settled-and-happy-in-their-new-home/#.VTT6R5MsDCY

Basically, when you get to the new house you shut kitty in one room for a couple of days, so they can mark that as their territory, then gradually let them explore the rest of the house. A whole new house can be overwhelming all at once.

You should keep them indoors for at least two weeks (preferably a month) before letting them explore outside. If they're let out too soon they may stray, but will be fine if they're settled in the new house.

We live on an estate in a large town and our new neighbours moved from the countryside with their kitty - he seems perfectly happy even though he now has less mice and more other cats around!

At four he's old enough to be sensible with roads - assume he's had some experience with roads where you are now? Road deaths are most common in cats who are less than two years old.

20vt-rs

pinkteapot wrote: »

He'd be fine. Last year we got a 2.5 year old cat from a colleague who couldn't keep him anymore - she'd had him since he was a kitten so he'd only known one home. He was fine after a couple of weeks, and he lost his family as well as his house!

There's loads of advice about moving house with cats online, and how to do it to minimise their stress. Good guide here:
http://blogs.rspca.org.uk/insights/2014/08/12/moving-house-make-sure-your-cats-are-safe-settled-and-happy-in-their-new-home/#.VTT6R5MsDCY

Basically, when you get to the new house you shut kitty in one room for a couple of days, so they can mark that as their territory, then gradually let them explore the rest of the house. A whole new house can be overwhelming all at once.

You should keep them indoors for at least two weeks (preferably a month) before letting them explore outside. If they're let out too soon they may stray, but will be fine if they're settled in the new house.

We live on an estate in a large town and our new neighbours moved from the countryside with their kitty - he seems perfectly happy even though he now has less mice and more other cats around!

At four he's old enough to be sensible with roads - assume he's had some experience with roads where you are now? Road deaths are most common in cats who are less than two years old.

That's fantastic help pinkteapot, really appreciate that. Yes there are roads near us, so he has some experience but they are quiet roads. The new house is near a train-line and main 40mph road, so obviously worried on those elements, hopefully he's sensible to stay close by!

Jon_B_2

Redrow are well regarded in house building.

kingstreet

Pixie5740 wrote: »

I don't think you're eligible for HTB with a 25% deposit.

Minimum mortgage is 25% of purchase price, so maximum deposit could be 55% with 20% equity loan.

20vt-rs

kingstreet wrote: »

Minimum mortgage is 25% of purchase price, so maximum deposit could be 55% with 20% equity loan.

Thanks for that info Kingstreet, I think I may need to see a broker to work things out, if I do move it might be tricky with this and I think I could be at upper limits of borrowing. My last re-mortgage I did myself as that was straight forward, not so sure this time if combined with moving and poss HTB (Dependant)!

bouicca21

Cats are easier to move than you think. Pinkteapot is spot on. Would only add that when you keep the cat in, make sure there is some familiar furniture and other stuff, so kitty knows it really is home.

20vt-rs

Ok guys, after much deliberation we have decided to stay put! Much as we like the idea of moving and having a fantastic home that we looked at, we really would be maxed out in terms of mortgage length and amount. Certainly help to buy might be an idea, and make things affordable, but my gut feeling is that it is storing up an issue for 5-years down the line to deal with...

Maybe in a few years perhaps, but for now I am back on planet earth and will continue to overpay my existing mortgage

Thanks for your comments though. :beer:

audigex

I don't think it's mad. I think you're being sensible by staying put, but moving wouldn't necessarily be silly.

I'd see it as 12 years to own your home, and another 13 years of paying for your forever home. You can always downsize again if money becomes tight.

If your current home isn't cutting it, it's only ever a stepping stone on the way to somewhere bigger: and you may as well do that now as later, if you're going to end up doing it anyway.

The only reason I'd see to stay put is to overpay heavily, cut your interest now and use that increased equity to take out a smaller extra mortgage, at a better rate, when you upgrade in a few years.

Hoploz

We are 40 and have just maxed out on a huge mortgage. Like you our old house only had a relatively small amount outstanding. The options were either stay put, pay off the mortgage completely and retire very early, or take one last rung up the ladder for our forever dream home.

We decided to move sooner rather than later - we were moving to get a bigger plot. We felt this would be appreciated by the children while they were young (5 and 8) and while we could wait a few years before moving, once they get to teenagers they don't really play out etc and it wouldn't be as necessary.

As well as prices shooting up of course, so what we could afford now, we may not be able to in 5 years time - our income is pretty static but steady from our own business.

The other reason for doing it now is what's the point of retiring early when the kids are so young? You can't jump on a cruise ship for a month or two because th kids have school!

So consequently we moved last year to a wonderful forever home. We have a mahoosive mortgage but we will just pay it every month and hope that by the time interest rates go up, we will have reduced the capital amount. There are other things in the pipeline, sounds mercenary but my mum is 81 so inevitably one day I will inherit half her house which will pay a chunk off the mortgage etc.

We are so glad we moved, we have definitely made the right decision

makeitstop

Considering buying a new Redrow house. Myself and wife are both late 40's (nearly 50 in fact).

Our situation is different in the we would only be looking to borrow 30% of the value, and we would still retain a decent financial cushion, but at your age, it's certainly doable. Only you know what implications it may have for you financially, but, things usually get easier as time goes by.

Redrow are generally considered one of the better new build developers, although there will be horror stories for all of them.