Moving to a bigger house

GMan

My wife and I are considering moving to a bigger house. We currently live in a smallish 3 bed and want to move if possible to a detached 4 bed. We realise we are obviously going to have a higher mortgage and pay more in council tax, gas/elec, water and home insurance. What we dont know is whether there are any other 'hidden' costs involved in a bigger property that we haven't considered? To make the move would leave us pretty tight financially so any advice would be appreciated!

runninglea

Stamp duty - solicitors costs.

Can you extend current property?

I did exactly the same a few years ago though, moved from 3 bed town house to 4 bed detached in semi rural. The kids now have a garden, quiet dog walking at the back of my house. All plus points but downside is back in mortgage game and no signs of being able to retire.

Smodlet

They are hardly hidden but moving costs, legal fees, surveyor's fees unless you are confident you can spot any and all defects yourself. It all adds up. I've just read a post by someone who said they are out £10k with all the moving costs and charges they have had to pay. This is before they have bought a bottle of disinfectant, never mind a pot of paint.

Good luck and go for it if you can afford it but don't forget to factor in the possibility of interest rate rises on your mortgage payments.

njhsmee

We did the same a couple of years ago.....The heating bill is huge, layers and hot water bottles for us.
One thing that hit us was the house had a small kitchen extention built and there was a marker on the house so if it was sold it would be re evaluated for council tax....it was band C and then 8 months after we moved in we got a letter to say the banding had gone up to an E .A hell of a price hike and then the council are putting it up this year by another 6%

Detroit

GMan wrote: »

My wife and I are considering moving to a bigger house. We currently live in a smallish 3 bed and want to move if possible to a detached 4 bed. We realise we are obviously going to have a higher mortgage and pay more in council tax, gas/elec, water and home insurance. What we dont know is whether there are any other 'hidden' costs involved in a bigger property that we haven't considered? To make the move would leave us pretty tight financially so any advice would be appreciated!

Obvious I know, but potentially just about everything, from heating, as already mentioned, to decorating, flooring and general maintenance costs. Extra furniture for the extra and/or larger rooms. More expensive insurance.
Additional time also for cleaning, gardening and repairs.

Margot123

Will this be your 'forever home'?

Not being aware of your current ages or job stability, I don't have a crystal ball but you must have a contingency plan and fund in place.

Will you be able to afford it when you are old and in need of care and having to pay for support? Would it be easy to sell if need be?
I'd consider these to be 'hidden' costs as well as the obvious.

GMan

Thank you all for your replies.

From reading them I think we've got everything covered in terms of things mentioned such as moving costs (covered by equity in existing property) and heating and things.

I suppose what we are really worried about is that there are costs associated with living in a larger house that we aren't really aware of living in a smaller place that would cause a shock to our budget!

Cakeguts

You need to pay for more scaffolding for roof repairs.

Linton

More furniture.

silvercar

More things to go wrong! Suddenly insuring these extras seems more worthwhile.

More visitors to stay, with associated costs.

More likely to employ window cleaners/ gardeners etc

Spacie22

Tree surgery can be seriously expensive if a larger garden = more and bigger trees