Live mortgage free but unhappy with house or buy dream home and have debt?

Smodlet

Which do you want more, OP? Children now in a house you want to leave or, if necessary, children later in a house you love? Perhaps you can afford both to move and not postpone *sprogdom. Dare to dream!

If you want advice on how you might trim your budget to make your mortgage payments more affordable, you are in the right place. I say go for it. Good luck to you.

*This is not a real word; I just made it up. If anyone would like to use it, get in quick before I copyright it!

steampowered

You desperately want to move, and moving sounds very achievable. Not a contest for me.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with affordable levels of debt. Especially a mortgage which gives you an asset at the end.

If you build up an emergency savings account with perhaps 3 months expenses, you know you'd have enough to keep paying the mortgage for some time if you were to lose your job for example.

moneyistooshorttomention

I'd be asking myself one question in your position, ie Are our incomes high enough/secure enough to cover mortgage payments and allow for the fact that interest rates are still currently way lower than normal?

If the answer to that question was "Yes" - I'd be on Rightmove looking within the hour.

If the answer to that question is "I'm picking up bad vibes at work about the security of my job (yep....I've had the vibes just before being told I was losing the job - so I learnt to listen to them)" - then try and get more secure first and then move.

need_an_answer

Although that seems quite a step up the property ladder to go up to something that is £450k and then spend £50k on renovations.

I guess you are very lucky 30 somethings to be living mortgage free,or its taken an incredible amount of work and dedication to repay any finance you have had on the house you live in.

How long have you been mortgage free,and as a result what type of lifestyle have you led?
By that I mean have you had wonderful holidays or experiences that you would also be giving up to purchase another property or have you got healthy savings ready to invest in something else.

When children come along the priorities always change although personally I wouldn't even consider renovations while either pregnant or with young children,the two don't mix and if the renovations are large scale then the dust is horrendous and not the plasce to try and live round doing it,been there and done it!

Having said all that, a £200k mortgage isn't that huge nowadays and if you are so unhappy where you currently are now is the time to move before the children appear.

Sometimes its just a case of having the confidence to do it and move on.
Are you the type of person to have regrets in 10 years time when you are still in a house you hate?

Marvel1

Similar position and I'm more for mortgage free, it's just bricks and mortar.

foxy-stoat

Save for the renovations and buy new house with mortgage - I wouldnt want to finance £50,000 of house renovations over 25 years.

You are assuming that you will buy a place for £450,000 then instantly need to spend another £50K - watching too much Phil & Kirsty I guess.

parkrunner

Nothing wrong with debt if you can afford the repayments and don't forget to add on the cost of bringing up children.

cloo

In your position I might stay in non-mortgaged house untilyou are looking at schools for kids - maybe move at that point if you need to be nearer schools. Childcare costs are punishing (my salary barely covered one child) and you could benefit from not having to pay a mortgage until your major childcare costs are over or nearly over?

ReadingTim

cloo wrote: »

In your position I might stay in non-mortgaged house untilyou are looking at schools for kids - maybe move at that point if you need to be nearer schools. Childcare costs are punishing (my salary barely covered one child) and you could benefit from not having to pay a mortgage until your major childcare costs are over or nearly over?

But then you're also in the realm of where you think house prices will be in 5-6 years from now: what might be affordable now could easily be unaffordable then. Alternatively, something which isn't affordable now could be affordable then.

It would be a great pity to spend several years convincing yourself that now's the time to move, only to find that now you can no longer afford to move...

TBagpuss

Since you hope to have children, I'd suggest that you look at what your income and budget looks like if you were to go down to one income (whether or not you plan for one of you to be a stay at home parent, it may happen, and if not,you may find you are paying most of one persons income of child care etc)

The other thing I would suggest that you do is think about what your extra outgoings will be if you move (mortgage payments, plus (potentially) higher council tax, bills etc). Start putting that amount into a savings account every month so that you get a feel for what your income will be like if you do move. (And also save some money towards the cost of the move.

Look at borrowing £150K rather than £200K. Unless you are buying a real project property you shouldn't need £50K for decoration or renovations . Aim to start with some savings for emergencies such as a broken boiler, but other than that, why not save and improve as you go?

A third option is to look for compromises - adjust your ideas a bit about the area you want, or what type of house you're happy with.