We really can't afford the house we want/need will things get better for us or just forget it?

lookstraightahead

How high are your ceilings? We've just moved house and the 10 and 12 year old boys whom lived here shared a room. They fitted a mezzanine floor like a big bunk bed but double abs opened up the roof with a skylight. Is your upstairs already in the roof?

mrsmortgage

lookstraightahead said:

How high are your ceilings? We've just moved house and the 10 and 12 year old boys whom lived here shared a room. They fitted a mezzanine floor like a big bunk bed but double abs opened up the roof with a skylight. Is your upstairs already in the roof?

No we're not, the apex is about 1.7m so we know it's too low for a proper conversion. We need a full extra room though, so the baby can sleep in it. 

tooldle

 Am i understanding you correctly? if the school run concern could be resolved, you would have more scope to consider other properties? Are the kids in the same school, or attending different schools? 

mrsmortgage

tooldle said:

 Am i understanding you correctly? if the school run concern could be resolved, you would have more scope to consider other properties? Are the kids in the same school, or attending different schools? 

Yes to some extent (my husband's commute has to be taken into account). They don't go to the same school, but they all go to school in the same town. 

GeordieGeorge

mrsmortgage said:

We want a very specific type of house in a very specific location. We can afford "bigger" houses, but ultimately they might offer an extra room (that we need) but our girls share and all of the houses we've seen have smaller rooms that what they currently sleep in. So we don't think our quality of life will be massively improved in that way. We're short by £30-£50k. What we don't know is that maybe after this "craze" houses will come low enough that we can afford one? It has become way TOO stressful and with the whole idea that we have to sell before we can even view some houses only adds to the stress. 

You don’t mention your income, or job, and it’s worth having a think about how you can increase what you earn.
Can you move ahead at work, or increase your skills or qualifications to get a better job somewhere else?

mrsmortgage

GeordieGeorge said:

mrsmortgage said:

We want a very specific type of house in a very specific location. We can afford "bigger" houses, but ultimately they might offer an extra room (that we need) but our girls share and all of the houses we've seen have smaller rooms that what they currently sleep in. So we don't think our quality of life will be massively improved in that way. We're short by £30-£50k. What we don't know is that maybe after this "craze" houses will come low enough that we can afford one? It has become way TOO stressful and with the whole idea that we have to sell before we can even view some houses only adds to the stress. 

You don’t mention your income, or job, and it’s worth having a think about how you can increase what you earn.
Can you move ahead at work, or increase your skills or qualifications to get a better job somewhere else?

That wouldn't be on me though I've already got an MSc from a top university and now make a competitive salary for this region (as I've mentioned before in the thread if I could move I would be making £75k and above).  My husband on the other hand is not very academically oriented and again for his lack of qualifications (but very skilled although unqualified) also makes a decent living. Yes, he could work OT but then I wouldn't see him much. Right now he's working weekends and I barely see him, to me a bigger house wouldn't be worth it at all if the price to pay is to see each other much less. 

GeordieGeorge

mrsmortgage said:

GeordieGeorge said:

mrsmortgage said:

We want a very specific type of house in a very specific location. We can afford "bigger" houses, but ultimately they might offer an extra room (that we need) but our girls share and all of the houses we've seen have smaller rooms that what they currently sleep in. So we don't think our quality of life will be massively improved in that way. We're short by £30-£50k. What we don't know is that maybe after this "craze" houses will come low enough that we can afford one? It has become way TOO stressful and with the whole idea that we have to sell before we can even view some houses only adds to the stress. 

You don’t mention your income, or job, and it’s worth having a think about how you can increase what you earn.
Can you move ahead at work, or increase your skills or qualifications to get a better job somewhere else?

That wouldn't be on me though I've already got an MSc from a top university and now make a competitive salary for this region (as I've mentioned before in the thread if I could move I would be making £75k and above).  My husband on the other hand is not very academically oriented and again for his lack of qualifications (but very skilled although unqualified) also makes a decent living. Yes, he could work OT but then I wouldn't see him much. Right now he's working weekends and I barely see him, to me a bigger house wouldn't be worth it at all if the price to pay is to see each other much less. 

Why would you not be able to earn more though? It’s not about more hours, it’s about choice of career.
I was working as a civil servant after my masters, and went back to do a doctorate before moving into investment banking.

If a nicer house is so important, there are ways to achieve it. If you are happy both doing what you are doing then it’ll come down to either cutting your cloth according to your means or some very careful budgeting.

purplebutterfly

If the children are 10, 11 & 14 then they will all be using public transport to get to school in the next year or so (assume the 14 year old already is) so the only issue you will have is the youngest. 

Can you move a little further out, whilst still being on a bus route and enrol the youngest in a school closer to the new house? Even increasing your search area by 5 miles can make a big difference to prices in most areas.  

mrsmortgage

The buses stop where we want live (and they take about an hour from their school to ours, the train in comparison is 15 mins). 

The youngest isn't an issue, the issue is that both parents of the older ones think their kids are too precious to spend longer than 30mins on public transport (or having to transfer). 

purplebutterfly

For 7 years at senior school, I left the house at 7.10am and got home at 5.30pm with a bus journey of an hour.  Plenty of us did the same route.  Thinking kids are too precious to spend time on public transport and need ferrying around in a car is ridiculous.  How do they meet up with their friends out of school?  Surely they don't get driven everywhere they want to go?  

Earlier on in this thread people have mentioned that it sounds like you live in a child-run dictatorship.  It is not the fault of the children - they've clearly been brought up to be spoiled and it isn't going to help them get on in life.  I'm afraid they will soon realise that the rest of the world considers them of no import whatsoever and it is going to come as a damn shock.  I feel sorry for them.