Need sensible advise

Drawingaline

We did this last year. We went from a 110k mortgage to a 290k and paying until we are 70. 

We were a family of six in a three bed house. (Three boys sharing a room, girl in the other). It worked. And we would have stayed put, but hubby got a huge payrise and I finally cracked with the communal parking. I wanted a driveway and if we were moving we might as well go for a four bed. Also hubby started working from home in the lockdown and he will never be back to the office more than a few days a month.he was working in our conservatory which wasn't ideal.

We struck lucky and now have a townhouse with three bedrooms on the top floor (us, two small boys in one and teen boy in smallest) and a converted garage which the girl has on the ground floor, with a second reception room next to this which is huge, ideal for hubby's office/games room. The girl is going to uni in September and already knows the boy will be taking over the garage conversion and she will have the smallest room when she comes home in the holidays. 

We are overpaying the mortgage as much as we can, but we won't be living here until we are 70 (two flights of stairs!) And know we can downsize. There is a chance one of the smalls will be with us long term too. 

If we had had parking with the old house we possibly wouldn't have moved, with hubby's payrise we had much more disposable income which has been swallowed up with the new big mortgage. Sometimes I worry, but then I go out in the evening and don't have to worry about parking when I get back and I love it 😂

Three boys sharing wasn't great, but we had bunks with the teen boy in the bottom with curtains set up so he could draw them and hide away, and a single bed on the other side of the room. They also had the biggest room and we took the smaller one, they spent more time in there than we did so it made sense. 

Mimi123456

I don’t have kids but looking back I thank my parents that they forked out some extra money/got into more debt to get a bigger place at some point. Up until I was 12 I shared a room with my brother (he is 8years younger).
Fast forward many many years we are still a very close-knit and loving family. Not sure it would be the case if my brother and I didn’t have our own space in our teens when we needed it most.

So my advice is expand. Can’t put a high enough price tag on peaceful family life. 

TripleH

We always have the smallest bedroom we can comfortably fit out bed in as our bedroom. We only ever sleep there and use the other spaces more. Our guest room is the biggest bedroom but also is an office most of the time.

Not necessarily for the Op, but always worth having a think about getting the most out of all your rooms in any house by looking at the frequent usage.

jimbog

Do you have a separate living room that could be used a a temporary bedroom and reconfigure the dining room to be a living room too?

lookstraightahead

Mimi123456 said:

I don’t have kids but looking back I thank my parents that they forked out some extra money/got into more debt to get a bigger place at some point. Up until I was 12 I shared a room with my brother (he is 8years younger).
Fast forward many many years we are still a very close-knit and loving family. Not sure it would be the case if my brother and I didn’t have our own space in our teens when we needed it most.

So my advice is expand. Can’t put a high enough price tag on peaceful family life. 

You don't need lots of space to be a loving close knit family. In fact, debt can cause horrendous family problems. 

Sistergold

lookstraightahead said:

Mimi123456 said:

I don’t have kids but looking back I thank my parents that they forked out some extra money/got into more debt to get a bigger place at some point. Up until I was 12 I shared a room with my brother (he is 8years younger).
Fast forward many many years we are still a very close-knit and loving family. Not sure it would be the case if my brother and I didn’t have our own space in our teens when we needed it most.

So my advice is expand. Can’t put a high enough price tag on peaceful family life. 

You don't need lots of space to be a loving close knit family. In fact, debt can cause horrendous family problems. 

This is the thing we need to remember as parents. We are allowing our children to be so entitled. It’s not about having your own bedroom it’s about having a roof over your head and what you can comfortably afford! Love, life and less stress should be the main thing. Space yes as much as you can comfortably afford. 

BikingBud

Bonniepurple said:

We were in the fortunate position of being mortgage free for a while, however the house was not suiting our changed needs.  We loved it, but the layout meant there was a lot of unusable space and we couldn’t make it work.  At the same time I took on more hours at work.  With the equity from our old house plus a 140k mortgage we were able to buy a 4 bed which we can adapt as our needs change.  I’m 40.  The current mortgage term will take me up to 69,  but hopefully we’ll shorten that over the years.

My kids are early teens, but I suspect that they won’t be able to move out properly until their twenties.  I’d rather that they had space to be able to “come home” if they need to, than feel they are stuck because there’s no space.

I read these types of post and this just re-affirms that we pay a disproportionate amount of our wage for housing. Not just the cost to uplift, to the much vaunted next step on the property ladder, but also the fact that this is then being spread over nearly 30 years taking people beyond normal retirement age.

• £140K@2.5% over 29 years = £57K ~ 41% of original debt paid in interest.
• £140K@2% over 29 years = £44650 ~ 31% of original debt paid in interest.

And we continue to support this as sound financial practice and encourage others to increase their debt.

If housing was truly affordable then the terms would be significantly lower and the total amount repaid would not be such a significant increase from the original debt.

True wealth is health and freedom to decide what you do with your time. Committing to pay interest to others until beyond retirement whilst carrying risk of health issues also inhibits your freedom.

lookstraightahead

BikingBud said:

Bonniepurple said:

We were in the fortunate position of being mortgage free for a while, however the house was not suiting our changed needs.  We loved it, but the layout meant there was a lot of unusable space and we couldn’t make it work.  At the same time I took on more hours at work.  With the equity from our old house plus a 140k mortgage we were able to buy a 4 bed which we can adapt as our needs change.  I’m 40.  The current mortgage term will take me up to 69,  but hopefully we’ll shorten that over the years.

My kids are early teens, but I suspect that they won’t be able to move out properly until their twenties.  I’d rather that they had space to be able to “come home” if they need to, than feel they are stuck because there’s no space.

I read these types of post and this just re-affirms that we pay a disproportionate amount of our wage for housing. Not just the cost to uplift, to the much vaunted next step on the property ladder, but also the fact that this is then being spread over nearly 30 years taking people beyond normal retirement age.

• £140K@2.5% over 29 years = £57K ~ 41% of original debt paid in interest.
• £140K@2% over 29 years = £44650 ~ 31% of original debt paid in interest.

And we continue to support this as sound financial practice and encourage others to increase their debt.

If housing was truly affordable then the terms would be significantly lower and the total amount repaid would not be such a significant increase from the original debt.

True wealth is health and freedom to decide what you do with your time. Committing to pay interest to others until beyond retirement whilst carrying risk of health issues also inhibits your freedom.

Don't disagree but it's not the cost of housing I don't think, as much as wanting 'more' than you need.

getmore4less

BikingBud said:

Bonniepurple said:

We were in the fortunate position of being mortgage free for a while, however the house was not suiting our changed needs.  We loved it, but the layout meant there was a lot of unusable space and we couldn’t make it work.  At the same time I took on more hours at work.  With the equity from our old house plus a 140k mortgage we were able to buy a 4 bed which we can adapt as our needs change.  I’m 40.  The current mortgage term will take me up to 69,  but hopefully we’ll shorten that over the years.

My kids are early teens, but I suspect that they won’t be able to move out properly until their twenties.  I’d rather that they had space to be able to “come home” if they need to, than feel they are stuck because there’s no space.

I read these types of post and this just re-affirms that we pay a disproportionate amount of our wage for housing. Not just the cost to uplift, to the much vaunted next step on the property ladder, but also the fact that this is then being spread over nearly 30 years taking people beyond normal retirement age.

• £140K@2.5% over 29 years = £57K ~ 41% of original debt paid in interest.
• £140K@2% over 29 years = £44650 ~ 31% of original debt paid in interest.

And we continue to support this as sound financial practice and encourage others to increase their debt.

If housing was truly affordable then the terms would be significantly lower and the total amount repaid would not be such a significant increase from the original debt.

True wealth is health and freedom to decide what you do with your time. Committing to pay interest to others until beyond retirement whilst carrying risk of health issues also inhibits your freedom.

The benchmark used to be 100% over 25years.

You paid for your property twice.

40% extra is nothing.

london21

Depends on the family's finances.

A lot of things are going up in price, if you can comfortably afford more space.

If  extending the house is a possibility might be cheaper. 

The housing market now is a seller's market, not many coming on the market and so much competition.

Going forward, looks like children will be staying at parent's house as the prices are unaffordable for a lot of the young people.

In the past the houses were affordable even x5 income is a stretch for many.