Would you move?

Ljc80_2

Good morning

I am stressing about making a decision on whether to move house or not!

My wife and I and 2 kids (6 & 6months) currently live in a 4 bed semi, it was 3 bed but we converted the loft to make a 4th bed with en-suit. 3 bedrooms are double size, one is basically a box room that would fit a single bed. It also has a small galley style kitchen. We have a small mortgage left that we would pay off when current fixed ends in 18 months. And we also have a decent amount (80k) of savings. Both decent jobs with good amount of disposable income. We are both 40.

We have over the last 8 years kept an eye out for a bigger detached house but never seen one we like in the same area as we are now. But we have now seen one and the seller has verbally said they would accept what we could offer. 4 bedrooms, detached, bigger kitchen, utility room etc. This would mean a 25 year mortgage at approx. £300 more per month than we currently pay, and also use most of the savings we have.

We just don't know if in this climate we might end up regretting it, finally saving rates are better, and mortgage rates are on the up. We love where we stay but have always wanted a detached house!

I know this is an impossible question to answer but does anyone have any thoughts?!

meeemee

I think personally if you were not planning on having more children and you could live comfortably as they grow I would rather live in a good sized semi with no mortgage than live in a bigger detached with a mortgage going into your sixties. Experiences with family outweighs a detached house, they grow up fast and to be able to enjoy them with no money problems is a blessing.

Mr.Generous

I'd be tempted to go for it, a period of high inflation - if you can pay the mortgage - will erode the value of the debt in real terms. Both your wages will rise while the £ value of the debt slowly diminishes. Many of us relatively well off "oldies" now are in the position we are in because of this. Over the medium to long term the property value will rise above inflation, forget the short term blips if its your home.

MrCarrot

My situation is similar but we have 3 bedrooms rather than 4, and are desperately short of space all things considered.  We are moving, but my goal always was to move to a 4 or 5 bed detached house with more storage space and a bigger kitchen.

It's a shame that savings rates have only just started to increase!  I have spent the last 10+ years earning pittance on my savings, but I never wanted to lock them away because I was waiting for "the right time" to buy.  I also have a massive bank of savings (bigger than your £80k) which is another reason for my decison, because they are effectively erroding by 10% per year at the moment.

I think your decision is more difficult because you already have 4 bedrooms.  If you don't do it now, you might always regret it.  My plan is to downsize in years to come when we retire and the kids have left home.

You don't say what your current mortgage is.  If it's £50 a month bringing you up to £350 a month that's pretty small in the grand scheme of things.  If it's currently £300 bringing you up to £600 a month I might get nervous given everything else is doubling.

youth_leader

If I had my time again I wouldn't.  We were in our 40's in 1999 when we stretched ourselves to mortgage a bigger house with much bigger utility bills, we couldn't afford holidays/meals out and it was difficult to save at all. When my daughter went to Uni, on paper we had enough to pay towards her maintenance etc,  but we had to make major cutbacks to afford it.  My husband became ill with his heart at 59 and was medically retired on a reduced salary which put a great strain on him, as well as our finances.  I'd sit tight and enjoy what you have.

Silvertabby

What about an extension, giving you a nice big kitchen/family room?  Would make a big dent in your savings, but no need for a bigger mortgage.

1616six

Honestly, I don’t think I would. 

If this time in 2 years you would be mortgage free with 80k in savings, that’s a bloody good position to be in at 42. You’re going to be able to live a very nice life and be able to improve your current house.

If I had the prospect of that as oppose to a further 25 years of mortgage paying, I know which way I’d go.

By the sounds of it your current house allows your littlens to have a double bedroom each and still have a spare box room. I think you could probably improve on what you’ve got without the added cost of moving!

housebuyer143

Ljc80_2 said:

Good morning

I am stressing about making a decision on whether to move house or not!

My wife and I and 2 kids (6 & 6months) currently live in a 4 bed semi, it was 3 bed but we converted the loft to make a 4th bed with en-suit. 3 bedrooms are double size, one is basically a box room that would fit a single bed. It also has a small galley style kitchen. We have a small mortgage left that we would pay off when current fixed ends in 18 months. And we also have a decent amount (80k) of savings. Both decent jobs with good amount of disposable income. We are both 40.

We have over the last 8 years kept an eye out for a bigger detached house but never seen one we like in the same area as we are now. But we have now seen one and the seller has verbally said they would accept what we could offer. 4 bedrooms, detached, bigger kitchen, utility room etc. This would mean a 25 year mortgage at approx. £300 more per month than we currently pay, and also use most of the savings we have.

We just don't know if in this climate we might end up regretting it, finally saving rates are better, and mortgage rates are on the up. We love where we stay but have always wanted a detached house!

I know this is an impossible question to answer but does anyone have any thoughts?!

Yes I would do it and basically did. 
We are mid thirties, were mortgage free, had £80k in savings and decided to move into a 4 bed detached house a few months ago.

I do not regret it at all! Living mortgage free is great but you also only live once. If you want to live in a detached house and can afford it then do it. You don't need to live mortgage free at 40, just make sure you don't over extended yourself. If one of us lost our job, we would still be fine on a minimum wage job. You need to be able to afford it if the worst should happen.

Only thing I don't like about my house is the large gas bill for the heating. Big house, big bills.

My husband and I talked of moving for 6 years before we did. The delay ended up being a good thing as we wouldn't have been able to afford the house we bought now all those years ago. 

diystarter7

Hi OP

A couple of points

One can't beat a nice det property in a nice location and you have less to worry about upsetting next door re perceived noise.

The downside on moving - you don't know what types you are moving next door to. But you next door could change

On balance - if you can do it, do it and move.

caprikid1

"We have over the last 8 years kept "

You clearly want to do this but only if it's right.

Personally, this feels like it would be your forever home, it sounds like if you have saved / achieved what you have you are sensible astute with a good disposable income. If you are in the position to do this now given your children's ages, then things can only get better.

liberty_lily

We kind of did the opposite - when I was 40 and DH 43 we sold our (6 bed) detached house with loads of equity to buy somewhere smaller (less than half the size), mortgage free. Our one DS was 18 and off to university and we felt we didn't need such a large home with all the associated upkeep. 

Imho, with the benefit of hindsight, it was a huge mistake as we'd spent ten years making a wonderful family home that was in a fantastic area close to every amenity we'd ever need. It was far too early to downsize and although we've moved a few times since - including upsizing a bit again - we've always regretted making that move when we did. There's no way we could have afforded to buy it back as it's increased so much in value compared to where we are now. I think the only thing we truly miss are the vast bills including Band G council tax!

In your shoes, OP, I think I'd want to go for that bigger, detached house while you can - with one caveat...that the mortgage increase - and associated bills for a detached house - is definitely not going to affect your lifestyle going forward/that even with potential interest rate hikes you won't be over extending yourselves.