STAMP DUTY - IS IT WORTH THE MOVE?

Bizzywizard

Hi Everyone,

I think I have finally convinced my husband to move house!

We are in a 3 bed bungalow and only moved there as a stop gap, while the kids were at school…that turned into 15 years!

We have completely out grown the bungalow and want a house. We have two students that still live with us and commute to Uni/College and don't see that changing. Its cheaper for then and we will be moving closer to the Uni area.

We can afford to move, as the bungalow has a very small mortgage.But, the Stamp Duty is our sticking point as every house we like needs everything doing to it,(2 bathrooms/kitchen/electrics/plumbing) so could easily swallow the £40k in savings and then it leaves nothing to pay the stamp duty bill (£17,500). The house is worth circa £550k. Money seems to be spent on gardens, but very little on the internals, but older/people and their families still want top money for a shell really.

Our bungalow needed EVERYTHING DOING …we had to do it over many years…but I was in my 30's then! I don't fancy a doer upper unless I have money behind me, for a builder to do this time round. And that costs money. I have no issue with paying for the builder and their services.

I am the only one in this position, I feel like I'm going round in circles. Then think stay put and put up and shut up!

This is NOT a political post by the way!

mta999

The market is in a funny place at the moment...

There are lots of houses on the market by baby boomers wanting to downsize (or maybe they have passed way and their estate is selling the house) and yes they do need things doing them to bring them up to today's standards.

However they are quite popular because the other types of property (such as leasehold flats, fleecehold houses, retirement houses) have all had a lots of negative things said about them and people are nervous about buying them.

sherlock228

so your situation is
- stay put
or
- buy a doer up and pay the SDLT from the "profit" on selling the bungalow but then wait until you have saved more money to fund the doing up

only you can make that decision

people's idea of what needs doing up is very much a personal issue. I am quite content with a 60 year old bathroom. It has a bath, toilet, shower and basin. What more does it need?

lincroft1710

Won't your "students" leave home in the not too distant future? Then if you have moved to a larger property, you will have a home that is too big for your needs

TonyMMM

Stamp Duty is a big disincentive to move, especially once you get to decent size houses (my last move the SDT was £16k). But our new PM has made comments in the past about replacing it and CT with some sort of other annual property tax, so we shall see if changes do ever happen.

I'm at the point in life where I quite fancy a nice country or seaside cottage as a weekend place, and have the cash available to buy one, but the punitive rates on 2nd home purchases and the annual multipliers on CT have put me off (for now).

Still, discouraging 2nd home ownership was what the government wanted when they brought in the extra rates, so it is working !

gwynlas

Presumably you are considering a house with at least 3 double bedrooms to cater for current needs with at least 2 seperate reception areas which might not be needed when adult children fly the nest.

A larger house means larger expenditure on bills which you will still be liable for once they leave.

Perhaps it is worth looking at a temporary structure to house one of them at the moment which could cost less that £40.000 and reevaluate in the future

GDB2222

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6679583/stamp-duty-is-it-worth-the-move

Say you have £400k equity in your present house. You put say £350k into whatever new property you buy, and fund the rest of the purchase cost by a mortgage. That leaves you £50k to spend on renovation.

That's what everyone else does, so could you explain why it doesn't work for you?

Keep_pedalling

The danger of doing this is that in a very short period of time your students will be graduate and will quickly fly the nest. This is exactly what happened to us. In your shoes I would spend what you would on stamp duty on helping them fund the UNI digs.

Bizzywizard

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82100623#Comment_82100623

An agent friend came round a few years ago and said it would either go to an elderly couple or young family like we were. The bungalows are so popular…but agree its a funny market…..I know some houses have been sticking for years. I think they are popular properties in the right school catchment for a family, but the ones sticking are more in the sticks, so not as handy for work and school.

Bizzywizard

I've got a lot of equity in the property as we are over-payers on mortgage. But, would still need a mortgage to buy another house.

Regarding bathrooms (tiles falling into the bath) and kitchens (sawdust piles in 70's kitchen), I guess its personal taste….but this doer upper we are in now…needed everything. Plumbing, electrics, replastering….its very hard when its a 3 bed bungalow and 4 people. So to do it again needs to be right and still have room to move, while works are carried out (family are over 3 hours away).

Bizzywizard

Once the kids move out….think this is when our parents will be moving in!