to not know what to do regarding moving house

[whatstheworstthatcanhappen1]

So bit of background we bought our house back in 2007 and paid over the odds, first time buyers, young and rushed into it due to excitement. Within 3 months the market crashed and house value lost about 10k.

The house is 2 bedrooms and we now have two children, boy 9 and girl 3. i am desperate for them to both have their own rooms and it's been a dream to try and save for a deposit to move house. We currently struggle monthly due to childcare costs so no spare cash.

Anyway last Sunday I won £10,000 at bingo. just don't know what to do, do we use that as a deposit but may struggle to pay for other costs of moving or do I use it to put a stud wall up in our room to create 2 small rooms? could also pay debts off too to make things more comfortable on a monthly basis?

I feel if we don't use it to move we will look back and regret it.

Possibly have about 2k equity too.

[BlueMoonRising]

If you can't afford to save for a deposit, can you afford the legal costs and the additional mortgage and council tax and electricity required to pay for a larger, more expensive house?

In the grand scheme of things, unless you live in an area that is cheap for housing, £10k won't go very far.

[StitchesInTime]

If you're struggling monthly now, so can't afford to save now, will you be able to afford the extra costs of a bigger house?

More expensive mortgage, council tax, utilities?

[whatstheworstthatcanhappen1]

Housing is very cheap where I live, can get a nice 3 bed terrace for £85,000.
House would necessary be much bigger as normally round here if 3 bed terrace the bathroom is downstairs.

We have enough living space in our house as big rooms just not bedroom space.

Legal costs etc do worry me.

[QuiteLikely5]

If this is your only chance of moving I would use your money to move.

Solicitors fees aren't that much for buying and selling you should look into an online solicitor. You can get quotes in minutes by giving the sale price and buying price.

Other major fee is the estate agent, I always go with the cheapest as everyone goes to right move anyway, which is where they all advertise

[whatstheworstthatcanhappen1]

So hopefully mortgage wouldn't go up due to how much we could sell ours for and prices of 3 bed properties in the area.

[spaceyboo]

I'd use it for a deposit personally - can always budget to make the new monthly bills payable.

[whatstheworstthatcanhappen1]

It really is our only chance of ever having that sort of money.

[SparklyLeprechaun]

If you've got debts apart from the mortgage, I'd pay those first. You won't get a mortgage with outstanding debts. Have you actually tried to get an agreement in principle, would you be able to get a new mortgage if you're struggling at the moment?

[19lottie82]

Wow! Well done on your win! If it's enough I'd definitely use it to move. Legal fees should be about £1200 but obviously that can vary.

Why not get an estate agent out to value your current home and see if it's do able?

[whatstheworstthatcanhappen1]

That's very true spaceyboo. plus hopefully we will get the new 30 hours free childcare when that comes in to play.

[StillStayingClassySanDiego]

I'd use it to move and budget accordingly in the new house.

How exciting, £10,000, lucky you!

[19lottie82]

sparkly not true, you can get a mortgage with debt. It just reduces the amount you can borrow.

[whatstheworstthatcanhappen1]

We just have a few credit cards at the moment, we are paying minimum payments on and never missed a payment on them.

Also heard about the help to buy scheme where just need 5% deposit so need to look into that.

Will have a look at getting ours valued as seems a good place to start. Thanks

[Sleepybeanbump]

I don't think you'll have much of the 10k to actually put towards a bigger house once you've covered EA, solicitor, moving costs, survey, the inevitable few unexpected things that need buying/fixing in the new house.

Personally I think you'll be happier putting up a stud wall (v cheap) and using the money to make your month by month situation better.

[whatstheworstthatcanhappen1]

I have done a few online calculators and based on debt and income should be able to get around £150,000 but would only need about £80,000 so should hopefully be ok.

Thanks everyone, it hasn't really sunk in yet. It's amazing but just don't want it to go to waste.

[RaptorInaPorkPieHat]

Would it add value to the house?

Don't forget you would also need to do work to the electrics/heating too. It may be that if you did the work you would still be up in the long run if your house value goes up by more than it cost to do the work.

[wasonthelist]

Can you convert loft/attic for an extra bedroom?

[whatstheworstthatcanhappen1]

I don't think it would add much if any value to the house as strangely 2 beds and 3 beds sell for similar amount in our area. and I'm not 100% sure how it would look as bedroom is not huge.

[whatstheworstthatcanhappen1]

I think a loft conversion would cost too much as would then need to do the roof too I believe. It's so hard.

[HeadDreamer]

Another thing is, can you overpay into your mortgage? When moving, it's quite common to use your existing house equity as the deposit. You say you only have £2k. But with the new £10k, you'd have £12k. Providing house prices don't drop where you live, putting it into your mortgage means you can use it as your deposit later. While at the same time reduce your interest.

It's hard for me to imagine if you would lose your money if putting it in your house. Where I am, house prices been rising steadily, and a lot higher than it was at 2007.

[DrunkenUnicorn]

Just be careful with associated moving costs.

We moved on the 21/12. We moved from a small 3bed end of terrace to a 4 bed detached in the next village along (cheaper village). House is nothing super super, just normal family home, but we have 3 dc with v large age gaps.

We live In SE commuter distance to London. We sold for 400 and bought for 527.

We had about 25k in costs. Admittedly 16 was stamp duty. But solicitors were about 2250- online ones I shopped around. 4800 EA fees, mortgage broker fees, removal costs, leaseholder pack fees, extra bits here and there, eg on the day before completion we were asked for 500 to sit in Buyers solicitor's account in case we owed any money to the management co, even tho the management co had confirmed a few days before that they owed us 400!

It was little bits here and there that added up like crazy! Just be very careful. There were times when I panicked we had bitten off more than we could chew and would run out if money to pay for these bits.

[specialsubject]

work out the interest you are paying on those credit card debts.

THEN decide on the best use of the money...

and now you've won, stop going to bingo. Hammer down all costs and unnecessary expenses to clear debts and start saving.

[HeadDreamer]

DrunkenUnicorn it costed us 20k to move as well in october last year. But I think it's mostly stamp duty, and then EA fees. Given the price of the house, I'd imagine it's much lower in OP's case.

I used a local solicitor after being burned by the online outfit last time.

And don't forget you need a lot of new stuff once you move. It's amazing what doesn't work!

[HeadDreamer]

We have had plumbers and electricians in so far. That's in addition of work we already know we needed to do.

[pinkdelight]

It sounds like you want to move, and if you've had this windfall and housing is so cheap, why not go down that road and see what you could get, whether your house will sell etc. and have the stud wall as a back up option. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you.