Do you prioritise bigger house or more disposable income?

[Pepperwand]

Firstly, I know we're very lucky to be in a position where this is even a choice but I seem to change my mind on this matter weekly so would appreciate other thoughts and perspectives.

Live with DH and two young DC (preschooler and baby) in a small 3 bed. Love the area and house in general but have niggles which are mainly no hallway....front door opens into living room, no downstairs loo and no option to put one in and small children's bedrooms....one is a very small box room. No easy way to extend either because of the plot we're on.

We could afford a bigger mortgage as manage to save a few hundred a month and won't have nursery fees in a few years so part of me feels that it's a no brainer and we should just move somewhere bigger and accept bigger debt. Other half of me thinks that if we like the area and have a house we can easily afford then we should just Marie Kondo the heck out of it and enjoy less "stuff" and more flexibility in terms of disposable income, options to pay off the mortgage early/save for children's future etc.

Did anyone have similar circumstances? What did you do?

[Pepperwand]

@SillyCow6 loft extension could be an idea, I suppose I'd just worry about making the house too "top heavy" with decent bedroom space but a cramped downstairs in comparison with no hallway/WC.

[EwwSprouts]

Bigger house while you have children at home. There are only three of us but with COVID restrictions DH has WFH full-time, I WFH part-time and teen DS is trying to study. We have really appreciated the space to spread out. Had my last car 9 years & DH's is 7 years old now so that's mainly where we compromise. Bigger house often comes with bigger garden too unless new house.

Can always go back to smaller & more money for luxuries nearer retirement.

[sunrainwind]

I guess it's striking the right balance - I wouldn't want so much going to my mortgage I couldn't afford other things. We could afford a 2 bed mortgage free and the children could share a bedroom and we would have a lot of disposable income - but we have a bigger house with more space and decent garden with a sizeable mortgage - we could technically afford to borrow around another £150k but would then be really tight and we couldn't afford holidays/extra curricular activities etc.

[Bluntness100]

Bigger house. Do it now. House prices always ultimately increase. Because the value of money decreases. What you can buy for a pound today, you buy for 1.50 tomorrow.

Plus the house gives you a better standard of living. You can always down size later if you choose, and cash in your equity.

[ThatDamnScientist]

I live in a small house and have pretty much no disposable income. Given the choice of the two I would go for bigger house everytime.

[Lazypuppy]

Bigger house 100%

[KindKylie]

We went for the house and don't regret it.

Having enough space to have lots of people over, birthday parties at home etc in normal times and enough space for us to work and home school during lockdown have meant it was the right decision for us.

[HotChoc10]

Disposable income for me. I want to pay off the mortgage early, go part time and spend less time at work!

[SillyCow6]

Would it be cheaper to go up into the loft rather than move @Pepperwand? Take out the box room to add in stairs and a small loo/shower room and end up with no box room?

[MsPants]

We went for the smaller house (flat in our case) and it was a mistake. We ended up buying a bigger place later after a couple of years. We had lovely holidays and lots to look forward to, but it doesn't compete with being able to just relax every day without being on top of each other.

I think is does make a difference though that our flat was too small; as in, teenage dss had to sleep on a pullout when he came every weekend. If the space we had was manageable I think we may have been better.

[TheTurnOfTheScrew]

we stayed small
like a pp mentioned, the jump to the next size house up would be huge financially, for minimal space gain. right now we fritter our money away on holidays and days out, but it's also worth mentioning that the university years are creeping up on us and it's nice know that we have plenty of slack in our finances to help pay for that.

[MondeoFan]

Smaller house in a affluent area with good networks, schools and roads. It's always in top 20 of best places to live.
Means more disposable income, always decent holidays and days out, furnished nicely but a tad too small really.
I like being able to holiday though e.g Florida and go to theme parks in UK and sleepover, that kind of thing.

[Disfordarkchocolate]

Things like the lack of a hall would drive me mad. I'd go for the bigger house. Not my normal choice but I don't like the front door opening into the living room.

[Pepperwand]

Oh wow, thank you for all the responses it has given me lots to think about!

Really interesting point about putting aside the amount that an increased mortgage would be and seeing how it feels, especially while we wait out and see the impact from Covid and Brexit. I love the feeling in this house that we could afford the mortgage on one salary, I can work part time and we could pay the house off quickly and potentially retire early. Then again I think once DC2 is running around we'll feel more cramped, the box room could fit a single bed and wardrobe but not a desk and the lack of downstairs loo is a real sticking point but we're on a very small plot. Lots of food for thought!

[JaniceWebster]

So as you prioritise holidays you haven't really had to cut back have you?

Really? Are holidays the only thing you spend money on? Yes I prioritise holidays, and after the lockdown will prioritise them even more. I chose to cut back on many other things. Not sure why you'd assume having different priorities means having a pretty much unlimited budget. I wish... No one actually enjoys having to cut back.

[Nosuchluck]

I didn't know we'd only have to cut back for a year, we took a risk as the new mortgage was over 50% of take home salary so yes we did prioritise a bigger house over disposable income.

[PineappleUpsideDownCake]

So as you prioritise holidays you haven't really had to cut back have you?

I think in your case you've got the big house (with a ridivulously big mortgage) and a pot to juggle things with - holidays? Sounds ideal! The dream! But not really the same kind of choice as a small house no loo and a couple of hundred to choose what to do with is in. Very few people have enough to buy All The Things!

[JaniceWebster]

Cutting back for a year is very different to a future with not having holidays/etc.

There's also a lifestyle choice. I don't consider not having my nails done , not having sky+ and never ordering take-away "cutting back". I prioritise my holidays (and obviously my ridiculously big mortgage, but that South East for you).

If you can barely survive on dry pasta for the next 5 years, yes, you are stretching yourself. If you decide that you cannot afford everything but chose house and holidays, it works.

By sticking mainly to school activities, and scouts, sports from local clubs for example, my kids do an awful lot for next to nothing. If they had joined private sport clubs that would be too much for us.

I wouldn't push anyone to be stupid with money, especially at the moment, but just saying it's possible to juggle things a bit - as long as you have a certain pot to play with in the first place obviously.

[notheragain4]

Pineapple I know what you mean, that's why I ( and a few others) have posted there's a third option that seems really taboo on Mumsnet, and that's to compromise location (well it might not even be a compromise depending on needs but looking at cheaper areas). That's what we did in the end when we realised we couldn't give up space or holidays.

[PineappleUpsideDownCake]

Nosuch and others still having holidays and meals out etc - aren't yuou really examples of big house and disposable income? Similarly those in a "small house" but it has a converted garage/spare room/downstiars loo - this is what Op/myself are aspiring to!! Cutting back for a year is very different to a future with not having holidays/etc.

We're in a similarish position to OP - small 3bed with no downstairs loo and our spare disposable income is a couple of hundred a month. In order to move we'd lose holidays/kids activities etc so would be a tricky move.

Many people on this thread have disposable income (ie holidays/ meals out) AND an okay sized house (downstairs loo/ possible spare room/ converted second living room.) I know very few people with "4 bed plus spare room"

[halcyondays]

If you can afford to save hundreds a month you’d be better overpaying the mortgage than putting the money into savings. You might be able to find somewhere for about the same price or not much more that had slightly bigger bedrooms and maybe a downstairs loo.

[notheragain4]

@Nosuchluck I know what you mean. We bought a small house to be "sensible" and have more disposable income, within 2 years our income had increased by over a third and our childcare dropped from a nearly 4 figure sum to £150. Now we have outgrown the house, not really made any money from it and need to move our children middle of primary school. Hind sight is a wonderful thing but I regret not taking a bigger risk! (That said we couldn't have afforded anything close to what we are buying now 3 years ago).

[JaniceWebster]

Bigger house before you have to apply for primary school so settled by then without a doubt.

How small is the "box room"? If you can fit a single bed a desk and small wardrobe or storage, it's not so bad, otherwise where will all the kids stuff go?

It has proven totally worth going for the biggest over the year until the house I am in now for us. I haven't sacrificed holidays as I saved on other things, but we are still home most of the year.

[anon444877]

But it’s possible over the next few years some of us will regret having made the jump - the economy would worry me if making the move now, but then I was worried when I moved when the brexit referendum was happening!

[Nosuchluck]

We went for a bigger house (5 bedrooms, 2 ensuites, three reception rooms) in a catchment area for good primary and secondary schools. We had one year without much disposable income but then received pay rises and were able to go a few holidays a year, eat out etc. I don't know anyone that's regretted moving to a bigger house.