Moving house or staying put

[Sezza1980]

Hi we have 3 kids aged 12 (boy) 10 (girl) and 3 (boy) we live in a 3 bed house which we like and is near schools etc but we cant decide between staying here and trying to cope with less space so either 2 kids sharing or us sleeping downstairs so kids can have their own room. If we did this we could buy the house we are in and pay mortgage off in 10 years if we moved we would need to buy more expensive house which would prob be further away from schools and would take us 35 years to pay off mortgage and cost a lot more on running costs etc plus we wouldnt be able to move for 4 years anyway whilst we save deposits etc what would people do i this situation stay or move?

Is there space to either extend, convert a garage, split a large bedroom into two rooms or do an attic conversion? Even if you had to extend your mortgage a bit , it wouldnt be 35 years more. If you like where you are and are happy there I think it would be worth trying to see if there is any way to make your current house work.

Theres not really anyway to extend or make bigger etc the only thing we could do is split the bigger front bedroom but that would mean i bedroom would be without a window and only really small rooms

Oh that’s a shame. I knew someone many years ago who was in a similar situation. They actually bought their cheap property and when it became to small they rented it out and moved into a larger rented property themselves. When their kids were older and one left home they moved back into their then mortgage free house. They are still living happily there now.

Aww thats really good to be able to do 😊 i kind of feel that we dont want to end up with a big house and then kids move out esp older 2 and then have a longer mortgage to pay instead of extra money really plus moving further away from schools

Theres a lot to be said for being happy where you live. Trust me I know! Ive had 15 house moves (husbands job). I get the impression your heart is in your current home. Is it worth putting up a rough plan of your house up. Maybe the lovely people on here can put our heads together and see if we can come up with any ideas. Im sure you have probably thought of them all, but you never know. Also I take your point on extra money as opposed to a large mortgage

Hi yes i do really like my home now although it is not huge its in a good location and children can all walk to school we just have living room and kitchen downstairs and bathroom and 3 beds upstairs i just really dont want to be bogged down with a large mortgage unless we really need to thanks

If the kitchen is at the back of the house could you extend out to make it an open plan kitchen/dining/living space which would free up the lounge to create a bedroom, maybe with an ensuite? They did this on a recent Kirstie & Phil Love it or List it.

Or if the only option is to have the boys sharing a room, do you have room in your garden to put in a summer house type building so your eldest can have friends over or space for himself. He could even sleep out there during the summer.

Yeah we could maybe extend the kitchen at back but garden is slightly raised so not sure if they would be able do it we have got room in garden to put a shed so this could maybe work that could be quite good thanks