Would you rather have more disposable income or larger family home?

[Lovinglife45]

I was speaking to a friend the other day. She lives in a large five bed house on a pretty street, good schools nearby, a beautiful park. Friend and her dh stretched themselves financially in order to have more space. This does mean they cannot go abroad for family holidays and have to budget tightly for clothes, days out, food shop. Friend is happy with decision as dc can have friends to stay over, they can lounge in garden, host bbqs, have a separate bathroom to dc.

I wonder if space is more beneficial and good for one's well being than having more disposable income.

Speaking from experience, I would rather more space as it is depressing and frustrating living day in day out in a small house. One small bathroom, poky bedrooms that can only accommodate a bed, wardrobe and chest of drawers, one downstairs living space (talking less than 900 square foot).

Would you rather have more money or space?

@NeedleNoodle3

mrsm43s wouldn’t you have educated your DC if you had moved?

We would not have been able to afford private education if we had upsized. They would, of course, been educated. It's fairly obvious that I omitted a word in the PP, no?

I'm currently having this debate with DH. We have a very average 3 bed end of terrace house (complete with box room that couldn't fit a bed). We've been thinking about moving but if we increase our mortgage by £100k we can only get a marginally bigger house (3 double rooms, maybe an en suite or utility) or something similar in a slightly nicer area. If we want something significantly bigger we'd be looking at £150k (doubling current mortgage) and moving to a less nice area. He wants to increase the mortgage and move, I can't decide if it's worth the financial pressure. At the moment we are living comfortably within our means.

Money. I was happiest living in a flat. Cosy, easy to heat and quick to clean. But I do love the garden...

If I could get a huge garden with a cottage attached for 300k, I'd be in like Flynn.

Rather more money. I'd be happier to afford what I wanted and to go on holiday when I want. I don't need a lot of space at home

I would choose money, but like everything it depends on the extremes - I am assuming eg a family of four or five squeezed into a two bedroom terrace, then I would go for more space. If the children all have their own room - up to a reasonable point (eg sets of twin, lots of children) - then I would choose more money. There's no point in living in a large house if you can't afford the bills or to maintain it.

We moved area to get much more (but not absutely masses of) space and keep our mortgage small.

We could move to a marginally bigger house, but we'd have to increase our mortgage by £150,000. We've decided to stay and improve our our current home.

We always went for it as far as moving was concerned, we didn’t overthink it and moved a few times in close succession

I think this mentality depends on age & when you bought.

Younger people are already stretching themselves to buy & are older when then are ftbs & moving lots is very expensive.

Depends on the stage if your life.

Your money is better going into property early, and then as your earnings increase with promotions etc, and your childcare costs decrease you can start enjoying higher disposable income as it becomes available… snd all the while your mortgage is decreasing and house value rising.

Later, pre retirement, when you have hit peak earnings or stopped earning it would probably be better to downsize and enjoy the disposable income liberated through capital and lower utilities costs.

Space.
I leaned over lockdown that our living environment is absolutely the most important thing. I didn’t miss coffees or meals out . I realised that being happy and comfortable in my home and having a nice garden which is not overlooked is crucial.
Being able to have family to stay without feeling cramped, having enough storage space and a decent sized bathroom is so important. That’s why we’re planning to move soon.

Learned

@HomeHomeInTheRange

Depends on the stage if your life.

Your money is better going into property early, and then as your earnings increase with promotions etc, and your childcare costs decrease you can start enjoying higher disposable income as it becomes available… snd all the while your mortgage is decreasing and house value rising.

Later, pre retirement, when you have hit peak earnings or stopped earning it would probably be better to downsize and enjoy the disposable income liberated through capital and lower utilities costs.

IF your earnings increase. Not everyone's will.

Location is really important to me. I could have loads more space & money if I moved out of Z2/3 London but I'd rather not.

@FloBot7

I'm currently having this debate with DH. We have a very average 3 bed end of terrace house (complete with box room that couldn't fit a bed). We've been thinking about moving but if we increase our mortgage by £100k we can only get a marginally bigger house (3 double rooms, maybe an en suite or utility) or something similar in a slightly nicer area. If we want something significantly bigger we'd be looking at £150k (doubling current mortgage) and moving to a less nice area. He wants to increase the mortgage and move, I can't decide if it's worth the financial pressure. At the moment we are living comfortably within our means.

@FloBot7 what would be the benefits of moving for you?

@AnastasiaRomanov

Space. I leaned over lockdown that our living environment is absolutely the most important thing. I didn’t miss coffees or meals out . I realised that being happy and comfortable in my home and having a nice garden which is not overlooked is crucial. Being able to have family to stay without feeling cramped, having enough storage space and a decent sized bathroom is so important. That’s why we’re planning to move soon.

yes this.

purpledagger
We are in similar situation. Trapped in a home that is far too small.

flobot7
Decisions decisions.

Anastasia
Smaller space was fine when dc were young. Now the walls are closing in on us. Bathroom only comfortably accommodates one person. Master bedroom is a small double, second bedroom can only comfortably accommodate a single bed and third bed is a box room. This was the best we could get with our budget. Upsizing would mean doubling our mortgage at least- this would be for three large rooms, a second bathroom and a second lounge.

Unless we win the lottery, there is no hope of ever moving which means dc can only have one friend to stay. It also means when my dc have families of their own, they will be unable to stay overnight.

Depends on age. Young with family, space. Older, family left home, spare cash (and less work/maintenance).

Space. That's what we did and I've never regretted it. To be fair, we bought a large, run down property that was cheap thinking we'd do it up.

We've never had the spare cash, so it's still run down and shabby but I'm glad we did it. We have oak kitchen units at the bottom - and when my parents put a new kitchen unit in we took their pine top cabinets and fitted them into our kitchen. There is nothing fancy about the place, but the size and the outdoor space and no near neighbours has been worth it.

Our house is a good size for our family so I would go for more disposable income.

(We don’t have en-suites and have one bathroom between 4 of us but we did the bigger house and to be honest it was a pain. Going from 3 bathrooms to one was a shock. What we do have is a spare room, large kitchen, 2 receptions and a large garden and drive).

I'd go for the big house. It will be a stretch to start with but over time the costs will decrease and you will have a better investment for your future.

We chose space, and I'm so glad we did.

Kids love their own rooms, the house is much nicer and so we are happy to have people over now where as we avoided it before.

Money every time. The (teen) DC prefer to go out than stay in and can't be bothered with the yard after about age 10, but we all like to travel/eat out etc. Also less space means you have to be very careful about not collecting junk, which is a relief to me as family often try to pass their junk onto us.

Unfortunately recent circumstances mean we've just downsized to a much more expensive house! Because it's smaller, though, we think it will last us 15-20 years.

More disposable income for sure. I'd love to have money to save or invest. And I'd love to get the mortgage paid off early.

Money. I have spent quite a bit of time in Asia (mainly Japan) and have got used to not needing loads of space. I am ruthless and declutter regularly. Very small capsule wardrobe. The only area I struggle with is the kitchen. I love cooking and we are currently in a rental with a poor layout of cupboard space.

I personally would go for a balance between the two. We have a 4-bed house for 2 people. We don't have as much space as some friends do and we could have gone for something bigger but I'd rather be in a position to pay our mortgage of early (or have breathing room if one of us should lose our jobs).