Would you buy a house you’ll outgrow in 5 years?

[dof]

It would get us onto the ladder but definitely only room for one DC, planning on trying later this year. 2 decent sized bedrooms and one very small box room/office. The area would be alright for now but schools aren’t the best so we’d probably look at moving when DC is a few years old - not that you can plan these things. Asked DM for her thoughts and she thinks we should wait and find a house in an area we’d be happy to stay in, as moving is stressful and costly

We just don’t have the luxury of the same choice with how expensive things are and we’d likely have to have a house without a garden/much smaller house if we were to buy in the ‘nice area’ we rent in!

You don't know what will happen in the next five years , babies dokey usually come on a timetable.

If it suits you now go for it

If you could afford it I would. Id rather be building equity over that time scale.

Unless you think your incomes will increase greatly within 5 years, then I would look for something you’re happy to stay in, where the schools are good enough that you’d be happy sending a DC there.

As your mother says, buying and selling is really expensive. Added to which, if you haven’t had any DC yet, you need to factor in what those years will do to your income - it’s not usually positive! Maternity leave, childcare etc - all costly.

A 2-bed + box room I don’t see as an impediment to 2 DC, btw. Maybe as they get older but you’d definitely be fine for quite a while.

How much rent are you paying?
How much will you save paying a mortgage as opposed to rent?
How much will moving cost?
Will the former be more than the latter?
If so, do it then move.

I think it depends on what the sacrifices are they you’d have to make in the nicer area. It is expensive to move and it’s better to buy in a nicer area in terms of value- you’d probably sell easier/make a bit more money than in a less desirable area.
Is there any way of buying a doer upper? I do agree that it’s better to be paying a mortgage over rent but you do need to balance the returns after the 5 years too.

I think you're wrong saying a 2bed+box is too small for a second child - I know families with 3 children living in the same...

Yes we did. We bought a two bed semi-detached, then in the next two years had our two children. It wasn't the best area, but as you say it was how we could afford to get on the ladder. When DD was 5 and DS was 3 we moved to a four bed in a nicer area, though had to sacrifice having a garden to afford it. We really appreciate the bigger house though! And their new school has a really nice community feel.

No
If you can push yourselves to the next level then I would. It is expensive to move; agents fees, stamp duty, etc.

We did this when we had one child. Went onto have 3 and didn't move until the youngest was 2. It was a tight squeeze at times but when they are very little (mine were close together), it's not like you can sit in the library reading while the children play in the playroom. Different when they are teens. We made a fair profit when we sold and bought a house that worked for us completely. Also schools weren't the best - but turns out they weren't the worst either and were improving.

I

Clarify boxroom... do you mean a room that can only be useful as an office or nursery, or one that fits a single bed and drawes/wardrobe? Plenty of people have 2 or 3 kids in a 2 double/1 single bedroom house.

Schools change.

What kind of property would you be able to afford in an area with a school that you’d be happy to send your DC to? That’s what I’d be looking at I think.

We personally just downsized from a 4 bed to a 2 bed + box room to make sure we were in an area with decent schooling and better facilities for children. I’d rather live with less space in the house as the kids are growing up and have more available to them close by than be further away and have to be travelling far for school etc.

@PuttingDownRoots box room as maybe 6ft x 6.5ft. Office or nursery probably

I wouldn't personally do this unless I was happy to stay for 10 years or more.

I know two families right now that did this and at stuck because they can't afford to move. One planned to move before eldest child started school as they didn't like the ones in their area.

We have a 19 year old in a small double bed in that size room 😀
it’s probably a good idea to be paying a mortgage rather than rent overall,worth adding up stamp duty etc.
also, if it’s local, moving costs don’t have to be high, we roped in every friend with an estate car!

I wouldn’t expect to stay in a first property for more than 5 years anyway, though I know some people do.
Basically, I would buy this year if you see something you like at a good price. 5 years is ages!

I'd buy a smaller house in the right school catchment and plan to move when you need more space, but if you can't move it isn't the end of the world, you are in the right area, that's the main thing. A house with 2 beds and a box room is big enough to have 2 kids in, you just put the youngest in the box room or they share, small kids are fine sharing. The office can be relocated to another area of the house if it's being used as a bedroom.

I'd never buy a house in an area that you know is rubbish for schools when you know you'll be having kids you need to get into school, don't forget you apply the year before so if you have a summer born baby you'll be applying when they haven't long since turned 3.

We did exactly this. We've been living here for 5 years now and it'll probably be another year or maybe even 2 years before we move....we're just starting getting the place ready to put up for sale now. We've saved loads of money by having a smaller mortgage for the last 5 years and it's gone up in value a lot since we bought it, bought for 145k and it's valued at 295k now. I wouldn't expect to see houses going up in value so much in the next 5 years though, prices are already so high. It's fit our needs just fine up until now but we would like to move to an area with better schools before my son reaches school going age.

@ItsTimeToWine oh of course. Didn’t even think of that, you apply with lots of notice. Hmmm

A friend of mine has her two sons in bunkbeds in a room that size! Age 15 and 10.

@Verylongtime feel better knowing that! People make it work then for sure. It’s not even a given we’ll have more than one, just don’t want to close all our options off. I suppose at the end of the day if it’s not working you sell, don’t you

We bought our current house for a 3yr stint. 10 years later…. Too expensive to sell and move unfortunately.

😬 it’s so hard isn’t it

Our house was similar when I was growing up (same size box room). It was mine until we needed some more income as a family in the 70's and my parents rented out the box room and me and my sister shared the second double.

I got it back aged around 11 I think and had it until I left home for uni.

Its plenty big enough!

Yes but

I wouldn’t buy somewhere that I wouldn’t be happy to stay at just in case.

Speaking as someone who ended up staying in the house I had planned to sell after 2-5 years... its now 15 years later and no sign of moving ever. Shit happens, fortunately I could stay in the house very comfortably.

Isn't that missing the point though? Sometimes people can plan to move but can't.