If you needed a mortgage would you consider moving the way things are now?

[MovingHoodie]

Hi,

Long story short, we're currently in a move now or wait for a few years situation.

Everyone is telling us we'd be mad to move right now, given interest rates and all the financial uncertainty, but people are still moving, right? They can't all be reckless or super rich...

Thoughts?

Well you don’t know what the situation will be in a few years time. It could be worse! Plus super low interest rates are very unlikely to return.

We are moving at the moment and doubling our mortgage to do so. We are not reckless or super rich.

Head over to the Property/DIY board and you’ll see that there are still people moving. The market is slowing but people are still moving.

If you want to move now, can afford it and wouldn’t be stretching yourself to the absolute maximum you can afford, then go for it. Waiting for a different economic situation is a gamble in itself.

There will always be someone telling you that it's a bad idea, something bad in the news, or one of your own personal reasons floating around your head about not getting a mortgage/buying a home.
If you have the deposit, and find a home that you really like the look of, then you should go for it, for you and your family - no matter what other random people say.

If you are using a mortgage advisor, they will likely recommend a 2-year fixed mortgage to start off with. So then in two years time, if interest rates fall you'll be able to remortgage at a lower interest rate.

You might be mad to wait a few years. It depends entirely on the reason for and scope of the move.

We're planning to move from an area that will peak shortly, regardless of external factors (big new transport link). To an area which is falling slightly, but it doesn't really matter if it falls immediately, because we would complete our mortgage period there.

I wouldn't be swayed too much by what other people are saying. None of them are nostradamus. I'd think a lot more about the house and your loving circumstances than by wannabe property Mystic Megs.

Hmm some good points made.

We'd be wanting to up size and also live in a more desirable area, so our repayments would definitely be higher. Not far off double actually. As it stands we are comfortable and have a good amounr of disposable income, so initially our lifestyle would definitely be different. If our hh income was pretty static then I would be nervous about that, but DPs salary has been increasing quite rapidly, plus I will be going back to work within the next year or 2. It might sound like, in that case, just move in a couple of years, but that wouldn't work as well for DCs.

I know we're lucky to even have such a "dilemma', so please no 'stealth boast' accusations. I'm just being honest and looking for opinions, that's all.

It all depends on your individual circumstances. You can get a fixed rate mortgage so that you know for sure what your repayments will be for the next 2, 5,10 years. If you know you can afford the repayments, changes in interest rates won't affect you.

Prices for everything else will fluctuate and you'll need to budget for them whether you move or not.

On the whole, house prices continue to rise. If you intend to stay in your new house for 10 or 20 years, say, it's very unlikely that you will lose out financially.

My vote would be to move if it's right for your personal family and your personal circumstances. After all, it's not just a house, it's a home.

Sounds like very similar to us OP. I wanted to move this year before school applications in the autumn for our 3 year old. Wanted to upsize and move to better area: not easy but doable. We live very comfortably now with a smaller mortgage but we could afford more so took the plunge.

We will need to make some modest lifestyle changes but we also have good potential for earnings to increase etc. and haven’t blown our maximum borrowing or spent all our savings on this move.

Depends;

Do you need to move?
Are you stretching?
Are your jobs secure?

I would move now but I wouldn't borrow loads or pay over the odds.

Oh & I wouldn't be banking on making lots of money on the purchase

Agree with this completely. Especially this - There will always be someone telling you that it's a bad idea, something bad in the news

If you can find a mortgage where you can afford monthly payments, alongside a home you like and need, then what’s the issue.

We are making this move in a couple of weeks.

Bigger house, more desirable area. We could
manage but we could do with the space now, it works for getting into schools. We have gone for a 5 year fix. The 2 year fixes are were slightly dearer (maybe the banks think things may be better in 2 years!). We know my salary will increase (standardised pay scales), I will finish paying my student loan. We know the monthly payment is doable. Who knows where we’ll be in 5 years. We have reasonable LTV, we need to pay to live somewhere. It could be things are the same in 5 years. Lots of stuff suggesting interest rates settle at 3-4%. Maybe we won’t make loads of money as our parents did but hopefully the house will at least hold. We sold our house for a bit under asking, we’re buying the new one for a bit under. Maybe we could have got a better deal in a year or two, or maybe not. At least we’ll have been chipping away at it.
So far the best time to buy has always been a few years ago, whenever this question is asked!