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Original poster

Mortgage free vs bigger house debate

34 replies

Housedebate · 15/06/2025 10:39

Fictitious figures for exaggerating the point.

would you be happy with an 800k mortgage if house was worth 1.6m, as you got to live in an amazing house. I say yes as if working situation changed, we have equity to downsize.

dh says would rather be mortgage free. We live in London so 800k won’t get as amazing a house as you may think,

we are comfortable paying a repayment mortgage on the bigger one.

thoughts?

OP posts:
greencartbluecart · 15/06/2025 10:47

i always think mortgage free is best - gives you so much more free cash to actually live , save into pension etc

plus a bigger house needs more cleaning and maintenance, bigger bills

downsizing is incredibly hard for people - you get used to the space and luxury and can’t work out where the compromises should be

also if it’s a case of you might need to downsize if one loses their job -that is much more likely in an economic downturn when expensive houses in particular don’t shift easily

if you can enjoy having what you need in life rather than wanting bigger shinier more then overall I think you tend to be happier in life

Mrsttcno1 · 15/06/2025 12:05

I’d always say mortgage free because I don’t want to work just to pay for the roof over my head, there is far more to life than the 4 walls you live in.

I’d also be concerned about interest rates, and the potential that a job loss on a high mortgage could see us homeless/having to sell quickly.

MrsEdithOrme · 15/06/2025 12:09

You need to be specific with figures. I couldn't afford a mortgage that size.

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boredwithfoodprob · 15/06/2025 12:14

We are mortgage free - we have a nice, but not fancy detached house with a relatively big garden. It’s definitely big enough for us and is in a very nice area in the SE. With a mortgage we could have got a bigger/more impressive house BUT the many benefits of being mortgage free are totally worth it and makes life less stressful.

chunkybear · 15/06/2025 12:46

We had this same dilemma, had a 3 bedroom detached bungalow with a pretty rubbish lay out, big enough, just, for us family of four, both kids in junior school, but growing fast and needing space.
Ended up pretty much raising it to the ground, rebuild a huge house, great lay out for a family (kids rooms upstairs, own bathrooms, cinema/office room/spare room all upstairs, our bedroom downstairs, corner opening bi-folds in the snug/garden room, garage, utility, 4 bathrooms , huge kitchen living space. Ended up with a bigger mortgage of course, however, we have a property in a very lucrative area, catchment for schools is brilliant, 3-4 minutes walk to shops, coffee shops, restaurants and nice bars - it's fantastic and we've more than doubled the value, it's 6x more than we bought it for albeit that was at a very ideal time!
When we sell we will downsize and have a nest egg for retirement / help the kids with a deposit for their homes.
We only did this however because we had a brilliant location and house prices here have always been stable and we had virtually no mortgage ... at that point 🤣

DancingNotDrowning · 15/06/2025 12:52

The answer depends on whether there will be any significant change in lifestyle if you’re paying a mortgage v not.

CatHairEveryWhereNow · 15/06/2025 12:59

I think it depends what you can get downsizing - is it big enough for number or people in household to live amicable- and how much the mortage is of income every month and what else you could do with the money.

This is probably biggest house we'll ever own - but when kids leave and we move to new area for work we'll downsize and hopefull be mortagage free or almost - and have a new list of priorties for house and location.

RomainingCalm · 15/06/2025 13:05

Is there a compromise - smaller mortgage but better house than you could afford completely ‘mortgage free’. I also think it depends on how much disposable income you’ll have once the mortgage is paid, how you would manage if one (or both) of you were to be unable to work and your motivation for having a bigger and ‘better’ house.

It’s also important what stage of life you are at - as I’ve got older I am far more ‘risk averse’ and want to be mortgage free as quickly as possible even if it means going without ‘stuff’ - particularly as finding a comparable job seems to be harder as you get older.

MidnightPatrol · 15/06/2025 13:20

It depends on your age, income and what % of that would be mortgage repayments.

I’d have the nicer house, see the mortgage as a form of saving…

… I live in London and don’t see £800k as a particularly enormous mortgage however.

£4k/m currently…. You’d need min. £10k/m income after tax IMO, more of you have kids to support.

FrankyGoesToBollywood · 15/06/2025 13:23

Totally depends on what other factors you have in the next 10/20 years. For example we are in a smaller house because we have two sets of private school fees to pay and we prioritise that over a bigger house. We then want to be able to help out children with deposits for houses if we can. Everyone has different priorities and financial goals. For some people the most important thing is more space at home, for others they want to travel, others want to pay for education. It’s so personal and individual. If you do go mortgage free what is your DHs goal for the money you would “save” over not getting a larger house?

MellowPinkDeer · 15/06/2025 13:25

Do you need room for loads of people? I live in a large house with a large mortgage but we needed 5 beds for the kids to all have their own space. Otherwise I was quite happy In my smaller house and having more cash.

CherryBlossom321 · 15/06/2025 13:28

We’ve opted for the better house despite the fact I would LOVE to be mortgage free. It’s definitely been worth it for us, happy to make the financial sacrifices for a much easier, more peaceful and more pleasant lifestyle.

brickbybrickbybrick · 15/06/2025 13:38

We are mortgage free (we built from scratch) house is small though but everything as we want! Has been amazing to have no mortgage at this stage in life, 32yo and have one young DC unlikely to have any more. Minimised overheads means we've been able to focus on a career change and also had the choice to keep LO at home for longer which is something we really value

SlipperyLizard · 15/06/2025 13:38

We have a 400k mortgage on an 800k house, the mortgage would be a lot smaller if we hadn’t extended the house but the space we now have is brilliant.

It does make me nervous as the payments are £££ and rely on my job, but if the worst came to it then we could sell & buy a perfectly adequate house in the same town, either mortgage free or with a small mortgage affordable on DH’s salary/a smaller salary for me.

OpenWindow60 · 15/06/2025 13:40

It depends on your age and long-term plans.

We were mortgage-free 11 years ago, and bought a bigger house to downsize from.

That day will be in a year or too.

The current house is paid-off, will have gained more equity than the smaller house, and we'll have a lump sum to supplement our meagre pensions.

So.. it depends.

DeafLeppard · 15/06/2025 13:47

We bit the bullet and went from pretty much morgage free to a fairly hefty mortgage for the bigger house. I don’t regret it for a minute - we moved when our eldest was late primary and the extra space is really coming into its own. Loads of space for everyone to do their own thing, and really nice large communal spaces to hang out in. We have more than 50% LTV and a long fix at a low rate so financially we are fine.

EveryDayisFriday · 15/06/2025 13:53

We always balanced between the 2, a good sized house in a good area but not maxing out our affordability. Because of this we ended up in a decently sized doer upper with a low mortgage. Our kids are teens so having space at home became important. We aim to be mortgage free in 2yrs time before any Uni fees.

JustGoClickLikeALightSwitch · 15/06/2025 13:55

You haven't said whether you actually need a bigger house!

Everyone under each others' feet, sharing rooms etc - yes, likely. Each have enough space but it's adequate rather than "wow" - I'd stay put and throw a certain amount of money at improving your current space.

sleepchaser · 15/06/2025 14:07

Depends on how old you are, do you have kids and need more space etc? Our mortgage will be paid off next year. I will be 56, DH will be 53. Technically we could upsize and get another mortgage, but that would be silly given that the house is big enough, the kids have left home, and we don't need more space. Also, we want money to enjoy travelling when my DH retires at 55.

mindutopia · 15/06/2025 15:50

If money is no object, I’d rather have a house that I really love. That doesn’t have to be a bigger more expensive one, but the loveliest house, with a nice garden and no or nice neighbours in the right location. I spend 80% of my time at home, so I want to love where I am.

It a bit depends though on who carries the burden for making the money and paying for it though. If it’s both of you, that’s one thing. If it’s one of you more than the other, I think that person’s wishes get weighted a bit more.

Oneandanotheroneistwo · 15/06/2025 16:40

I'm with your DH. We had a similar dilemma when we were looking as we knew DH was due a decent inheritance from his nan (she'd already died, but the house needed selling). We went for a much cheaper house than we could afford knowing the inheritance would pay off the mortgage when it came through. This meant that we're mortgage free in our 30's and able to save hard to help our kids get on the property ladder/uni fees etc when they're old enough, it also meant DH was able to make a career change which resulted in a 50% salary drop (but 100% better work life balance). It was absolutely the best option for us.

WonderingWanda · 15/06/2025 16:45

Not in London so not nearly as expensive but have just gone from mortgage free to a mortgage bigger than we've ever had to get a much larger and nicer house. Kids are growing, family has grown and we plan to be here at least the next 10 yrs but probably 15 years while the kids navigate exams and Uni. It means family can come to us rather than dragging the kids all over the place now that they have busy social lives. I love it and can't believe we didn't do it sooner. That said our mortgage is only half the value of the house and we could pay it on one salary at a push so its not that much of a risk.

Ineedanewsofa · 15/06/2025 16:52

We went bigger house but looked at affordability very carefully - we are currently at 50% LTV and what we owe is 2.5x our joint income. We also bought the house before either of us turned 40.
We could easily afford the mortgage and bills on my salary if DH lost his job and just afford them on his salary if I lost my job. Love having the extra space to entertain, we’ve had 12 people (and a dog!) round for BBQ today and it doesn’t feel crowded in the slightest

okydokethen · 15/06/2025 16:53

I got the bigger house, 3 years on and DH physical health has deteriorated meaning his work massively altered as he has a physical job, I attempted a new work venture that failed dreadfully and with the cost of living ever increasing we are now broke totally unexpectedly, our mental health is shot and I’m thinking to separate.
We should have gone mortgage free.

Rancor · 15/06/2025 17:28

We have this dilemma too. We own our modest home outright. We are staying put for now as we appreciate the expensive days out, the holidays, the takeaways, the buying what we like - our only (so far) child is young, and a bigger home seems less important to all of us right now.

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