To always live in a cheaper house...

[PuckeredAhole]

...so that we can afford to travel and not feel poor at the end of the month?

We could have a more expensive house than we have but we want to travel with the kids and do days out. But am I missing out having a great house? What do you prioritise? I just don't want to get to retirement and a) be in a mediocre forever home thinking we could have pushed ourselves more (e.g. me work full time) or b) living in a huge lovely house but not having shown my kids the world or being able to buy them the latest gadgets or have a nicer car. First world problems, I know.

We're the same - smaller house but better standard of living. No kids yet, but although we could afford somewhere nicer, it's not worth it. As it stands, the mortgage is small, but we can go on days out, go for meals without having to budget weeks in advance, go abroad a couple of times a year, as well as have a couple of mini-breaks locally.

I'd love a nicer house one day, but I would rather be able to live and go out/enjoy myself, then have to sit around in my big house because I had no money to go out each month.

If you buy the biggest you can (safely) afford, your equity will grow quicker, and so will your retirement pot or the inheritance you can leave to your children. We are all living longer and will need extra sources of income, probably more than pensions can provide.

My DP and I used to go on 5 or 6 (cheap hotels/camping) trips a year before we had children but after a couple of miserable experiences realised that taking them abroad while they are so little (now 6) can be a huge financial drain and we come back more stressed than we were when we left! So we plough most of our spare cash into paying off the mortgage and savings now, in the hope that the time will soon come when we can enjoy our travelling adventures again .

DH and I agree with you op; it is a great reassurance to me that if we both stay in work, the mortgage should be paid off by the time I'm 53. I'll still have 15 years in work after that (realistically) so it should be gravy for my retirement, whoop whoop.

Obviously I know it won't be quite like that but 53 feels young for owning my house outright and I am pleased at the prospect!

I think our children will remember our (large) house, we have been on the market and they are sad that we are considering selling as they've had very happy childhoods here with lots of friends and family visiting.

We always did this, we bought based on a single income in case of illness, and overpaid to pay it off faster. Bought comfy enough for the whole family but not too big. We afforded international travel this way and for me to be a SAHM at different times over the years as needed.
Now mid fifties and mortgage free, so we don't need to earn as much to cover the bills.
Another way to build equity was that we bought doer uppers and lived in them while we did them, Dh wasn't that house handy at first, but we bought and loaned books on DIY and now he learns more with you tube. He recently learned plastering, does a nice job too.

My mortgage is now down to 1 years salary. It was only ever 1.5 year's.

I wonder where I could live if I went to a 3 or 4 times salary house. I'd probably be able to get away from tatty neighbours who block my drive for a start.

But then I look at my relatively care free life and the fact that I can afford almost any experience I want (it helps I have modest tastes) and still save for bigger purchases (new kitchen this year) with ease without scrimping. And I know if I lose my job we could afford this mortgage with relative ease.

And then I put right move away.

Still have pangs of jealousy about my friends houses. But yeah just more lawn to mow. More floors to hoover. We have enough space to live. More would be pure snobbery and status signalling. I don't feel the need to drive a BMW like my colleagues 10 year old Toyota instead), or dress in designer clothes. So why do I feel the need to have a big house? I dont know, but the urge is there periodically that I could afford a better one. So I should get one. Then I put it away again and spend the money on plants food activities holidays and toys (for adults and children)

Same here OP. We live somewhere quite small and shabby. But we're able to save, afford for one of us to work very PT and have holidays. Our lives are pretty stress free, which was our priority.

We never had a choice - circumstances beyond our control (three recessions) meant we stayed in this basic house. We'd always wanted to a bigger house and especially a decent garden.

Now retired, we are so glad that's how it panned out. Few maintenance costs and little to do to keep the garden tidy.

But, as others have said, buy the house that fits what you want. More holidays, stay cheap, etc., etc.

draylon yes downsizing after the dcs leave is something I'd do if we were to move to a bigger house. But in a way, what is the point? We could stay in this house and never have to downsize as it's the right size for 2 dcs and for a retired couple who will have their kids back to stay no doubt!

I agree with what a pp said... I remember all my family holidays. We were all there together: no work, no school and no worries. I want that for my children.

We moved from our smaller house because of schools. I loved it more than my new big house and we could have spent the momey we have on this nealy clearing our mortgage.

However the old house actually lost us money. Hoping to suck it up here during sevondary school years then sell having made enough to downsize again and pay off. well thats the plan but it does make me nervous that if we became ill or interest rates went up. we could have gone higher bit still tried to stick to what we could afford.

If I could have stayed and extended I would. I do miss my house. However luckily kids love new house even if I don't. we are not really into travelling and are quite homebirds. what I would say is never feel pressured to move by what others think you should be doing. I would have stayed had it not been for bloody schools!

We've just massively extended our mortgage to do a huge extension on our already decent sized house. Although I do feel a bit sick about it we believe that in the longer term it will mean that our money works far better for us. We will have less cash savings but won't have to compromise in other ways. The equity in the house in the long term will increase far more than our money sitting in the bank. Therefore we will eventually downsize with more money and be better off than we would be by playing safe. We've been advised to do this for a good few years but it took us until now to be comfortable to do so. However, there's already more than enough equity to downsize if things go pear shaped so it's not that much of a risk. We took the view that our 40's is definitely the time to throw money on a big mortgage and then build up equity

If you buy the biggest you can (safely) afford, your equity will grow quicker, and so will your retirement pot or the inheritance you can leave to your children.

This presumes that your property will hold value, and that it's a better investment than whatever you might use the extra money for. There are plenty of people who choose a modest home in order to invest cash in other things. Goes to the point made by other posters about not having all your assets in property.

Agree on overpaying though. And that taking young DC abroad can be an advanced level nightmare!

I decided to to this too. We life in a 2 bed terrace in a fairly poor area, but no crime or problems. The mortgage is paid off.

The house is cheap to heat. It's also easy to clean and all the rooms are decorated nicely because it only takes a day to paint a room. We have lots of cupboards and shelves so we have our things organised well. The house is mostly painted white to make it feel a bit bigger.

I love our house, I don't really feel the need to live in a bigger property. Living beyond your means and constantly worrying about job loss is not a good way to live, in my opinion.

herbluebiro I think you've described my feelings perfectly.

I feel that this house is just right if for no other reason than it's cleanable I.e. if we had a bigger house we would not be able to keep up with maintaining it inside and out!

I have always believed that travel is enriching and I'd like to aim for a big summer holiday that the kids will remember and 1 or 2 short breaks. It's a nice life goal to have.

But I am a right move addict. Less so now we've moved though. However, like herbluebiro I will put it away and realise the benefits of being content.

I will be a first time buyer when and if I eventually buy. I'm going through the same questions. I really love the area of London where I am, but I am renting and have a great landlady. Buying in this area is very expensive, even for a studio or a one bedroom. I would really like to start a business, so even with help from family, I'm not sure I would want to buy something in this area.

The only trouble is, I don't know where else I would want to buy, or live, I don't even know if I want to buy in the UK. Very confused at the moment. I don't know where else I would want to buy, or live, I don't even know if I want to buy in the UK. Very confused at the moment. I definitely do not want something that I would not be able to manage though.

If you buy the biggest you can (safely) afford, your equity will grow quicker, and so will your retirement pot or the inheritance you can leave to your children

It doesn't always work like that though. When my Mil bought her house it was worth a lot more than it is now. She can't won't sell it as she still mistakenly believes it is still worth what she paid so every month her debt gets bigger as she puts the mortgage on yet another credit card.

No partner or children here and I live in a houseshare. I could just about afford my own studio flat but there would be very little money left over for anything else at all. And after the years when I could only just pay rent and had to watch every penny, I now enjoy being being able to buy a gig ticket (I love indie music and nothing beats seeing bands live IMO) or a plane ticket to go and visit my friends who are scattered all over Europe.

Plus I enjoy the company. Most of the aforementioned friends are former housemates. I can only see me giving up the housesharing in order to move in with a partner - and he'd have to be something pretty damn special in that case!

It also depends when you joined the market, we pushed very hard but at a time when equity moved very fast. If I had stayed in my first house I would now be mortgage free with £150,000 house whereas now I live in a house nearly treble the value with £20,000 mortgage. So age is definitely a deciding factor and the advice I would give my children would be completely different to my own experience.

We could very easily afford a much bigger house in a better area. But we're staying in an "average" house (in terms of value and location) and have no plans to move at all. In just the same way that we could afford two new cars, luxury foreign holidays, the latest gadgets, etc. Just because "you can", certainly doesn't mean that "you should!". We spend our money as and when we have a compelling reason to do so. Spending more, new cars, bigger house simply wouldn't make us happier, so what's the point? I couldn't give a toss about keeping up with the Jones' - it just doesn't interest me.

We're having the same discussion I our house, all our friends seem to be moving from their sttter homes into their 'forever' homes and we thought about doing the same.
We have a lovely 2 bed house with a garden that we love, it's in an ok area but great location in terms of getting to town and next to a beautiful park. We have been overpaying our mortage and are on track to have it paid in 8 years, which would mean being mortage free before the time I'm 40.
To us that financial freedom is far more important than having an extra bedroom or dining room, the house is small but it's the same size as the house I grew up in and that was fine.
Life's for living, stay in the smaller house.

If you're happy with your situation then you're doing the right thing for you OP

When our DC were young we needed more space and more rooms, and living where we do (SE) we had little choice but to mortgage ourselves to the max. But that was a long time ago now and we were lucky that things worked out well financially - we now have a relatively small mortgage on a house that has plenty of space and we love.

To me it's probably more important to have a lovely home than to have lots of holidays - but I'm very much a homebody and love spending time there. We have one big holiday a year and that's enough for me .

It really depends on the area you live in. My first flat was £95k (and it really wasn't great). It's now valued on zoopla at £325k! Really not that great at all.

It's been the same with all our houses, if we hadn't bought near the top of the budget everytime, we would have been completely priced out. There's always a risk of market going down for a while of course. If the house is big enough, at least you can take a lodger or 2.

Yanbu OP. Living beyond your means in terms of luxuries seems so common these days. Houses don't bother me so much as families making themselves skint in order to have an ott car or techno-crap.

I am a high earner and live in a very modest house and drive a 6 year old car (just upgraded to it!). I know lots of people with low earnings where both parents work full time and they upgrade cars on HP every three years (top end cars like mercs). Each to his own but I just don't understand it. My sister is married to s guy who until recently has insisted on driving a top BMW via hp. Their combined earnings are 1/3 of mine and I couldn't afford it! They are constantly borrowing money to get by each month and dreaming of special holidays that they can't afford.... makes no sense to me.

If you buy the biggest you can (safely) afford, your equity will grow quicker, and so will your retirement pot or the inheritance you can leave to your children.

Or you could end up in the situation my DP is in where he bought the biggest he could afford £110k in 2008 and is now on the market for £25k less than he bought it for and will likely have to reduce by at least another 5k.
We don't all live in the south east where property has exploded in price.

As it stands we won't be taking even close to the full amount of mortgage we could when we finally move. I'd rather live in a smaller house and have good times and good experiences with my DS.