To ask you about living in a bigger home?

[BocolateChiscuits]

DH and I own a 3 bed house, we have a 1yr old DC, and I'm pregnant. We bought years ago, and the house was quite dated and neglected when we bought it, so over the years we've done a fair bit of work, and now have it how we like it.

Thing is the house is perfectly formed, but all the rooms are small. The 3rd bedroom is a box room, the kitchen is a little galley, it's just a stride from the sofa to the tv, and we quickly feel squished if we invite more than 2 people round.

Meanwhile our incomes have grown since we bought the place, we've built up equity, and could afford somewhere a bit bigger in the local area (which we love) . But it would be costly.

So I'm wondering, given that we don't really need somewhere bigger, is it really worth the cost? I have fond daydreams of DC having plenty of room for playing, and inviting family over for big meals. But maybe by saving money by staying put we could afford lovely days out and holidays or treat family to a big pub meal all together instead.

So I wanted to ask MNetters' experiences. If you have moved to bigger home has it made your lives happier or easier? Do you regret it, or are you pleased? Does it take a lot more time in terms of cleaning? (We have a rota for non day-to-day stuff, that takes us about 30mins each a week - so not bad.) How about maintenance?

(Disclaimer: I know we're very lucky to own a home and to be in a position to consider buying a bigger one. We're in the middle of a housing affordability crises in the UK, and lots of people are struggling. Apologies to those people for posting this thread. It's so "first world problems", I know, it is just something I'm really curious about.)

We have moved to a bigger house, doubled our mortgage but don't regret it one bit.

Our previous house was open plan downstairs which seemed a good idea at the time but as our children got older was a real pain as there was nowhere to go. Hubby and I spent many a meal standing up in the kitchen just so we could have a conversation while the rowdy kids say at the dining table.

I find it easier to keep the new house clean and tidy as we now have enough room to store things properly and have room to clean and swing a cat!

Our kids now have their own rooms so we've been able to identify who really was the messy one when they were sharing!

I'd say if you can afford it the go for it!

We had a tiny 2 bed bungalow which we extended into a 4 bed 3 bath house with a huge open plan kitchen / diner which opens out into the garden.

We got far more house for our money doing it this way than if we’d tried to buy a 4 bed.

I bloody love it. So much easier to keep tidy as there’s a place for everything. We made it super energy efficient so our heating bills aren’t extravagant. If you’re going for a big house energy efficiency is really important! Look for a modern house.

I have one DD aged 10 and the house is starting to feel too big as she doesn’t need so much room to play, but it was fabulous when she was little. I can imagine downsizing a tad when she’s a teen.

We have massive parties and big family gatherings. I love it but if you don’t enjoy hosting then this can become a drag.

just be careful though, its amazing having extra space but be sure you can still afford the lifestyle you want with the move.

i should have out more downsides to our move:

• insane stamp duty and estate agents fees has left our savings pot at a 1/6th compared to previously. its gonna take time to build it up.
• i have a huge house but no money to replace major rooms to my tastes: 2 peach bathroom suites, massive kitchen falling apart and tatty with veneer falling off? i wont be able to replace those for 5 years until we've saved enough. repainting and flooring is fine though.
• we are totally reliant on dh's income as mine will just cover mortgage if he ever lost his job.
• we will have to budget very carefully for big months when two lots of car services and annual insurance premiums are due (takes £1.2k out of our account to cover that). previously in our old house, this would not even have been on our radar as a worry.
• dh's life insurance premium has tripled.

If you get more space you'll just get more stuff

We live in a huge house and hanker after a 3 bed cottage.

TBH, we only use about 1/3 of the house at all, the rest is just closed up so we don't need to clean it out all the time.

We have also accumulated far too much stuff and will have to have a big clear-out in order to move at all.

It costs a fortune and the maintenance is neverending. And it's bloody cold in winter. But that's also because it's a very, very old house.

OTOH, we never ever have to worry about neighbours or noise....

We are looking to move from our 3 bed to a 4 bed. Luckily for us though the jump isn't that big so would still be manageable - council tax band would stay the same as well, and likely to remain on a water meter. Our current space just isn't working though, it is less that it is 3 beds and more the layout - and if we are going to move it should be to a 4 bed (have 3 dc). Layout often makes a difference even if houses seem the same size.

However today I am very sad, the house I loved has had an offer accepted (in just over a week) and as we are not in a position to move forwards, we can't do anything about it. Our house going on market in next couple of days, but it is still too late for this one. I cried, and I have to pass the house every single day of my life as it is at the top of the road.

Do it.

We ummed & ahhhed for ages - the 3 bed terrace we had was perfectly adequate, loads more room than lots of people ever have & we enjoyed the low mortgage & disposable income. We moved at the beginning of September to a much bigger house and it's just been the best thing ever. We are so happy here and feel so lucky.

Definitely worth it.

We moved recently from a 3 bed semi to a 4 bed detached and personally i find it easier to keep clean and tidy!

Firstly theres more room so its easier to hoover. It seems less cluttered, and theres the motivation to keep it clean and tidy!

We have rooms that we dont use often so these dont get as thoroughly cleaned.

The only downside is starting a mortgage again after just paying one off. I still get a bit of anxiety worrying about job security.

We are a family of 5 and we definitely had outgrown our 3 bed semi. I loved our semi, it was our perfect home but just too small. I saw the ideal 4 bed detached a few streets away so actually very similar to our semi, managed to get ours sold quickly and we bought the 4 bed. No regrets at all. We now have a huge family bathroom and a 2nd WC, a playroom, a utility and a conservatory, aswell as the 4th bedroom. Three of the bedrooms are huge. The garden is big and gorgeous. We love it and are all so happy here.

HOWEVER we aren't ones for spending much, we are very fugal so the extra mortgage is ok for us, if I was someone who prioritised material items or holidays etc then I wouldn't have moved. We don't and I love knowing that we can always downsize again in the future if needed. I should also add that we received inheritance money when my mil sadly passed away and we couldn't have done it without her. So it isn't just as simple as wanting more space, there is a lot to consider. Good luck

We moved at the beginning of September to a much bigger house and it's just been the best thing ever. We are so happy here and feel so lucky.

Don't mean to be overly negative, but surely it's very early days still to be saying it was the "best thing ever"... I'm sure having more space is lovely, but only if it doesn't mean that you miss out on being able to afford experiences that are important to you, and it doesn't mean that you have money worries as a result.

My advice to the OP would be to only move to somewhere bigger if that is easily affordable. Don't move to a bigger house and then end up skint, as being stressed out about bills is (imho!) far worse than being a bit cramped.

Our house is large and the upsides are

We all have our own rooms and several spare rooms
We can all easily do our own thing if we want to, there are 6 of us so it's useful
There's space for people to stay
If we want to talk while kids watch tv we can, we have 2 sitting rooms
Huge garden, great for football or parties
We can afford this house on one salary and we can downsize later as we've been here a long time
It's decorated as we want it (£150k later)

So it really works for us and I wouldn't change it, the children have had lots of space and very happy childhoods here. They want us to stay for ever though and that won't be happening.

Downsides are heating bills of £600 a month, insurance of £1.6k a year, maintenance costs of ££££ and general costs are high, e.g. Cleaning, replacing anything. I don't regret it though.

We moved from avg 3 bed to a large 4 bed with office, dining room , much larger kitchen etc etc. The rooms are a lot bigger and our garden is about 10 times larger than our old one. (The previous one was very small). This was about 3 years ago and it is so nice to have the extra space, especially as our children are somewhat lively.

We couldn't have moved with an inheritance and we were faced with the choice of paying off the mortgage on the old house or using the extra to upsize and keep existing mortgage.

There are days when I wished we had paid off the mortgage as we wouldn't need to worry about money, interest rates etc (I'm risk averse) but, it was the best thing we could have done for us. Plenty of space to allow working from home, studying, some quiet spaces etc. The kids love the garden, plenty of parking, peace and quiet. Still be glad when we have paid the mortgage though......

We moved from a 4 bed to a 3 story, 7 bed victorian property. We have 3 young children and honestly can't imagine living anywhere smaller. The playroom barely contains their toys and they can ride their bikes/scooters around the ground floor. We never have to worry about the amount of noise they make as we are detached and there is space for everything.
However....as people have said bills are high, heating is ridiculous, council tax, electricity....the list goes on. Cleaning is hard so pay for 4hrs a week and even that does not cover everything. Plus you always seem to accumulate enough to fill the space you have so believe me everywhere will get filled.
Personally I would say go for it - if you can afford the extras

We moved from a small 3 bed detached (no room to extend) to a larger 4 bed detached just before DS1 was born. Now we have 2 DSs I'm so pleased we did.
They have room to play and run around and having a playroom is amazing - so much easier to tidy up at the end of the day.

You do live to your space and get used to it though - I'd like an extension but really can't even consider it until kids our out of childcare. However it's a want not a need so not essential IYSWIM. Yes mortgage is more, council tax is more, heating is more, but personally if you can afford it I'd do it.

It's a good time to do it. Ime teenagers are out most of the time. The playroom which morphed into teen sitting room is rarely used. We're looking at downsizing in next few years.

Different dwellings for different stages.
We've been through - 1 bed 1 recep flat, 3 bed 2 recep semi, 5 bed 3 recep detached, and then when the DC were 18 and 13 we downsized to a 3/4 bed, 2 recep detached. The different with this last house is that there are 3 bathrooms - essential with young women around!
The sale of the 5 bed (London) house enabled us to move here (countryside)
mortgage free so we shall stay here till we can't manage the gardens anymore. We've future-proofed as we have 1/2 beds and ensuites downstairs (so no mobility issues) and upstairs can be shut off if necessary (lower heating bills).
God it all sounds so very grown up and sensible. How depressing.

We moved from a 3 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom flat as we found that in the house we just couldn’t afford to go out for days, go out for meals etc. Sometimes I miss the house but I don’t miss the extra cleaning and I love being able to do much more.

We moved from a 3 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom flat as we found that in the house we just couldn’t afford to go out for days, go out for meals etc. Sometimes I miss the house but I don’t miss the extra cleaning and I love being able to do much more.

We made a similar move a year ago and it has been well worth it. Having more space is lovely, especially as my DDs are now a teen and tween. I don’t find it more work, because the extra space means we can be a bit more organised and it’s a newer house that’s easier to clean. Walk past our old house regularly and never have any regrets, even though I loved it.

I started out in a 1 bed house, slowly moving up to semi-detached 3 bed, detached 4 bed, now in a 7000 square foot property. All rooms with private bathrooms, indoor pool, bar etc etc. I do love my home and wherever I have lived I feel very grateful but the work and the bills maintaining are relative.
There are downsides, some tradesman pull up and feel they can add some extra, so you have to be more vigilant finding honest people. People can be resentful as they don’t see the journey getting there, they just view you as if it has been handed on a plate.
I take everybody for who they are but if people see my home some quickly judge me unfairly.
One of my favourite homes was a 3 bed semi detached in a lovely close knit community where everyone would join in with bbqs.
I guess what I am trying to say is there are pros and cons, big or small.
Enjoy where you are, it’s not always bigger is better or smaller is better.

We stretched ourselves and bought a big five bedroom house. The feeling of space is amazing, it's open plan and you feel like you can really spread out in it. We're not in each other's way at all which is great. Oh and the sound of the kids arguing right now isn't too bad, they're reasonably far away!
Downsides are that heating costs are high, it takes ages to tidy and clean and it means my husband has an excuse to work even harder!

I felt overtaken by "stuff" in a smaller house (DH hates throwing stuff away if he can possibly avoid it). Also, as both parents and PILs live quite a long way away, when they visit they tend to stay overnight so it is great that they are able to have their own room and we dont all feel on top of each other.

So yes, definitely much better although we could still afford hols etc, so was not either or for us. Also, there are limits. We could in theory afford a bigger house than our current house, but I am not actually sure what we would use the extra space for, so just feels like it would be extra work!

We have a 3 bed, with 3 teen girls. They share together, dh and I are in together, obvs, and we have a spare room for visitors/office. We occasionally talk about moving somewhere bigger, but it's unnecessary, there's enough space for us here.

I grew up in a 2 bedroom council house with 5 people living in it. But it was homely and I loved it. I had to share my parents' room until I was 8 before I got my own room. I am now lucky enough to live in a large, detached 4 bedroomed house with only 4 people in it. Pros and Cons. Yes we've lots of room to entertain but lots more space to clean. I kind of like smaller. I have too many other things to do than spend time constantly keeping on top of things. We stayed in a smaller rented house for a while and I love it. I now dream of downsizing when the kids have left. My ideal would be a 2 bedroomed cottage with a huge garage for all the guff.