if you live in a big house, do you regret the size of your morgage

[Lardlizard]

Or are you glad ?

They maxed themselves out with the mortgage, and got themselves another 20 years of paying out (when they were mortgage free at 50-ish,) JUST so they could say they live in a big 4 or 5 bed detached newbuild, with a double garage, and 4 toilets/2 bathrooms in a 'better' area than they lived before

Fair enough, if these people regret the big mortgage, but surely it's missing the point to say "they could say they live in a big 4 or 5 bed detached...".

Um, no, they are actually benefitting from the space and facility of living in a 4 or 5 bed detached, not just saying it!

I don't ever think you can have too much space, unless it's a 20 room mansion. 4 - 5 beds is nothing in real terms, most room sizes in UK are pretty stingy, compared with places like US, Canada etc, where there's masses of elbow-room.

I absolutely love our big house. I am a really organised person (or like to think I am) and love having all the space for all our stuff. No more things falling out of cupboards, everyone has privacy when they need it. I can find stuff when I want it instead of pulling everything out to get to the back of cupboards.

To me this relieves so much stress. I've just packed for a long holiday in a hot country and was able to put together a clothes rack in a small spare room and for the last few weeks have been putting together my holiday wardrobe from existing clothes and purchases. So when I can to pack I could simply do so from my rail.

Projects don't have to be packed away mid term.

I thrive on that level of organisation and it's only space that allows me to.

We have lived in a very small house temporarily and I used to get so frustrated and hot and flustered all the time.

Shoeshelpplease I feel the same.
It is a priviledge to live with so much space.
We moved from a tiny house, and I feel the space we have now contributes to a much more relaxed family atmosphere.
We have room to have quiet time and space to ourselves, different areas and spaces downstairs means that one family member can be watching TV, for instance, another may be working at a laptop, and someone ese having a quiet cur up with a coffee and a book without being in earchot of anyone else. We have our bedrooms too of course. Hard to know who is at home sometimes.
And yes to the organisation.
OH and I are not the tidiest of people, but we are able to use the space to keep oraganised,and everything has a place, box or shelf.
I also buy good stocks of non perishabe foods, I can save money by taking advantage of bargains, tinned goods, toilet roll etc,

Yes. Nice house, detached because we escaped toxic neighbours and never wanted to experience it again. But what we could do if we didn't have this mortgage, the memories we could make for our DC...it upsets me some times to think of what we are missing out on. But then I remember the sleep deprivation and 2am rage hearing "Call of Duty" being played by the troglodytes next door, and I rediscover peace.

daisychain01 I think it depends on the size of your family as to what is "too much space." I'm a single mother of one child, 4-5 bedrooms would be totally unnecessary for our needs and a complete waste of money to me.

Definition of big would be helpful though. I think there is a tipping point vis manageability; not necessarily cost of mortgage.

The opposite, we decided not to buy the largest house we could afford, but instead a modest but lovely house. Mortgage is now nearly paid off which means I can retire early, such a relief as I’ve had an unexpected run of bad health. It’s taken off a lot of pressure

I grew up ina massive house (7 bed /6 bath)
It’s put me off ever wanting to own a large house so of the 3 places I’ve lived since leaving home they have always been small 2 bed cottages

I love little houses and the little mortgages and bills and cleaning that come with them

I don't ever think you can have too much space, unless it's a 20 room mansion. 4 - 5 beds is nothing in real terms, most room sizes in UK are pretty stingy, compared with places like US, Canada etc, where there's masses of elbow-room.

so true!

I find it so much easier to have a bit of space, as opposed to not having to squeeze furnitures or find tiny ones because nothing fit, not having storage, having laundry and mess in the way, cluttering your living space every time the kids have a project or you are packing a suitcase, and cleaning is so much quicker when you don't have to move half the room to reach for something, plus friends or family are always welcome because there's always a spare room ready.

A so-called "big house" is just a breathing space. People are too used to live in tiny spaces in this country - and let's not start on the love for semi-detached.

I'm in my 60s now and paid off my mortgage some years ago, however the problem is with a big mortgage is if interest rates go up. I remember during Maggie Thatchers time as PM the interest rate went up to 15% were we glad we hadn't overstretched, but a lot of people lost their homes because of it. Interest rates have been low for a long time but even a small rise could ne a problem for some people. There is a new man heading the Bank of England so what will he do I wonder

Do people think interest rates will stay low forever? Or that homes will go up in value? In the next few yrs we will need to either size up & have a bigger mortgage in London, or move further out using equity & have a smaller mortgage. Really not sure what to do.

Thing is we don't have a 'big house' but we do have a big mortgage (won't be paid off until 67). Three bedroomed terrace..but in a bit of the country/city thats bloody expensive and we did some work on it.. Don't regret it, love where we live am never moving (unless we financially had to).

I'm a single mother of one child, 4-5 bedrooms would be totally unnecessary for our needs and a complete waste of money to me.

which is absolutely fair enough. I would be more than happy with a 5 bed even if it was just DH and me. I like space. By the time you have a proper dining room, a study each, and a guest room you've already fill the house. I get that it's not everybody's choice, but I do like space. And now I have to put my kids somewhere, no chance of a walk-in wardrobe

@Warmfirechocolate, That really sounds horrific, have you spoken to him about it? Are they his kids?

I guess on the flip side we bought a relatively small house (3 bedroom) with no mortgage rather than a bigger one and take on a mortgage.
It is small and only one bathroom which drives me mad but no debt and in an area we picked for excellent schools

I've done the big house, expensive area, enormous mortgage thing. On balance, I prefer to have a smaller mortgage so we can have great holidays and do whatever we want. It also means being able to work fewer hours. All much more important to me than a big house.

Pfefferkuchen yes, it totally depends on your needs. I don't need (or want) a study for example, it just wouldn't get used. A walk in wardrobe would be nice though!

It definitely depends on actual size though. There's 5 bed terraces near me due to loft conversions etc whereas my parents 6 bed was wide & each room a double so the ground floor living space was big. i like that as opposed to long & narrow but I need 2mill

My mum sold her modest 3 bed house in London to move out to the south west in the early 2000’s. She bought a large 4 bed, 1930’s detached house and threw quite a bit of money at it over the years she lived there but...it always needed something doing to it. It was essentially a money pit! She recently divorced and had to give the leech half of the proceeds of the house but she now owns a small modern house which she’s doing bits and bobs to fairly cheaply. It’s also easy to maintain. I think she had the realization that she’s now millstone free because whatever breaks she can afford to fix! We live in a large house also but live abroad and it’s a modern house so not much needs doing to it bar decorating. Once the DC fly the nest we’ll downsize to an apartment for sure!

Yes.

Would rather have had a smaller house, but really wanted detached after having noisy neighbours at the last place and 2 bedroom detached houses are not a thing.

I owned a 2 bed detached once. Was perfect and I still miss it.
No parking though.

Much rather have parking and be semi

We went for the opposite of the old adage of buying the worst house on the best street and we have quite a big house on a road in the dodgier end of where we live. It's five bed/3.5 bath/>2k sq ft but two of the bedrooms/one bath are in the loft conversion, and we only use it for guests (and Christmas present wrapping!) so don't need to heat or clean it as much.
Regarding the op's question, we don't have a massive mortgage (£933 pm) because we compromised on area. If we were half a mile further into our little town we could easily add 50% or more to that mortgage. Bills are considerably more than the one bed London flat I sold to buy it, although the flat was worth more!

I think living in the SE and London gives a very skewed idea of large house and large mortgage. I have just had a look what I could buy in Shropshire for the value of the equity in my London home. The difference is huge.

We have the opposite problem, erred on the side of caution not wanting to overstretch ourselves and bought cheaper than we could have. The house is a bit too small and we could do with an extra bedroom. I wish we had spent a bit more and saved the hassle and expense of moving again.
It's a balance I suppose. The plus side is we can afford to overpay our mortgage and will manage if interest rates rise.

We have a 6 bed, 5 bath, 5000 sqft georgian house with about 8 acres which we upgraded to a couple of years ago from a 3 bed semi. Space is such a huge luxury for us and at the time we both worked from home so we really appreciated having our own offices.

Our mortgage is a relatively low LTV at £1300 a month, we almost went with a much bigger mortgage for a better location and house with a pool and I shudder to think what massive financial pressure that would have put us under. The mortgage is one thing, it's the maintenance that is a massive drain financially there is always something to be fixing or spending money on I joke to my husband that if we knocked down our house the walls would be full of £50 notes the amount of money we have spent on damp proofing and repointing and we bought a house that had been renovated in the last 10 years. I would estimate we probably spend an extra £1000 a month on unforseen household expenditure (not bills, some months nothing, other months ££££s)

Is it worth it? At the moment yes we LOVE our house its beautiful and quiet and peaceful and spacious, heaven. Do I see it as my forever home? Probably not its a bit rural and the schools aren't brilliant. Our daughter will have to go to private school 30 minutes away so it depends how that goes, plus parents are getting older and live far away so we may need to move closer to them. We appreciate being custodians of the house but we aren't overly attached to it and make the most of living here whilst we can.