Which would you prioritise: Moving to a good area, or being mortgage free by 50

[CornerOfTheSky]

We currently live in a run down area. Lots of crime, the general area is pretty unloved, and the secondary schools are rough. That's on paper anyway, in actuality, we've found it an OK place to live so far, but we don't have teens yet.

For the longest time, our plan has been to move when the kids reach secondary school age, as we'd rather raise teens in a place where they can have more freedom and less worries about crime, etc. It would be better education-wise, too.

House-wise, we'd gain a little more space by moving. But to move to a 'naice' area (as mumsnet likes to say), we are looking at at the next price bracket up from where we are - it's a difference of around £100k for the same type of house we are in now. There are no cheaper options in between without moving very far away, which we are not prepared to do.

Staying put, we'd be mortgage free by 50. Moving would mean we'd likely be paying off a mortgage until closer to 70. The better financial decision is to stay put, but our hearts tell us moving is the right thing. What would you prioritise in this situation?

Move to a nice area while the kids are growing up. When they reach adulthood, if they leave, you can down size/move area and be mortgage free and if they stay they can pay board and help pay the mortgage.

Thanks all.

We've been on the market as of last Monday, with several repeat viewings scheduled for this weekend in a fast moving market (people still want to live here despite it being rough, because house prices are very reasonable for London). I'm confident it will sell at asking price.

OH was having a bit of a wobble about the increased mortgage, which is, admittedly, double the mortgage we currently have. So thought I'd post here and see what other people in similar positions decided to do. I will show him the responses and I think that will help him feel more confident. As people have said, it can be a 'for now' decision, which we can reevaluate later if we feel the mortgage is too high.

It is a tricky thing to know what the 'right' thing to do is/ Being mortgage free at 50 would be a bonus for our kids as with the extra money at that point we could help them with uni fees and house deposits, etc. And with four children, the odds are some of them will have a happier time in school than others, no matter where we are. But I think ultimately, if we don't go for the move, I will perhaps always be wondering if we could have done better by them.