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Original poster

Would you rather be mortgage free or bigger house

124 replies

Bells3032 · 04/12/2022 16:04

Just a hypothetical for now but it may be due to the sale of a family business that in a few years we could have our mortgage paid off for us.

Our house is a very nice 4 bed semi, with an excellent school near us that we are pretty much guarented entry and can walk within 5 mins too. So it won't be for a few years til I can get our child into the school.

However there are a few things id like in a new home eg different kitchen, seperate playroom and a bigger bedroom as well as a bigger garden as ours is quite small and just a bit more space in general. There's no option to extend. I'd also like detached.

The area with most of the bigger houses is about a 20 min walk or 5 min drive from thr school but also v close to my family who I see a lot.

We have a good joint salary (6 figures between us). We have a one year old and looking to start ttc no 2 soon. Once we've had no 2 I'm likely to want to go part time but we can still afford life at thst salary even with our mortgage.

So would you pay off your mortgage and just enjoy life a bit more eg expensive holidays and days out or would you upgrade your house? Money won't be overally tight but we would need to budget.

We live in London too so a bigger house is likely to increase in value more than a current house.

Any thoughts? What would you do.

Tldr: would uou prefer a mortgage free life in a nice but not your dream house or a nicer house but have to budget?

OP posts:
Jarstastic · 04/12/2022 16:54

Bigger house. Especially with teenagers! I’ve been mortgage free.

Also for long-term wealth creation. I’d only spend the mortgage payment on other stuff so better to have it paying down a mortgage of a higher-value property. Alternatively, be less driven at work etc.

StrawberryWater · 04/12/2022 16:56

Mortgage free.

Theres only 3 of us and that’s unlikely to change so no need for a bigger house.

AcrossthePond55 · 04/12/2022 16:59

Absolutely, mortgage free! If your house is big enough and you just don't like features of it, if you can afford it, invest in improvements.

We bought a larger house with acreage when our DC were younger. We're retired now and still paying the mortgage off. If we'd stayed in our perfectly adequate smaller 'in town' home and just 'tweaked a few things' we'd have been mortgage free 5 years ago. Probably earlier since our mortgage payment was so low we could easily have doubled the payment and paid it off probably 10 years early.

I'm in the US, though, and detached houses are the norm so that wasn't part of our equation. I do think that serious thought would have to be given if it's a choice between mortgage free semi or mortgaged detached. But I'd still consider wanting to pay off the mortgage before retirement, so I certainly wouldn't purchase the most expensive (ie largest mortgage) detached I could afford.

lunar1 · 04/12/2022 17:02

We went for the bigger house in this situation, we were 4 years away from being mortgage free.

We don't regret it for a second. If things change financially we have enough savings to take our time making a decision. We could sell this and buy something outright with the equity.

FrownedUpon · 04/12/2022 17:03

Mortgage free every time.

oakleaffy · 04/12/2022 17:03

Mortgage free
BUT if you can easily afford one, Get a bigger house.

PeppermintChoc · 04/12/2022 17:04

We’ve got a beautiful house with a mortgage that is a sizeable chunk of our income. I love the house, it’s majestic and charming and really idyllic but right now I’d be quite happy with a standard 5 bed detached, mortgage free, on a nice estate if it meant I could stop working whilst the kids were small.

BarrelOfOtters · 04/12/2022 17:06

Older than you but bought bigger house a couple of years ago after few years of mortgage free. Love the garden, off road parking and being semi detached rather than terrace. In fact wish we’d stretched to detached. You’ve got years to pay off a mortgage. Go for it.

HandlebarLadyTash · 04/12/2022 17:06

Mortgage free

BlueWalnut · 04/12/2022 17:10

Your reasons to move to a bigger house don’t seem compelling at the moment unless you’re desperate for extra space. Think of the higher bills and council tax for a bigger detached place alongside the mortgage payments and have a think about what you could do with that money if you stayed in the house you’re in now. Also think about how you’d cope if mortgage rates rise and other costs continue to go up, and one or both lose their job. If you prefer the security of knowing it’s all covered, you may be better staying where you are. Which option is more appealing?

2X4B523P · 04/12/2022 17:15

Mortgage free for me. I have a reasonably nice Victorian two bed semi with driveway and big back garden which I own outright.

I would LIKE a big old house in the middle of nowhere but am going to keep what I’ve got as don’t want to be tied to a mortgage forever more.

Charlize43 · 04/12/2022 17:19

Mortgage free - every time.

I don't understand these people who live in big houses. My parents lived in one. The whole of the top floor with so many unused rooms, was empty for years. Then they bought a second house, which was more manageable and went to live in that for six months of the year.

You can only be in one room at a time.

SirMingeALot · 04/12/2022 17:20

For me, mortgage free. The positives you list about the new property don't, for me, outweigh the positives of being mortgage free. I would also choose a piss easy school run over a longer one.

gogohmm · 04/12/2022 17:21

Mortgage free as of Tuesday!

We don't need a bigger house, it's more to heat, to clean etc.

As far as a playroom, you don't need them for long really, not worth worrying about

pinkhousesarebest · 04/12/2022 17:22

Dream home every time. Holidays are wonderful but nothing is as transformative as waking up every day in a house you love. Also it will be the place teens and their friends gravitate to.

Roselilly36 · 04/12/2022 17:23

We paid off our mortgage in our very early thirties, we had a toddler and baby at the time, best thing ever, we didn’t need to think about a larger home though, as be had bought a larger than average family home, just incase we decided on extending our family.

whenindoubtgotothelibrary · 04/12/2022 17:25

It's not straightforward and I think depends a lot on how you feel about your current house. We owned a perfectly pleasant 4 bed house when dc were very small that we would have been mortgage-free on years ago had we stayed in it. But twenty years on we have moved twice to bigger/better houses and therefore still have a mortgage. For me the security of being mortgage-free wouldn't have outweighed the advantages that moving gave us. We're in a detached house now (relatively unusual in London) and the briefest look at the noisy neighbour and parking threads on here reminds me why I was so keen to make the move from our last terrace. We've had plenty of nice holidays etc along the way, so I don't think having a mortgage has impinged on our lifestyle.

Georgeskitchen · 04/12/2022 17:26

Mortgage free all day long!!!

Youcancallmeirrelevant · 04/12/2022 17:27

Bigger house for when kids are older. You will want more reception rokms so teens can have their own space etc.

Skiphopbump · 04/12/2022 17:27

We were in that position in our mid thirties. We paid off the mortgage for our 3 bed terraced house. It was a bit tight with 3 children but not unmanageable as the rooms were well proportioned.
We decided to buy a bigger house. 10 years on and we haven’t had any regrets and we’ve just paid off the mortgage again. This time we are staying put.

Isntitakward · 04/12/2022 17:28

Mortgage free, always.

MoominPants · 04/12/2022 17:31

Mortgage free, with disposable income to do amazing holidays and make memories with the kids

Piffpaffpoff · 04/12/2022 17:32

At your stage in life, bigger house.

yoyy · 04/12/2022 17:33

We live in London too so a bigger house is likely to increase in value more than a current house.

depends on the size of the house with the way energy bills are. Interest rates are going to impact expensive houses as so much of the market relies on equity gains.

MarianneVos · 04/12/2022 17:35

Minikievs · 04/12/2022 16:11

I was mortgage free and gave it up for a bigger house. Two kids and me in a house that was too small for us was watching more anxiety inducing than paying a mortgage. I found living in a house that was too small really, really stressful

Exactly this. I was in a 3 bed semi with 3 DC and the low level stress of daily life has all gone in a 4 bed detached with a playroom, office, room for a dishwasher and tumble dryer, downstairs toilet etc etc.

I moved when DS2 was 7 weeks old so a stressful time but it's still been so incredibly worth it.

We only moved last month so I did have some last minute wobbles about CoL but I'm so pleased we went ahead.

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