WWYD? Stay put or move?

[PurpleFlower1983]

Hi everyone, sorry this is long! Also, sorry, posting for traffic as no replies in chat!

Just looking for some advice on what you would do in our situation as I’ve been going from one way to the other and back again for a while.

We live in a Victorian end terrace, I bought it as a fixer upper when single 14 years ago and it’s since become our family home - DH, 2 kids (2.5 and 5). It’s 4 storey, with a small basement and full attic (currently an office space as it only has one small window on the gable end). 3 bedrooms on the first floor - two doubles and a reasonably sized single. We extended it in 2021 so downstairs we have a small, rarely used, traditional Victorian sitting room and a very large kitchen/diner/living room with large bifold doors and an open apex roof. We have high ceilings, original features etc. We also have a smallish garden. It’s a nice house and I do love it…

BUT, we have no off street parking, we live on a hill that’s a bit of a rat run so the kids won’t be able to be out on bikes etc. in the future, and the area, while ok, is not the best. The garden is overlooked on all sides. The bills are high due to property age and it’s a money pit when something goes wrong!

DD5 is in an excellent school and we wouldn’t be looking to move out of the catchment so the options are likely a new build or a 70s/80s build house on a large estate which to be honest is not really me but the area is good, we would be closer to the school and has a nice, community feel.

We live up North, our house is worth around £240-250k and we would need to spend around £350-380 to get what we would like space wise.

Currently have 41k left on the mortgage at a really cheap rate so would be a significant hike.

I have a rental property worth around 90k that I am currently thinking of selling so could potentially be mortgage free with this house if we do sell with the rest in the bank.

If we were to move it would be in 2026 at the earliest I think as we have a few things to do here before selling.

I don’t know whether we should just stick with the house we have, which is plenty big enough but with a few compromises and have more freedom financially or bite the bullet while the kids are young and go for the better home for the family.

What would you do?

For context, I work full time, take home £3k, husband is freelance part time while the kids are young, he earned £26k last year.

Sell the rental and look to buy what you want to live in. Life’s too short to live where you don’t want to be.

Tricky. Having done the spend more money to get a better family home and then not been able to afford much other than the mortgage for years, I'd say that there is a lot to be said for having that extra money. Only you know how big a problem the lack of parking is. I do think your house sounds gorgeous and full of character. My parents had a 1970s detached four bedroom box and, while it was home, as I child I never felt attached to the place. I loved my grandma's smaller three bed 1930s semi though and often wished we lived there instead.

Thanks for the replies, we’re definitely driven mainly by location, I do love this house and it is big enough for us, although I do wonder how we will manage with just one toilet when the kids are older…there are technically two bathrooms but one only has a bath and sink, the other, shower, sink and toilet. The other consideration is the single bedroom for our youngest although we could make the attic into a permanent bedroom with a couple of velux windows.

It’s mainly when I step outside just don’t feel the kids will get the most out of their childhood.

I’ve decided I’m going to sell the rental regardless, that will give us the freedom to get this on the market asap and minimise any future mortgage if we do decide to go.