We (DH and I, both 36) bought our 5 bed 2 bathroom home 7 years ago as a project for £267k. We've since done a lot of work, remortgaged and currently owe £221k, with 33 years remaining on our mortgage. The house is worth £400k and our current interest rate is quite high as we have had some financial struggles in the past which limited our lenders. We pay £1250/month. Aside from electrics & plumbing I've done the majority of the work myself.
Our home is great but has room for more improvement if it's to be our forever home. We have 3 DC (8 and under), two of whom may live at home longer than usual due to additional needs. We're located less than 10 mins from my Dad at the moment, and the same distance from DC's school (and also the high school theyre likely to go to). The area is OK, its not the nicest but our street is safe and its more affordable than where my Dad lives, hence why we could afford a good sized house for a decent price. But there is a ceiling on the value. My biggest issue is the small garden we have, which was the only compromise when we bought it.
Another house has caught my eye. Its another project- on a bigger scale than our current home, but its in a frankly amazing area where most properties are £800k+. It's currently listed for £525k but isn't selling - it would require a lot of work which may put a lot of people off, but the potential is huge. Its got such gorgeous original features and is double fronted which is my dream. It also comes with an acre of land, a mixture of a large garden, small wooded area and open field. DH and I viewed it and I fell in love, but the catch is that its 40 minutes away from where we are now and would be a similar length drive to my Dad & DC's schools.
I'm completely torn. In theory we could sell our house, put down a 10% deposit (ideally pay 450k-500k max), leaving us £100k for immediate works to get it liveable & we'd then either do the rest ourselves or refinance. It would take about £200k to get it completely done to a nice spec, but then it would easily be worth £1m+. Obviously we'd be saddling ourselves with £400k+ of debt at 36, but the repayments wouldn't be too much more than what we're paying now due to us being more likely to get a better interest rate now. And we'd end up with a beautiful home which would be more likely to rise in value over time due to its location (very rural, no neighbours, adjacent to coveted Yorkshire village). The outdoor space would give us the opportunity to have a mini smallholding with a couple of goats, ducks and some chickens - always a dream of mine (and DD would love this too)
DH earns £85k/yr (a fairly recent development due to career progression), I earn £22k/yr part time (which is needed so I can accommodate our 2 children with additional needs, 1 of which doesn't attend school full time). It feels like a heart vs head choice. Staying is the head option - if we stay here we'd probably spend £50k on an extension to give us a better configuration, additional bathroom, utility room, downstairs wc. But overall mortgage debt would be half so better chance of repaying it/retiring early etc. But my heart is telling me to go for the beautiful dream location which would provide better long term financial growth with short-medium term inconvenience due being 40min away.. DH is happy whatever I decide.
Help please! My late mum would be my sounding board and since she died I'm without someone to talk this over with. AIBU to move to the big project house? YABU = stay put, YANBU = move