TTC or buy a bigger house first?

[Heathrr]

Hi everyone, newbie here!

I’m 28 and my partner and I are planning on TTC for the first time soon ☺️

We live in a 2 bedroom house and although there is plenty space for us now, we’ve started to think that that we might need a bigger house before having a baby (mostly because none of our family live nearby and we wouldn’t have anywhere for family to stay if our 2nd bedroom was a nursery and family support will be important).

My worry is that I don’t want to put off TTC to allow time for us to sell our house and buy a bigger house because I’m so desperate to have a baby. My other worry is that our income would be much less after having a baby with maternity leave/going back to work on less hours taken into consideration so we might not be able to afford a bigger mortgage etc. but then maybe it would be better to buy a bigger house first and then TTC once we’ve built up more savings?

It would be good to hear your thoughts! x

I’d personally go for a bigger house pre kids rather than afterwards given your age (and assuming no fertility issues, might be an idea to get checked). I stayed with my smaller house, had DTs via ivf and whilst we could move, it’s just such a lot of hassle to even think about that we’re putting it off despite the fact we know we’re fast outgrowing our house.

Would you intend to work full time after maternity leave, and how much would the childcare be? I think they factor that in, so could be worth playing around with the numbers and seeing which option is best.

Thank you, I think I know that's the right answer but it's just hard to think about delaying TTC

Don't think I'd want to go back full-time so maybe 2-3 days a week and I'd like to take a full year off if I could.

We bought a house not considering schools at all as kids were not on our radar at the time, but decided one day - out of the blue - to start trying after we bought it, falling pregnant quickly just before we moved in. I went back to work part time and we have huge childcare fees, so now can't move to a more expensive area with better schools which we could have done before we had kids! Not a huge deal, but in hindsight would have definitely taken catchment area into consideration when looking.
So if you think at some point in the next 5 years you'll be unhappy in your current home, better to move now. Although, don't stretch yourself too far with a mortgage so you have more choice about how you return to work.

For us it worked out better to move afterwards. We’re in a 2 bed flat and our first DC is due August.

Despite being 29 and 32 and perfectly healthy it took us nearly a year to conceive, during which time we saved £15k as our mortgage payments are low (which was our ‘if this doesn’t work IVF fund’ at one point As we’re in a notoriously bad area for funded cycles). We’ve added to these savings since I got pregnant. I only get stat mat in my job despite being well paid so we’ll have a really comfortable year with me on mat leave, as despite my income going down by 70% the only impact is that we’ll stop saving really.

Obviously I’d love to bring baby home to a big house but our plan is to put the place on the market in a year when I go back to work. And I don’t know how stressful it’ll be moving with a baby but it’s so lovely not to need to worry about the financial hit of mat leave!

However this was just the way the numbers worked for us, everyone will be different. And our flat has a garden and all our friends are nearby - if we didn’t have ties to the area and it was a 1 bed on the fourth floor I’d have definitely had a different view.