Does anyone regret moving to a bigger house and higher mortgage?

[Elsbells22]

Does anyone regret buying the bigger house?
we have a pretty small mortgage less than 100k left to pay off and monthly payments are around £700 a month so manageable and in turn because we don’t have a massive outgoing on the mortgage each month we have spare money to go on holiday or eat out etc and not have to worry.
But I’ve never thought of this property as my forever home, we are quite cramped. Would love an extra bedroom, dining room, utility room all things we don’t currently have.
So my question is has anyone done the big move to the better home and regretted it or taken the financial hit but thought totally worth it?

Depends on your lifestyle. I am a homebody. I love being at home, I love gardening, I love cooking in my nice kitchen, I love reading on my veranda, I love having friends round for parties, dinner of just a coffee. Home is my happy place. I can take or leave a holiday as being at home is my relaxation. So having less spare cash but the most homely home I can afford works.

My cousin lives for travel, for nights out, theatre, museums, so has a small inexpensive flat that requires little time attention or money so that she can be out as much as possible and afford it comfortably.

Which are you?

There are so many factors that influence whether this type of move is worth the higher mortgage for any particular family unit.

I have done the opposite and don’t regret it. I moved from a 5 bed, 3 bath new build to a 2 bed, 2 bath period home.

I love the bones of this house and have everything I need and more. I’m careful to avoid having too much surplus stuff and focus on having things I really need or really love.

There is still plenty of room for hosting albeit in a cosy fashion. I love cooking in my little kitchen, in fact there’s nothing that I like to do that I can’t do in a small space. I’ve found I enjoy the set up of this home so much- none of the rooms are tiny enough to feel cramped and it feels homely and comforting. Upkeep is simple, bills are very manageable.

In my case I enjoy the lack of financial pressure (mortgage free), meaning I have more autonomy in the way I live and work plus freeing up money and time to do things I love.

I appreciate that other people feel differently and prefer to live differently.

OP it may be that only you really know which set up feels better for you. Listen to your instincts…..

Definitely regret. Huge amount of money, but also time and energy went into it. Ended up with depression, only just starting to hold my head up above water about five years afterwards. Still not worth selling because the time and energy factor is even worse if we move again.

Nothing wrong with a more modest life. Good luck either way!

That’s a good question.

Yes and no, I love having space, plenty of bedrooms and a garden that we can do different things with but then again it costs loads to renovate and heat and pay for so swings and roundabouts

We are a family of 5. We moved from a 2 bedroom house where me and my husband slept in the front room. We moved and gained 2 extra bedrooms, a utility, a dining room, an en suite and a garage. Mortgage went up by £200 and then when we came to re new it went up another £350. Absolutely no regrets

People were saying that in 1999.

Did it last year, don’t regret it. Our quality of life is so much better.

We have less disposable money now so have to watch the day to day spending much more closely and consider all purchases carefully. But I like that it’s made me a more mindful consumer too.

Every morning I wake up here, come downstairs and see the view at the back, I feel joy.

I’m a real homebody too, I’m not into going out loads, so I get my money’s worth out of the increased payments 😁

House prices are a lot higher now than in 1999 🤷‍♀️

We are in a similar dilemma, I do think it’s pretty irrelevant if people did it years ago as the market is so different now.

Im in London & house prices have definitely stagnated so there isn’t a guarantee that today’s purchase is a great investment & it will be easy to downsize in the future. Utilities are only going to keep increasing & COL will likely stay high for years.

Interest rates make a huge difference in terms of how much debt you are servicing, Do I want to pay 200k etc plus just in interest, I’m not sure.

Im also conscious about stamp duty & dc will need financial support at university. I really don’t know what to do!

@sandalbedyes and in a high cost of living area, there’s the huge stamp duty costs to downsizing if you get it wrong. It is scary. We did it 2-3 years ago, and happy, but our mortgage is way higher than we committed to due to all of the geopolitical events. We had to magic up another £1200 at one point

They were saying to wait and hold off buying a house as there will be a crash. That was my point..27 years later no crash. Just huge increases as u said. So waiting for a crash before u buy is probably bad advice.

We didn't move but spent nearly £100k of re-mortgaged money renovating and extending our house, so the mortgage went from about £900 to £1400. No regrets whatsoever. We spend lots of time at home, it works perfectly as it is now exactly how I want it, and as much as holidays are still possible, I don't feel compelled to go out to bars and restaurants anywhere near as much as it's now nicer at home/in the garden. As others have said, we can always downsize in future if required. Live for now, money has one purpose, to be spent and enjoyed.

Yes we moved 3 years ago as ftb and I really wish we had got something in a cheaper area.