Pay off mortgage, or move to better house?

[goldpendant]

I've posted here before, DH and I seem to have endless conversations about the best idea for our finances.... what would you do wise MNers?

House is in a brilliant area, good for schools, London suburb etc. Worth approx £1m and we've good equity. It's big, plenty of space for us now and as kids grow up, but no parking, terraced, quite busy street.

We have 80% equity here and could pay off the rest in the next 3-4 years.

Would you do just that, or would you try to move? There are houses about the same size as this but in 'better' streets and most are detached with parking, but they will literally cost £200/300K more. We could add that to the mortgage, no problem, we'd just extend the term.

These more prestigious houses get snapped up, and there seems to be no ceiling on their appreciation over time. Our house would be a harder sell for sure, but with the current market booming, it could be a good time to sell it.

What would you do? Stay and pay it off quickly?

Move now with bigger mortgage, but likely have more value in the fullness of time?

It would depend on how old you are and if your jobs are secure.

Personally I'd move if parking was bad and I felt new house would appreciate more in value.
Debt is cheap.

We didn't go for a detached because there aren't many round here and they are really more 1.5m rather than òur top budget of 1.3m (ie we couldn't afford it)
We didn't want a small 3 bed detached so
For 1m we got a 5 bed semi with off road for 2 cars
If I could have got what you describe in our area for 1.3 no doubt I have gone for it

@JackieWeaverFever yes £1.3 maybe a little more would do a 5 bed detached (albeit loft converted) with parking on a v desirable street.

Current house £1-1.1m not desirable street and no parking (but the house does have 'grander' proportions. I don't think that counts for much though sadly!

Why don’t you visit these houses and see whether you actually like them. Moving because they are on a more prestigious street seems like moving just to keep up with the Jones.

If you are settled and happy where you are, then I wouldn’t move. If there was physical need to move, or you want to move for investment reasons, then move.

Also, it depends on what stage of life you are, job security etc. My mil always used to say, you should toss a coin. Before it lands, you’ll know the answer as you’ll be hoping it lands on that option.

Buy a holiday home with the extra money

We like these houses, seen them before, friends live in them etc.

We've been debating this, a BTL, or just staying put and clearing mortgage. All feel like a very nice position to be in, so it really is coming down to which is the better thing to do financially over the long run.

We are both in full time stable jobs. DH a bit older than me but still has 20 years in him to work! Kids are in primary. More prestigious roads are a bit closer to the outstanding secondaries.

Streets do change over time - yours may we’ll become a ‘desirable’ one as people buy because they can’t afford the extra £300k+ to live on the ‘better’ ones.

I’ve lived through redundancies and recessions - I’d be tempted to ‘stick’ as I’m more risk averse!

On the loft converted point all the ones we saw were AWFUL except for the house we bought (same road and same house design as awful ones)

It's truly spectacular and the best room/master bedroom of the house. I was shocked as all the others we saw were very blah and meh.
It was really interesting to see how different particianing and a good architect changed the feel and use of the space

I suppose my point is if you do go for it maybe look at either non converted or rejig the existing one.

As i said if you can service the new mortgage crack on...

Ours is a main road. It will never be as desirable as these others unless it became pedestrianised!

Are we settled? Yes very much, but also happy to move and take on a project. We're a fairly nomadic family!

I think I would move house if I was in your shoes ..you say the more desirable home will become more valuable over time and the appreciation has no ceiling. Wouldn’t that be fantastic for your children to inherit?

Outside the mortgage are you in a position to buy both your children a house? Pay them through uni and go on fabulous adventures and holidays? If not I'd do that. But if all those are covered you could move. Do the kids want to? We have a lovely house, there are compromises but to many it's a dream home. We could afford to move 'up' as it were but our kids love it so not worth it to move them. Can you jazz up the inside? Small pool in the garden? Fancy kitchen? I would just really focus on enjoying every minute of the kids being at primary school.

Move. If you don’t need to pay the mortgage off e.g approaching retirement, definitely trade up.

Interesting points @Mn753

We've kind of maxed this place out, the garden is quite small but has trampoline, climbing wall.... kitchen is perfectly nice, I wouldn't waste money redecorating or putting in a new one. We have a movie/games room.

Yes we can put both through uni, and the plan was always to sell wherever we are when they want homes of their own to fund their deposits at least. At that point we'd like to build something somewhere a bit more rural and keep a smaller place here.

It feels like the decision that won't go away.... which maybe means we think we should do it....

To be fair our last house was a semi without parking and so these were deal breakers in our current one. Both things have materially improved our lives. I would happily downsize if needed but would always choose detached with parking if possible.

If the decision won’t go away, as you say, I think it might be good to think about what feels right and your gut instinct. Once you start to view other houses you might get a good feeling about one and you will know it’s the right decision to make.

Years ago we viewed a house because it had the number of bedrooms we wanted, but it made us feel really unsettled whilst we tried to decide what to do. This made us realise it wasn’t the right decision.

Once you get that itchy feeling of wanting to move, it’s hard to stop that. When my husband and I first lived together we lived in a house for four years but, because we knew we could afford much better, we set our sights and ambitions on moving to a particular sought after area in our town and to a much bigger house.

We succeeded! We’ve also managed to move again and have loved climbing the property ladder. 😊