Would you do this?

[muminlondon2020]

Take on a £100k mortgage at 50 yrs old, to knock down an old leaking conservatory on your house and rebuild with a new extension with a living room and utility? House is worth about £650k already (no mortgage). Earn about £50k, should go up in the next few years. No debt, about £10k savings.

YES

Yep seems fairly low risk if you have that much equity already. What will the monthly payment be

No. You have a mortgage free life. Not worth swapping at 50. Too many unknowns with health in the future and at the moment your home is safe.

Absolutely.

If you can add 2 storeys for slightly more it'll cost you less per square foot and the increase in value of adding an extra bedroom and bathroom would be worth it.

Will it vastly improve your quality of life? Do you have kids at home ? We did a biggish extension a few years back and it has made so much difference but we didn't remortgage to do it and don't think I would have taken on another mortgage after being mortgage free for a few years, especially with interest rates being what they currently are.

At 50? Nope. Mortgage free here, and a similar age, and hell would freeze over before we would take a £100K debt on now. Whether against the house or not. Too many risks at an age where health starts to naturally decline. You would be batshit to do this IMO.

What time period are you looking at taking the mortgage for? I’d be increasingly wary of any mortgage commitment going into my 60s…

Have you only just paid off your mortgage? Because 10k savings seems very little given your income and lack of mortgage.

On that basis, finding the money for a mortgage every month is going to affect your lifestyle. If you were saving a grand a month and wanted to divert it from savings to a mortgage then the impact on day to day living would be a lot less.

How much do you need the space? Will it significantly improve your life or future proof the property? Unless it was really giving me a lot extra then I probably wouldn't.

Argh! This post so far is like the inside of my mind! I oscillate between its an investment, and it'll be fine I have a nice lifestyle why make life more difficult. One child still at home, 5yrs till they finish school, actually I get £900 in child support for him as well, so thats on top of my salary but I tend to spend it all on them, holidays etc. Yes savings are not great, single income and running/maintaining a house and car on my own. Just spent a good chunk on the roof and other maintenance. Will improve our life I think, we want space for home gym, home office and for people to stay over and it will add that. Plus will be nicer for the furry family members :)

Definitely I would.

No unless it was essential and the builder was a trusted relative.

Yes absolutely

I'm 53 and past mortgages now, I can't imagine tying myself to such a huge debt at this age, especially with prices being so unpredictable now.

50 is young and £100k mortgage isn't unreasonable.

I'd do it.

Just read that your children are still at school. Don't underestimate those university costs if you haven't already got that covered.

Wouldn't you be risking losing your home if you defaulted on the mortgage? Why put yourself in that situation?

How affordable will your current lifestyle be when the child support stops? And if you're paying mortgage payments too?

I've just input your details into Nationwide's mortgage calculator, and on a 15 year deal it would be around £800 per month.

I have very good insurance through work, so if anything significant happens to my health the mortgage would be more than covered in the pay out. Kids have uni fees covered by in laws (very well off). Builder has just done a friends extension and is highly recommended in community. The main drawback for me, is downgrading my lifestyle, currently I do pretty much what I want, and that will no longer be possible. And of course the terrible interest rates right now, was thinking of going on a tracker mortgage and betting that they'll go down next year.

With current rates, absolutely not.

If rates go down a little, like what is predicted then maybe but for the rooms you want, a garden room or two may better.

Rates won't go back to historic lows though...

However it sounds like you can afford it and just downgrade your lifestyle a little.

And with being mortgage free and £900 maintenence pm, you really should have more in savings.

If you can comfortably afford it then yes absolutely.

Instead of building an extension, why not build a little self contained flat that you could rent out for now, or move the grown up children into later or move into it when you're older and rent out the main house? So then it is more of a flexible asset?

What sort of property is it? Are there just two of you there? I think my answer is different if you are looking at a small utility and sitting room on a small house v a great pile and extensive and attractive extension

Its a 3 bed 1930s semi in a conservation area, so limited in what can be done in garden. Would be replacing a tiny utility and old conservatory, with a new insulated living room and boot room/utility about 4x bigger than what is currently there. Planning for a big loft conversion master bed & ensuite gone in same application as well, but I wont do that as dont need it, just the 2 of is here.

She's 50, not 80.

No chance.
Especially not for a gym/guest room/office-
hardly essentials.
I would be investing that money properly for your futures.