Would you move?

[Mumof2studentnurse]

Hi,

Would anyone be able to share any advice?

I'm married, 2 primary school aged kids

Our take home is approx £4200 per month - husband has peaked earning potential in his role - no plans to progress. I hope to earn £300-£400 more per month in the next few years when I gain more experience.

My mid terraced house is worth around £135,000 (Still has 105,000 remaining on Mortgage)

This house needs a huge amount of cosmetic work and a new kitchen.

I have no driveway, we park our cars on the street, and space is tight.

We do have a decent-sized front garden, but it's on a main street, so it's not private; people are passing all day.

The back garden is tiny and backs onto a shared path that lots of kids use to play (small kids, who live in the street, they are all lovely, but there is no privacy in the tiny back garden) so I don't use the back garden at all.

I like the area where we live, my kids go to the local school and we are very settled here.

Most of the houses near me are completely outside my budget, but I have been made aware of a small detached bungalow (it's slightly smaller than my current house) coming onto the market soon. It's likely to be priced at around £235,000 - £240,000

Although the bungalow is small and also needs to be redecorated, and needs a new kitchen and bathroom, it does have a driveway and it has a large private back garden.

To the side of the house, there would be enough space for a small extension (for way in the future if finances were to allow)

Our mortgage is currently around £600 a month - this move would put us to roughly £1200 per month.

I am wondering if you would think it would be worth it to double the mortgage for a smaller house (that could be extended many years from now) that needs as much work as my current house. But is detached, has a nice back garden, room to extend, and is in a quieter street.

What would you do?

Sounds an awful lot more for a garden and parking.
We have moved from a 4 bed, 1 bath semi to a 4 bed 3.5 bath detached + garage in same village. Husband thinks it's fabulous, gus dream home. I can't get my head around the fact it's cost us double (with stamp duty). Garden is same size but worse aspect, which I really dont like. If I could go back in time I'd likely stay abd not move, though I do like our new home, just so much money (though we had it, no mortgage).

You pay a big premium for a bungalow normally - personally I wouldn't move to one that needed significant work now plus an extension unless you have the money to hand if you will struggle with space

I wouldn't move personally. The jump on mortgage would be too much for me considering the amount of work that needs doing. Not just the mortgage increase to consider, but council tax utilities too. We've considered moving but ultimately decided we enjoy our lifestyle, and if we moved we wouldn't be able to afford to do the same things we do now.

Do you both have job security? How much do you have saved away as a just in case fund? If you husband lost his job would you be able to pay the mortgage on your salary?

I think you need to find a better house to move to , even if it means waiting or moving a little more in distance than you want .

I can see why you want to move but bungalows are very over priced. Is most of the housing stock near you terraced? The town I live in has huge old mills in and lots of the housing stock is terraced. We live on one of the few roads that are not terraced and there is a huge premium to pay. We are going to have to move from the area eventually but DS is an adult.

Doubling the mortgage is too much plus a new kitchen and bathroom is really expensive and extension prices are quite frankly crazy.

I would. The value you could add to that property will be enormous. You can go up into the roof and out to the side making a future proof home for growing teens and all their stuff. In the mean time the big garden can house sheds for storage. Having parking, privacy and peace in an area you love and is a huge bonus.

Doubling your mortgage for a smaller house that you'd then hope to extend in future would be madness imo.

Like a pp said, bungalows generally carry a premium, due to scarce supply.

If you could afford your mortgage doubling then you should be saving at least £600pm / £7200 a year right now.

I would stay put, spend minimal on your house now (chuck a bit of paint around, paint the kitchen if really bad and fablon the worktops). Then revisit in 2 years, with £15k plus saved in the bank.

Thank you all so much for your replies.

I appreciate you all taking the time. I have some thinking to do :)