What would you do?

[Ontheflipside]

Posting for advice. I posted the other day, but this is about a different property. Would you go for it on this house?

We can "afford" to do it, but it means things will be really tight between April and August next year while we pay for both kids in full time childcare. And then even when DD1 starts school, things would be much better but we wouldn't have leeway for luxuries like holidays, building savings back up etc until DD2 is in school. When DD1 is in school, we would have c.£1650 "spare" money between us. That's after groceries, mortgage, childcare, car loan, council tax, bills etc. The only thing it doesn't include is commuting which costs roughly £150 per month depending how often I go to the office. I'm hybrid and husband is fully remote. Whilst both DD's are in nursery full time it would be £700 "spare" for the whole house.

What would you do? It's a house we will never grow out of in terms of space/neighbourhood. But if we really concentrated, we could pay off the mortgage where we currently are in 15 years, plus still have money for holidays etc. What would your advice be? I don't love our street in terms of location or some neighbours. One of our neighbours did a Nazi salute to DH because of his moustache 😭 as an example. Very bad "joke" I think. We are also in a bad catchment for school where we are. The ofsted report is damning.

What do you think is better for children? A nice home, in a good area with good school but less luxuries, like holidays/lots of day trips/cultural experiences. A more "basic" lifestyle, while still very fortunate in a better area. And possibly never paying off the mortgage, but selling and downsizing when they leave home. Or staying put in not the nicest area, fingers crossed for schools, but we could save/build pensions more, holiday, basically not "worry" about money and pay off the mortgage.

If anyone has lived through this, how did you find it? Were you constantly worrying about money?

Bump

Surely you can manage on £1650 a month after all bills. I budget for £1000 after bills and funnel the rest of ours into savings.

Given the info in your post, I would absolutely do it. You still have a great deal of disposable income even with the “forever” house, so even though things would be tighter, you won’t be eating beans on toast for dinner.

Im a few years your children will be playing with the neighbours children, in the neighbours houses. Which set of neighbours do you prefer.

In a few years, your kids will be in school and your childcare costs will drop (maybe, depending on your situation!). Where do you want to be living at that point?

I would go for it.

Max up pension contributions for both of you. Read about compounding effect and you will thank your younger self when you will have choice when to retire.

£700 spare each month is something I can only dream of! Do it. It is easy to get by with that spare, I have about a quarter of that and manage, many have nothing spare and manage!

Always location

Don’t be silly, they still have to live their lives. And they’d be retired early in a shitty neighbourhood, with their kids having gone to a dreadful school….what’s the point of that? I’m sure she’s well aware of how compounding works, but it’s not entirely relevant here.

op, it sounds like you are being overly cautious. That amount of money left over is fine.

remember the purchase price of the house is going to go down in real terms over time, whilst your earnings will (presumably) go up.

if it’s affordable when allowing for possible interest rate rises, I would go for it.

I think before assuming there's only one way to manage money OP should consider all options. Delaying moving for when kids are older meaning ready for secondary school is an option too. Her older child isn't in scholl yet. Putting money now into her pension for the next 6-7 years will make huge difference for when her kids areadults. At the very least looking at her figures and knowing what her decision means is important.

I would go for it, doesn’t sound like you’ll be too short whilst you’re paying nursery costs and that’s only short-lived. Good luck!

I could have written this post except we have only one child at the moment who starts reception in September. We managed to get her into the good school in another area despite being out of catchment (got in from a waiting list - so this does still happen), and now considering whether to move to that area and have at least £1000 less disposable income a month or stay where we are and have far more disposable income (holidays, luxuries etc) but not love our area or house. Plus a 15 minute commute to school in the car if we don't move. At the moment I'm leaning towards moving...

I should add that peace of mind knowing that you are happy with your child's school is priceless, IMO. I was so stressed whilst we were on the waiting list!!

Thank you all for the advice. We've decided to go for it and have the offer accepted. I feel cautious of the cost, but excited and relieved for the new chapter