Would you rather be Cash Rich and House Poor? Or House Rich and Cash Poor?

[rootsandwings89]

What’s more important to you? Is a big family home worth it if it eats up most of your income?

Or do you prefer to have more disposable income to enjoy holidays etc. but have a smaller home?

We are currently trying to weigh up our next house move …

We would rather have the smaller home and more disposable income, we dont need to “keep up with the jones” by having a big house. I’d rather be able to treat our children, have days out, holidays and make memories, for us disposable income makes life easier, we still have a roof over our head , lovely neighbours and a nice warm house, it just isn’t very big.

id hate to live in a bigger house(more rooms to clean) worrying in case an emergency happened eg needing new appliances, house repairs , not being able to go on holiday and having to watch the pennies,

Just to add we are late 30’s, have 2 x children and love going on holiday, but have always always wanted a big family home.

I would love a smaller house but more money. I really really want a bungalow. We bought our current house cos we were seriously considering having children. Due to recent health issues children have gone out the window and we can't afford to move. My mobility is only going to get worse and I am already strugging a little with the stairs, I can't carry anything up because I have to hold on both sides. In your next move consider if this will be your forever home and how you maybe affected in the future by age or ill health. If you will need to make adaptations to the house or will you manage if your mobility fails.

Depends what you mean by 'eats up most of your income'.

Are you thinking about taking on a mortgage that you can only just afford? If so, I absolutely would not consider that in the current climate. No way.

Smaller home, more money.

I prefer a big house, but I’m quite a home bird, so I spend a lot of time enjoying my home, garden patio outdoor area. Bout your money where you spend the most time enjoying.

Larger home. We moved last year and disposable income is tight. But our move was flat to house so a huge difference. We can't afford holidays now and days out need to be planned, but I wouldn't change it.

Definitely cash rich. Unfortunately I’m cash poor and house poor at present.

House poor and cash rich for me.

I'd rather be cash rich but I only ever had one child so didn't need a very big house. If anything a decent sized garden was always a bit more important to me. I certainly wouldn't mortgage myself to the eyeballs for a double garage and extra bedroom.

House rich and cash poor. I love my home and it is my sanctuary. I'm not fussed about money. As long as I can cover the bills then I'm happy. I'm not worried about fancy holidays, cars or meals out.

Quite happy at home.

There's a certain baseline I'd want for both which would affect my answer. There's a big difference in a stretch for a guest room that gets used once a year and a stretch so your children have enough space to get a good nights sleep and focus on homework, just as there's a big difference between having to pick the cheaper swimming lessons and spending years with no enrichment activities at all.

Ive stayed in the second house I bought, 30 years ago. Bog standrard 3 bed victorian terrace.
My mortgage was paid off when I was 56, Ive been able do several 'once in a lifetime' trips, brought up my son as a single parent.
My home is big enough for our needs, in an ideal location.

The only thing I would really like is a utility room, but I don't see the need for multiple bathrooms, en suites, playrooms, density etc. Just more cleaning and maintenance.
When my son got to his teens I invested in a big shed, had power put in, insulated it. He used it is a hang out with his mates, it's big enough for 4 to sleep in and used it as a home gym during Covid. Now he's left home I have a lovely big garden shed.
Never seen the point in saddling myself with a huge mortgage

We went with smaller home (although it is plenty big enough, just not as big as we could have bought) because we wanted a mortgage that could be manageable in the event someone couldn’t work, and also to have money for holidays, education etc.

Now that we are older, we don’t really need to find something smaller as it’s not that big and we have bedrooms and a bathroom all on the same level with the living space.

Currently choosing to stay put now to have more disposable cash but our house is fine and next step up is 300k more and thats without stamp duty. We're good.

I think it depends, to get a home that sets you up for the future meaning there'll be enough room for everyone,even if things are a little tight the first few years, is probably worth it. Also possibly worth it for detached. However, I wouldn't do it just for keeping up with others or because it was expected.

Our house is big enough (4 bed- 1DC) but recently been wondering to move to one that’s “posher”. There’s a few on the market that are a few £100k more than ours is worth (we’re mortgage free). Decided to stay put and enjoy being able to afford holidays

We bought at the top of our budget, then xh left and I bought him out. It's been a great investment for me as it's doubled in value at the same time that my earning power was limited by being a single parent.

So I'm house rich but cash poor, and happy that way as it'll keep increasing (due to location).

I guess I'm saying, think about how much each option will rise in value over the years, if you're planning to stay there a while.

House rich. Because round my area having a decent size house means being able to get a couple of lodgers in that would then be enough money to live.

Alas I am neither 😂 there are literal fucking church mice with more money and house than me

We have put most of our assets into our house, partly because of tax-efficiency, and partly as we're in London, so a more expensive house doesn't mean a huge house so much as one in a very central and well-connected location. So we don't have to spend so much on days out as everything is an easy and short bus ride away, and lots of amenities and free attractions are within easy easy reach and membership works out as good value. Also puts us in catchment of some top schools and walking distance for work, so we save money there and have improved quality of life not having to do rush hour commutes. For us it was important to have a bedroom per child as well, because I never liked sharing a room as a child.

We can still afford the holidays we like, but we enjoy fairly simple holidays as long as we have that family time together and the dcs are happy.

It depends how small the small house is and how poor is 'poor'.

But if the smaller house is a manageable size just not super spacious, I would (and did) go with house poor, cash rich. This has made a huge difference to our lives, and I am a high earner - most people in my position would have a much bigger house. But keeping the smaller house has enabled us to pay off our mortgage, and live properly comfortably/without anxiety. This is worth much more to me than a flash house and loads of space.

But we are a family of four in a 3-bedroom house, so no-one is making huge sacrifices. The kids' bedrooms are pretty small, but each can fit desk/bed/cupboard, so they can manage.

Depends what stage of life.
You need enough cash to maintain and deal with unexpected repairs.
Seniors are often in this situation of being house rich and cash poor and it’s not a healthy position to be in.

We are currently having a similar debate. I wouldn't class us as house poor but for various reasons a slightly bigger house or a house with a different layout/ bigger plot would improve things.
We've been viewing properties and are aware it's very easy to get caught I'm in the bigger and bigger properties. We've actually started to focus on what's most important because we do not want to max our mortgage as it brings it's own new stresses.
What will a bigger house add to your quality of life?
For us we don't need lots more rooms but we do need at least one more reception room due to having more adults living at home in the future. This will actively improve things for all involved but we don't need to have an extra 3 reception rooms even though in the moment of look that felt like an amazing option.

If I had to choose, I’d pick a large house and less cash as I love being at home and having plenty of space inside and out. When we lived in a smaller house, I found it really stressful, all under each other’s feet, hardly any storage etc so it easily looked a mess. I love space and a place for everything. The kids were much happier with more space.

Thankfully, we didn’t have to choose so we have a large house and a good amount of disposable income but I’m not that keen on holidays anyway, especially long ones. Our disposable income is more likely to get spent on meals out, concerts, theatre etc rather than holidays. I like a few hours or a day out and then coming home to lots of space.

We chose house rich cash poor, though we’re just breaking even for money.

We have a child with complex SEN so having space for them, space away from each other, a big garden was important. Though I do find we have filled up the space anyway…