To buy a new house now or wait a few years?!

[OoOoBabyLove]

Hi!
just wanted some advice/opinions.
we are currently pregnant with our first baby, and live in a beautiful little 2 bed, with a big garden, a very low mortgage and in a good location.

reasonings for wanting a bigger house are: our living space isnt very sociable, our front room is small, kitchen only sits the two of us, we have to store alot of our stuff at our parents, we rarely have people over because of this. we have been wanting to buy a bigger house for over 12 months now but now with a baby on the way the new mortgage could possibly be double what we currently pay.
my question to you lovely lot would be, would you recommend still hunting for a house and moving out when we are still pregnant/have a tiny baby, or would you stay put and wait until as a family, we outgrow the house?
thankyou

I would wait unless you can afford to double your mortgage payment while on maternity leave. Instead I’d take advantage of your low payments at the moment to save as much as possible, so you’re in a better position to move when your little one is a bit older.

We bought a new flat with much more space and moved whilst I was early pregnant. Wasn't planned this way at all but now really delighted we are in the new flat, as we are settling in and getting everything sorted!

thanku for the reply, i do feel like we should take advantage for the meanwhile too but also just not sure how much space a baby will need in the house etc! friends of mine have large front rooms and i visit and just think i will never have this amount of room for mine when they start crawling/walking etc x

I think either will be fine. After the baby’s born you will have a good idea of what you want and need. A newborn doesn’t need much. We moved with a tiny baby and it was fine, but as we moved area too it felt a bit like I lost my entire identity all at once.

Whilst you're on maternity leave, lenders should only look at your salary. Once you're back at work they can take childcare costs into account so they may not agree to lend you the same amount. So it may be better to move before you go back to work and are suddenly £xxx amount poorer every month. (Assuming that's relevant to you.)

We're having this dilemma but decided to move when baby is coming up to school age, we'll have a lot more equity and be in a better position to move

thanks @wineymummy that advice is good to know. and yes i will be poorer! yes @islandislandisland that is our other option, wait it out, get abit more equity behind us and then look. i just keep looking at our little house and thinking things like “how is a buggy going to fit in here?!” we dont even have a hall way or anywhere to store it! x

We are expecting our first and want to move - to improve commutes as we have both changed jobs/offices since we bought this one.
I'm due in August, we were looking but cv19 and preferring not to move when heavily pregnant meant it has been put on the back burner. We are now planning on seeing what happens to the housing market between now and the end of the year and start looking again in the new year.
We are currently overpaying our mortgage making the payments similar to what we predict our new payments to be... We area we are looking to move to is cheaper so we should get more house for our money.

DS is 7 weeks old, our house will go up on the market in the next couple of weeks. Currently in a 2 bed but need more space if we want a 2nd so by moving now and settling it gives us an opportunity to start saving again and we will then know when we can afford maternity leave #2

I'd wait - simply because of the likely impact Covid will have on the housing market and economy.

I'd value financial security/stability at this point in time over more space - especially if you have a decent garden for a toddler to play in.

I'd potentially look at putting something in the garden as "play den" - get it hooked up with electricity and insulated and when you sell eventually it can be marketed as a home office.

All the toys can be in there along with a heater, chair, rug, kettle, mini fridge, for you to make a cup of tea and you're sorted (plus your house will stay nice and tidy!).

I'd do it now. We moved when I was pregnant and it was great to organise a new home whilst 'nesting'. Depending on where you want to buy, the next few months should be a good time to get a bargain if the recession we're going in to is as bad as predicted, provided your income sources are as secure as possible!

The thing about house prices in a recession is that it hits the higher value properties disproportionately than cheaper ones.

When your moving what matters is the cash gap between the two properties.

So for example if your home is worth £100k now and the house you want to buy is £200k you've got a £100k cash gap (plus moving fees).

However if the market plunges by 10% then your house will be worth £90k and the new house £180k - a £90k gap.

Obviously this is a bit of a generalisation in the sense it assumes you're likely moving within the same area to the same type of property (eg house to flat or 60's box to period charm).

Also, you've added more equity to your home in the meantime.

As a rule I'd always trade up in a recession and trade down in a boom (if circumstances allow).

Sorry - should say eg not moving

thankyou all very much for the input! its really interesting to read what others have done/are planning to do to.
yes this is also part of our concern, how covid will affect the house pricing! xx

Depends how secure your jobs are, and what you think is likely to happen to house prices in your area.

It isn’t really necessary to have lots of space until they are off and moving around, when they first start crawling even a small house gives them plenty to explore! They don’t need much in the way of toys when little either, unless you opt for a big bouncer. We moved when DD was 18 months, and that was pretty much perfect for us - getting a garden in spring was so exciting for her and that was also when we moved her into her own room (not enough space before, and we quite enjoyed cosleeping).

So basically, make a decision based on your finances and think it through carefully. There’s no rush, but maybe now is the best time in your personal circumstances. Doubling your mortgage sounds tricky though, unless you’ve saved up quite a bit for your maternity leave that could be tricky? Have you factored in what childcare costs you will have and how that will affect what you can afford?

Why don’t you overpay your mortgage to increase your equity but stay where you are for now? This is what we’ve been doing for the last few years as we know childcare costs will be taken into account when it comes to checking affordability so more equity will help us out then.

We're in a very similar situation, DS is now 6 months old. Our pram lives in the boot of the car as there is simply nowhere else for it to go. Our hallway is tiny with doors on 3 sides and the stairs! We have completely boarded out our loft, although this doesn't increase our living space it's a godsend for storage. We didn't want to move while I was pregnant/with a small baby but hopefully will be moving in the next year or two.

I'd wait a few months - you'll struggle to get a mortgage on maternity pay unless it's a good enhanced one.

You won't really need the space until the little one is really running around and then you can always direct them to the garden

I wouldn't rush

Hey there, I just wanted to come on as I work in a mortgage brokers. While you are on maternity lenders will take your normal salary, they'll ask if you're going back to work on the same terms you left, some will just ask for verbal confirmation others will ask for a letter from your employer. So don't think that you won't have a chance at some stage in your maternity leave!

I am due with my first in September and we were meant to get our house on the market just as lockdown started so we haven't bothered yet, however I think over the next few weeks we will give the go ahead to the estate agents and take it from there!

Good luck with whatever you choose