Opinions please?

[redhollyberry]

Looking for advice as not really comfortable with talking finances etc. with friends and family.

Not sure what our next move (if any) is and perhaps writing it down on MN will help.

We've lived at our house for 11 years. It's a 1920's three bed terrace in a good location of town and a 10 minute walk to town/beach/park/country walks etc. When we bought it we always though we would move after 5 years or so, but then house prices went crazy so we stayed put. We've been very happy here though.

The house is fine for our needs, it's not big but it's not small, we are currently trying to update it but it will never be a WOW home/ very impressive if you see what I mean!

We were lucky enough to pay the mortgage off 2.5 years ago when we were expecting our daughter, and we've carried on saving. We reckon that if we saved an extra £100K it may be enough to move up the ladder ? perhaps a larger detached house further out of town or a 5 bed Victorian terrace round the corner (but on a busier road). Done some calculations and it should take another 2.5 years to get to this point hopefully.

I've been thinking a lot lately though about buying a holiday home instead of moving. Not anything fancy just a small flat in a touristy seaside area about an hours drive from us. We'd buy it for our personal use as well as hopefully letting it to holiday makers. Thought this may be lovely for our young daughter to enjoy a lot of holidays/ make good memories there.

Really not sure what the right thing to do is (if anything). If we bought a bigger home we would be able to enjoy it everyday or perhaps we would just become used to it again? Our money would all be tied up in one house too, but we could downsize when older and hopefully release some money.

If we bought a holiday home perhaps we could have some sort of income from it, but there would also be two lots of bills to pay. Though if we needed to access the money from it we could sell it again without major disruption to our lives with moving etc. Maybe we'd get fed up of using it?

The other thing is to do nothing and just live in our current home and keep on saving. We probably wont do anything until 2.5 years and we've saved enough so it'll give us a chance to see what the market is doing.

Anyone else thought along these lines, what would you do? We're so careful, which is great in some respects but not in others!

Your house seems to meet all your needs and, since you only have one child, do you really need five bedrooms? To be honest, you sound a bit restless, a bit frightened you've got stuck in a rut - I think the wisest thing is to keep saving and see where you stand in a couple of years' time. Perhaps your family will have grown, perhaps you will have stumbled across your dream home but, at the moment, it sounds like moving for moving sake (and as you last moved 11 years ago, perhaps you have forgotten how horrific a process it is ). As you live near the beach, how much use would you get from another seaside home?

Wow ! You are so very sensible and that's probably why you are in an enviable situation ! Well done for paying your mortgage down.

As to what you should do, who knows...a bigger house in a nicer area might sound good but to me it sounds as though you enjoy where you are now...life's foibles can be the making of you ?

Who's definition of WOW needs to be pandered to ?
Have you considered tarting up your current place with a few luxury's and enjoy spending some of your savings on holidays etc ?

purely from investment persepctive, if you are getting a second home and hope to derive income from it then buying it without any sort of mortgage is probably not the best investment, as your income will be taxed and if you wish to sell it will attract capital gains tax.

Thank you all for your replies.

Lalalonglegs you have great insight. Do feel a little bit panicky that we've been here so long and don't seem to be going anywhere in life. Think it's worse now that we are in our mid thirties and settled with a child. Going to wait a couple of years first to save so that we are in a good position before doing anything. Think I wanted to get a clear idea of what we're aiming for (i.e holiday home/ bigger home / other???) as I'm better at achiveing stuff when I'm crystal clear of the goal.

Thanks Awbubble, we are currently spending a fair bit to sort all the things that are bugging us in our current home to see if that makes a difference. We are happy here but I just feel like I've got an itch I want to scratch!

Re holidays: We do love travelling and did a lot in our twenties, I do miss it. When our daughter is old enough (e.g can walk without needing pushchair so much/ no cot etc.) we may go again - she's almost 2 now so hopefully not long. Until then it's just UK hols!

Thanks HerHonesty for the investment advice! We probably would take a mortgage on a holiday home for the reasons you mentioned, I think I'd just like to have the money in the background as a back up in case things went wrong.

Thank you all! Just feeling like there's a lot of social pressure to move/ have something to show for yourself. Don't want to mess up by acting too rashly, but also don't want to remain static forever.

Stuff the social pressure. That will change somewhat in the coming years when many won't have a bean to spend on luxuries but you in your wholly owned house will be able to enjoy life loads. Isn't that what its about ?