WWYD in this scenario?

7 replies

jollymollie · 03/09/2011 08:41

You own your own home (mortgaged). You owe £127k on mortgage and your house is worth about £185k. The mortgage would be gone when you are 62. You have unsecured debt of £30k which you have been paying for a few years by an arrangement with your creditors.

Yourself, dh and dcs love the house you are in. It's spacious, lovely garden and opposite open fields. You have lived in the area for ten years however and have never been happy. You are not near any family and have very few friends (not for want of trying!) Now you are thinking of selling.

You could clear your unsecured debt for about 15k and would come away with something around 30k (realistic figure). You could start again in an area which is close to family and you would be debt free. The area you want to move to would also have better prospects for dcs for the future. Problem being you would have to move into rented accommodation and as you are both just over 40 may have to face the prospect that you would not own your home again. Would you hang on to your own house? The mortgage payments are manageable but you would struggle if interest rates went up by more than 2%. Any opinions on this as we have been struggling with this decision for a good couple of years now!

OP posts:

MatLeaveForever · 03/09/2011 09:25

Not an easy decision, but is there an option for you to buy a less expensive property instead of renting?

ChippingIn · 03/09/2011 09:32

I don't understand why you would have to go into rented - would the 30k not be enough for a deposit on something? If it's not - do you have to pay off the unsecured loan or could you just keep paying it as you are now?? If the 30k would be enough for a deposit somewhere else that would be what I would do. If not, I'd stay put. I wouldn't go into rented. Not that there's anything wrong with it or that it's 'superior' to own your own house or anything like that - I just like the security that comes with it myself - especially when you have kids at school.

Original poster

jollymollie · 03/09/2011 10:07

We wouldn't be able to buy another property because of our adverse credit history and dh is self employed, I'm a SAHM so no proof of income. I have spoken to our mortgage company and we would have to go through the process of applying for a new mortgage which I know we wouldn't get. We originally got our mortgage on a self-cert basis but things are very different now! It really would mean renting and after having the security of our own place for such a long time that scares me but we would be in an area where ours and our dcs lives would be fuller. At the moment they see no family but if we move they would have cousins and other family members close by.

OP posts:

LawrieMarlow · 03/09/2011 10:16

I don't have the same situation but when H and I were together we owned a house (mortgaged). Had large financial problems which have been sorted by having an IVA. This means credit history scuppered (probably for ever) and so we had to make the decision when he got a new job that if we moved it would be unlikely we could own again. Where we were we could have kept mortgage going but mortgage company said we couldn't get another mortgage.

We moved and rent. (H left a few months ago but that is a side issue ). I do sometimes feel insecure about not owning but has to be said the financial implications of owning and splitting up would have been more complicated. I suppose that knowing I won't have a house to pass on to the DC bothers me and the fact I will need to keep paying rent for ever but at the moment things are OK.

Original poster

jollymollie · 03/09/2011 10:29

Thanks for all the replies. LawrieMarlow, does the house you're in now feel like home? Also with your adverse credit were you able to find a rented property through an agency or did you have to look in the local paper? Sorry things didn't work out with your H after you moved.

OP posts:

tyler80 · 03/09/2011 11:31

Have you ever rented before?

We've just bought after renting for a long time. Whilst house ownership has never been a big aim of mine, 3 forced moves (landlords selling up) in less than 3 years coupled with falling house prices means we've taken the plunge. Couldn't face moving again when we didn't want to.

Whilst some people are incredibly lucky to find long secure tenancies, it's not the experience for me and the majority of my friends/colleagues.

tyler80 · 03/09/2011 11:33

Also do you have good pension provision?

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