Big house vs disposable income

[Roseybee10]

What would you do?

Big four bed detached house and not a lot of disposable income?

Smaller three bed semi detached with a lot of disposable income?

(We have two kids at moment).

With a disposable income you aren't worried about a sudden bill coming (repairs) or not being able to afford the school or brownie trip or interest rates rising. You can take awesome holidays and build fantastic memories as a family. You can save enough for a pension and a pot of money in case one or other of you lose your job. You don't feel poor even if your income compares badly. Seriously 4 days on 3 days off has got to be close to ideal? Why would you do anything that jepodisese that

My opinion: 3 bed with potential to extend.

In your situation is go detached. It's great to have no worries about your noise and nothing to disturb you from anyone else. Detached houses are great!

If you would be struggling to pay for any of the nice things in life then no, the smaller house would be more sensible. But if a bigger house means less fancy holidays and fewer nights out rather than none at all then go for it.

Now we have a big detached I find I don't want to go away, I like it here and we have less space on holiday.

Sounds like a nice dilemma anyway, good luck

I would go for the house that allowed you to live life to the full.

i have the similar dilemma:

option 1: a 3-bed terrace house with limited potential to extend but we can afford it comfortably. can use the extra saving for holidays or invest to buy to let etc. So it is a safer bet.

option 2: a grand Victoria semi with 3+ meter ceiling and a lot of potentials, we need to spend 100K extra to renovate + a bigger mortgage, I can imagine the family living in it for the next 20-30 years but it also requires endless money plumbing to improve it for the years to come (so not much disposable income left)

it is not an easy one.

Well my parents chose to stay in the three bed they're still in, they could have upsized but decided to pay mortgage down quickly and retired early.

They're in the middle of an eight week jaunt in France at the moment . I know what I'd choose!

Lol pootles every time k think I make my mind up I think of something like that and then it sways me again!!

Id buy small and either over pay or save some of the extra cash then look at moving later when you need the space.

Lol I never want to move again after this!!! Bloody nightmare.

Disposable income as long as you don't hate the 3 bed semi. Live is for living to its full now not for scrimping and saving to pay for a big house you don't need.

I'd go for the bigger house in your situation, you've obviously still got a generous amount of disposable income left in your description which means you'll be able to cut back if need be if things change. A bigger house is an investment that means when the kids have left home you can downsize and free up capital if you want. If you go for the smaller house you'll just fritter away that money and not have it when you are older and need it.

Go detached - no need to move again and no chance of horrible neighbours moving in / freedom to do what you want noise level etc.

You can do loads of things on a low budget - you can't buy peace of mind re neighbours.

Yes Drinks has a point there - if you go for the smaller house and just spend all the spare money, my point about early retirement is moot!

Personally I would get the smaller house and use the disposable income to pay extra payments off the mortgage and/or accumulate savings to cover you in the event of something going wrong. I don't like taking risks though, I remember people getting their houses repressed when I was a child and my mum always drummed into me that if you get a home, never risk it.

Repossessed!

Putting your money in property is as good a way to be able to retire and swan off to France - could be better than putting it in a pension or an ISA with crap interest rates (as they all do at present).

But then the OP is considering spending it rather than saving so....

I know in theory it is, but in my experience everyone gets very used to their nice big houses and decides not to downsize anyway!

Smaller house with potential to extend

We would definitely be saving some of it if we went for the smaller house.

We would want to downsize to a smaller house in the country once the girls leave home and use any equity to put towards retirement and to help them get started.
Also ss morbid as it sounds, I will get a fair whack of inheritance further down the line so although I'm not relying on it, it will be there if needed.

We're not risk takers either so finding it quite difficult to make a decision lol.

We had this dilemma a few years back and went for the bigger house. It took a few months to realise that we were going to have this large mortgage for many years. I had also increased my hours at work so we could move. 5.5 years later we moved. The energy bills were huge (£275 a month) and the house lost its shine as all our wages were being put into it. Fortunately for us house prices had risen so we were able to move to a smaller semi and take 100k off our mortgage. A year on and I've absolutely no regrets. The big house may look lovely but it can be a big weight around your neck.

I think the energy bills and council tax worry me more than the mortgage tbh. It is a lot.
I just wish something in between would come on the market but it doesn't look likely. Hoping the market will pick up in August as people come back from their holidays.

I always play the long game providing there is enough until you get there. If the cars can last three to five years and if you can have a holiday or two in the UK (and jolly good fun) then I'd go for the bigger house because in three to five years income will have caught up a bit for the fun stuff providing you can maintain and pay the bills in the meantime.

Also, and I don't mean to pour cold water on what you are planning to do, but I think if you have to ask the question you have found houses that you can buy with your head rather than a home that you will love. If you are buying for short-term gain and have a development plan, that's fine. If you are buying for the future and forever, if you are asking the question I'm really sorry but I don't think either house is right for you.

DH and I are old sages at this business. In Feb we drew up outside a house, complete curve ball, our fingers touched and we looked at each other and the frisson of excitement was like the night we met 27 years ago. We didn't even step inside to have to know it was our dream home - and we left our "forever" home purchased 23 years ago two years ago!

I know what you're saying. We have found 'the one' but it's a bit more than we were hoping to pay so we're biding our time until our house sale goes through and if it's still on we were planning on putting an offer in but we are always so sensible that it's a scary prospect to take even a small risk.
We've been to see about 20 houses in the past 6 months and it's the only one that's given us tingles. I absolutely love it and while it isn't without some compromises, it's perfect for us and our needs.

We didn't feel it was rerspinsible to take on the bigger house while retaining our current property as a rental but we've since had an offer on it and accepted which is why we're now considering it again. Just don't want to put an offer in until our buyer has received their mortgage offer.

Op

How much per month difference are you talking between the two houses?

£200/300 ???

Mortgage wise £400 a month. Then council tax another £50 I think.

Tbh though I was up in my mums today which is A three bed semi and I think I would go crackers in something that style which is the style of the one that's on the market just now. It's just not enough downstairs living space for a family of 4.