Should I stay or should I move?

[DirtyDripSpout]

Our house move has un-expectedly fallen through

We have cash buyers and agreed a price earlier this year. They still want to proceed, which would put us in a strong position. We're in SE London and it seems that prices have risen since and there is a real shortage of larger family homes.

Our current house is lovely - nothing left to do, and there is no real hurry for us to move. We wanted to move for a better location within the same area, possibly gain a bedroom, and larger living area.

It seems the ideal properties for us are about 100k approx out of reach. Plus, I can't help comparing properties unfavourably to the one we lost. We could however afford it by making lifestyle changes etc, but DH who is very risk adverse, has now announced that he is uncomfortable with the additional mortgage. He is worried as we are in our mid 40s and he wants to be mortgage free by 60, that one of us could lose our jobs, the recent China crisis, reduced opportunity to save, the amount of LTV etc among a host of other things.

We're now at a cross roads and really can't decide to stay put or actually continue with the move. DH wanted to move years ago, but we kept putting it off. When we finally bit the bullet and went through with the move, this happens, effectively putting us back to square one...

Could you be more flexible on location? It sounds like you are being economically forced out of the capital like many families.

You have a buyer already but are they going to pay todays asking price or the one you agreed on earlier in the year which almost certainly doesn't reflect the steep rise in London house prices recently.
Personally I would absolutely not want to start taking on a bigger mortgage.
Could you extend your place at all which would cost a lot less than moving?
be careful incase you jump from the frying pan into the fire.

Thanks for your replies.

Location - we could go further, but are restricted to the DCs schools. If I move too far out, it could mean a longer commute for both me and the dc.

Extending - we have already extended up to the point that doing any further extension would not significantly increase its marketability or resale value as our house is already at the top asking end for our street.

EA is reluctant to ask our buyer if they would pay more. I know we run the risk of losing them completely too. However, I also i know that they have fallen in love with our property too.

I do think you should ask for more money. You accepted their price and now you need to decide if you accept it or pull out.

I don't know that China will have that much of an affect on the UK (certainly think Aus for example will be screwed by it). But an extra £100,000 on your mortgage when you don't really need it? That's crazy.

I don't think you can ask for more money

I think it really depends on how unsuitable your current house is. Is it uncomfortably small? Does the size annoy you all the time? 100k on your mortgage is a lot of money but then again it's all relative to your income. Anybody could lose their job at any time, I don't see the economy being as bad as it was a few years back. Asking for more money is a difficult one as you are likely to have to pay more for the same house than a few months ago. Your buyers could tell you to do one or offer you more!