Nice house, no money, small house, money! Wwyd?

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Currently live in a lovely home but struggling and have no spare cash for holidays etc. Could sell and downsize to a smaller house in not so nice area but have cash to go out more and take dcs on holidays. Totally in love with my current home and sad at the thought of selling but fed up with being skint! WWYD?

I'm a great believer you've got to love where you live Op. if you can't find a new place to love stay put!

Your finances could improve before you know it. I live somewhere now that I've tried to love for 9 years and still can't. It's a lovely properly. It I don't feel it.

But I'm also a great believer in living within your means, and if you are keeping yourself awake at night worrying about finances, your health is more valuable.

Would a smaller house mean you’d be cramped? Or just less luxurious?

I was miserable in a small three bed semi with three dc. Utterly miserable. We now have 4 double beds and a separate study and music room and life is so much better for all of us. I wouldn’t downsize if you paid me a million quid to do it.

We live in a 2 bed flat in a high crime area - but we've paid off the mortgage before we were 40 and have lots of days out and nice holidays. Holidays are really important to us and we've made some great memories over the years. They're only young once. We could afford somewhere bigger but it would just cost more to maintain and It's great to feel secure whatever happens to interest rates as well.

If you are set on not moving and you have a big house, you could consider taking in a lodger to bring in more income?

We have just bought. We got something well within budget, our bills a minimal, and size wise it’s fine. A few bits we would have preferred but we don’t have them - garage etc. We have spare money to do as we please, we have to be careful, but we can afford what we want.

My friend has just bought a massive 4 bed, god knows how the afford it, bills will be high, and they have a food budget of about £20 p/w. They are massively skint. She’s just text me saying she can’t meet as planned, she doesn’t have £2 for a coffee...

I’d always get an affordable house, if it’s slightly smaller it doesn’t matter, don’t forget you can afford to go out and have dinner, take kids out for the day etc.

A home I love would be more important to me than holidays, we plan to move soon to fulfil this, a big garden/land would satisfy us much more than half a dozen foreign holidays a year BUT that's our personal preference, we're both home bodies and our goal as a family is our home, it sounds like you have different aims to us so you should go with what you as a family want.

Just be mindful that mortgage interest rates are due to go up soon - thats the only direction they can go in.

I think you need a balance really- if you can downsize to something you would be happy with thats not in a bad area then id do it. My parent's put having a nice amazinf house, car and material goods above family time and i dont have a lot of good memories to lool back on despite everything from the outside looking perfect.

My siblig has done the same and chased that dream - has a huge house, brand new cars, expensive clothes but i know they struggle month on month, seem obsesed with keeping up with the Jones' and never have any holidays or quality family time. For all they have all they do is complain!

Affordable every time. Doesn't matter how nice your house is if you're stressed about money. 💐

Moving house is expensive. It's not just solicitors fees, stamp duty, estate agent fees, survey costs and removal costs. It's also the inevitable cost of repairs and redecoration in the new house. There will always be things you don't see when viewing the property that you will need to change or replace. Even if no major work needs doing, it's still expensive to get things like curtains for every room, and you might have to buy new furniture for example.

I'm going to go against the grain and say that if you love your house, it's in a great area and you couldn't find anything you like nearly as much for your new budget, you should stay put. No point hating your house all year round for the sake of having a holiday once or twice a year.

I think the real issue is that your husband's self employed income is not high or reliable enough. It sounds as if that's causing real stress in terms of being able to pay the mortgage and other things. Would he consider getting a new job with a more reliable income?

Obviously it wouldn't be fair for him to do a job he hates just for the money, but perhaps he could find something he enjoys that pays better, to enable his family to stay in the house you all love, with less stress about money.

Im not an economist but a big rate rise is very unlikely. Even 1/2 a percent would have a huge impact on people's spending power and the government wouldn't want the economy to stagnate as a consequence. They'll rise, for sure, but it'll be gradual.

I've just taken on a massive mortgage and was very nervous about it, particularly with all the forecasts of interest rate rises/ recession due to Brexit etc. But talking to a financial advisor, it put my mind at rest. We worked out that we could just about afford it if interest rates rose by 4% (by living frugally) but this kind of rise is only likely to be over many years, and we'll probably be on increased salaries by then to offset it.

Also, if you can hold on to the big house, you'll have a bigger asset to fund your retirement pot later on.

I appreciate your situation may be different OP but just wanted to put an alternative view.

I'd be surprised too if rates went up much. Even a small rise would utterly distroy the fragile finances of the bulk of the current and future workforce.

Also, if you can hold on to the big house, you'll have a bigger asset to fund your retirement pot later on

Not necessarily as you will also need to deduct the mortgage payments you will make over the next x years.

If you do move make sure that you have cash to get it comfortable straight away - ie buy the house that you can afford to that allows you do do this and pay off your mortgage.

Small house and money, definitely. Interest rates will go up at some stage... No point in having a lovely house if you can't afford a life.

For us it would be smaller house and more holidays/days out.

We live in a 2 bed house in London and to be honest, we're rarely here on the weekends because we're always out doing things. I'd hate to have that freedom taken away.

I have wondered if we'd stay home if we had a bigger house but I doubt it. We both grew up in very big houses and still were always out

And I know dd1 loves our holidays as she always talks about them and she's only 7.

There's such a lot to think about. If we did it we wouldn't have the cash to do much to the new place straight away, it would be more gradual. Therefore I would be living in something not perfect for quite a while. Having no mortgage would be a huge relief though. We have 15 years left on ours at the moment so quite a while!

Is it possible to switch your current mortgage?

In normal circumstances I’d say hold out until your mortgage is smaller or extend your term etc
But it sounds like you’re struggling and that doesn’t create a happy home due to the worry.
My parents lived in a smallish house (they’ve never moved!) but we had a holiday every year and a lovely childhood so I’d say downsize. You could always upsize in the future if circumstances change

We couldn't do anything with the mortgage now. Due to self employment /credit issues we wouldn't get approved. This is why we'd need to buy outright instead of just downsizing just a bit

Sorry I didn’t word it well but I got that impression. I hope things get better for you

Moving is expensive. Do your sums carefully. I would work out how much less money a month you could live on after you move given all the moving fees, redecoration and repair costs and possible curtain, carpet, furniture costs. Then see if the amount you would need a month would be enough of a difference to make living in a smaller house in an area that didn't appeal to you as much worth it.

I spend a lot of time at home so like that I love my house but I hate worrying about money so if it is a big financial difference and that difference will stop you having to worry then I would probably move. If you find out it isn't that much of a difference after all the costs then I would stay put and enjoy the house you love.

Thank you so much for all the advice. It really is appreciated. Myself and DH really are going round in circles with this. We think we've decided to sell up and then get cold feet. I think you are right. We really need to sit down together and do some sums

It's tricky you are in an all or nothing situation and the ideal is somewhere in the middle.

We had a lovely home too I painted stitched and planted every inch of it, but it became a millstone when our circumstances changed. I found it liberating to step down the housing ladder. You can love another house even if it's not perfect. I now have no utility room or downstairs loo - MN doom.

It's not just experiences like Disney land, it's having parents who don't have to work so hard or have flexibility of time to do family things. But only you know your quality of life.

Is renting an option and/or even going to an entirely different neighborhood than the ones you have looked at so far?

I am currently renting and I love it. The upkeep is for my landlord, who I have a good connection with and I get to save and pay off my student loans. I have a job that doesn't make me rich, but having some financial breathing room really makes my life so much better.

I don't care much about holidays, since I hate to fly these days, but occasionally I do a short trip with my car, which is another thing that living small has allowed me to afford.

I think it depends on the lifestyle the nice house gives you. DH and I have a big mortgage and very little disposable income for holidays. But our nice house is in an area of outstanding natural beauty and a nice village community with animals and beautiful views and grandparents for DD 5 mins away. I think our day to day quality of life outweighs the stuff we can’t afford.

If you were choosing between two houses to buy (which was what Iw as expecting when I clicked on your post) I’d say go for the cheaper one and have some money in your pocket. But moving from a house you already live and are ‘totally in love with’ is another matter entirely. What do your kids think - do they love their house and their rooms? Going on holiday is all well and good, but you spend far more time in your home. A cheap holiday can still be fun for kids - I don’t think you necessarily have any better time for spending thousands. As others have said, moving house - even to one where you can be mortgage free will still entail lots of costs. I think on balance in your situation I’d stay put.