Buy to let or bigger home

[harajukubabe]

We are in a relatively good position where we can move onto a bigger property or use our savings to buy a second property to rent out.

We are in our late 40s with 3 kids, school age.

What are the considerations? Which option is more favourable?

Do you need a bigger home? Or is it an investment your after. If it’s the latter do consider all investment options and speak to a financial advisor.

It would be nice to have a bigger home. More room for kids to play in, stretch out in.
We can live in the current house but at time it feels squeezed.

So the question really is should you buy a bigger home which you would like to do with the savings or invest it for the future/ income/security.
I suspect that too much of a personal question for anyone to answer.

Perhaps you are right. I was looking to see what other have done/considered in similar situations

You have to carefully consider all of the tax implications of having a buy to let, additional stamp duty etc etc to be sure that it’s a good investment.

We faced this decision earlier on this year having an offer on our home but could not find a house to move to. We considered a btl.
Decided not to because we wanted a house with a bigger garden, more space inside and we thought it was less complicated tax wise because I am SAHP and husband is higher tax payer.
We are moving, fingers crossed, in June.

Like a PP says the query is really "enjoy life now in a larger/nicer home" or "provide for the future via some form of investment (BTL or not)"

I'd probably go for the larger home now since you have small children and you will have many years of enjoyment together, and you are not yet past 'peak' garden use. But it is a v personal thing.

Thank you all. Yes. I think what you say re. Quality of life while kids are young makes sense.

Yes, we too are looking for more room inside and a bigger garden.

Congratulations and good luck flikity.

I had a slightly different option, in that I inherited a property with no outstanding mortgage, so our choice was keep that one for the rental income or sell it and use that to upgrade ourselves to a bigger home.

We decided to keep the rental property. Our house isn't perfect, I'd like a bigger garden, a second reception room, a garage, etc. But it's good enough for us, we're happy here, none of those things we don't have make us miserable.

Instead, what we do have, is the reassurance of an extra income when we retire and access to a large amount of money if shit ever hits fan, or we want to help the DCs onto the property ladder themselves.

But as PPs said, it's a very personal decision. I think DP is much more a here-and-now type than me and would have sold the rental place. I'm much more cautious and as it was my inheritance, my decision outweighed his. And he completely agrees that it's nice having that safety net.

That's also a very good way of looking at things, imaginary.

Hence my dilemma. Another income would also be good! Why would it not. So hard!!!

I would go for the bigger house. If you are feeling squeezed.