Two questions about priorities (house related)

[Cuddlycatlady]

First question is how high on your list of priorities in life is your house? Is it the most important thing and you’d sacrifice other things eg car and holidays to have what you want? Or do you prefer to compromise a bit house wise in order to have more of the other things? Obviously assuming you’re not a millionaire who can have it all.

I’m eyeing up a house which would be a big increase month to month for us - around a £400-500 increase when taking into account both mortgage and council tax. I’d love a big house that we can enjoy without feeling on top of each other. It’s also really important to me for my kids to have space where they can gather with friends in the future. We are very much homebodies and would always choose a night in with a takeaway in front of the tv over a meal out type of thing. If we bought this house it would probably mean not updating our car until one of us was earning enough more to account for that. That sort of thing.

Second question is what are your priorities when looking for a house? Is it size, location, decor, layout? The house we like is nothing to write home about decor wise and because we currently live in a shithole (to put it kindly) I kind of wanted our next house to just be lovely but then I think even if it was lovely it still might not be to our exact tastes and home decor is an ongoing thing anyway so regardless of what it looks like now you’d likely redecorate within 5 or so years anyway. It’s fairly inoffensive - just some naff laminate etc.

Any thoughts?

Good luck @Cuddlycatlady with your plans. My home (including its location) is the most important thing to me, as it gives me pleasure every single day (and not just in lockdown!). I can’t imagine putting holidays above it (we can still afford holidays, just not frequent big blow-out ones) and certainly not a car upgrade (we are not fancy car people in the slightest). We moved 3 years ago from a perfectly decent house but it was because we wanted to move, not that we desperately needed to, and we would have had lots more disposable income if we’d stayed, but I regret absolutely nothing - everything about our day-to-day lives works better in this house.

I think a house is important but if the £500 increase in expenditure is going to take all of your safety buffer each month I think you could be overstretching yourself.

The base rate is unbelievably low atm and it looks like it will go down but at some point it will rise again so I would look at if you could afford it still if say the base rate rose to 2% or 3%

If you still can then go for it.

Cars to me are things to get you from A to B so they are not a top importance.

Holidays are more important. Seeing different sites. To lay on a beach or by a pool and relax in the sun and to see how others live, what a different lifestyle you could have if you lived there.

A house is important. To own the roof over your head or be paying towards that. I could do without spending huge amounts on cars but holidays I wouldn’t want to miss out on getting away once or twice per year.

Really missing not being able to go anywhere

All depends solely on your finances, we aren’t bothered about holidays we live in a large detached house with lots of potential, it is taking us years to get it round to how we want it, but that’s the fun of it, a lot of saving etc, our AC have flown the nest so just me and the hubster here and our pets, it’s lovely waking up with lots of space, but taken quite a few years to get here, I would say go for it, you only have one life, we are still refurbing and really enjoying the experience,

In my actual experience - you think you don't want foreign holidays and will sacrifice things like meals out, new cars etc. At first it's all good.....fast forward a couple of years and it's not as good as you thought. The house needs work, that you can't really afford to do, you are invited on holiday by friends and you can't afford to go.....it becomes a bit tedious!

We have just downsized to a semi in a much more desirable area - we don't have the same room that we had but we are now overpaying on our mortgage, have money in the bank to make changes to the house to make it what we want it to be and also we could afford to go on holiday.....if it wasn't for the virus!!

My advice - stay to a budget that means you can have the best of both worlds!!