Should I even bother looking to move?

[Lockdowner13]

The stamp duty holiday has made me tempted to move. I’m typing in figures in mortgage calculators and getting wildly different figures.

The house I like is on for 440k and is a new build with the chance to do help to buy.

So the loan from government would be 88k. I reckon we have around 90-100k equity in our current house. Thus meaning the mortgage part is 252k.

I earn around 30k And take home around £1700 a month and my husband takes home around 2k a month although here is the issue.. I’m not sure what he should class himself as? He owns a company but it’s just him and he gets paid in dividends and salary. It’s a bloody nightmare!

The whole coronavirus thing has me spooked too... what if business dries up?

Also we are paying a huge amount in childcare fees at moment as we have 2 young children. BUT we get free childcare in March so the bill will be tiny then.

We have credit cards but I am due a small inheritance that should clear them.

Is it even worth investigating this as a possibility? Or is it too much? Not the right time?

As someone from an older generation I can’t imagine why you would want to take on so much debt when you already have a home and you have no guarantee at this time that either you or your husband will have an income in 6 months time

Don't H2B new builds often have stamp duty discounts anyway?

On those numbers there’s no way I’d be considering that. Not even sure you’d qualify for that large a mortgage and what would you do in five years when paying interest in the H2B portion.

We earn more than that and kept our mortgage to £145k.

I live in south east and I live in a 3bed terraced house with a small garden. It’s ok... could be better.

This house I like is detached, still small garden 3bed but rooms are bigger. They are all huge. No box room. Also downstairs loo/en-suite/drive.

The next house down is no better than my existing home. The next house up is silly money. 500k-700k for a new build 4bed round here.

My other option... to stay put, use my inheritance to do some diy to the room that needs it most. And tidy our house up. And continue what is left of our mortgage 180k... enjoy the reduction in payments when childcare ends and actually have savings for once.

It sounds like you quite fancy a better house but don’t flat out NEED it. On that basis I wouldn’t consider this in the present climate. I would be saving hard to build up either an emergency fund if yours or your husbands work situation collapses, or for a lot of money to put towards upgrading your house in future. We just don’t know what we’re facing for the next couple of years and an unnecessary mortgage increase to buy a new build seems utterly bonkers. As a PP said you can often get deals which cover the stamp duty when buying a new build anyway.

@Lockdowner13

I live in south east and I live in a 3bed terraced house with a small garden. It’s ok... could be better.

This house I like is detached, still small garden 3bed but rooms are bigger. They are all huge. No box room. Also downstairs loo/en-suite/drive.

The next house down is no better than my existing home. The next house up is silly money. 500k-700k for a new build 4bed round here.

Cross post-100% do this. Savings are essential.

Yeah I think you have all helped me see clearly. It’s hard watching my friends move up ladder whilst we are in our “perfectly fine” but small starter house. But I don’t think moving up ladder is for us right now. The people who owned our house previously stayed here for 20 years. They only moved when their elderly parents died and left them money. They raised two kids here and saw them get married/go to uni etc here.

Yes, stay and save. My Sunday afternoon walks are often spent drooling at nicer houses and they would be lovely. But I also value being able to sleep at night, not being pursued for debt and being able to afford small treats. Stay where you are for the moment. Maybe move in a few years time, maybe not - see what the numbers say - but don't wreck your life by taking on crazy amounts of debt.

Just an update in case it helps others. We got some advice. It turns out that we could in theory borrow enough to cover the house. Just! And our repayments would only be £100 a month extra. Sounds great! There are a few conditions... one being that our house has to make a required amount. And we need to clear our credit cards, which I was planning to do anyway this year.

However, we can only just afford it. And when we had an honest discussion about debt, we realised that we owed approximately 3 times what I thought. I was pretty shocked that my dh had more debt than I thought. So as much as I would love love love to move into the most gorgeous house that would be perfect for us... Im walking away. It doesn’t seem a good idea at all now I know the full picture.

On the plus, it’s enabled us to talk honestly and come up with a plan about how we can clear our debt and start saving. So there’s that!

Good for you. When we moved I found out my husband had a lot of debit I didn't know about, I didn't sleep for weeks. We had to go without for a long, long time whilst we paid it all off. Having money in the bank with the recession coming is really wise. Good luck :)

That sounds very sensible OP and I hope you manage to get the debts sorted swiftly. My DH and I swithered for ages about whether to move or stay in our house and making a proper decision to stay put and stop talking about it made me so much more excited to give our home a bit of TLC and properly nest without always wondering if it is worth it. Hopefully you’ll find similar positives!