Have a dilemma re house move

[lifeis48]

We have been living in a house for 20+ years..no garden just terraced patio area and rockery. Good house...very good downstairs living/kitchen. Bedrooms on small side. We decided to move as lockdown made us realise how we missed having a garden and we really don't want to be here forever. So we have been house hunting and it isn't happening for us. Upping 20k gets us a smaller house or one needing major improvements to be done, upping 40k gets us a decent size but still finding improvements need done/more money and already at top end of our budget. So obv at our age (50s) we don't want to be added on much more. If we stayed where we are would be mortgage free in a few years. I think we missed the boat.....

What about a flat or bungalow with a garden?? Maybe a good compromise!!

Have you had your place valued?

What if you change area?

Well our youngest is still at school for 4 more years and we are 10 mins from school/friends. Moving further out would cause problems with that. Having same problems re price with bungalow - we still need a 3 bed house. Our own is sale agreed about 4 weeks ago.

So if you got the house you’d want and do the work you want, when would you pay off the mortgage? When do you want to retire? Do you intend on downsizing in the future?

Well the problem is paying top end of budget and house needs work done are we going to be able to afford to do that work? 9 more yrs and paid at retirement. We could downsize to smaller in future yes.

I don't think that we would be in a position to retire before retirement age..certainly not if we make a move now. Maybe not even retire early if we stay put?