Moving up the property ladder

[BleshRed]

Anyone else trying to do this?

Our dream home is a beautiful Georgian semi in the centre of our little town. They’re full of character! Sometimes I drive down my favourite street on a detour after work. I’ve done this for years just drinking in the atmosphere/ admiring the houses!! One day!

We bought our first home for 200k in a crappy area. It was a “new build” but 10 years old. Very bland and dull. Tarted it up a fair bit. Sold it for 40k profit after a few years.

Bought second home for 300k. A lovely little character terrace in the town we love. Did some work, sold it for 30k profit after a year.

Now in third home bought for 425k. Big 1930s semi in the centre of our town, the exact area we love. Have two little ones now, very practical house. Renovated it this year - now has big new kitchen, extra bathroom and newly painted and decorated throughout. Near all our friends BUT it’s not the one. I hate this house, very little character and boxy.

Meanwhile the prices of those houses I really like edge further and further up, currently there’s one at 550k. It’s a big jump from where we are (ours is worth around 460k we think now after the work). Still a way off but fingers crossed we get into one eventually!!! DH and I both lining up for fairly big promotions in the next 12 months. Just hope the gap between this property and the next doesn’t get too big before we take the final leap!! Price increases since Covid are making our dream edge just that little bit further and further away every week.

I wonder how many people make it to their dream property these days - seems like very few

You're not that far apart. Can you borrow money from a relative? Or, wait the year til your promotions and evaluate your financial position then.
My friend wanted a house on one street only. It took about three years of saving and patience to go from her three bed semi to four bed one in her desired street, which was run down and unmodernised. They eventually converted the loft and extended - now they have a great house. It took patience and discipline, but they hit there.

It depends on your age and available mortgage term. Borrowing £90k from a family member might not be so easy!

We are selling a £170k flat and buying a £300k house right now so upsizing is doable if your circumstances will allow it.

We bought the flat in 2008 hoping to be there 3-5 years. It's only now we have been in a position to move.

We’re early thirties so hopefully plenty of time yet 🤞 On one hand it doesn’t seem like that big a leap, on the other it seems impossible right now!! We have come a long way in a relatively short period of time though so we can keep dreaming for now!!

Im sure I read that the number of moves people make these days has drastically reduced. Price increases generally make it harder to move up as what you are buying has gone up. So you ideally need promotions.

If your 20 & buying somewhere affordable it's a lot easier than buying in your 30s & already stretching yourself. Most people fall into the latter now.

What's your current mortgage term? If you extended it could you borrow enough for the dream house? Honestly I'm early 30s and never going to be able to afford the 'dream' house, I have friends the same age who still rent and are unlikely to buy. Or retire. To be in a property worth over £400k at this stage in your life is hardly a bad position to be in, particularly as your earning potential will only increase over time. I think you're just being impatient.

We did fewer (bigger) jumps but were lucky in that our earnings went up more than expected. Our current house is very nice/good and might well be "it" but i reckon we have potentially got more moves depending on what life throws our way

I'd wait until you get the promotions and then go for a 30 year mortgage length fixed for 5 or 10 years.

We're not in a dissimilar position to you and in our early/mid 30s as well. We bought our first place in our early/mid 20s which we made a good profit on and combined with promotions allowed us to make a big step up from selling at £170k and buying at £415k. I think we've got one more move left in us (we love the house we're in but never say never) but what we'd ideally want next is around the £650k mark and that will only going up and up in price. As we get older, I don't know if we'll want to stretch ourselves so much but I can't see us moving until our 40s now.

Also as you get older I think your priorities change slightly and you are inclined to save more for retirement/rainy day & want more disposable income to enjoy life.

@SIHastingsLiketheBattle I’m definitely impatient!! I think we’ll wait and see what happens with our work over the next few years.. but I’m very hopeful to make our final leap into one of those houses eventually!!

You have already had 4 houses and you are only in your early thirties, isn’t the average house for a FTB about 30 now? I think you are being a bit impatient, it’s not as if you are heading for 60 and your dream house it out of reach you have plenty of time to get the dream, cool your jets!

Sorry 3 houses that should say!

@ZaraCarmichaelshighheels I agree that I’m impatient. I was never worried before, I’m happy to keep peddling away and working towards my goals. Harry as Larry doing that. Since Covid, all of a sudden houses around here seem to be blowing up in price. I think I’m just coming to terms with the idea that it may be too far out of reach now. We’ll see!!!

Your only early 30’s, so why not up your term years again. If you did 25yrs your still inky 60 by the time it’s paid off ?
Plus if you do both get further in your jobs, you could pay more off per month that way it will bring your term down quicker.
You’ll be surprised how paying like 100 mth extra brings the term down