To move now before children or after?

[Lemon221]

Hi all,
I am completely stuck with what to do, with the cost of living rising too it’s making me very nervous.

So my current situation is this, I paid £207000 my property a few years ago and I have £87000 left on the mortgage. the property in my sole name and I was only able to purchase because of inheritance (I was very lucky) It is a two bedroom leasehold maisonette. One large bedroom but the second bedroom is small and currently is my office/drying room lol. It has a shared patio which is overlooked by the other properties so I don’t spend much time out there. One smallish bathroom with a bath. All decorated to my taste and I had the kitchen doors and counter top replaced to make it look modern. it’s a lovely little house but small 700sq

My partner has lived with me for two years and been paying me rent of £500 a month which I overpay on the mortgage. Which has help build equity.

I had the property valued and have been told anything from 240 -275k.

We want to live in the local area and nice 3 bed properties are around 400k - 425k

we want to start a family, we could possibly stay but it would be an absolute squeeze (no idea where I’d put a pram!) but would mean for a few years we could stop overpaying the mortgage and money wouldn’t be tight, but I would have to wait until I’m full time again to be to afford a three bed house.

Or we could borrow to the max on both our full time wages and move to a vastly more expensive home and have room to grow with a garden, but knowing that (hopefully) in the near future that I would be dropping down to PT time wage and money will be tight. I earn 24k and my partner earns 33k

Help! What would you do?

Well done for getting to the end of this haha x

Just go for it and start a family, there’s never a perfect time to have kids and you’ll make things work because you have to

Is there another step on the ladder between? A larger 2 bed or 3 bed flat? Anything that perhaps needs a mid of modernising so you can add value.

You could fit the baby in your current place, but they grow fast these babies and depending on the area it might take a while to find the right place.

I'd move while you can. You'll need the extra space for children, but it'll only be more difficult and more expensive to do it after they're here.

Moving with dc is hell - we did it 5 years ago and not planning to move again until I’m old. Mind you, we had 3 dc. Move now if you can. I’ve always found that as prices go up the more expensive properties go up more and the gap widens.

Have you factored in how you'll afford childcare in either scenario? To be honest properties are £400k+ based on your combined salaries seem a bit much.

In this current economic climate you don't want to be moving less than 5 yrs time so future proof as much as possible

Kids get more expensive and if you go part time that will be a huge mortgage on combined salaries.

How much you can borrow is generally limited by kids. So that could be a factor.

Will you get a mortgage of 250k on your current salaries?
I'd move now, but not into a house that expensive.

I did this, not out of choice, in a much smaller home (430sqft). I’m glad it happened that way, as pre-baby I wouldn’t have chosen the location and type of house I am choosing now. My priorities about distance from station, proximity to parks, libraries and children's centres have completely changed, there were things I wanted to be near that I wasn’t even aware of before baby was born.

I’m still in the tiny house with my 18month old and work from home. When I was pregnant (pandemic, so house hunt put on hold), we made the small bedroom work from home office and had one of the Jay-be fold up beds www.argos.co.uk/product/6253064 and set up the main bedroom with a Snuzpod. We got rid of a lot of stuff, hobby equipment that might need to be repurchases in future but the thinking was we need to make it good for now. Then once baby 6 months, we made small bedroom a nursery, painted it with crib and drawers with changing table and some other small storage drawers. Home office went in main bedroom and we got rid of even more stuff - now only double bed, desk and wardrobe in main bedroom. Put some ikea floating shelves above desk. Had an extreme book cull and remaining books stored in a box covered by cloth and used as a surface for blankets.

Didn't have a separate bassinet, had the snuzpod and used the bassinet from the Travel system inside or just made up a sleep surface on changing mat and wrapped baby in cellular blanket. Bassinet times are max 3 months though.

Car seat is Joie 360 so stays in car, M&P Ocarro buggy stays in car, M&P Airo is tiny when folded up and fits into nooks and crannies in small bedroom between storage.

Hoping to complete soon after 2+ years from when we first wanted to move! But at least I know I’ll be in a house on a road that’s ideal for my family. The roads i prioritised before we’re nearer station as I thought getting home quickly would be more important, but actually I want the quieter roads nearer amenities because getting small kids out and about is hard and want it as easy as possible.

I was also pretty glad to still be on my tiny mortgage when DP made redundant after furlough ended. But you can’t live life trying to avoid these scenarios, people take risks. I’m now worried about winter bills on a house 3 times the size when my energy bills for this tiny place have rocketed - but we need to move.

I waited and now we are stuck in the one bed flat because childcare is so expensive it ruins the affordability criteria. I have a good job but nursery is £900 a month for 9-3 and when we go to fulltime in a few months it will be £1400 just to get an hour on either side of that.

Now I understand why all the NCT couples were moving or renovating!

Yeah I am also considering moving with or without children which are now on the cards. Want to maximise my budget more and get the “future proof” type home and all colleagues advise to do this. Keep saying as NHS very secure but I cant help but be nervous about this. Ultimately I think it is better to move before kids, and if you need to do so again definitely well before primary.

Looking at Halifax mortgage calculator we can borrow 260k. I also looked at the NatWest mortgage calculators and they are more generous at 270k.

The EA wants to put the property on at 275k with a hope of getting 265k. If it sold at the lower price I would have 178k for a deposit which would mean I could borrow up to 438k I don’t want to borrow that much is terrifies me.

How does anyone afford childcare haha? If I stay local, my mum would be around the corner to look after a potential child for a couple days a week, I’m not assuming this, she has offered already (desperate for a GC) This would enable me to work a couple of days, I also have a flexible job so I could do work in the evenings and possibly weekends when my partner would be home. I could move out further as there are cheaper areas, but it would make childcare an issue as my mum doesn’t drive. My town is perfect for kids and has good schools and amenities. 😵‍💫

You either move before dc & save lots for childcare or move when dc are in school as you have less outgoings.

If it sold at the lower price I would have 178k for a deposit which would mean I could borrow up to 438k I don’t want to borrow that much is terrifies me.

Wouldn't you be borrowing 260k which you are looking to do anyway?

Only 4.5 x your salary & then having to find childcare is quite a strain.

I would do it now x

Are you me?! I just posted the same dilemma today:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4562882-house-or-baby

Some of the responses might be helpful :)

How funny! I’m also the same age Thankyou that is useful :)

£500pcm headroom on the mortgage is a good amount. Why not a middle ground? Move and borrow, but not to the max.

It would also be good for DP to start building up some equity themselves, rather than just paying you rent.

The first couple of years of a new mortgage are usually the hardest, so it makes sense to me to do them while you are still working FT with no childcare costs. You are right to be conservative about not extending yourself too much, but staying put is maybe a bit too conservative for me.

oh and btw, if you have a car, the pram lives in the boot!

Thankyou! Lol I feel a bit silly about not knowing the pram will be left in the car! Yeah my DP will be on the new mortgage with me so will therefore have a stake :)

Remember to stress test your mortgage repayments with higher interest rates. Just in case.

We moved when our child was three so had already cushioned two years of full time childcare. It worked well for us and I didn't find having a smaller house at that age to be a problem.
It's a massive jump in prices though. Is there a happy medium? House still in a good location but with work to be done? That's what we did and it worked well. Yes the kitchen and bathroom were ugly but we could still use them until we had saved up for them. Renovations don't have to be hugely expensive if you shop around. Our kitchen cost us 5k. We just kept on turning down the 10k+ quotes until we found a price we were happy with. B&q was quoting 1.7k or something just to get a 'pattern' ( not the right word) for quartz/ marble tops nevermind the actual product and fittings when that was the price we paid for the tops and fitting by using a small company.