House buying dilemma! WWYD?

[PrinnyPree]

So potential dream house came on the market, I say potential because it needs alot of work, old kitchen, old boiler, servicable bathroom but it is livable. Detatched, South facing garden still in the catchment of the school I want, (10mins walk away from where I am now) potential to one day have a lovely big kitchen diner extension without compromising the garden. It definitely has the potential to be our forever home.

Now here's the dilemma, we have a small house mortgage free, I have a 2 year old and I quit my job last year to try and start my own business whilst also pretty much being a full time SAHM. Toddler goes to nursery twice a week so I can get on.

We can get a mortgage that will probably cover the difference between our house and dream house £250k on my husbands £53k salary but £1200 mortgage plus extra council tax and energy costs will make things very tight.

We also currently have a neighbour that's turned into a bit of a nightmare since lockdown. We mostly just ignore but he makes us very uncomfortable now.

So what would you do? We would be absolutley maxxed out mortgage wise and couldn't afford any big renovations/extension apart from superficially tarting it up until my business either takes off or I go back to my old career when my son goes to school.

Or should we stick to the original plan of being debt free and having a bit of spare cash even though we only have one salary (in the short term) also slightly shitting myself there'll be a housing crash and should wait a couple of years before making a move when we are more financially comfortable and son starts primary school.

This is up North btw.

I’m in the same position as you and again really struggling with what to decide. Without the horrible neighbour. Just trying to decide on making the big move for a step up that will stretch our finances whereas we are quite comfortable right now.

@RosieLeaLovesTea its a hard decision isn't it, comfortable financially although the house is really small and we really want to move in the next couple of years, it suited us when we didn't have children but adding a toddler and all their massive toys and equipment plus the neighbour turning passive aggressive and constantly using power tools in the garden is really making me itch to move before we're ready.

The detatched fixer upper has so much potential but just getting a mortgage to buy it as is will bleed us dry in our current circumstance.

In your position I'd hold tight where you are for the next couple of years. Mortgage interest rates are going up, and the costs of renovations are spiralling upwards too - that's if you can even get tradesmen. Unless you decide to go back to work getting a large mortgage on one salary does not seem like a great idea right now.

Yours isnt sold and so probably you wont be in the running anyway?

We are basically in the same situation as you. Its so difficult to make up our minds what to do for the best. As one minute we want to move then we change our minds. Its the fear factor of taking on a mortgage i think that does it.
i suppose it depends how much of a nightmare your neighbour is and how much you want to move.
I think i would view the property first then take it from there.

In the current financial/political climate, I'd stick with Plan A; better to be in a small home mortgage free with a secure home whatever happens. That's a great place to start a business from.

Crippling mortgage rates and inflation are just around the corner. Maybe worse things, if the Ukraine war escalates. Sit tight and wait it out.

This! Sit tight OP.

I'd stay put. Siphon the £1200pcm you would have spent on the mortgage and sit tight for a couple of years.

Then you will hopefully have a firmer business, reduced childca

..re costs and a whopping chunk of cash in the bank.

I wouldn’t move in these circumstances, there will be other things that come along. Enjoy being mortgage free and being able to save towards when it is the right time.

I think you're probably right but I guess I'm talking if we hypothetically get an offer accepted on the proviso we quickly sell our house (which would be in high demand due to being cheaper and in the same outstanding school catchment) what would you do. X

My ex husband wanted to buy a £450,000 in Wilmslow in 2003 and we were mortgage free at the time and I really didn’t want to go back to work so we didn’t buy the house.

It’s now worth 3 million we could’ve got divorced and both had a £1.5 million house each.

I wish I got my arse back to work and bought the house.

£1200 plus £71 extra a month in council tax and a worse EPC rated larger house which means utilities would be higher. We would be eating into the savings I put aside.

If my neighbour hadn't turned into a nasty passive aggressive bastard (he was nasty to other neighbours but was always cordial with us, but the other 2 lots of neighbours he had fallings out with moved and I think he needs a neighbour to feel slighted by) it would be a no brainer but I hate how uncomfortable I feel (especially in the garden). And then this house popped up, on a street I really like and I just feel its a real opportunity.

So so difficult to decide.

Can you do something to make your garden more private? Just ‘grey rock’ him until he gets bored etc? You are in a position (mortgage free) that most people can only dream of!

Not exactly the same scenario but we have decided to go ahead with sizing up and bigger mortgage as we want to borrow now and fix a rate whilst rates are still relatively low. We desperately need more space and moving will only be more difficult in future for us (extra kids, older and closer to pension, etc)

Nightmare really sorry you missed out, I'm kicking myself that we didn't move in 2019 or 2020 when I was still employed and we could have planned our finances better and the market was cooler. But neighbour wasn't being as much of a PITA (at least to us) then. Kinda liked the idea of moving but we were TTC/dealing with pregnancy and didn't want to spin too many plates.

My husband is grey rocking him and I politely still say hello at the front. Our gardens are lower than the backs of our houses so his patio is raised so if he stands just right he can see over the fence into the back half of the garden (and he will just sometimes just stand and stare the entire time I'm in the garden with my son) I have debated about buying a triangle awning and attaching to the back of our house and our fence to completely block his view. But I worry that would just antagonise him and I don't want to escalate passive agression into full aggression.

I totally understand being mortgage free makes us extremely privileged. I lost my father and he left me £70k which I paid off my mortgage with. We bought in 2013 and house prices were low so didn't have a huge mortgage to begin with. This is extremely a first world problem. I know so many people on here are struggling with much worse scenarios with zero options. Xx

I think if we went for it I'd get a 5 year fixed mortgage or even a 10. 2.7% APR as I do believe inflation will be an issue. However if I fixed it for 10 years high inflation would make the loan size seem much smaller in a few years?

Without a crappy neighbour I’d say stay put.

With a crappy neighbour, go for it. You won’t believe how much better you feel when you don’t feel uncomfortable at home. It’d be financially tight but I imagine you’d have a good amount of equity and you do have the option to increase your income by increasing your own work.

I would say that's too tight tbh. My mortgage is similar and I was on slightly more salary and I didn't feel like I had a lot of spare at the end of the month. That's for 1 adult and 2 children (single parent) and a small house!

If it needs a lot of work but buying it alone would make things tight, surely you can’t afford to do it up? Let alone extend

If you can sell your house quickly and be sure of getting a lowish ling term fixed mortgage I would go for it. Living next door to an obnoxious neighbour is life draining.

Have you applied for a MIP?

id be surprised if you could get as much now on DH's wage alone & id be equally surprised if you could get a mortgage rate that the repayment was £1200 on £250000

I'm in an entirely different stage & situation, but with an equally difficult decision to make.

how's the business going?

Yeah I'm not sure you'd get that mortgage offer now, things are tightening up.

We did through London and Country yesterday looking at 30 year mortgages.

Business is basically creative and requires me to make something and shop it round looking for buyers. I have 15 years experience in a similar creative field but the hours as an employee for a studio and the mental drain of deadlines were burning me out, when I came back off mat leave I threw in the towel and decided I'd have a crack at doing my own thing (at least until little one starts reception) we do have savings and investments.

But you're right this all might be impossible, it may go for well over asking, we might not get a fixed mortgage deal thats enough or long enough term to ease bum squeekiness or the vendor might not even give us a second glance with a house not even on market yet.