the financial side of buying a new house - in my situation what would YOU do?

[Tortington]

sorry to bloody bore you with another thread on houses from me.

if you were buying a house would you

a) buy a house that you could pay mortgage off in 5 years - nice house not much to do - but the area isn't the best also not the worst but deffo not the best.

b) buy house in good area but be slave to the bank for 25 years and slave to the economy and slave to yur employer. bu bloody nice house.

and why

(b) Because I like living in a nice area with no crime, friendly neighbours and lovely walks from the doorstep.

We mortgaged ourselves up to the eyeballs ( nearly half a million quid) 8 years ago and it was really really hard for the first couple of years but now it doesn't hurt as much and hopefully it'll be paid off in the next couple of years.

You never know what's round the corner in terms of promotions, good bonuses, share options etc.

Worst case scenario is you can't afford it and then move.

b. Chances are ou would end up moving if you did (a) - but I'd only do B if i could afford it, not if I was absolutely skinting myself

b

location means more than people think

Also remember if you do a then hate it, you'll have all those extra sale expenses and two lots of stamp duty to pay, not one.

Here's my tale:-

Moved from Scotland because of dh's job to a very nice English village with great schools.

Needed to move up from a 3 bed so we could have folk to stay from Scotland.

Couldn't find a 4 bed in our village that wasn't overprice and/or needing loads of work doing.

Finally decided to go for a new build in the village because;-

Dd happy and settled in school
Ds happy and settled in nursery
Lots for dc to do in the village
Only 4 miles from the City
Park & Ride 1 mile from village which dh uses every day

Buying a new build gives us more time as a family to do things - we are not up to our necks in diy every weekend.

Mortgage will be paid off in 13 years time when I am 53, or sooner depending on dh's bonuses. If we had bought an older property we would have had to take our mortgage out over 20+ years.

I would look very hard into the sums to see if I could do B,
I would look at pay rises (possible ones) and other ways of saving / making money to be able to afford it.

c. Buy a less nice house than b but in b area.
Surely there's an in-between option?

But, if push came to shove, probably a - hate the idea of being mortgaged to the hilt - think it narrows down your options

Home is sanctuary at the end of a long slog at work (I am sahm so home V important)

We bought house to get ds1 into a great school, at the cost of downsizing to a 3 bed, and gaining the most horrid neighbours. At the time no 4 beds were available and now the price difference between the 3 and the 4 beds is very marked so we are having to fork out shed loads for the 4 bed house we initally wanted and could have easily afforded. Now it will be a bit more belt tightening.

My advice - option B, if you did A and then hated the area you would have to move again and incur double removal costs.

I often go off gut feeling. Is house A in an up and coming area or not? Do you feel safe there?

why is A a prefered option - why do you think that having a 25 year mortgage is the beter option than lesser - but more comfortable life?

genuine question - i think perhaps i am not in the frame of mind that the rest of society is in - becuase we ar doing this so late in life

Message withdrawn

b

because you will make more money on it in the long run and have a much nicer place to live

Leverage is the key

And if you get fed up with job etc you can downsize

I would like to live in the nicest area possible

I think I would choose b unless I was nearing my 60s

if you get fed up of paying the mortgage you can always sell and buy somewhere else outright

location is king

but over 25 years any area can change dramatically .. so I'd lessen my long-term perspective and think what I want to do in the next 10 years

over the next 10 years I almost bet you would be happier in the 'good area' than the 'not the best area'

We sold up to be mortgage free and better lifestyle with no money stresses but this will mean moving to a slightly 'lesser' area We have done both and I think A is the be all and end all to some but if it isn't I would go with lifestyle and not being a slave as you say.How different are the areas?

the both are big - B is huge 3 dbl bedrooms conservatory

A is 3 bed with loft conversion room - so 4 bedrooms which is handy becuase my 18 year old want shiss own space - in fact they all do

It is all about money and location and property and leverage blah blah until something happens to blow all that out of the water.

Message withdrawn

We did b) because there isn't a single house in London that we could pay the mortgage off in 5 years!

btw custy we had our offered turned down today too but am trying to be philosophical

the b one is a road off the sea noddy;
ohhh i dont know, i dont know, i fancy being mortgage free and loaded. with 'pleasent' house

rather than 25 years and WOW house

or do i?

ok ok another question - why do you all not just pay intrest only mortgages if your all planning on moving at some point?

i want to move into a house and stay there until i die.

oh bummer nods - sorry

Is there a huge differnece in price?I would love to be by the sea tbh but if they both are you do have a dilemma!Would be nice to have a wow house though it is a lot of fun and feels great!

How old are you, I'm assuming you are deading for 40 as you have an 18 year old in which I'm not sure I'd want to take on a massive 25 year mortgage. YOu could always go interest only and down size when you kick the children out.

hi custy. buying a house is a stressful business. any chance you could post links to the two so we have a better idea?

i notice most of the people on the thread are going for b. not quite sure if this is the answer but i'd always go (and have gone for) maximum space at an affordable price rather than less more expensive space - so your option (a) - i think. i've bet on "gentrification" in the area that i've gone for - but frankly it can be pretty grim where we are although i love our house.

in your case, i might ask myself: realistically how much longer are the kids going to be around, i.e. how much longer would the extra space be a factor? work out the difference in price - is the house/area £xxx,000 nicer in option b? would you be working until retirement anyway? if not why wouldn't you be paying a mortgage with it? i think if it is a wow house and a wow area and you can afford it - you are not really trading much/anything off are you? so why not go for b in that case.

anyway, hth and good luck.