House A, House B, or don't move you idiot?

[Blibbleflibble]

Okay so I live in a house that I'm hoping to sell for £400k, I'm mortgage free. I recognise this is a very fortunate position to be in.

2 houses have come on the market which are in the catchment of the school we want and near my elderly parent.

House A) £510k 3 bed detatched lovely looking house, high ceilings and curved bay windows however close to a fairly "quiet" trainline and has a small (9m deep) North East facing garden, potential to extend but not alot and will compromise an already compromised garden. 30 min walk into town centre. Early 60s house.
Mortgage would be £640.

House b) £670k (although think its overpriced atm) 3 bed detatched less pretty but looks better than our current house. South West facing garden that is twice the size of the other house so potential for bigger extention that won't compromise the garden. 15 mins walk to town, very close to lovely park. Late 50s/early 60s. Mortgage would be £1500.

Both streets are fairly quiet and seem child/cat safe.

Both need updating but are liveable, property B is slightly more suitable as it has a bath (A has a shower only and we have a young child), wouldn't be able to extend property B for years but might be able to extend A soon after we buy.

Property B would definitely be "forever" home. Property A could potentially be forever home but maybe 10 year home because of the compromises so a step on the ladder.

Both streets only seem to have houses pop up to sell every couple of years or so. We would really be pushing our budget to afford property B) maybe we are bananas to be thinking of moving in this market with high prices and high interest rates, but we really dislike our neighbour who can be nice as pie one minute and be a right nasty bastard to us the next.

We have a joint household income of approx £65k and I currently work part time and pay £420 a month in childcare. In a couple of years household income could potentially be £80 or £90k when I go full time with no childcare costs.

We have a MIP.

What think you Mumsnet? x

I would stay put and mortgage free for a couple of years, save s much as I can, ride out the cost of living crisis and move when things are a bit more stable with house prices. I think prices will dip with people feeling the pinch with mortgage increases. You don’t want to buy at the peak of things.

I’m risk averse though and being mortgage free is amazing, particularly now interest rates are climbing so much.

We are mortgage free, and it’s not a dream when you have bad neighbours (we do)

we are staying where we are for a few years while we save up a good chunk, and will need a small-medium size mortgage (relative to our salary). We will then move and aim to be mortgage free again in 10 years after we move

Stay put and use the money to extend. Stick annoying neighbour in the foundations.

As much as I can see the appeal of B, I'd stay put right now. In a couple of years you'll be out of childcare and the national and global economic situation might be clearer. I can't see why you'd do A.

How recession-proof are your jobs?

And also, why are you so set on extending wherever you buy? Building costs are getting so high that its not necessarily cheaper than just moving into a bigger house.

Ah it is hard to choose!

I think instead of looking at options A and B, you need to look at A,B and C (your current home)on an even platform, as though you were considering all 3 properties. Comparing all of their pros, cons and mortgage costs (!!!) equally.

The con of your current home definitely sounds like the neighbour and the size, but if there's scope for extension, you might also 'extend' that to a higher fence/wall between you which might help reduce the noise and general disturbance. Also, what if your neighbour moves?! Imagine, if you moved, got yourselves into debt that might impact other things you'd like to do in life (retire early, stay part time, have another child, buy a holiday home elsewhere), wouldn't you be absolutely sick if it turned out he moved six months after you?!!

I think analysing all of the three options very objectively is needed, and as a separate but related exercise, try to do a bit of dreaming about where you'd like to be in 5, 10, 30 years and how much where you live and your financial commitments might affect those plans or dreams.
Good luck!!

This is good advice

I’d stay for now.

@ZeldaWillTellYourFortune

3bds tend to have 3 bedrooms 🤭

@Blibbleflibble

its horrible being stuck with annoying neighbours, BUT whilst he does sound annoying, he doesn't sound utterly dreadful like some ?(drugs, really anti social behaviour, scary etc )

As much as I understand your desire to move, I'd stay there for a while. Put £1500 per month into savings, see how you cope doing that & save up to buy later. Hopefully house prices will dip a bit, your savings will make the move more comfortable & prove you can cope with the £1500 payments. You'll be that bit closer to going back to work or deciding you're not going to.

I totally get your neighbour is fucking annoying & sympathise totally!! Even detached houses aren't immune from annoying neighbours, they're not that far away!! My most annoying neighbours are the ones whose back garden is 3 houses along backing in to us & their garden is long.& the ones who are actually in another street but back onto ours, 2 houses down (hard to follow I know, but neither are attached neighbours. The second one loves making things and power washes his cars every weekend. 🤬

Id give A a miss. Completely. As I said I'd wait a bit, see if you can get a 'B' with the renovations already done. It's so expensive to extend now, at least if it's done you have the cost included in the purchase price & not ever increasing costs & all the bloody hassle (which it has become).

let us know what you decide!!

House B. Buy it pay the mortgage. In 20 years it’ll be fine.

Indeed @ZeldaWillTellYourFortune but the question is bathrooms.

Stay put OP

Apologies @ZeldaWillTellYourFortune I meant to tag @SkylightSkylight

Seeing as neither house is perfect, your current house isn't unliveable, and the market is looking to downturn, I'd stay put for now.

I'd stay put too, because neither house is ideal, both need work and you'd be really overstretching yourselves with House B at a time of great uncertainty with mortgage rates and energy costs. You'll lose the huge nursery costs when your DC starts school, but what about wraparound care and holiday clubs? They aren't cheap and if you want to go back FT I think you'll be surprised how much money you'll still spend on childcare. I just wouldn't overstretch yourself right now - it's too risky. Wait two years. You're not overcrowded in a 3-bed with home office and one DC.

I'd go for house B. Mainly for the SW facing garden. Also for the foreverness. Bear in mind additional moving costs so maybe work out difference in moving costs, stamp duty etc compared to extra interest on higher mortgage.

Vote: stay put OP.

This is a crazy time to be going from mortgage-free to stretched.

Give things 5 years to settle down. Do the extension in the meantime if you need a project!

This ^

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't replied sooner I didn't realise I had so many replies back! Thankyou so much for the advice alot of food for thought.

To answer a few questions, yes our jobs are pretty recession proof, in fact my husbands industry is one of the ones that thrived during lockdown and continues to grow, however nothing is guaranteed, we do also have 2 or 3 years of expenses in savings and no other debt that needs servicing.

As for the nightmare neighbour yes there is drugs (mostly weed, booze and I think he's hooked on prescription meds too) swearing and "veiled" threats (mostly aimed at my husband), but sometimes he can be nice as pie in a kind of insincere way, at least he isn't playing bass music till 1am every night I suppose. The chances of him moving are very low. I'd like to go into more of other antisocial behaviour he does but it's specific and outing. We NEED to move because it is affecting our mental health a bit but we could hang on if needs be, I've lived in worse places when renting but just moved when my tennacy ended.

I don't think I could bear to extend a house that I don't want to stay in. And for whoever asked I only have 1 bathroom.

After reading your replies I think option A) is probably out, I think the comprimised garden is probably too big a deal breaker. And everyone is right that B) is probably too big a stretch in this climate. I think maybe C) and save up and hunker down is probably sensible. I think the neighbour situation is making me want to rush even though I know we will be in a much better situation in 2 years and the economy has had time to hopefully shit or get off the pot as it were. X

Thanks for screwing my head back on Mumsnet, I am going to leave my property on the market for a bit and still test the waters checking properties in a more realistic budget. But I think I will most likely stay. X

I would be selling now before the market falls and renting in the catchment of the primary you want and waiting for either property B to reduce or another property to come up that is better priced. Having sold you would be in a very strong position with any offer you make in the future.

Put £500 per month towards neighbour's rehabilitation programme? Everyone wins😂

I know it's not that simple of course. But are you sure absolutely sure nothing can be done to improve the neighbour's situation or distance yourself more (high fence etc?..) Have you reported the situation to relevant support organisations?

Moving is such an expensive and stressful solution, particularly in this climate.

I'd stay put. You might get an even worse neighbour at your next house, plus a much higher mortgage, plus all the costs associated with buying and selling. Both houses that you are contemplating sound like compromises, need extension, etc. Interest rates could hit 7 or 8 percent in 3 years, and gas and electricity costs could double once government support runs out in 2 years. We have a much higher family income than you and about 1.5k mortgage, and it makes me pretty anxious.