mortgage-free, or house of your dreams?

[Squiffy]

So we are in the really really fortunate position of being able to downsize enough to be mortgage free and still live in a reasonable house, which seems like a really cool deal to me, so I enthusiatically clicked through some property details on the internet and found some nice stuff.

And then I saw it. The house I dreamed of living in when I was a snotty-nosed kid and hanging round outside where the bus stop was, nose pressed up against the railings.

And it is on the market and just at the upper limit of what I can afford to buy if we sold our current house. But i will end up with a slghtly bigger mortgage than I have now so will have to kiss goodbye the vision of having a choice about whether or not I haul my ass into work every day (although would probably still work anyway).

So what do I do? The house of my dreams, or the mortgage free idyll? I'm in my 40's so it's now or never in terms of being able to do it. Please let me have your honest opinions...

Wow, just googled the purchase price...

We have large mortgage and live in a lovely three bed semi with development potential. But the location is my dream location.

And thankyou lovely ladies for nice comments about house. I will have to go see it now I guess.

My head says definitely mortgage free with a great quality of life

However...

My heart says definitely the house of your dreams. In 10 years time you may regret not buying it. Also in the long term the house may well provide you with a good pension if you downsize.

Sorry not much help but lucky you!! Oh and please post a picci of the house as I would love to see it no matter how posh!

XX

oh and don't forget to let us know if viewing matched the dream.

(live location location location this is )

i think buy it
our house is an end terrace ( nice but still end terrace) it needs a hell of a lot of work and the mortgage on it is horrific ( a few 100k's)

YOURS looks gorgeous - done up nicely - not bad value for the south and a dream family home

if you can afford it now - it will only get easier....good time to buy....etc etc etc

i always say go for it

he who dares wins and i am a real home-bird!

Buy it. It's just gorgeous . Do it!

It's a gorgeous house BUT, the market for those kind of places is falling, so there is a good chance, if you wait, that something like that may comfortably be in your budget in a year.

Very lovely house. I guess the big question is, would you always regret missing out on it?
Do you think your current house going to sell at a good rate? We are in a similar situation, however we went ahead and bought the dream house and are just now putting ours on the market. Am hoping it goes for a reasonable price. That's the two-edged sword of a down market I suppose.

Have just seen the house - and thrown up!! It is so gorgoues (sp?)and worth a mortgage any day. Forget the bit about voting with your head, defo go with your heart - lucky girl!!
XX

Oh, I hate to rain on the parade, but having moved to a house that size I wouldn't do it. Yes it's lovely and it always seems like a good idea at the time but unless you are planning a squillion more kids I'd really think twice.

A house that size is just soooo much maintenance. We have concluded that our next house needs to be just over half the size of this one. I realised how silly it was when I was delighted in a tiny holiday flat because I didn't have far to go when ds woke up!

I have quite a few friends with big houses who do really feel they are rattling about in them.

That makes all of us squeezed in to little houses feel better lb Thanks!

Actually NH you are probably right. This is the head bit again! I suppose you have to spend a lot just to live there. The gardens will need loads of work and I know friends of ours have a huge house with a couple of acres and they complain that he spends all weekend on the land - that's cutting the lawn to you and me! Also she has to have a cleaner. The swimming pool will be expensive to run if you are going to heat it.

Meant to say ib not NH - sorry!!

Squiffs

What I would say is that people I know with houses like that one, which is a lovely house of course, all make them their life's work.

They spend literally months and years scouring antique sales for the perfect suffolk latch, having window frames hand made from the right woods, getting the right sort of period paints (nothing you could ever get in B&Q) and colours yada yada yada

Don't even get me on finding the right stone for the terraces and what about peacocks?

If this is you then that's fine of course. My question is - is this you? Or if it isn't, could it be?

buy it

. at the price...

If you are in that league, then I suspect this will not be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Ok, it may be for that house, but not for other, just as beautiful homes. I suspect house prices will fall, so I would do as you originally planned and reassess in a couple of years.
Do you have the lifestyle that fits that house, or would you be rattling around in it?
Is a house really that important that you might compromise on all other aspects of your life to get it?
Should childhood dreams stay dreams as they rarely fulfil their potential in later life?

I dunno. I suspect that this decision is more likely to be made with the advice of your financial adviser(s) rather than the views of MNetters, most of whom can only dream of being in the same situation

Having seen the link I would say even more so - Do it!! gorgeous!

House is lovely and you get a LOT for your money IMO.

But It!!!!!

ok, people can hate me too, i think that house is cheap for what you are getting! not to say that we could afford something in that price range! but honestly what you are getting compared with what you would get for that money in london....

agree with what quattrocento et al have said about the commitment of time and money (running costs as well as repairs/renovation/maintenance) - be careful to factor that in to the budget.

what would worry me about this proposition in your shoes would be maxing out on two "City" salaries to buy it. as i'm sure you know all too well, there is a chill wind blowing across the city and the wharf right now! what would your contingency plan be in the event that one - or heaven forbid both - of you got made redundant?

i think if you can devise a practical and implementable risk management strategy then you should definitely go for it!

hth and good luck!

Oh Gosh, buy it!
That is a beautiful house, I am amazed at the price tbh, you do get an awful lot for your money.

Down Sarf too!

How much is the house?

How much is the house?

Ok, ok, it may be cheap for what you are getting, it may be cheap compared with London prices etc etc, but in the world that is not populated by people earning City salaries, a £1.25 million house is a huge amount!
Tying up that sort of money in a house, however beautiful, meaning that you have to work to support it would seem a bit daft to me; if you are in that (high) income bracket, think of all the other amazing things you could be doing with that money, plus have no mortgage etc etc.
I can't imagine the OP will be living in a hovel if she decides against Blean House, so why not get a lovely but different house and have a fabby life instead (and one that doesn't involve working in the City and all the w*nkiness that that requires)

Note - not all City workers are w*nky, but there is a lot of 'must haves' with that lifestyle - decent car, decent watch, decent shoes, decent prep schools etc etc. There is a bigger picture - and you might get run over by a London bus tomorrow, and no one will care about your shoes then.