Big or small mortgage?

[HomeDilemma23]

I realise this is a hugely privileged position to be in but I find myself very unexpectedly with a large monetary gift. I am in my mids 20s, currently renting but looking to buy. My partner and I both work and earn decent salaries but we’re stuck between two properties.

1. small 4 bedroom house where all bedrooms could just fit a double bed but one would have no space for storage, good parking, garage, decent sized garden. Needs no work but would be keen to potentially extend/convert the garage. £500pcm mortgage (with our large deposit)
2. 6 bedroom house with a large garden would potentially need a bit of work. £2kpcm mortgage using the whole deposit. Our dream home around 5 minutes walk from property 1 so location not very different but this one does have stunning views

We don’t have any children at the moment but hope to have 3. We plan to start trying in the next year if we buy a house. My worry is the 1st house probably couldn’t sustain us forever if we were lucky enough to have the family of our dreams.

We are leaning towards the smaller house and either using the full amount of money or keeping a little aside to alter the house to some extent. For context we’re in a cheap area and both houses are under £450k. I currently work 50 hour weeks in a very difficult job and all I long for is my own home to feel comfortable in. Will we regret not getting our dream home whilst we have the chance?

Again, I am completely aware of how privileged this situation is. I grew up in a household with no money and we all shared rooms and we didn’t even have heating and sometimes went without food. I really welcome any viewpoints

This. Go bigger if you can afford it

Work out what you can easily afford if you need to pay for full nursery fees. Don’t assume family will help.

As a guide you’ll need to put aside about £1250 per month per child, possibly more if you live in SE.

You also talk about working shifts and nights. I can assure you when you get a bit older that will feel like an extremely unappealing option.

There is no point over stretching. Go for an easily affordable option and if everything works out well then you have the option to retire earlier than planned. That is worth far more than a couple of extra bedrooms that you’ll fill with clutter and get fed up of cleaning.

I earn a very large salary yet my home is worth barely 12 months of mine and DP joint income. It’s all we need and gives us an incredible amount of spare money to allow us to live life as we choose. Others leverage themselves to the hilt. I never understand why if, as it appears in your case, it is avoidable.

There is always a way.

We’re in the North @Charlie2121 but good to have an idea of nursery fees. I currently just work during the day but have been known to pick up a night OOH shift when they’re particularly desperate. I have had £1.5k for some shifts and I much prefer night shifts but I prefer to work with a team I know well rather than whoever is there when I turn up. I know it’s also not fully reliable without travelling far to pick up the shifts. Otherwise if I sign a contract for night work the amount I earn drops as it’s not last minute.

I know you’re right about not stretching ourselves too thin

How would a 4 bedroom house not be suitable for 5 of you , unless you plan to sleep in a separate bedroom from your DH? This is not personal OP but this type of ‘dilemma’ is the perfect example of people buying houses they cannot afford and don’t need and then moan when reality sets in.

@Catslovenip Because we have multiple pets and ideally need a guest room. I suppose we could set up cages in the living room in a pinch but they’re each 3m long so take up a huge amount of space.
The 4 bed has no cupboards or anything built in so we would have no storage

An extra loo is not worth the stress of a 2k mortgage payment which could go higher and two nursery fees knowing you will have to work for a very long time to pay everything. An extra loo can go in most places.

I suppose so @Chateau13! I’m worried about committing and then not being able to put the loo in. We don’t care about a 3rd only the 2nd.

The middle house has the biggest garden of the 3 and my favourite location. We obviously need to view to get a feel of it but it has other original features that I love. The only downside we saw (we’ve had a video tour) was the single toilet. If we offered less than their asking we could easily get the payments down also if they accepted

Property 1 is detached and the only one with a garage I have no idea if we would appreciate these things or not. It also has a conservatory which doesn’t appeal

The smaller house cuz it sounds big to me! We live in a 3 bed terrace and I’d love to have a 4 bed. Plenty of families of 5 live comfortably in a 4 bed.

I think what we’ve 100% gathered is it’s not worth the £2k mortgage for the bigger house.

Thank you @ActDottie for your perspective. Others are saying the opposite. It’s bigger than where I grew up and bigger than where we’re renting but not sure if it’s big enough forever.

it’s a small 4 bed but does have a small 2nd reception room, small conservatory and a tiny tiny utility

We would absolutely play it safe but I know loving can be
expensive and stressful. My partner’s family said they’d like to have a discussion about potential school fees/other child related costs when we last mentioned looking at houses so I suppose we can see what they say about that also. However, I am not keen on privately educating and also worry about being reliant on grand parents incase anything goes wrong but that’s a whole other thread. As my partner is from a very different background his parents are encouraging us to go for bigger.

Well it sounds bigger then our house (we are in the SE though so they are more expensive). We have a detached 4 bed, 2 double, 2 good size singles (the kids have the singles). DH uses the dinning room as a study we have no utility and one living room with a small conservatory, Separate Garage and driveway.

It's comfortable and not to big to manage, I wouldn't want anything bigger (I'd maybe like to do some more work to this house).

If we had the funds, I'd make the conservatory bigger and put a insulated roof on it (you could use this room for pets or some people use them as play rooms). If you have two children of the same sex they could share while young and you'd still then have a spare room for guests for some time.

Before we had this house we where in a 2 bed, DS and DD shared. They actually really like it and it was a bit of an adjustment for them to have there own rooms at the start.

Positive of a newer house is probably lower energy bills as well. We where able to add solar panels when we moved and that has helped our electric bills. Plus after living in an end terrace I never wanted to live in a terrace again. To much noise from neighbours, I'd always go with a detached now.

Definitely a good perspective @MigGirl A lot of people are saying it is small! Maybe I have done my calculations wrong and a double bed wouldn’t fit in the smaller rooms. The current owner has toddlers in them and I’m terrible with spatial awareness and scale.

I think this is the floor plan for the smaller newer build. I have found it from a past listing on this estate

Just being nosey but dying to know where you got the gift from if not inheritance?

I'd go for the bigger house if you can afford it. We have a family of 5 and we are in a 1800sq ft 4 bed. It's OK but it would be nicer to have a bit more space - we definitely wouldn't feel like we're rattling around. A bedroom without space for storage doesn't really count as a functioning bedroom imo (and I don't like dcs to share rooms).

Have you had any fertility investigations? I think being stuck in a 6 bed might feel worse if you turned out not to be able to have dc at all. Though I suppose there are other options. And of course you could always downsize.

You've not mentioned the local schools at all. Are the local options any different since the houses are quite near each other? In London it would make a difference to which school you'd get into, (but with the house prices you clearly aren't in London). For us as parents, being close enough to the right school was of far more importance than property size or number of toilets. Though again that's part of the north London schools bubble.

@grinnilee Absolutely no difference for schools. The same village school then the option of 2 secondary schools in the next town over.

I’ve had AMH testing as I was suspicious of PCOS which came back high for my age but not high enough for PCOS or to trigger any further investigations. My worry is always we wouldn’t be able to have children hence the desire to start ASAP.

The middle option 5 bed is 1948sq ft for reference

Yep, that floorplan would make me want to discount the smaller house entirely - it's essentially a 2 bed plus a couple of storage rooms.

Plus the open plan downstairs would be a no-no for me, wouldn't want cooking smells wafting into the lounge.

A few people have said that @NAndJSaysVoteConservative but then other comments are making me feel like I’m being greedy to want bigger

Just realised the agent got the larger house sq footage completely wrong… it’s 2737
Again a few of the bedrooms are on the smaller side compared to what some might consider a bedroom. I did love the house though but I think it’s too much

Bedroom 5 and 6 are more no rooms or walk in wardrobes. They're tiny. I would call that a 4.5 bed not a 6 bed and would probably go for the middle house or wait for another to turn up.

are not rooms, more like walk in wardrobes

I agree with previous comments about the floor plans. They are certainly not proper 4 or 6 bedroom houses.

it would be interesting to see the floor plan for the 5 bed.

Personally I wouldn't put pets in a conservatory. To me, even with heating/air con adjustments (which may cost a fortune to run & have the risk of failure) it's FAR to much a risk having caged animals in there.

I know you want to get a move in & stop paying rent, but it's a big commitment buying a house I'd wait to see what the New Year brings. Invest the gift wisely & take your time.

I also love having an en suite, couldn’t recommend it more ! The location of the bathroom downstairs looks a bit odd?