Bigger mortgage

[Sammyjane13]

Hello. We are a couple in our early 50’s and are about to be grandparents and want to move closer to our daughter(4hrs drive away)to be able to have a part in our grandchild’s life. We love our home but really do not like the area we live in. We should have moved 5yrs ago really. We have £80000 left on our mortgage and if we moved to a closer and nicer area to our daughter we would be increasing our mortgage to about £160,000 and increase the term to 19years. My heart says yes do it , life’s to short not to take risks and move to a better area and lifestyle outcomes but my head says no we are taking on a higher mortgage & to stay where we are and be mortgage free in 10 years but still be in an area we are not happy with.
would you follow your heart or head?
Grateful for anyones input or similar experiences. Thank you

Heart! Maybe compromise and get a smaller house or something if the mortgage matters to you that much. But life is too short not to do these kinds of things. We have loved having my parents close by while the children are small.

This will be us down sizing to live in a better area , at present we live in less affluent area so our market value for our current home would be less. Thank you ,grateful for your advice 😀

Surely there are other houses there that wouldn't involve your mortgage doubling? Seems v risky to me

You could shop around area wise too. My folks are a 40 minute drive and that is near enough to feel close and to see them usually at least weekly but not to be in each others pockets. I don’t think early 50s is considered old at all these days and a mortgage isn’t a particularly risky type of borrowing, assuming you feel you can afford any increase in monthly payments now. Overpay when you can and you’ll probably be mortgage free by your mid 60s anyway, which is very normal!

I would downsize to live in a nicer area closer to your daughter but see if you can find a slightly cheaper property (maybe not quite as close to daughter) that still meets your requirements. I would be willing to take on a slightly bigger mortgage to achieve that goal but doubling your mortgage at your age does sound like something to avoid if possible.
I definitely wouldn’t stay put though as you say you should have moved years ago.

My thoughts too, thank you

Thank you ,greatfull for your opinion

It's a tough one, but on balance increasing the term so that you will still be paying a mortgage in your early 70's would be too much for me.