Move or stay?

[Firstshoes]

We live in a home we love. It's not lavish but it's nice and in a nice area. We've been here for 18 years and made it ours. Our children were brought up here and are now young adults with one off to uni soon. Our other DC is ASD and although 21 feels much younger. She will definitely not be leaving us any time soon. The problem is we are 36% LTV so still have a mortgage. We are just coming off a fixed rate and our payments are going to increase to about 850 a month. We are in our fifties and this mortgage will not be paid off until we are 65. It's fine at the moment as we are both healthy, working and earning enough. We don't have much in the way of savings and would be pretty stuffed if one of us gets sick and can't work. We also worry about our autistic dd if anything were to happen to us and she would obviously not be able to take on the mortgage.

We could sell and would have just about enough equity to buy outright but the area and house obviously won't be as nice at all but I'm sure we could get something. It would be amazing to have the security of no mortgage as we age and also knowing our DD would have somewhere to live if anything happened to us but we LOVE our current house. We also don't have bundles of cash to waste if sales fall through etc and I know this frequently happens so not looking forward to the stress of buying/selling. We are going round in circles and scared we'd regret it if we sell. We need help deciding. What would you do?

Do you have income protection insurance? In your situation I wouldn’t move but I think you might feel the time is right before you’re 65. It sounds like you’re still enjoying the house and lifestyle so the only reason to move now is fear of the future. But your feelings might change: you might decide you want a slower pace of life. That would be the right time to move. In the meantime, get insurance to protect your dependent child.

but I’m a hedonist! I’m not rich. So take my advice with caution!

I have a relative with severe ASD who lived with her parents until they passed away. It was really tough for her to adjust to independent living in her 50s and it was tough for her elderly parents to care for her as well.

I really recommend having a plan for her to move out and get settled ahead of time. If she would need specialist or supported housing that could take a long time to arrange, getting benefits and carers etc also takes a long time.

I am not saying start this right now as she is only 21 but I wouldn't leave it too long.

The property market is not great at the moment so not a good time to downsize if you don’t need to.

I think you’re right to be thinking ahead but you don’t need to do anything immediately. Your daughter is only 21 and as you say will be living at home for a while yet. Your other child about to go to uni will be back in the long holidays and quite likely back again after they graduate. Also you can currently afford the mortgage and a few more years of paying it will reduce the debt & improve the LTV ratio.

I would consider downsizing in a few years but not just yet, personally.

Thank you for the very helpful opinions so far. Definitely a lot to think about

My immediate reaction (without reading of any of the replies) is to stay where you are. You love your house and area. Don’t underestimate the stress, expense and unfamiliarity of moving. You could end up with other problems such as problem neighbours. Can you manage to cut down on your expenses to try and build some savings? I know that is easy to say but in practise more difficult.

I think,the fact that you are questioning the move means that you have lots of reservations.

I'd definitely stay where you are for now. You have no compelling reason to make a move right now and it's not a great time. See what the market is doing in a year or two and then decide. Getting some kind of income protection insurance as suggested above is a great idea in case something serious happens in the meantime.