To Move or Not?

[tivolidancer]

DH and I are mid to late 40s and live in a town house within walking distance of a lovely small city and a top rated secondary school. We are within striking distance of paying off mortgage. Our house is beautiful and perfect for our family of four but…it is not detached, it is not private (lovely neighbours either side) and there is no storage space. I don’t know whether to move further out for a detached house with more land and space or stay put. What would you do?

It feels as though we have an opportunity to buy a bigger, more expensive house (whilst we are still in our 40s and have a few more working years ahead of us). If we stay put, we will pay off mortgage sooner and can direct £ to pension but…smaller property and will never have dream house nor lots of space if kids eventually marry and have kids. But…if we move, we’ll be out of city centre and will have to taxi DC to school and activities; will
have bigger mortgage.

What to do! Does it make financial sense to keep moving up property ladder? What have you done in similar situation? If we wait until DC leave school (when we are early 50s), will we have left it too late to make the move and take on bigger mortgage?

We were in a similar position to you (although our house is detached) and we decided not to move to a more expensive house. It was a very difficult decision, as I had seen a house I thought I would love to live in. However, once the decision was made I was very comfortable with it and have never regretted it.

Staying in our house and paying off our mortgage not only allowed us to enhance our pensions but it also meant that we have enjoyed better holidays/more experiences and we have been able to help our children (for example with tuition). Financially our pensions have outperformed the increased in house values (in part due to the tax advantages).

However, only you can really make that decision.

I’d definitely stay put. Driving kids will become a right pain, especially when they want to go out more and more.

Bigger house means you and your DC will be more comfortable as they become older teens. More opportunity for everyone to have their space.

However if there is no public transport in a bigger house that would really put me off, unless you are going to be able to fund driving lessons and access to a car as soon as they are old enough.

I would move for a bigger house but I wouldn't move somewhere with less amenities, not interested in being in the car all the time.

Also bigger house equals more cleaning

your DC are approaching an age where they will want a bit more freedom. I wouldn’t move unless you are really convinced it is in everyone’s best interests. Your DC are unlikely to want to sacrifice independence for larger rooms and no neighbours imo.

To me it’s always a risk to move. You could get awful neighbours etc. Maybe think about waiting until the kids have finished with school to see if you still want to move. The extra money you have coukd be directed to helping your kids with uni fees and house deposit maybe.

I wouldn't move
Ease of access to amenities makes so much difference
I have had big houses and now with children early 20's I would love a smaller house. Literally rooms I don't go in for months at a time and more storage encourages the accumulation of junk

Stay put. You have a home that is ideal other than it's not detached (but neighbours not a problem) and your desire to 'climb the property ladder'.
The added hassle of getting the DCs to school plus the inevitable ferrying them around to social activities coupled with higher mortgage costs would definitely be a deal breaker for me.

The only reason I would move in your situation is if you really wanted a big garden.
If not - definitely stay put. You have lots of good reasons to stay.

Thank you everyone for all of the valuable input. DH view is that we should do the move to the detached house after kids have finished with school. We could move further out and get a bigger house / garden for similar price to our town house. I think he is right and that is the sensible choice.

I think there is a part of me that always wanted the big house where the kids could have friends round, parties and sleepovers without us all stepping on each others toes. That won’t happen in current house (but also, if I am very honest, I don’t like having people in my house!!) There’s also a feeling of this being the last chance to increase the mortgage and invest in a bigger property whilst we have 15 years left of full time work but I take the point about investing in our pension instead. However, I do like my home and the location; I have my running routes and can easily walk into the city along the river. I just need to declutter and get smart around storage and the place would be pretty perfect.