Moving house dilemma

[Housetohome101]

A bit of a wwyd.

We live in a 3 bed semi. 1950s build, very solid, spacious for a semi. Very well insulated. We are looking at being mortgage free in 10-12 years by our very early 50s. The downsides to our house are dc2 is in a box room. Dc2 may not get into first choice secondary school it’s 50/50. We are on a main road and it’s very noisy (traffic noise). Annoying neighbours (although nothing we can’t live with).

We’ve seen a beautiful detached on a quieter road, within catchment of the school and three enormous double bedrooms and a humongous garden But it’s going to be 90k more if you include stamp duty etc. We could manage it but it would mean 20+ years of mortgage. We’d have to use most of our savings. It’s been modernised and is beautiful and ready to live in, but it’s not perfect and we wouldn’t have much money to do anything to it. Although dh can do most things himself we’d have to live with some things as just couldn’t justify the cost of changing certain things.

We’ve thought about living there for 10 years as dc1 will have likely moved out and then possibly downsizing again if we do want to be mortgage free.

Why do you need to be mortgage free at a certain point? For most people if they’re still working into their 60s then it will be fine to still have a mortgage, provided you have income protection, critical illness cover etc in case of ill health. What specific things would you want to do when you’re mortgage free? I think everyone became a bit obsessed with the idea of paying off the mortgage early and yes I agree it would be nice not to worry about but if you’re working anyway then it’s fine to have a mortgage to still pay. Personally it would be worth it to guarantee the school for Dc and the bigger bedroom would also be a bonus.

Yes I know what you mean, I guess by bringing mortgage free it’s the disposable income we’d have available.

The school issue is huge, I’d move and downsize later on.

FWIW on our previous house we could have afforded to pay off the mortgage in 14 years which for me would be just after 50, instead we have moved to a bigger house and nicer area so our third child can have their own room and the house is also detached whereas we were in a semi before. We plan to downsize in 20 years and/or move to a cheaper area so we won’t be paying off this mortgage for the whole period but we are now on 32 years which takes me to 63.

also worth remembering that you borrow the cash in today’s prices so if you assume the same interest rate for arguments sake, if you’re paying £1500 now you will also be paying £1500 in 15 or 20 years time which will feel a lot cheaper then due to inflation. So the mortgage will become a smaller % of your wages over time assuming that your salary increases with inflation/promotions.

But then what would you do with this? Holidays, new car, something else? The school is surely worth more than that?

I was going to ask the same question. What do you want to do with the freed up disposable income that's better than the impact the new house would have on day to day life?

@Housetohome101 If the detached house is beautiful and ready to live in, what are the issues that you feel are not perfect? and how important are those issues to you, are they things that you think are perfect where you live now?

Remember, there's not really any such thing as an absolutely perfect house and the much talked about 'forever home' is just a myth, but apart from the situation for your DC, being detached and in a quieter road would be a huge plus point for me every day.

Having lived in semis my entire life, I recently moved to a detached in a lovely quieter area and the quality of life elevation is priceless. As long as you’re able to be mortgage free by your 60s when most people want to retire or can downsize to be mortgage free agin then absolutely it’s worth it. Having so much more space also just helps with mental health and also gives you more chance to experiment with diff styles of decor that my previously smaller homes would never have been compatible with.

Also it really is pretty wonderful (as long as windows closed lol) how you can just blast music loud as you want anytime of the day, sing at the top of your voice and watch moves on full blast! And just really wonderful hearing zero neighbour noise and just living in a bubble. Always quiet so can take a nap anytime of the day or read etc whenever you feel like it.

The school is the things worth moving for. If you stay in current location and dc doesn’t get into the preferred school, what are the other options.

also, if your house is not yet on the market it could take 3 months or more to sell. You may not be in a position to buy in time. Have you had an agent around for a valuation?

I would definitely move! Get rid of the annoying neighbour and the noisy road and the cramped bedrooms and the school issue?A definite yes from me.

We’ve got some viewings booked next week.

Estate agent has advised we’d easily sell in 2 weeks but we will see 🤷‍♀️

No guarantees on any of it.

That would be enough negative things for me to want to move, especially the school catchment issue.

I would want to at least try to get this house, see if your house sells in time, etc. Also, you may be able to get a reduction on that house once you have sold your own. I think it's ok to finish paying off your mortgage in your 60s (my husband did but I was late 50's). We may downsize in our 70s and you could consider that too if you wanted to release capital at that stage.

I know people who were mortgage free in their 40s and had a perfectly good size home but bought bigger and better as they had too much disposable income!!