What would you do if you were us?

[FromthefireintoWhat]

this is a bit of a "what would you do".

we ve sold our home up North, in a fairly post part of our city, and will be noving south, to a commuter town, for work reasons

we have three choices, limited by the school catchment (getting secondary age DC in education was tough, and we are renting at the moment - they like the new school, so we ll stick to this area). We were bidding on a home and had to walk away as owners would not negociate further despite issues.

choice 1 - buy higher: port our mortgage, invest our equity, plus extend mortgage a bit further (50%) not quite to the top of our borrowing capacity but "further" to buy a really fancy house with genuine kerb appeal and fully finished. Enough space. Stunning. 20 more years of chunky but not insane mortgage

choice 2 - port mortgage and invest equity and borrow a bit more (20%) to buy a doer upper - less kerb appeal, but we could do something nice there. Loads of space for kids, family, friends. We d be ok financially, with 15ish more years of reasonable mortgage.

choice 3 - buy a cheaper new build type home on a development site. Zero work to be done, but it looks a bit like the trueman show. Just enough room for our family. Smaller garden and kitchen
We d be mortgage free in 2 years (port and repay) with a bit of spare cash from our sale.

work is going really well, kids are 12 and 17, we ve always bought wrecks that we ve done up, so we are skilled, but also a bit tired. Older parents x4 still alive needing further support as getting older.

what would you do?

How old are you? I think that would be a big factor in my decision if you're talking about another 15-20 years of living with a mortgage. I would probably have gone for option 1 but personally wouldn't want a mortgage or other debt in my fifties.

How pressured are the new jobs? I think that will impact whether doing it up to have it exactly as you want, plus more manageable mortgage, is feasible.

For option 1 - how secure are your jobs? What impact might AI /economy have over teh next 20 years (hard to know but take a guess, it mght really matter)

I really wouldn't go for the new build if that's not previously been your taste. It will be a lot to adjust to the truman show if you're also moving into a new area/making new connections. The people there are less likely to be 'like you' - though obviously this isn't always the case and might not matter to you as much as it would to me.

A new estate can make it easier to make friends

double check all room sizes though - some are presented with small sized furniture! Some builders are good and some are crap.

financially I am too risk adverse to take your first option especially in the current financial climate and it sounds like you will be too tired to do option 2

option 3 is small but you will lose one kid soon o guess ?

If you have a 17 year old my decision would depend in part on whether they plan to go to uni and whether the 12 year old might follow.

uni is expensive.

Option 1. Kids are older. You can work more / move up the ladder.
Will you have uni costs though ? In which case maybe option 2.
Is 17 year old in the middle of A levels ?

Are you parents nearby ? If they are up North and you are likely to need to return if avoid the project

Parents are 1) 3h down the way and 2) abroad
We re mid 40s
DC1 will go to uni most likely locally, as a home bird. DC2 is wilder but plans on uni too.
My job is high pressure (leadership + lot of travel), DH is OK, more stable. Both very secure.

How much of a doer upper is it? A wreck or a "tired and could do with a revamp"? If it's the second one I'd do that, if a total wreck then probably option 1.

@BrucesTooth it s a tired big house needing a full redecoration to remediate 1980s style, plus a bit of work on roof, insulation and windows

If you can move into house 2 and fix things gradually, I’d go for that option.

I found ChatGPT helpful for helping me decide about houses. My last dilemma it suggested neither house was right for me and maybe we should keep looking - it was right (and fingers crossed we’ve found one now).

I personally need to buy a house I love - it can be small and I love it but I do need to love something about it, or else I’ll only get itchy feet.

Mid- 40s with secure jobs you can stretch if you need to. But maybe your time is more valuable?

Also I have moved to a slightly smaller house and it was surprisingly hard to adjust. (Probably not helped by the fact DC1 went from child to giant height in the first couple of years there. )

It depends whether you uncover more things that the doer upper needs. Especially as tradesmen and costs of materials have increased so much. Different if you plan to do everything yourselves.

I think the first is too much of a financial stretch and I don’t think you’d be happy in the third.

Choice 1 - are you into Mansion Tax territory? I presume that these sorts of houses might lose their value appeal in the next few years.
Choice 3 - estate living might not suit you but it will probably suit DC. A new build will lose money in the early years.
Choice 2 - if it's mostly decoration rather than a Grand Designs rebuild, then this sounds the best bet to me. You've done it before so you know what you are doing, although you have eft behind all your tried&trusted tradespeople.

@senua not, def mansion tax threshold, more in the £1.1 to £1.3M tax bracket which is much higher than anything we ve had to date (we could afford it, but i ve always been too risk averse)

i am afraid of
choice 1 - over extending, feeling stretched, worrying about spend

choice 2 - uncovering DIY nightmares, and not having the time to "do it" and resenting the house (and then doing everything just before selling)

choice 3 - hating how sterile it looks and feel from the outside (the inside is nice though, and my kids have pretty much reached their "full size")

i m off to speak to chatGPT!

You don’t spend much time looking at the outside of a house and with a bit of colour you can make the inside feel warm and cosy

low cost and low hassle , but do check the reputation of the specific builders. round here we have small local firms and one national giant

one small firm goes into liquidation regularly ( small name changes usually ) , the national builds poor quality homes which you can tell
the instant you walk through the door , another small firm - second hand homes sell within a week usually - all similar prices

Either choice 1 or 2. Definitely not 3. Depends how old you are and how much extra you want to be paying each month, also if you think you want to be working as much for the next 20 years...

Look at how much parking you are going to be wanting in the next few years. Will the new build have enough?

3 - do not underestimate the joy of being mortgage-free. The next few years will be expensive with uni, driving lessons, cars etc etc. Enjoy having some flexibility then consider your retirement plans.

You have done up houses before so you know the realistic costs to pay for the work you don’t have time for. However you also know that if you are planning to stay there for 10+ years you will be redecorating during that time and probably making other changes as well which mitigates some of the costs.

New builds generally lack parking, especially for a growing family - its common for plans to be based on a max of one car per household which is usually inadequate.

Being mortgage free before you are 60 is a good place to be, especially if you want to help out the DC as young adults.

The comment about new builds lacking parking yet we have space for 3 cars on our drive - whereas it’s many of the older houses round here that have no parking

the generalisation is daft - take each property on its merits not its age

Good point! And you want side-by-side parking, not tandem parking.

For the three properties, what is transport like for the DC? Are teenager-y things a short walk or bus ride away.

Are escalating Ground Rents and Estate Fees a bygone thing for new builds now? What's the next scam?

In much of the SE its planning policy to provide only one parking space per new build, even if the new build is a four bed family house. Plans with more allocated spaces per house are rejected. This creates the inevitable knock on problems as families grow and have more cars for work.

Policy is similar in parts of the SW which is even less sensible as transport is even worse.

If yours is a recent new build in either of those areas I’ve no idea how they circumvented the policy but its been policy for more than a decade.

I would say option 3, job security is awful at the moment and may get worse, also your health it can disappear shockingly quickly. More money and time to visit parents and have amazing holidays with your DC etc.

Option #4, just keep renting for a year or so, monitor the market for something combining #1, with maybe a bit of decorative work needed, but also a lower price.

And keep your offer open on the first property that won't negotiate.

It's surely too late to port your mortgage if you've already sold your place no? Or do you mean you've accepted an offer?

About the new build, apart from the downsides like being closely packed, small windows, garden & parking etc. new builds are normally out on the edge of things, car dependent for every journey, forever. Is your new build different?