Mortgage free Vs Upgrading
Discussion
Excellent thred resurrection!
As way of an update we stayed put.
The particular house we went for we made a best and final offer which the owner didn't accept. The house was up for sale for 3 years in total and got 4k more than our final offer in the end.
We're glad in the end it didn't happen for a few reasons.
I saw a Japanese knot weed specialist parked up.
There's a huge housing development that has been in planning that if it gets approved will be built on farm land to the rear of the house, the woodland not owned by the house will be cleared.
Since its sold there's scaffold all round the house could be some improvement (the render hasn't came off).
The house itself as I said in earlier posts wasn't anything special and the layout wasn't hugely practical so would have needed some work eventually to get it as we wanted.
We've got another small mortgage plus some savings we're getting an extension put on our existing house this will add an additional bathroom and a big kitchen diner. We're also doing alot of other work we've put off such as re-rendering, new bathroom full rewire, some landscaping work.
The local housing market doesn't seem to be cooling off yet. I still keep an eye out on right move, large family houses are selling quickly still and prices have probably increased 10-15% since we were considering the move. I wouldn't rule out moving in future if something popped up but unless the arse crashes out of the market the gap between what we could sell our house for and what we'd be paying for the upgrade will continue to increase.
Really the cost of living increases will errrode our disposable income, paying double for utilities and set to go up again in the autumn plus food and fuel increases isnt screaming out to take on a bigger mortgage and glad we didn't.
I'm still working from almost 100% of the time so saving on committing costs.
Getting the extension done has been a bit of a pain the the arse and a spade hasn't gone in the ground yet. Not many local builders seem to want to take on 'bigger' projects so choice is limited plus there's understandable reservations over material costs etc. We've gone with a builder based on reputation, also happen to be the most expensive. The start date keeps going back was originally now, then September now looking like the back end of the year.
I'm starting to look at longer term financial planning at the moment. I'm fortunate that I have a defined benefit pension currently at 60 so looking at things like SIPPs etc while balancing doing things with the kids, holidays weekends away etc.
As way of an update we stayed put.
The particular house we went for we made a best and final offer which the owner didn't accept. The house was up for sale for 3 years in total and got 4k more than our final offer in the end.
We're glad in the end it didn't happen for a few reasons.
I saw a Japanese knot weed specialist parked up.
There's a huge housing development that has been in planning that if it gets approved will be built on farm land to the rear of the house, the woodland not owned by the house will be cleared.
Since its sold there's scaffold all round the house could be some improvement (the render hasn't came off).
The house itself as I said in earlier posts wasn't anything special and the layout wasn't hugely practical so would have needed some work eventually to get it as we wanted.
We've got another small mortgage plus some savings we're getting an extension put on our existing house this will add an additional bathroom and a big kitchen diner. We're also doing alot of other work we've put off such as re-rendering, new bathroom full rewire, some landscaping work.
The local housing market doesn't seem to be cooling off yet. I still keep an eye out on right move, large family houses are selling quickly still and prices have probably increased 10-15% since we were considering the move. I wouldn't rule out moving in future if something popped up but unless the arse crashes out of the market the gap between what we could sell our house for and what we'd be paying for the upgrade will continue to increase.
Really the cost of living increases will errrode our disposable income, paying double for utilities and set to go up again in the autumn plus food and fuel increases isnt screaming out to take on a bigger mortgage and glad we didn't.
I'm still working from almost 100% of the time so saving on committing costs.
Getting the extension done has been a bit of a pain the the arse and a spade hasn't gone in the ground yet. Not many local builders seem to want to take on 'bigger' projects so choice is limited plus there's understandable reservations over material costs etc. We've gone with a builder based on reputation, also happen to be the most expensive. The start date keeps going back was originally now, then September now looking like the back end of the year.
I'm starting to look at longer term financial planning at the moment. I'm fortunate that I have a defined benefit pension currently at 60 so looking at things like SIPPs etc while balancing doing things with the kids, holidays weekends away etc.
Puzzles said:
I keep toying with the idea but stamp duty is making it very expensive, can get a lot of building work done for that. 
The whole stamp duty holiday thing inflated prices, thing is now they seem to remain inflated but buyers still have to pay it so a double whammy. Moving house isn't cheap, estate agent fees solicitors fees, stamp duty fees on a 500k house you're not getting any change from 20k I'd expect.
We just decided while having a huge garden would be nice it wasn't worth the premium over what we already have and will have once the works are done.
Didn't see this thread at the time. Interesting reading how it's panned out and some of the advice as we found ourselves in almost the same situation. Our kids are slightly older at 10 and 12 and I feel this played a major part in our decision to move over extending. As the kids got older it just felt like we needed bigger rooms and a different layout. Something that allowed people to have their own space.
We took a £150k mortgage and moved to a 5 bed converted bungalow on a large plot with a large double garage and a second decent sized out building. We did look at extending our old property but with the cost of building work rocketing the same £150k would have given us a bit more space with a compromised layout, would have further reduced the garden and I'd still be dreaming of a bigger garage. I also suspect it wouldn't have added £150k to the value of our house.
Our timing was terrible with the increased cost of living but I don't regret it (yet).
We took a £150k mortgage and moved to a 5 bed converted bungalow on a large plot with a large double garage and a second decent sized out building. We did look at extending our old property but with the cost of building work rocketing the same £150k would have given us a bit more space with a compromised layout, would have further reduced the garden and I'd still be dreaming of a bigger garage. I also suspect it wouldn't have added £150k to the value of our house.
Our timing was terrible with the increased cost of living but I don't regret it (yet).
a311 said:
Excellent thred resurrection!
I wouldn't rule out moving in future if something popped up but unless the arse crashes out of the market the gap between what we could sell our house for and what we'd be paying for the upgrade will continue to increase.
This is why if you are thinking of moving then something is not right with your current circumstances. This will probably continue to nag at you - so take the advice of Curtis Mayfield.I wouldn't rule out moving in future if something popped up but unless the arse crashes out of the market the gap between what we could sell our house for and what we'd be paying for the upgrade will continue to increase.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x25yu8
Another thread resurrection....... Our building work was completed in June 2023 on our current house. We're now both glad we went in this direction rather than move as it's made our current home a nicer more functional home to live in not to mention what has happened with interest rates. There seems to have been a paradigm shift in the local market with many selling up at the top end of the market and down sizing-assume for a number of reasons including fear of servicing mortgage debt at higher interest rates..
We borrowed to do the building work, at 1.54% but will have this paid off before the deal expires so it doesn't really matter what happens with rates. Shows what strange times we've been in over the last couple of years as while we were waiting for the building work to start and then pay the builder we were in a situation where the borrowed money was sat in an instant access saving account with the same bank earning twice the interest we were paying so the bank was paying us to borrow money for a time......
We borrowed to do the building work, at 1.54% but will have this paid off before the deal expires so it doesn't really matter what happens with rates. Shows what strange times we've been in over the last couple of years as while we were waiting for the building work to start and then pay the builder we were in a situation where the borrowed money was sat in an instant access saving account with the same bank earning twice the interest we were paying so the bank was paying us to borrow money for a time......
_Rodders_ said:
We're in a similar situation.
Difficult to decide what to do. We've even considered a small place in France as the OH works in a school so could take advantage of long and plentiful holidays.
Do want that large double garage and bigger garden though, the dilemma is agonising.
My advice would be do what makes you and your family happy and improves your quality of life. Things have shifted with the cost of borrowing and cost of living increases now meaning more expensive to service the debt, more expensive to light and heat, and people having less money in their pockets due to pretty much higher prices for day to day things from food, broadband insurance etc. Difficult to decide what to do. We've even considered a small place in France as the OH works in a school so could take advantage of long and plentiful holidays.
Do want that large double garage and bigger garden though, the dilemma is agonising.
I've also considered a holiday home in the past. If it's something you can hold on to it's not a bad idea per se. It's market specific, but I know many people who've had property in Spain and despite owning for years they've ended up buying and selling at what proven to be the wrong time and took a haircut. Unless one of you is an EU citizen the amount you could use a property abroad is limited but probably not an issue if you're both still working. The way I look at it is say a decent holiday home is 150k, unless you're a powerfully built director like many on PH that buys a lot of holidays. Plus owning a home abroad doesn't come without costs and stresses even if you own it outright.
On the others side of the coin if you get years of holidays and enjoyment out of it and when you come to sell you don't make a profit or loose some money most people probably wouldn't care.
Pleased it is all working out for you.
a311 said:
Shows what strange times we've been in over the last couple of years as while we were waiting for the building work to start and then pay the builder we were in a situation where the borrowed money was sat in an instant access saving account with the same bank earning twice the interest we were paying so the bank was paying us to borrow money for a time......
I smiled at that. We are in exactly the same bizarre situation with a short term fixed rate mortgage that, by utter jammy timing and no skill whatever, we could have redeemed the month after taking it out but are earning more than double the cost of the interest each month for 24 months and would have to have to pay an early redemption penalty to redeem it early. Strange indeed.Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff