1st world problem. Which is better ...

[2gins]

1) Being mortgage clear by your mid 40s but living in a location you don't really like, and being shackled to it until your mid 50s because kids in school (a London suburb in this case);

2) Having a hefty but manageable mortgage and living in a location you like with long term rental income... but a stty commute (leafy corner of the home counties).

Lets assume for the sake of argument the house is the same.

Both have their merits. I guess it depends on your personal outlook - have it now or take a bit of pain for long term gain.

[wibblebrain]

Take the shorter commute and spend more time with your family

[EnglishTony]

Sell now before the market crashes

[ruggedscotty]

market wont crash - however it may stop climbing as it reaches levels that people can no longer afford...

Location close to work - less time travelling more time with family but family closer to London and all the inherent issues that goes with that.

Location away from London - bigger house less mortgage but more time travelling - add in costs of rail cards and travel and you soon rake up more money, that money would be better going on the mortgage.

Or Fuff London and move north. let the rat race tire itself out while you live a life less maniacal. when the penny drops you will wonder what you have been doing with your life all this time.and that is when reality kicks ass.

[NoddyonNitrous]

wibblebrain said:

Take the shorter commute and spend more time with your family

This - count up all the hours you'll waste over the years.

[wildcat45]

I'm mid 40s, mortgage free but in a place and house that are almost perfect. The house is great but not completely ideal, but size and location are spot on.

I'd say go mortgage free. It is a huge freedom to know that you have the roof over your head sorted. It's enabled me to take chances with less risk.

I arranged a great voluntary redundancy deal. Took a chance on going freelance which brought in great rewards for a few years.

I'm now in a position where I have decided to qualify in a completely different field. If I had to make a mortgage payment every month, I'd probably not have the guts to take what is a big step.

My wife has a career, and her not bad income gives us a nice life. I've cut back on my freelancing to study. When I qualify I hope to be able to take some of the slack up and let her work a little less. Alternatively we could go back to having two good incomes.

Once you take a mortgage out of the equation, you really get a handle on how much, or how little you need to live on.

The pressure is off her too. She puts so much effort into her job, but she does it because she wants to and because she likes her job and her team, not because she's scared of screwing up, getting sacked and losing us our home.

Being mortgage free gives you flexibility and independence. We could bugger off round the world tomorrow and rent the house out for a nice income. No seeking permission from a mortgage company or whatever. We've a vague dream about just buying a little farm house somewhere for not much money and putting the money from our home into a few holiday lets.

All just day dreams, but all possible.

Get the house bought and paid for. It may not be the perfect location but it'll put you in a position where you decide your next move. When your pay comes into the bank, a big chunk isn't going straight out. When doom merchants on the news worry about interest rate rises, you don't have to be that bothered.

[RDMcG]

Have made the choice consistently most of my life. Cleared my mortgage at the age of 38 and even when i moved I made sure i never took another one. The freedom of not worrying about house price fluctuations, the terror of losing a job or getting sick and falling behind on payments and so on more than make up for living in a smaller house than i could have afforded to carry.

For me...-
-short commute
-smaller house
-no mortgage.

I am 67 now, independent financially, and over many years saw people who worked for me with bigger homes than I had, in more desirable areas,but I also saw the stress of trying to keep up with their assumed status in life. Fair enough, as this was obviously important.

I preferred the freedom, the lack of commute and the lao of worry. No leafy acreage for me.

[2gins]

wildcat45 said:

I'm mid 40s, mortgage free but in a place and house that are almost perfect. The house is great but not completely ideal, but size and location are spot on.

I'd say go mortgage free. It is a huge freedom to know that you have the roof over your head sorted. It's enabled me to take chances with less risk.

I arranged a great voluntary redundancy deal. Took a chance on going freelance which brought in great rewards for a few years.

I'm now in a position where I have decided to qualify in a completely different field. If I had to make a mortgage payment every month, I'd probably not have the guts to take what is a big step.

My wife has a career, and her not bad income gives us a nice life. I've cut back on my freelancing to study. When I qualify I hope to be able to take some of the slack up and let her work a little less. Alternatively we could go back to having two good incomes.

Once you take a mortgage out of the equation, you really get a handle on how much, or how little you need to live on.

The pressure is off her too. She puts so much effort into her job, but she does it because she wants to and because she likes her job and her team, not because she's scared of screwing up, getting sacked and losing us our home.

Being mortgage free gives you flexibility and independence. We could bugger off round the world tomorrow and rent the house out for a nice income. No seeking permission from a mortgage company or whatever. We've a vague dream about just buying a little farm house somewhere for not much money and putting the money from our home into a few holiday lets.

All just day dreams, but all possible.

Get the house bought and paid for. It may not be the perfect location but it'll put you in a position where you decide your next move. When your pay comes into the bank, a big chunk isn't going straight out. When doom merchants on the news worry about interest rate rises, you don't have to be that bothered.

This is really great input, thanks for posting. It's probably the single most useful piece of advice I've read on my multiple posts about this situation

It rings a bell with me because I have a bit of an on/off relationship with my company (great people, usually interesting work, but pretty standard multinational with lots of internal marketing bullst and no long-term loyalty to staff) - there are other things I'd fancy doing in the same field but I suspect a pay cut would be needed.

[creampuff]

I'd pack everything up, move to Thailand and get a ladyboy on the side. hth.

[TIGA84]

EnglishTony said:

Sell now before the market crashes

What is that assumption based on exactly?

[jonny996]

wildcat45 said:

I'm mid 40s, mortgage free but in a place and house that are almost perfect. The house is great but not completely ideal, but size and location are spot on.

I'd say go mortgage free. It is a huge freedom to know that you have the roof over your head sorted. It's enabled me to take chances with less risk.

I arranged a great voluntary redundancy deal. Took a chance on going freelance which brought in great rewards for a few years.

I'm now in a position where I have decided to qualify in a completely different field. If I had to make a mortgage payment every month, I'd probably not have the guts to take what is a big step.

My wife has a career, and her not bad income gives us a nice life. I've cut back on my freelancing to study. When I qualify I hope to be able to take some of the slack up and let her work a little less. Alternatively we could go back to having two good incomes.

Once you take a mortgage out of the equation, you really get a handle on how much, or how little you need to live on.

The pressure is off her too. She puts so much effort into her job, but she does it because she wants to and because she likes her job and her team, not because she's scared of screwing up, getting sacked and losing us our home.

Being mortgage free gives you flexibility and independence. We could bugger off round the world tomorrow and rent the house out for a nice income. No seeking permission from a mortgage company or whatever. We've a vague dream about just buying a little farm house somewhere for not much money and putting the money from our home into a few holiday lets.

All just day dreams, but all possible.

Get the house bought and paid for. It may not be the perfect location but it'll put you in a position where you decide your next move. When your pay comes into the bank, a big chunk isn't going straight out. When doom merchants on the news worry about interest rate rises, you don't have to be that bothered.

No mention of kids in that set up, they are a game changer & schools play a big part in if a mortgage is worth it

[don4l]

TIGA84 said:

EnglishTony said:

Sell now before the market crashes

What is that assumption based on exactly?

Osborne's increase in stamp duty on buy to lets is likely to affect the market.

I don't know if that means that there will be a crash. There will certainly be a slowdown.

[2gins]

Osborne's changes don't deter us from trying it if we can make it work, it'll be a £30k hit but ultimately over the length of the project it's peanuts at this sort of spend level and I suspect the majority of landlords will just put rents up and cut corners on maintenance. Not a very well thought through policy imo.

[Rude-boy]

wildcat45 said:

I'd say go mortgage free. It is a huge freedom to know that you have the roof over your head sorted. It's enabled me to take chances with less risk.

What you say has a lot of merit but I would say that there is a slightly different way to look at this. I love my house and it really is a home that i could see them carrying me out of in a box if it was not for the Mrs wanting to move one day. BUT i have reached a point where, once sold, there is enough equity to buy us something to live in that, whilst not as nice, would still be at least as nice as most could wish for. That IMO is the point at which the freedom to take greater chances with less risk.

[Jasandjules]

The house which is best for the children.

[wildcat45]

jonny996 said:

No mention of kids in that set up, they are a game changer & schools play a big part in if a mortgage is worth it

Well observed. No kids. It's not something we've totally ruled out. We're happy to let nature take its course, so if they happen great, if not great.

I think - and this is just my situation not a generalisation - we'd be able to
accommodate kids with ease. Yes there'd be less money for our fun things like a nice car and eating out all the time, but kids would probably mean a big lifestyle change too so there'd be less spending on non-essentials.

Childcare - well that would be a big cost that would be off the agenda. My training for a new career has been partly motivated by a desire to work freelance, and flexibly. My wife's a senior teacher so kids and holidays wouldn't be a problem.

We are surrounded need by very good state schools so in this situation I'd see no need to go private.

But yes, kids aren't factored in to my situation. I could see how that would change things.

[wildcat45]

Rude-boy said:

What you say has a lot of merit but I would say that there is a slightly different way to look at this. I love my house and it really is a home that i could see them carrying me out of in a box if it was not for the Mrs wanting to move one day. BUT i have reached a point where, once sold, there is enough equity to buy us something to live in that, whilst not as nice, would still be at least as nice as most could wish for. That IMO is the point at which the freedom to take greater chances with less risk.

That's a good view.

[wildcat45]

2gins said:

This is really great input, thanks for posting. It's probably the single most useful piece of advice I've read on my multiple posts about this situation

It rings a bell with me because I have a bit of an on/off relationship with my company (great people, usually interesting work, but pretty standard multinational with lots of internal marketing bullst and no long-term loyalty to staff) - there are other things I'd fancy doing in the same field but I suspect a pay cut would be needed.

I'm going to get that quote framed!

Re: my voluntary redundancy. Being mortgage free put me in such a stress free situation.

I had a good but unique role in a company. Not a job title and position I would ever get again and everyone knew it. I had a main role, a lot of legal and management responsibility but also somehow fell into a training role too. I could more or less do what I wanted but I knew - having benefitted from but in the past worried about several take-overs that eventually I'd be seen as a huge cost.

The firm was limbering up for a merger. My immediate boss - a family man, mortgage kids etc and a bloody good mate - was understandably at his wits end when there was a big staff meeting and redundancy was mentioned.

It was horrible to see good people on the ropes.

I was quite calm. I'd discussed a plan with my wife should this day come so I looked in on the MD and got him to get the HR rep in.

I put to them a reorganisation plan for my department involving my departure which would save my boss. Over the next day or two we had some offers and counter offers, all relaxed and good humoured. Then we agreed an acceptable bugger off package.

My boss could have gone for voluntary too but because of the mortgage and the fact his mortgage insurance stipulated compulsory redundancy, he was forced to cling on in there for two more years until the merger happened and he got his notice. On their terms.

I'm really conscious that I could be coming across as a smug tosser here. I'm by no means rich. I've been bloody lucky to be in this position - and I thank my lucky stars and my financially savvy late mum - every day.

The stuff I just wrote is purely to illustrate how much of an influence a mortgage can be on decisions you make.

Edited by wildcat45 on Monday 25th April 18:56

[INWB]

I have been wondering what I should do with my mortgage. I have some money coming in to buy another property (starter home) or nearly pay off my mortgage. Rental from another property pays my mortgage currently (the rental is debt free) but I still fret. I'm paying 1.8% interest on the mortgage and I get 3% return on my cash so haven't really been that motivated but I think posters above are right. It is about that freedom that has given me food for thought.

[rxtx]

wildcat45 said:

I'm really conscious that I could be coming across as a smug tosser here.

FWIW you don't