Fair carnage in markets as Powell disappoints and Trump announces new tariffs on China.
White man and his greed. It is endless.
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You have suffered terribly at the hands of the white man.
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Genuine question. Is it an utterly stupid time to be trading up a house in the UK??
Please leave out the usual mansion palaver. I’m worried about this, though its a first world problem compared to what others have on their plate
Germany’s economy shrinks, fuelling fears of a recession - business live
If overall prices are weak and interest rates are low I would have thought it would be a good time. You can get a low rate fixed mortgage which may not be available in the coming years as sterling is under pressure and the Bank of Eng needs to raise rates to protect it. Also, the soft price you’d get for existing house would be more than compensated by the cheaper price you’d get for the new more expensive place.
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At the moment it’s probably close to pre crash levels for both. Herself has her heart set on it, and it’s a lot more house for a moderate extra sum, but it’ll put us back into a good chunk of debt.
A lot depends on your age and how long you perceive yourself working for. Obviously it’s madness taking out a 20+ year mortgage if you are over 45 or rolling over an existing mortgage to a 20+ year term from that age if that’s what you need to do to fund the purchase.
Personally if I was happy in my existing house, and there was a good prospect of paying down the debt while you were in the range of 55-60 years old, I’d sit tight and not take on any more debt as being debt free in that age range gives you great flexibility as to job options/retirement. You might love your job now but you might be burnt out in a decade. Other factors are relevant too. The age of the children and education and third level costs and when they will kick in and for how long. And maybe putting a bit by to look after them if they want to buy a house themselves. It’s a big decision to trade up in mid to late middle age.
If you are funding the trade up with cash, none of the above applies.
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If there’s a hard Brexit surely everything will be even cheaper shortly
I greatly value and appreciate that advice. We have a lovely house at the minute but it’s a semi. Our neighbour hasn’t lived there really for three years or so, and was a great neighbour anyway. They split up and he bought her and the kids a new house, and he’s actually moved back in there even though they got divorced. He’s now selling, and immediately across the road has managed somehow to get permission to build a four story glass monstrosity in his garden which will look straight in on top of us.
Meanwhile, round the corner, an absolutely beautiful old red brick detached has come for sale, stained glass windows, high ceilings with cornices, ornate brickwork and all that. If also has a huge self contained basement which the kids could use if they go to college here, or want to move back in.
I can see both sides of it.
The stamp duty is appalling.
Like you say, I feel fine now, but work doesn’t get easier, and we’d be back to square one with a mortgage, albeit would hope to have most of it paid down by mid fifties.
It’s a right big decision though, and, for once, I reckon I could talk her out of it (haven’t yet tried), as we love our current home, but you’d not often get a chance to buy something like this place.
May not happen, as the market here is dead, so ours may not sell, but it’s gone on the market since yesterday, so need to decide soon.
I also plan on going back to galway when I do retire, so there’s that also 
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Go for it Flatty, you could always sell the few acres in Cappataggle to fund it.
Do you need a 20% deposit when buying your second home? Or can you assign part of the value of the current home you’re selling to cover the deposit? I probably should know this.
Presuming you are selling the first home you would hope the equity can cover the 20% deposit for the next one
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The other thing in trading up to consider is how long will it be until you are trading down. That detached house will be great when the children are around you but they will grow up and will flee the nest. So how long will you knock out of the house.
Also consider running costs. Might be no issue now but sooner or later you will be on a fixed income. What is the energy rating. What can you do to improve it. How much will that cost.
Don’t do anything on impulse here. Scope out the financials as best you can and don’t let emotions come into it. This is a big decision.
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Crikey, if we can’t sell we’re going nowhere. I told the agent what I could put with ours, (about 25% on top), and said I didn’t mind what ours sold for, or the other, just the difference and that was my absolute limit as it was as much extra debt as I was prepared to take on. He reckons he can make it happen (he’s selling both). I’m personally not bothered either way, but suspect I will get a bit of remorse whatever happens.
Never let a woman get involved in any financial decisions Flatty.
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Thanks to everyone. I genuinely get better advice on here than anywhere else in life, once people know its not a ball hop. I’ll do the sums alright. He said it would be rated A. It was derelict pretty much before, inherited by a really nice lad from an old auntie who left him six such places, and he’s doing them up one by one. My pal previously mentioned has been around it and reckons it’s sound. (He also sent lads to sort our current roof, windows, walls and decorating out).
It will be fully renovated at point of sale, with the windows reframed, reroofed etc.
My draw to it is to try and keep the kids longer. Maybe I’m just being stupid.
Not at all, if you’ve considered all the angles and it works for you, you should go for it.
I was thinking of overpaying the mortgage for next few years so we are fully rid of it in c.10-15 years instead of c.25. Then we’d be debt free before potential expense/new debt to put child(ren) through college. But then I wondered about needing to save a deposit if we want to upgrade our house so good that the equity would cover it. That said, some folk think it’s more efficient to put money in pension instead of paying off debt. It’s very, very boring to go through this stuff though.
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Let the kids spread their wings flatty mate and spend the 25% on a holiday home on the worm farm. You can move herself over by stealth then, a couple of weeks every summer, then a month, before she knows it she’ll be worm farming full time
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