Hi all
I am new to the forum, but I’m not new to MMM as I’ve been following his ideas since 2016.
I’m a 35-year-old father of two young children, of which I have 50:50 shared care due to splitting with their mother a couple of years ago. I currently own my home outright (thanks MMM), and commute by car to work, which takes around 30-40 minutes each way. The children’s school is on the way to work.
On the whole I am happy with my current home, but I bought it during the pandemic when the property market was pretty stagnant and there wasn’t much to choose from. It’s a 1970s 3-bedroom end-of-terrace house which is functional but could do with modernisation throughout. The only thing it lacks which I’d really like is an attached garage and driveway.
Around 10 miles away there is a newbuild development selling 3-bedroom semi-detached homes with driveways and garages. I know the area well, love the houses, have lived in a newbuild before and the development is slightly closer to work so would reduce my commute by around 10 minutes. The drawback is, these houses are priced at £400k. My current home is worth about £330k.
The new house would require no modernisation (although I’m aware this is factored into the cost), and is slightly closer to the children’s school and my place of work. However, by the time stamp duty, moving and other costs are considered the actual extra cost will probably be nearer £85k, which seems a lot of money to pay for a slight increase in happiness. In terms of financing the endevour, I would probably take out a mortgage for the difference as I don’t have the cash, although realistically I could save it in 2 to 3 years. I understand that this all might be quite facepunchworthy, but what would you do in my situation?