Moving House

[nicholab]

We now have a baby so would like to move from a top floor flat (2nd floor). This was bought in September 2010 for £101,500 do people think there is like to have been an increase in value? The single bed across the way went from £66K to £78K in a year! We would like to buy my brother in laws house this is likely to be £115-120K. What are the best ways of mortgage stretching? Is it worth paying the sofa from Next off early (£125 left)?

[Michael]

The only way(s) are either talking to your bank or an independent financial advisor.

 

As for Next, it depends how much interest you're paying. If it's zero, there's no point paying it early.

[sonofsanta]

Depends on where you live - the housing market varies across the UK - and what significant work you've done since having it, but I wouldn't get your hopes up. There are online calculators about - Nationwide is one - but when I last remortgaged, Nationwide's calculator said my house had gone up £10k in value and the surveyor reckoned it had gone down £10k, despite the work we'd done.

 

The only way to stretch a mortgage, as far as I understand what you're asking, is just to reduce the relative worth of your capital. After the surveyor stuffed us over last year, we ended up opting for an 80% mortgage instead of a 75% and therefore paying more interest.

 

As has been said, though, talk to a proper adviser - Countrywide or someone - as we are far from experts!

 

(Don't forget to factor in how much it costs to move as well - estate agents, solicitors, removal men, stamp duty, the cost of doing up your new place to look alright..."

[Achandler]

Think positive, you shouldn't have lost money, you bought when houses weren't at the top.

 

The rest depends on a lot, how much equity you put into your house to start with. If you had a 25% deposit on your 100k house and you sold and got your money back. You will probably have enough to put down a 15% on your new house, if you only put down 10% then your obviously in a different situation.

 

As for the sofa, well it would remove it from your affordability calculator, freeing up about £20 a month maybe. But then every penny could count.

 

Edit: Also ignore the house price calculators, because some areas have gone up even when the region has gone down. Technically you can buy a house for £50k that had no roof and needed everything doing to it, then the house calculator will tell you your house has gone down by 10% still... they aren't accurate. Neither is Zoopla etc. Best way to get a valuation is an "expert" or just look at nearby properties that are similar.

Edited June 6, 2012 by Achandler

[JoeBloggs]

I would speak to your current mortgage provider. Then speak to someone like mortgagetalk