Sink all your savings into a wonderful house and live in it?

[d000hg]

Over the last ~15 years as a contractor I have gone from "decent income but no savings" to being reasonably comfortable though by no means loaded especially compared to many here. A somewhat substantial ISA fund, etc - it creeps up on you if you have decent incomings and are fairly prudent in spending (and have boomer parents who die).

A really quite special property has come up in my area and because it's in rural NE, it's on the face of it great value.
I reckon if we put all our long-term savings in, we could end up with a similar mortgage to what we have now. That initially seemed a crazy, risky proposition but on the other hand, it's still long-term savings and you actually get to enjoy it for years rather than "one day".
There is also the prospect in a property of that size of generating revenue streams from BnB, renting a separate apartment, etc - not our dream but it's useful to have the option.

I just wondered if anyone here has ever done that sort of thing, or considered it? Stocks and shares go up and down in a big way, houses can also. All your eggs in one basket but a very nice basket.

For that matter, anyone seen places like that and day-dreamed knowing they never would/could? You see those remote "custodian on a remote island" articles - I am a bit drawn to that

[woody1]

Nah, Bitcoin is the basket where you want to put all your eggs.

When it gets into the $millions, you can cash in and buy a private island somewhere nice.

[TheDude]

Follow your dreams.

When I was young all I ever wanted was an Escort XR3i.

Now I not only own one - I live in one.

[gables]

When you say "all" do you mean ALL? I ask as I'd go for it if there was enough ready cash available in an instant should an emergency arise. And if you aim to die in it then it doesn't matter if it goes down in value not that I expect it would.

You'll be enjoying it day in, day out - you might not be so fortunate with the savings.

[northernladuk]

I did about 14 years ago. Met the other half and moved in to her 3 bed new build. Perfectly decent house but a converted bunglow came up. Odd thing on split levels with multiple extensions over the decades. We went and had a look and we couldn't not buy it. Cashed everything I had in, shares, two BTL's savings you name it and took on what was probably a fairly hefty mortgage for a 40 year old. Plan was to either pay it off by 60 or we'd have enough equity to downsize so all seems to just about fit.

Best decision I ever made. Absolutely love the house, never looked back. Couple of tight months inbetween gigs and probably quite a bit behind most people in terms of pensions/savings etc at my age but we've actually paid it off 8 years early so will catch up plus equity.

IMO sit down and think what the worst scenario could be. Long term out of gig, not enough income, schools (I assume your kids are a bit older so maybe not), other half out of work or whatever. If you can survive the worst then I'd say go for it. I'm past taking massive risks so if you can't work around some of the worst scenarios its up to you to do some hard thinking based on your current risk appetite.

If it's a good property it won't suffer the drops and will also continue to grow more than the general area so it's pretty difficult to go wrong with a desireable property in the medium to long term.

Our house has elevated our quality of life no question. Near fields & woods for the new dog, quiet town, near enough to cities etc. You only get one shot at life so do it. Being happy and having quality of life is worth much more than money. Just plan the headaches and stress out of it as i say though.

[d000hg]

When you say "all" do you mean ALL? I ask as I'd go for it if there was enough ready cash available in an instant should an emergency arise. And if you aim to die in it then it doesn't matter if it goes down in value not that I expect it would.

You'll be enjoying it day in, day out - you might not be so fortunate with the savings.

Yeah that's a good question. I suppose I mean all the ISA and long-term savings, a BTL - so the "retirement pot" rather than getting into crazy debt with no cash.

I did about 14 years ago. Met the other half and moved in to her 3 bed new build. Perfectly decent house but a converted bunglow came up. Odd thing on split levels with multiple extensions over the decades. We went and had a look and we couldn't not buy it. Cashed everything I had in, shares, two BTL's savings you name it and took on what was probably a fairly hefty mortgage for a 40 year old. Plan was to either pay it off by 60 or we'd have enough equity to downsize so all seems to just about fit.

Best decision I ever made. Absolutely love the house, never looked back. Couple of tight months inbetween gigs and probably quite a bit behind most people in terms of pensions/savings etc at my age but we've actually paid it off 8 years early so will catch up plus equity.

IMO sit down and think what the worst scenario could be. Long term out of gig, not enough income, schools (I assume your kids are a bit older so maybe not), other half out of work or whatever. If you can survive the worst then I'd say go for it. I'm past taking massive risks so if you can't work around some of the worst scenarios its up to you to do some hard thinking based on your current risk appetite.

If it's a good property it won't suffer the drops and will also continue to grow more than the general area so it's pretty difficult to go wrong with a desireable property in the medium to long term.

Our house has elevated our quality of life no question. Near fields & woods for the new dog, quiet town, near enough to cities etc. You only get one shot at life so do it. Being happy and having quality of life is worth much more than money. Just plan the headaches and stress out of it as i say though.

Sounds quite similar - I'm about the age you were then though this is more a country house like something out of Jeeves & Wooster. The photo looks like one of those "win a £3m country house" charity adverts except it's nowhere near £3m.
It might have loads of problems but I am quite tempted to go look around except then that might only make me want it too much

Thanks.

[WTFH]

It might have loads of problems but I am quite tempted to go look around except then that might only make me want it too much

It's a lot easier to rule things out than keep them in.
Go see the house. If you find big reasons not to buy it (e.g. it's currently owned by the Prime Minister and he wants paid in US dollars to an off-shore account, it's next to a sewage works, it's up North, etc), then you can rule it out and move on. If it doesn't have any big NO's then you have to start thinking about the next decision.

But in reality, if you don't go and look, you'll never know, and you may regret it.

[vetran]

Bought my first property at 22 a nice 1 bed flat, I realised fairly quickly that it was much cheaper than paying rent (mostly except during the ERM fiasco - lesson learnt go for fixed rate in future).

I met the wife and we bought a four bed terrace before the prices boomed. A few years later a 4 bed detached and now a nice 4 bed in a small popular road. From the money I spent to own and would have spent to rent I reckon we are up about £100-500k (depends how much rent) in saved rent we also own a house worth nearly a million with about 2 years of mortgage left.

Not buying a house to live in is a poor decision IMHO, especially with rents going up in response to pressure on housing and Landlords.

Buy the 'best' property you can afford. If you can put up with dated and needing new bathrooms & kitchens then buy a fixer upper, funding a new bathroom every year is far cheaper than buying one that is fully finished. In laws bought a dated 2 bed bungalow with decent land but one bathroom they will probably spend another £100k on it but the next door houses are £400k more. Ours has 3 new bathrooms, many of the rooms re-plastered, new driveway, new fences all round and landscaping. Much of the heavy work was funded by free beer and food. Our last two were similar plus new windows and boilers.

The joy of owning is making it yours and knowing you won't have hassle from a landlord.

Obviously other savings are worth pursuing but property is good for your portfolio.

Once you have no mortgage then save / invest the rest of your monthly money £1-5k a month is a lot of savings. Direct from the company into a pension is probably the best - get advice.

[northernladuk]

It's a lot easier to rule things out than keep them in.
Go see the house. If you find big reasons not to buy it (e.g. it's currently owned by the Prime Minister and he wants paid in US dollars to an off-shore account, it's next to a sewage works, it's up North, etc), then you can rule it out and move on. If it doesn't have any big NO's then you have to start thinking about the next decision.

But in reality, if you don't go and look, you'll never know, and you may regret it.

Totally this. When I saw ours on Right Move I initially thought it was too much so could have passed but my other was also intrigued. We went a look and that's it we were hooked as d000hg mentions but it really focusses the mind. Kicked us in to action to have a really good look at finances and make big decisions and we made it work. No chance I would have paid this much on the pictures on rightmove.

So yes, definitely, go view it. Three things will happen, it will not be for you for some reason so decision made, it will be nice but not quite what you thought so decision made again or you'll absolutely love it and it will drive you to go look hard at the situation. People are much more driven to achieve stuff when the carrot is there.

You'll regret not seeing it if it turns out you could make it work. Nearly happened to me so get in and have a look. One piece of advice though is try and temper yourself and don't get drawn in. Look at it practically to make sure it's perfect, don't just coo about how nice it is. Check if kitchen works, living space is right yadda yadda. Keep it practical if possible. There are 1000's of houses that look absolutely gorgeous but when you get your tickbox of what you desire they start falling by the wayside.

Tell us how you get on.

[NotAllThere]

When you say "all" do you mean ALL? I ask as I'd go for it if there was enough ready cash available in an instant should an emergency arise. And if you aim to die in it then it doesn't matter if it goes down in value not that I expect it would.

You'll be enjoying it day in, day out - you might not be so fortunate with the savings.

The difference between owning a house and other investments is that if it all goes horribly wrong, you still own the house. Mortgages notwithstanding...

It's nice seeing a healthy share portfolio, but you've got to spend it some time.