Need to move home at some stage, but have cheap tracker.

PumpkinPie

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I'm looking for opinions on our financial situation please.

Husband (39 years) salary of 82k with health insurance paid from company for him and pension.

Myself (40 years) Long term serious illness so haven't worked for a long time and have taken on role of stay at home mum since we have one child.

We have a tracker mortgage. 18 years left and 138k on it.

Savings of 10k

From month to month we would generally save a few hundred and the rest goes on mortgage, health insurance for me and my son, gym membership, other activities for son, esb, heating, car expenses, food, medical -gp. Most months we have a few hundred to save but the odd month we have nothing.

Our home is quite small. I would like to move to a bungalow with more space at some stage as I think would be easier with my health long term. Would losing tracker be a huge risk ? Our current home is probably worth around 200k. It is in an area that is popular with good facilities nearby which suits me right now but space is an issue and if I loose ability due to my illness it may be very difficult to manoeuvre about in my home.

Doing the maths would it be possible to move without huge debt and also I'd like general opinions on how we could make any other improvements financially please.
 
There aren't many but cheapest near where I am is about 280k

Other option would be to buy land about 5 miles into country for around 80k
 
Losing the tracker is not relevant. Not if you need or want to move. It seems to me you need to move to a suitable house for your health needs.

You have 60K deposit. How much a month are you currently paying on your mortgage. How much would a mortgage for the next house cost you?

Naturally building from scratch to suit your health needs would be the optimum solution.
 
There are grants available from your local authority for people with disability issues in order to carryout alterations to existing house e.g. building a downstairs bedroom. Maybe something to consider rather than selling up.
 
I would like to move to a bungalow with more space at some stage

This really is the key. If it's at some stage, I gather that there is no immediate need.

If you are finding things a bit tight financially now with a tracker mortgage of €180k, they will be a lot tighter with a non-tracker of €260k.

You should stay where you are with the cheap tracker for as long as possible. Every month, you are paying a big lump off the capital. When you need to move, you will have a lot more equity, as your mortgage will be a lot lower, so losing the tracker will be less of an issue.

If you are with one of the main lenders, you can move your tracker and pay an additional 1% or so.

Brendan
 
Thanks for all the replies.

A grant isn't possible as you need to be earning under 60k I think. I've looked at it before and we were deffo over limit.

I could wake up in the morning paralysed with my condition. I could have the fortune of being mobile for term of my life. There is no predicting this illness.

Brendan would it be wise to stay with tracker and save as much as possible in savings or pay extra into tracker just to reduce it as fast as possible. Husband has mortgage protection but I got it waived.
 
Brendan would it be wise to stay with tracker and save as much as possible in savings or pay extra into tracker just to reduce it as fast as possible. Husband has mortgage protection but I got it waived.

Which lender are you with? What rate are you paying?

If you are with one of the main lenders, then you can move your tracker. So it would not be a good idea to pay down your tracker quicker than necessary. If you are with a lender who does not allow you to move your tracker, then you probably should pay it down as quickly as possible.

Brendan
 
Firstly, don't let the tracker be financial handcuffs.

If it was me and I thought that realistically I would have to move house then I would do it sooner rather than later for various reasons. If your condition worsens then securing a mortgage may prove more difficult. If house prices in your area are rising then the gap between your sale price and your purchase price will likely widen in real terms. You will probably only get a mortgage until age 65. If you wait you may be looking at a bigger mortgage and fewer years to pay it off, so a bigger monthly repayment. I would get my house ready for sale, start seriously looking at other houses and manicure my finances with a view to completing a move by next summer.

That said I'd start with a blank sheet and write out the pros and cons of moving versus staying put, perhaps you can adapt your current house for your future needs.
 
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