Standing at the crossroads

SteveW9 said:

Youre better off taking a 20k hit now by selling your appartment than a 150k hit in 2 years.

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Regardless of the fact that you just pulled a ridiculous figure from the sky, if indeed his apt dropped by a further €130k in 2 years then the trade up would have dropped by a similiar amount and he might just sit tight.

Thanks for all this advice - looking at it again, I think the most sensible option might be to use half the savings to reduce the mortgage and keep half in a high interest deposit account. That way I'll reduce my payments but still have acess to a reasonable amount of ready cash. As for the suggestion to sell up and rent, I do see the logic. Sorry, though - call me a coward but it just feels too risky and I'm really not brave enough.

For a number of years recently, the odds have favoured the risk-takers. The game has changed recently, and I think caution is probably a better strategy for most people.

But do you need, at the moment, to reduce your mortgage repayments? If you maintain the same level of repayment, you will be increasing the equity in your home at a good rate. Depending on how flexible your lender is willing to be, you could keep up repayments at a high level in the short term, and adjust downwards if your income falls.

Another way to look at it is a 40K hit might be cheap.

Why are your savings only receiving 3% interest when you can get over 6% at present.