Sell now to move, or pay off mortgage before moving

whytis

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In the longterm, I would like to move to a house in a different area in Limerick City.

The reason is that the current house is not covered for flooding insurance since it was classified to be in a "medium-risk" area for flooding.

If a flood did occur and the house was written off, it would be a very big obstacle to overcome financially. The houses were built in the 1990s, and have not flooded since, although it is on what I would call a flood plane.

How would you compare the following options to decide between them?

  • Option A: try to sell the house now, and purchase a new house with a new mortgage. Our mortgage balance is €23,000 below asking prices in the area, according to the newspapers. Of course, that doesn't mean they sell at those prices.
  • Option B: pay off mortgage first, and in ~10 years sell and purchase a new house with cash
(Of course, I'm sure there are other options...)

Option A is the safest if taking in the flooding risk. It's the most hassle, since you have to juggle selling the house, and getting approved for a new mortgage, and purchasing another house.

Option B would make a future move easier, by removing to need to take out another mortgage to purchase a replacement home of similar value. It would expose us to 10 years of flooding risk, and the amount of risk is hard to judge. It's probably unlikely to be a problem, but if flooding did hit then we'd be financially very far behind.

As principles go, I prefer Option B, in that we would be moving in a position of probable financial strength, rather than being scared into a move in the short-term.

We're focused on paying off the mortgage in any case, so Option B does not affect our planned rate of saving.
 
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