Feeling depressed about new house - how long before I can sell it?

josh100_2

Hi guys,

This is a bit of a weird one. I'm a first time buyer, and I've just moved into my first house after renting flats in quite an upmarket area of town for the past few years. The area I've moved to is ok, but it has very different feel to it; it's much more of a 'family' or 'couples' area, and I'm very conscious about being probably the only single on my street. I'm also slightly concerned about my neighbours - they're not neighbours from hell (so far), but they seem to have bin bags piling up outside their house at the mo, something which was a pet hate of mine at my previous place of residence. They also have young children, and a couple of items have come over the garden fence recently, which might become a bit of an irritant. They've been there for nearly ten years, as had the previous owners of my house.

It was a case of buying this house, which is really nice, or buying a flat in my previous area (flats being more tricky to resell) or a 'project' nearby. Overall, I'm feeling quite low at the moment, and wondering if I'll ever take to the area. I'm prepared to give it a shot, but I'm also feeling that if I don't start to like it, I'll put my house on the market and go and rent somewhere else for a while.

Sorry about the lengthy post - with that in mind, what might be a sensible amount of time to wait before I resell (market notwithstanding).

Thanks in advance.

tabskitten

I imagine that you are tied into your mortgage for at least 2 years so that you will pay a termination fee if you were to sell before the set date.

Bad luck but i think you should give it a while longer yet.

milliebear00001

This is very hard. Financially, how soon you can seel, will depend on your mortgage arrangements and what you can afford.

I know somebody who bought a brand new 4 bed 'family home' out in Kent (after living in central London). It was on a very posh private estate and was to be their 'forever home'. They moved out two weeks later -unable to stand the quiet, solitude and miles between them and their 'old lives'. They went back to a rented London property, before buying a much smaller property, in a much more bustling town, very commutable to London. They were a hundred times happier.

All is not lost if you have to sell up, but see how you feel after a few months.

livalicious

Josh100 how awful for you! I can really relate to how you feeling, we in the process of buying our first home and one of the compromises we had to make was to move to a totally different area. We love the town where we renting now, but is way out of our price range. And a tiny part of me worries that we will feel like you do now.

This is such a stressful experience, scary and exciting too, and having finally gone through that to now realise you really dont like the place you live, no wonder you feeling so low. I really hope you will give it a bit more time, see how it goes, maybe introduce yourself to people in your street. Sometimes just meeting one lovely person you connect with, makes all the difference.

I've moved alot over the years (house-sharing), and sometimes out of desperation had to move to areas I would never have considered out of choice. And each time, after a while, it wasnt as bad as I thought it would be, you get used to most things after a while. Give it a bit more time, and effort, and only then if you still feel the same or worse, maybe consider selling. Its not a prison sentence, it may cost you financially, but if after you've given it a shot and it still didnt work out, just move on.

Good luck, I hope it gets better for you, and enjoy your new home!

ali-t

I felt the same as you when I first moved to the house I am in just now (been here 5 years). It was a panic buy as I had sold my flat and I had ended up with horrible neighbours next door. I only planned to stay there a year and move on but the horrible neighbours moved out, I made loads of friends in the street and now like it.

Give it some time, it may grow on you....

josh100_2

Thanks everyone for all your support and kind words - it's not that I hugely dislike the area I've moved to, I just think it's more that there is a bit of a 'culture shock' about it after living in a particular place for so long, and the neighbours thing is concerning me at the moment. I'm going to give it some time, and see how I feel. I'm confident about my reasons for buying the house - I needed to do it to get on the property ladder, as I don't think I could spend much longer renting, but I'm still feeling a little anxious!

tux900

josh100 wrote: »

I'm going to give it some time, and see how I feel.

Do. As down as you feel now you really don't know how you will feel once you've had chance to adjust. Chances are your current feelings are being amplified and self-fulfilling so the reality might not be quite so bad as you think!

The reality is you can sell up whenever you like. As others have mentioned there may well be a fee to pay to however you may well be able to port your mortgage to another property without penalty. Either way, even if there is money to be paid it's still your choice hence don't feel trapped by your current situation.

As you said, you are at least now on the property ladder and there's no reason your current house has to be your home forever - indeed it's very rare to be - so just stick it out for a bit and reassess once you've given it more of a chance...

Mathew

P.S. Re the beighbours, do not let your grievance with them get worse than the problem itself! If you let yourself get wound up then even the slightest issue will be blown out of all proportion.

Fire_Fox

Tell the neighbours you think you saw a rat near their bin bags the other day: if they don't taken the hint tell Environmental Health the same thing. Not sure what is coming over your fence but stick some trellis up to make the thing taller, don't give anything back and they might start being more careful. Flats are not tricky to sell providing they are realistically priced as everyone loves a bargain!

surreybased

Hi,

You can sell the house at any time, I recall a house that friends sold apparentely to a couple who's marriage was going through tough times, within 3 months it had been resold - seems the marriage didn't work out.

I would give it time, suspect you are adjusting, why not make a list of the positives over your previous rented place. I would also suggest you get to know the new neighbours. When we moved into our new house the neighbour seemed to block our drive with his delivery vans, I was frustrated but we later introduced ourselves and he immediately apologised, so frustration ended and he's a lovely guy.

Also - invite some friends around - whilst the weather is good have a bbq, start to enjoy the benefits of a house. Good Luck

nomnomnom

Everytime I moved into a rented house I felt like I wanted to move immediately and I think you just need to give it time. Unfortunately, if you have a large family and young children, you will suffer with bin problems. You will also get little kids chucking things over the fence without the parents knowing. I am sure it is annoying and it makes you feel worse about living somewhere you don't want to be, but try and get to know your neighbours asap and it will make things clearer.

I lived in a house for 2 years and the neighbours were 'weird', then when I was moving out, we began talking to each other and they seemed really nice... I regretted not making more of an effort earlier on to get to know them!

nomnomnom

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Tell the neighbours you think you saw a rat near their bin bags the other day: if they don't taken the hint tell Environmental Health the same thing.

As a family of 4 and 2 babies in nappies, I know it is incredibly hard not to have bins overflowing. Don't assume that people don't care! Telling them you saw a rat isn't going to help them, just make them feel worse if they are struggling to keep up with the waste. I agree with phoning EH or the local council and informing them of a refuse problem. There are extra large wheelie bins that some councils give out to large families and it may be that this family need one.