Was it the right move?

robotrobo

Whatever the reason for the house move eg bigger family house !, downsizing,bungalow , affordability?,Are you happy with the decision you made?.

When we decided to sell our 4 bed semi-detached house we had lived in for 25 years , I needed a Bungalow for my health issues . The problem was I sold the house in the first 24 hours to the first viewer , who needed to move in as quickly as possible & I did not want to lose the sale as I had my eyes on a bungalow for us , but , my wife got cold feet about the bungalow we were going to purchase & as weeks went by with very few bungalows for sale, I was rushed to purchase my next home which was a 2 bed det bungalow with ample of outside space , I would probably get a dozen parked cars around the bungalow , with a single det garage & ample grass for the gran kids.
Ok i have spent more money than I wanted to get it up to our standard , as you do not really see the issues when you are walking around the property with rose tinted glasses on needing a home rather quickly.
The point I am getting to now is ok the bungalow is probably still owing us a bit of money yet , but the most important point is I did not know if I had done the right move & I can now say some 9 years on that we are very happy with the move & it's took me a long while to see that I have done the right move & now settled & we are very happy, have other people taken as long to make there minds up ? , or do they know straight away?.

moneyistooshorttomention

Been here for around a year. Ask me again in a year or two's time and/or when NFH is no longer around and I could give a better view on this than I can right now.

The jury is still out at the moment is my answer right now, but it will help when nfh isn't there any longer (a rather elderly person...hence why I know that factor wont apply for ever). Jury also still out because I've had to move from Home Area to get "This stage of my life" house, as I simply couldn't/cant afford it there.

Right this month = if someone offered me WAY over the odds of what this house is worth to move (ie enough to buy an equivalent one back in Home Area) I would move back in all probability. But they would have to offer me somewhere between 150% - 200% of what I could market this one for...so I don't rate the chances of that happening obviously:rotfl:

In a couple of years time = things will be better here and maybe I'd choose to stay anyway, even if I had the free choice about it.

But I basically had no option than to sell my last house one way and another anyway so....I don't regret that anyway.

rosyw

I also had no option but to sell up and downsize, but I took my time finding my new place and haven't regretted it once! Having always said I'd never buy a new build I did just that, but a non estate "one off" built by the people I bought it from.
My previous home was very big, cost a fortune to heat & maintain, and was in a small hamlet with a pathetic bus service etc. my new place is on the edge of town, not too small, well insulated, cheap to heat, easy to maintain and within a few minutes walk of all the shops I need - even a vet over the road should I need one for my pooch Best move I've ever made.

Joanthebone

I am still thinking I made a huge mistake, bought (what I thought was) a lovely flat, but now find I have issues with the other leaseholders and the renovations have cost me nearly twice as much as I expected. Finding decent tradespeople has been a nightmare. You are advised to get at least 3 quotes for a job? Finding 3 tradesmen to come and look is well near impossible, and the number of cowboys I have had round, well, I think I need a hitching post instead of a driveway!


I will have to give it a year, once I have finished renovating, and then make my mind up whether to sell. I know I will lose a heap of money but at the moment it looks like the only option for a happy old age!

moneyistooshorttomention

Joan,

Give it some time after the renovations are over with. Most of us probably feel more than a little "unsettled" whilst they are going on and worried about the money its costing us to do them.

In my case, I'll add to that my distinct suspicions that last couple of owners of my house didn't do a lot of what needed doing in order to "keep the peace" with nfh (who remains stubbornly resistant to anyone doing anything unless she wants it personally). I don't know what your fellow leaseholders are like - but there are neighbours to some places who will fight tooth and nail to try and prevent new neighbours doing their OWN work to their OWN home. If you have ones like that...then just accept that, to start with, you will have the battles the previous owner/s were too wimpish to have. However, once those "battles" and expenses are over...then you can "get on with it" at last and will see the true picture of what the place is really like iyswim. I've just turned the whole situation on its head and thought "Take it that I'm much stronger than many people and that has to be a good thing....as I'm not wimping out of the renovation work just because of someone else" <cue pats self on back for not being a coward>

Loopy28

I have been in my current property for 5 years, it is a 3 bed semi and is quite newly built.

When we first moved in, I just didn't feel it was homely at all. Even 3 years later I still detested sitting in the lounge as it just felt cold. Then we decided to redecorate for the second time and really made some changes, we installed a nice fire, used some wallpaper instead of just paint, got a really nice rug etc, we also redecorated/carpeted the whole house and all of a sudden it felt like home.

I also began to appreciate how quiet my area is and how lovely it is to have a south facing garden.

We are now on the move again and I am gutted to be leaving but we are in the wrong area now because of work. Our new house is much bigger and has an ensuite and utility room, as well as a garage but it also has a very small north facing garden. I know I am going to miss my house and the new one will take a while to feel like home but I am going to immediately try and redecorate rather than leaving it too long. I do worry if we will regret it and our mortgage payments will be £300 month more when we move as the house is much more expensive but I just hope that the extra payments will be worth it for more equity and return on our property investment in the future.

We hope to live there until retirement and then downsize so we hopefully have a bit of extra cash for our retirement.

I_have_spoken

Yep, moved from a 2-bed mid-terrace after living there 1988-2012 to a 3-bed detached. What's not to like?

Mrs_Soup

Definitely. We moved 5 years ago from a 3 bed terrace that was mortgage free to a 4 bed semi. We loathed moving and fully intend to stay here forever. I find I am oddly attached to the house itself as well. Its nothing special for the area but we bought it with the aim of raising our children here and it will work for that.

CWSmith

We moved 6 months ago from a rundown 2-bed cottage in a less than salubrious area of south London, to a spacious and airy 3-bed semi on the beautiful north Cornwall coast (and had a substantial sum of money left over).

We haven't stopped grinning since.

jules888

Yes.Upsized nearly 2years ago and never regretted it.Love the extra space,downstairs loo,location etc.
Have spent 23k on it up to now but all major things done,just decorating and carpets now.
No regrets at all!

Davesnave

robotrobo wrote: »

have other people taken as long to make there minds up ? , or do they know straight away?.

It took us maybe four years to make our minds up, having moved 100 miles from a city semi to a neglected rural smallholding with over 5 acres at the back.

We always intended to make such a move, but land can be more fickle than bricks & mortar and the bonding process seemed to take an age. Did we like the land? It seemed so wild, we weren't sure, and a couple of horrible winters didn't help.

So, for the first few years we worked on basics we'd have to do anyway, like installing fencing, taming hedges, winning fields back from the weeds, building a big polytunnel and making a garden. That didn't come to more than £10k, so we'd still not committed serious money and we knew we could sell-up at any point without loss.

By last year, despite the mud, the ordure, naughty sheep and general inconvenience, we finally decided that we liked our place in the sticks. We can't imagine being anywhere else now. Town properties seem cramped and dull, but age will probably force us back into one eventually. Not yet though!

So, in 2014, we improved a barn as storage, and this year we began refurbishing our bungalow. Hopefully, we'll finish at the end of this year and be mentally settled in our 'new' property..... only about 6 years after buying it! :rotfl: