Was it the right move?

phoebe1989seb

In 2007 we sold our *forever* home that we'd lived in for ten years. It was a rather grand six bed Victorian house that we'd converted back to a family home from four flats. We absolutely adored that house - it was in the ideal location and everything about it was perfect - but at 3500 sq ft it was too large once DS had gone off to uni and the mortgage was humungous too. I think we were having a bit of a mid-life crisis, as whilst the theory of selling up to become mortgage-free was a sensible one, the other driving factor was for us to take our hobby of selling online one step further with DH giving up a secure job to expand it into a proper business that would pay the bills......

So, we sold up, paid off the mortgage and bought a very attractive but considerably smaller period house in an area we knew absolutely diddly squat about BIG MISTAKE.....within a month we realised we'd made a huge error - we knew no-one in this new location that was 150 miles from our former home and worst still the area itself was pants!

We tried to settle in and threw cash at the house - which was a project requiring mainly cosmetic stuff such as new kitchen and bathrooms - but after three years we could take no more and sold up, selling at a large loss in order to get rid quickly.

You would have thought we'd have learned our lesson, but no - we went straight into a major project, chosen mainly as a result of us achieving a sale within ten days and there being very little available in the area we wanted (could no longer afford to buy in our former home town unless we bought something new/tiny/characterless). Our new *home* and I use the term loosely as it was considered both uninhabitable and unmortagaeable, was a handsome Georgian thatched house with a large and very pretty garden.......on an A-road

First night there I regretted the decision to buy, but we knew that if we tried to sell immediately we'd struggle to find a buyer as we had discovered it had previously failed to sell at auction due to lenders not being prepared to advance funds as a result of its dire condition. In the first instance we therefore took the decision to try to make it work - the bones of the house were good, it was in a sought-after county (if in a less than popular location, road-wise) and had the potential to be a fantastic home. We extended, restored and improved it, spending over £100k in the process, but it never *felt right*. Even DH who is a country boy at heart said he wasn't happy in that house.

By September 2013 we had virtually finished the three year project and I'd had enough - not least of watching DH wear himself out doing up a house we would never feel the love for So we decided to put it on the market, spurred on by the fact I'd found a *gem* of a house on RM. Despite our lovely neighbour telling us we'd be lucky to achieve a sale within twelve months, we received an asking price offer within five weeks and on December 16th we moved (again, lol!).....

This time it felt right from day one - we totally adore the house, the immediate location and the area overall (even though once again it's un chartered territory for us) - and we just know that it's third time lucky. DH says he's never felt this excited about any of our former homes and I actually don't care if we do nothing to the place (it's another project ) as I love it regardless.

Just hope in three years I'm not posting about moving again

moneyistooshorttomention

Phoebe,

I've got the feeling that this is it now for you and this one will come good. Good luck there.

Old_Git

I didnt particularly like my house when I bought it ,but I knew I would in time .
New kitchen units and a new wooden floor ,after a year I got curtains up all have helped to make it a home .Still a bit more to do this year

phoebe1989seb

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Phoebe,

I've got the feeling that this is it now for you and this one will come good. Good luck there.

Thank you Money We hope it is too......can't keep on renovating then moving before we've had the chance to enjoy the fruits of our labours, lol

motherbored21

Realising all the stuff we bought with us didn't fit and we didn't need the bedroom suite, as we had built in wardrobes in the new house, being left with a fridge/freezer and dishwasher spare, as they were built in too, was a bummer. We should have sold it all and not stored it for a year.

moneyistooshorttomention

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

Thank you Money We hope it is too......can't keep on renovating then moving before we've had the chance to enjoy the fruits of our labours, lol

Oh yes...there definitely has to be an "enjoying fruits of labours" time...both for financial and other reasons.

I know I'm reminding myself, at the moment, to remember just how far I've come in the last year here. This time last year this house was pretty uninhabitable in many ways (I am very well aware that it needed me - or someone very much like me - to buy it because, by now, it would be well on way to heap of rubble time otherwise). But..I have turned it into a 21st century house that functions pretty well and the garden is a good bit further to being sorted than it was back a year ago.

This time last year I was still absolutely up to my neck into trying to make this house habitable and had barely been able to start on "Getting a Life Together" for myself due to that. Cue one year later that I have made a few good friends and some acquaintances/got some voluntary work going to help me "get integrated into the community" a bit more and that has certainly helped a lot/got to know the area a little bit better/its a safer area than I have come from (which used to be safe...but lost it:mad:).

Right now...I would still go back if I had the free choice to do so (ie enough money to get an equivalent house back there). But I'm reminding myself just how far I've come in that year and Life Is A Learning Experience and that "When one door shuts another one opens" and it should come good in the end and not to spend too much time mentally listing all the facilities I have been used to, because I must be due for at least enough to replace them (reminds self of lot fewer people/lot less pollution/lot less noise by and large....). It can't be a bad area per se because of the number of fellow English incomers (ie to this part of Wales) that instantly come straight out with "I love it here" when asked how they feel about it now they have moved.

EDIT; DavesNave = I know exactly what you mean about things being a bit "wild". This whole area is more "wild" than I am used to personally. Personally...I'm used to much more varied and much "prettier" and I do miss both those things and it takes some doing to work out a balance between adding more of that "variety" I am used to (boy...I'm planning on adding a LOT personally) and softening/prettifying my own personal little environment here. Still at the stage where "wild" tends to translate into "barren and bare" in my mind....but can cope as long as my own personal little bit is "pretty and varied". It is going to be VERY varied by the time I'm through with it.....

dirty_magic

I love our new house! When we were looking I wanted a big south facing garden, a drive, a big kitchen and a hallway. Ours has a drive and a very small hallway, but it has a small south facing garden and a tiny kitchen, though it can be made bigger.

We both really liked it and it felt homely straight away, even though it doesn't have everything we wanted. We also really liked the area because it's quiet and it's on a nice estate.

chickens11

We were in a smaller bungalow 8 years ago with only a small cout yard area , it did have enough parking for 3 cars out front, but the garden was north facing and you could never sit outside ........We had to have all the rooms plastered and re decorated ...

We were mortgage free at that point , but I so wanted a bit bigger garden south facing and bigger rooms , so we put our place on the market selling it very quickly indeed , we made a huge profit on selling the first bungalow , which moved us here ....

We loved it as soon as we viewed it , large south facing garden, double glazing , bigger rooms , huge windows , 28 foot hall way , open fire ,GCH just what I wanted, it just needed redecorating and new carpets/ wooden flooring , my OH built a sun room which is also south facing , my OH was in the building trade for years so he knew it was a good buy .....

It took 4 months to get it to the way we wanted it , and to us its the perfect home , my OH did have a stroke 7 years ago age 49 which has left him disabled and now in a nursing home , but I will never sell this place , its my dream home and I adore my beautiful garden and living in the country , to me owning your own home gives me a great sense of security .........This is my forever home .......

moneyistooshorttomention

I think one thing here though is "happy with place" is going to be influenced by how much house prices are in the area you live in (ie how near its possible to get to what is required).

"Happy" houses are around £300,000 in my home area and hence the move. On the other hand, I've just been RightMove scanning on another area-I-think-I-would-like and "happy" houses are around £600,000:eek:. There aren't many areas of the country at all with "happy houses" at a price I can afford personally and I would suspect that's the case for many of us (particularly single people = that one income to buy with).

So that's certainly a relevant factor too.

So, I guess most of us get "best we can manage personally" houses.

TiddlyPom

After constant moving every 6 months to a year whilst renting, I finally moved into this house just over 3 years ago. It's not my dream house, but is practical and future proof. Whilst I would have lived a period property, it just wasn't practical and I now have a 2-bed new build semi that I am gradually making a home on very little funds. Took me two years to save to lay carpets and had to live with hardboard floors for that time.
Not too far away from elderly Dad, sheep in the field behind and a lovely tidal creek just down the road, things could be far worse!

The only things I hate about it are the open plan kitchen/living room (I'm a messy kitchen person!) and I detest the air source electric and solar heating/hot water system.

I have just recently been sitting in the living room and thinking that at last it is getting to be a cosy space where I feel I can relax and feel safe.