House Buying Regret

Grenage

Not one of your issues couldn't be sorted DIY. We're all inept at such stuff when we've not done any, but you learn from experience.

skint_chick

My husband is also a DIY disaster and there is no reason why you shouldn't tackle the tasks yourself. Youtube has loads of videos to follow step by step, and when you fix things yourself it will feel more like home with the sense of achievement and pride you'll get. It takes time to make a home and at the moment you're still settling in. Your hole in the floor sounds ok, I was picturing something like the house in Home Alone 2 - so a replacement floorboard or two is no big deal. At least you have the money to fix little things, and if you start thinking about any decorative changes you'd like to make then you can start saving a small amount each week for paint, cushions etc. Put some photos around the house that remind you of happy times, and remember that it's not going to instantly feel like home it takes time. It took me about a year to really feel at home, once everything was how I wanted it to be and had my stamp on it.

clint_S

The First house I lived in with my wife she hated from day 1 to when we left 7 years later, I felt it was home. The issue I feel is that we both knew that it was simply a stepping stone before we moved up to what we both really wanted. The current house was almost perfect when we moved in.


The wife would state I'm inept at DIY, in fact she used to hide the tools so I couldn't do anything. The first thing I did when we got the new house was buy the correct tools for jobs, using the wrong tools makes anyone bad at DIY, having the right tools makes the job simple. Youtube is very good for how to guides, ultimate handyman is very good https://www.youtube.com/user/ultimatehandyman/videos.

firebird082

This is all absolutely normal. You just need to start making changes and making it feel like home.

I would absolutely second the above poster re having the right tools - we bought, in error and on bad advice, a cordless drill, which takes hours of effort to drill through our brick walls. I despaired for ages ages until we borrowed a decent SDS drill from a colleague, and sorted all sorts of things we'd been wanting to do for months in 1 weekend! That was a bit of revelation. Also, you do get used to DIY - use the internet as a resource, and then just give things a go. If it all starts to go horribly wrong, hire in a handyman to do it.

And good luck, I'm sure you will be feeling differently about it by this time next week as long as you get started with some of those little jobs.

DKLS

It takes a while to stamp your mark on a property especially if your on a budget. Which just means you have to get a bit more creative, I have thrown and gone to a number of decorating and gardening parties, where the host puts on some food and supplies beer.

Everyone chips in and very quickly you can make a positive impact when I bought a house with 100ft of jungle round the back. The thought of tackling that was overwhelming and I kept putting it off, but with 6 friends armed with garden tools bought for very little from car boot sales, and a pile of burnt meat and a bigger pile of beer, one sunday the jungle was cleared and found some very nice stone troughs, which I sold to help pay for more work doing.

ReadingTim

You buy a house (or a flat, or a barn, a wreck or even a plot of land).

You then make it your home.

So stop your crying and moaning, get the problems fixed and get on with making it your home. You know, like you did when you first moved into the rented flat. Which you moved out of, presumably because you wanted to own your own place...?

But if you simply want a 'home' served up to you on a plate, suggest you move back in with your mummy and daddy.

rosyw

I'd agree with so many others - it's perfectly normal! Years ago I had to check a couple of things in the house we were buying, popped in the day before completion and went back to our old house in tears! I hated the new place, it was too small, too dark, too cold etc., and I really didn't want it. We spent nearly 25 very happy years there, it just took me a while to warm to it.

If you get people in to do any work, watch them and learn! I used to watch every tradesman that did work for us over the years, I can now do a very surprising amount of DIY, the only thing I won't tackle is anything electrical.

Things go wrong in any house, just last week I got up to find the large towel rail radiator in my bathroom had fallen off the wall in the night! the d*ckhead that fitted it hadn't tightened the grub screws on the brackets :mad: thankfully it's a downstairs bathroom as I live in a chalet bungalow, otherwise the resulting flood would have probably brought down a ceiling! How that rad stayed on the wall for the 7 years since the house was built I have no idea! :rotfl:

Once you've set to and got a few things sorted you'll feel much happier, I've always redecorated the bedroom & living room asap to they feel like "mine", regardless of whether or not they need doing, a couple of tines of paint can make a big difference :cool:

NinaSwiss

As others have pointed out, you’ll likely feel better once you’ve made the house into your home.
If you are interested in that sort of thing, you could research how to fix the smaller problems. You’d be surprised how your diy skills improve with time and practice.

Prior to moving into new place, I’d never even heard the word stop c*ck or painted a wall in my life.
But I have since managed to do few things like: Fix air lock in water pipes, decorating, fit new door lock (including barrel) etc. All courtesy of YouTube and web research. Hired a handy for complex/harder tasks and he also taught me a lot and let me borrow his tools for diy.

I’ve never regretted the purchase but moving in was quite overwhelming especially having lived about 11 years in mostly house shares (with no living rooms) since 19.

It felt too big, cold, echoed, soulless and lonely. Not the picture I imagined or dreamt up whilst I was saving for a deposit. Just to confirm there was no one else in the house, I’d check all the rooms and corners before bed and when I got up. I’d hear noises which always called for an investigation just to re-confirm.

First six months was interesting but I’ve since gotten use to living here alone but now have a lodger for company with another and possibly my cousin moving in soon. Though not there yet, it is that step closer to feeling like home.

nkkingston

As well as DIY, try making it smell like home - cook favourite foods, bake cakes, light scented candles, overdo the fabric softener, what ever smells you were used to before. Smell is a big thing for memory and emotion, and right now your house smells of other people and emptiness. But it's nice and fixable!

PaceThePixie

Hi,

You're not alone. I bought my first house 20 years ago after 6 years of renting with my then OH. I like you broke down in tears the minute we walked in the house . Unlike you we bought brand new. I persevered living there for a year before I sold up! I have never bought another property since and never will.

It chilled my soul to death the whole experience of that.

Be brave it may workout for you.
Pace