Anticlimax After Purchase?

Saga

Have you ever experienced a sense of anticlimax after moving into your new home?  Perhaps a significant fear, regret or disappointment that has always remained?

If for nothing but selfish reasons, I'm thinking particularly of the FTB, as the first purchase is stereotypically characterised as a liberating, empowering event for a young/ish couple.  I, in contrast, am pretty old for a potential FTB and I can't help feeling that should I ever reach the stage of buying somewhere the whole process - alien as it is to me as a time-served renter - will be overwhelming and dare I say disappointing (yes, I know, self-fulfilling prophecy and all that...).

hazyjo

Not for me. Although I do for several months think I've bought a lemon and every creak, or when something breaks, has me worrying the house is about to fall down or blow up.

theartfullodger

It's called buyer's remorse.

Dribiddi

We bought and moved into our first home on the 31st of March, right at the beginning of lockdown. For us there was a little anticlimax as we couldn’t share the moment with anyone however it was still a special day and nearly 6 months on we are settled and happy 

Angela_D_3

Nope but I always buy fixer uppers so I have a project and if as someone else said I discover jobs thst need doing among the way it’s not a shock 

warby68

Maybe some small disappointments but overall our moves have achieved what they intended at the time. Last one was instant love - house is a bit dull to look at and garden smallish but interior layout, the drive, neighbours and the location/views/tranquility more than lived up to expectations. Been here the longest so far.
My FTB house was a disaster but nothing to do with the house - a bereavement changed my plans to the extent I never lived in it.

pinkteapot

hazyjo said:

Not for me. Although I do for several months think I've bought a lemon and every creak, or when something breaks, has me worrying the house is about to fall down or blow up.

I'm so glad this isn't just me! I have learnt that every house makes very different sounds. It takes time to learn what's normal for yours.

We moved into a new-build almost a year ago and I'm not sure I'd buy another. Not for the reasons you normally get on this anti-new-build forum (ours was a small local builder only building two fairly high-end houses so they are decent quality), but because every single minor drying-out crack that appears has me thinking there's something wrong with the foundations/way the land was prepped and we're developing subsidence. I've realised that, having always lived in 30-ish-year-old houses before, with those I had the reassurance of knowing it had stood for 30 years already so had already been tested. I really want to get the next 5-10 years over with! *sigh*

Rambosmum

Yes. My husband still ribs me about it. We walked in after completion and I said "I don't like it". And I never regained the love for the house, though we stayed there 8 years. It didn't happen with our most recent purchase so may have been a FTB thing. 

Davesnave

In my experience, it's like being married. You wake up in somewhere like Torquay and think, "Did I just dream that?"

Then you realise, yes, it is Torquay (this was a long time ago!) and that orange sitting room hasn't gone away overnight, so you might as well get down to B&Q.....

We were robbed on honeymoon and left with £4 to buy petrol to get home. All the houses we've bought have been similar in having nasty surprises hidden in a sugar (or artex) coating, but like your partner, you get to know all the quirks, nooks and crannies and it becomes familiar and safe.

So then you get the 7 year itch....

Majoggy

I kind of figured that would happen to us, but it hasn’t. 

Before we bought we were living with a flat mate to speed up our saving - so I guess the fact that we finally live on our own is pretty liberating.

grumiofoundation

Davesnave said:

In my experience, it's like being married. You wake up in somewhere like Torquay and think, "Did I just dream that?"

Then you realise, yes, it is Torquay (this was a long time ago!) and that orange sitting room hasn't gone away overnight, so you might as well get down to B&Q.....

We were robbed on honeymoon and left with £4 to buy petrol to get home. All the houses we've bought have been similar in having nasty surprises hidden in a sugar (or artex) coating, but like your partner, you get to know all the quirks, nooks and crannies and it becomes familiar and safe.

So then you get the 7 year itch....

and then you open a hotel...