We are currently deciding whether to move or not. I am aware that houses are moving slowly at the moment. Please help me with a sensible decision because we are really stuck on what is the better option.
For background, all houses for sale local to us are either too small for the same money as our current house or way more money (circa 100k) for a house that is only 1 bedroom bigger and smaller garden etc.
We have four children. Our current house is three bedrooms with a massive garden and double garages, parking. We were aware when we bought the house that we got it for a great price (for the size) due to location behind an industrial state which has never bothered us, it has been quiet. Also, the house was in a bit of a state and needed everything new inside really. We have recently got it to a place where it’s decorated perfectly and this has taken us the previous decade in between babies. However, there is an aggregate mixing centre down the road who have in recent years purchased machinery that recycles old used aggregates and we see the dust blowing across from this and have also had the dirt on our windowsills along with dusty windows. This machine can also be quite noisy during the week but doesn’t bother us too much (we are probably a 3-4 minute walk away). The further issue is we have an empty bramble field parallel to our house and garden which is for sale. This recycling aggregate place bought the field and then pulled it because of Japanese knotweed right in the back end. However, they have been purchasing more and more land behind us and there are fields and fields of piled up dirt piles. My concern is they will run out of space and then buy it eventually (they were quoted 30k for knotweed removal) which is minimal compared to the price of the field (350k). At which point, I don’t think I could cope with them working and digging right next to our house. My husband says this might never happen though.
Another issue with our current house is that it is a 3 bed, we have four children. We could split the master into two to accolade two small singles in there though. We had planned a single storey extension here too to add a playroom as we could do with a 2nd reception room as the children get bigger. We have enough money for this now or we could put it towards moving/stamp duty
We did view a house that is 40 minutes from where we live now that has all the space we would need and is only about 10-20k more than our current house. It is 1930s though and would need redecorating/old textured wallpaper pulling off etc. We would also have to build a large shed in the back garden as it does not have a garage (this was converted into a bedroom) However, it has all the bedrooms and reception rooms we would need and lovely sized garden albeit not quite as large as our current one. The downsides being, we’d have to move the children into new schools, it would take me 30 minutes to drive to work instead of 20 minutes and a bit longer commute for my husband as well. Also, my biggest worry is being a 40 minute drive away from my Mum instead of 5 minutes who I visit 1-2 times a week. It concerns me that family are further away if we have childcare emergencies or when they visit our small pets to feed when we are away or how far away they are if we need to visit more as our parents get older.
If you’ve read this far, thankyou for taking the time, we are in total limbo.