To want a bigger house if DH continues to wfh?

[toodlesmoon]

Not really an AIBU

Is anyone else looking to move from their smaller city located house as a result of Covid?

I already wfh 2 days out of 3 so it wasn't a huge change for me (home educating & childcare at the same time was!). DH used to do about 3 days a month from home but like many city firms hes now looking at just 3-4 days a month in the office. There is not enough space for us to both wfh long term so thinking we should perhaps take the plunge and move further out.

Anyone else done similar or thinking of?

budget would be about 900k.

Bristol or Hampshire?
I don’t think you need worry about being priced out! 😂

@toodlesmoon Thank you, to you too. My main motivation is a big garden for the dogs. But I also have come to love gardening, and I want space to craft a bit.

Home county village properties with nearby train links are definitely being snapped up. Sold signs everywhere where I live.... even the awkward ones that have been on the market for a while

I think if you don't have £££ sitting in the bank or if you haven't been thinking about this for ages anyway, I wouldn't jump based on the current situation. Give it 6 months, see what's happening, then decide. Simply because I think if you've never wanted to move out of London before, then you need to sit with such a big change for a while and not do it as a kneejerk.

I'm wfh, new job, trying to learn it over video conference 🙄
OH is watching reruns of Top Gear, I'm down the other end of the room, I'm going to throttle him.

vaccine isn't going to change the fact that many companies are taking it as an opportunity not to renew office leases though.

True but some companies are tied into long leases. There are other issues like how to deal with people who don’t want to work from home because they live in a shared house or they are early careers and need on the job training. Also, there are some old school management types out there who still don’t trust their staff working from home - they’ve had to tolerate it due to the circumstances but aren’t too happy about it being on going.

would strongly advise that anyone who does move has their WFH arrangement fully written into their contracts though before they do move.

Absolutely.

We moved for a extra bedroom to become an office 10 years ago. I am a SAHM but have a disability so occasionally Dh would have to work from home to do a school run, or if I was sick he would do it. He wanted to be locked away in a bedroom rather than in our open plan dining area (sensible choice).

So 10 years ago we moved to a 4 bed house with a playroom downstairs for the children meaning they wouldn't be playing in their bedrooms making noise. The office room has a desk, loads of storage for paperwork and miscellaneous crap. The funny thing is Dh started a new job a couple of years ago and rarely worked from home before Covid. Both children are teenagers so able to do their own school run with no help from me.

He has been working from home since March, the playroom has massive desks in which is where the kids did their schoolwork and that worked incredibly well.

I think this comes down to will the office ever want either of you back in in the long run? Dh knows he will be back in an office at some point, they are just being overly cautious. I would factor in the commute just in case.

Both mine and DH City companies are returning soon/have returned. I am going mad in a 2 bed flat with s baby and a toddler and DH tho!

We moved out of Bristol last year as we couldn’t afford to live there, with everyone relocating from London for somewhere cheaper.

I’m glad we moved when we did last year, as our town is commutable to both Bristol and London (direct trains) and prices are creeping up. A neighbour put their house on the market last year to no avail, and then back on 6 weeks ago and has had high interest from people outside of the county.

We're just about to put our house on the market (as in tomorrow...) I doubt I'll be in the office more than 4-6 times a month so I'll need a more efficient space.

We've also found that in general, additional space downstairs and an additional bedroom and bathroom would be helpful, so we're house hunting right now!

I wouldn't make a big change such as London to Bristol without contractual home working in place.

Yes definitely

@LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett I never considered it because both DH & I are used to a very short commute having said that DH did start making noises about swapping a packed tube commute for a longer train one in Jan but perhaps we will wait until the NY particularly with Covid still out there.

Surely the bigger issue is who is going to buy all these London homes as people flock to the nice areas?

@SleepingStandingUp Wealthy International People who desire properties for their summer holidays.

Ordinarily yes but with travel restrictions will their be as big a market?

Having said that op I'd do it if you can, but I'd make sure the travel if you do have to go into the office is reasonable if there's no hotels to stop in

@SleepingStandingUp

Good point. It will be interesting to see how things play out over the next 1-2 years

It will be interesting to see what happens to the commuter economy too. I remember reading an article interviewing the CEO of Pret this time last year, he was arguing for less restrictions on younger workers coming from the EU, post Brexit, as something like 70% of their workforce is EU nationals and he said that they wouldn’t be able to fill all their vacancies if the flow of young EU workers moving to our larger cities is cut off. These workers tend to live in HMOs in and around our larger cities too, so will potentially have an impact on rents / house prices.

@Jargo

Not even for their holidays, they just buy them and leave them empty. London property is seen as a safe place to store cash, if you live in a corrupt country.

That may be a way to sell of a lot of the bigger houses in areas like London too, either single flats or HMOs

@SleepingStandingUp

If the commuter economy shrinks by 50%, due to more people working from home then there will be less demand for HMOs too.

[quote TazMac]@SleepingStandingUp

If the commuter economy shrinks by 50%, due to more people working from home then there will be less demand for HMOs too.[/quote]
Emerging market if you can get the rents right though for those looking to move out of the homes where their parents are also working from home but didn't buy the last cute big house in Bristol tho

@SleepingStandingUp

Yes, it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Potentially really shit for those in areas where they don’t have “London” wages and no London property equity increase to cash in - and now the houses local to them will increase even more in price

@Ellisandra I'm born & raised Londoner priced out of my local area, what do you suggest I do if I want more space?

I'm fervently hoping to take advantage of everyone who has suddenly discovered that there's life outside London. So far I have plenty of viewings. However, with comments like 'Oh, it's very rural isn't it?' or 'No gas? What? Not for 5 miles', I'm not holding my breath for a quick sale despite plenty of viewings.

Same as it ever was @Ellisandra