To house hunt during pregnancy/maternity?

[PeachesTheFlamingo]

Not really AIBU, posted here for traffic.

Currently pregnant with first DC due late Feb/early March.

DP and I live in 1 bed flat. Mortgage is up for renewal in December.

We would like to move to a house (2/3 bed) for more space.

Looking for your experiences on house hunting/moving during pregnancy/maternity leave.

For reasons I won't go into, we haven't been in a position to house hunt until now.
Should we start house hunting now?
Is house hunting/moving with a new born really hard work? Should we avoid it and wait until DC is a bit older?

I would possibly recommend renting in your chosen area first. We house hunted when pregnant, we only saw 5 houses and picked one quickly. In hindsight, although its a great house - I wish we had taken more time.

I put our flat on the market when dc1 was 3 months old, house hunted and had an offer accepted when he was 6 months old, moved when he was 10 months.

I actually found it more relaxed than when I had previously been househunting and working. So I'd recommend it!

Mortgage company was happy to use my full salary - all I had to provide was the letter I had from work stating when my maternity leave was starting and ending and wage slips from pre mat leave.

I must say I wouldn't fancy trying to keep somewhere tidy enough for viewings now I have a toddler!

I think it depends on a few factors - would you be moving areas? Will you be returning to work? I'm really glad I lived in our area during mat leave as I met other mother friends, some of them use the same childcare and the children will probably go to the same primary, and because I work it would have been harder to make that connection. Having a WhatsApp group, park meet-ups when allowed, has been really helpful when struggling with a toddler under lockdown.

We moved out of our house to renovate it during maternity, packing up etc was hard but having the extra space is worth it. I think I'd give some thought to timing and cost: if it ends up with you needing to move with a v young baby I'd say its worth saving up for one of those moving services that does it all for you. But I'm not sure things get all that much easier from this point on. I think if you're happy to go either way I'd start looking and if you see your dream house, go for it, and if not don't put too much pressure on yourself.

I did basically what you are doing time wise and it was all fine but rather stressful. I’m very glad we moved in to a bigger house as there were all sorts of logistical things I hadn’t considered (ie, where to store a pram in a flat? How do you get it up and down the stairs every day?)

I’d go for it and see what you find but make sure the sellers know your timeline. Our whole purchase nearly fell apart when the sellers chain got stuck and I dramatically thought I’d be giving birth on the street.

Otherwise, rent somewhere first.

Don’t forget if you do move and you want to move the hospital you’re giving birth in then that will be a load of admin too and you’ll want to start looking in to that soon.

I moved continents when dd was 6 weeks! Babies are quite portable

It’s no obstacle.
We house hunted while I was pregnant and then moved when youngest Dc was 8 weeks old. Had also a 7,5, and 2yr old at the time. It was first move for 2yr old but second move for the 7 & 5 yr old. The younger they are, the easier it is to move with children.

We househunted and bought a house when my son was 9/10 months.

Viewings were ok as we did as much as we could with him in a carrier and booked apps between feeds and sleeps etc. With a newborn would have been easier.

Moving with a crawling baby was an experience and again not impossible - so as I would pack a box we would be trying to climb in. To actually move we hired men who did all the lifting - we use man and van who are far cheaper then pickfords.

We also moved into a new build so no renovations which made life much easier.

So would I have done it with a newborn - yes - at that point if people would have helped me pack and unpack - my son wasn't very good at napping off me until 3/4 months old

If possible do it before they came - we had a move at 34 weeks and that was the easiest.

I'd move while pregnant if at all possible as it'll be much easier than with a newborn/baby/toddler - but obviously it could also lead to stress if it means you're on a tight timeline.

I would definitely go for it. I can't see how having a newborn will make it any harder tbh and I'd want to be in a bigger property with a growing family.
I have a toddler and am due baby number 2 at the end of January.

We're planning on starting a loft extension the week before Christmas to be finished the week our new baby is due! Lol.

I did this last year, househunting October, offer accepted November, moved December, baby due March.

It was frustrating on moving day as I couldn’t carry anything.

Other than that it was fine. So glad I had a garden in lockdown. Haven’t made the local mum friends I hoped I would but circumstances have been exceptional/

We had an offer on a house accepted last september when I was 6 months pregnant. That sale stalled for various reasons and we then found somewhere we liked a lot better when DS was a few weeks old. We pulled out of the first house, completed on the new one when DS was 4 months, and moved during lockdown! (House we were moving to was empty so this was allowed).

It was a tough few weeks but doable, and we are now way better off here than we would be in our old 2 bed flat so I am really glad we made the move when we did. DS has his own room here and I have a home office, as well as way more room downstairs and bigger gardens. DS is 10 months old now, cruising and crawling and into everything, and the old flat would have felt really cramped with him.

We only moved 10 minutes up the road from where we were, so already knew the area very well and could just move most of our stuff in with several car trips, which helped.

Can I ask what you're worried about? Hunt now for a house. You might move before they come. But I've moved twice with babies aged 0-6months and once in pregnancy and its fine. With babies one of you has to deal with move and the other with the baby (depending on age). And if you can afford a removal company do that (though we didn't every time, its one less stress) but especially if you have family who can help with the move there's no reason not to

Move ASAP. I moved with an 8 month old and just couldnt get anything packed. He started crawling two weeks before we moved so was into everything. I imagine it's easier while they're stationary.