AIBU to think that this is an awful time to move house

[Roses1221]

We’ve put off moving for a long while, first pandemic, then new baby, then school application… we are not desperate to move (we have everything we need here) but would like a bigger garden and a bit more space for growing DC, but this really is a terrible time to be taking the plunge and moving, isn’t it? I’m thinking we should probably stay put where we are with our comfortable mortgage payments and ride out the next couple of years…

Same. We'd be paying 150 000 extra to move to a basically identical house. That's how mad it is.

Find the benefits you would have from a bigger garden in other ways, perhaps in visiting local green spaces.

Given the current catch up in house moves and all the stunts that some estate agents seem to be pulling (if threads on MN are representative), I would not consider moving unless a job move required it.

What specifically are you worrying about?

I do get your concerns, we recently moved but I probably would have held off if DH wasn’t very keen. We are lucky in that we can afford it and we have the extra space now that we needed. I don’t think house prices are going to come down meaningfully if that’s what you’re thinking.

Its kind of like travelling during rush hour. If you HAVE to, its fine and you make the best of it. But if you can avoid it, even better!

I'm moving house, but to shed a dreadful husband. I wouldn't do it for fun.

But a larger mortgage , potentially higher interest rates , high inflation for sone time yet and the devastation that a recession could cause to previously secure jobs are all reasons to stay put

I'd definetly hang on. Especially given that what you have now is good, and the next home is just better (rather than moving from bad to good).

The next few years I think will be financially challenging for most.

Don't say that, we're putting our house up for sale next month 😂 We've been putting it off for a couple of years too but we hate where we are because of neighbours and MIL living across the street so we're going to just take the plunge and do it. I think there's probably never a perfect time to move.

I don’t think there is ever a good time to move. We bought 3 years ago and everyone was saying it was a bad idea because of Brexit. Then we moved a few months ago and everyone was saying it was bad because of covid. If we listened we would have never moved (and we made quite a lot of the sale of the first house).

Yes we were seriously considering moving for ‘a bit more’ of everything but have decided we are much better just staying put for now.

Different if you have to do it but if what you have is comfortable anyway, it’s probably not a great time to be committing to higher mortgage, bigger house to heat etc etc.

It really is, we're only renting but my house is worth £300 pm more than we're paying now and we can't afford to move at all now. A house we liked 2 years ago was £550 and it's just gone up for £925. It's insane. We really need to move as well as we live in a 1.5 bed back to back with awful neighbours 😑. Good luck to everyone that wants to move right now.

You'll only know with hindsight whether this was a good time to move

But, generally, I suspect this is a time to live within our means and avoid unnecessary debt

We're moving. It's the perfect time to sell and we've been lucky with the house we're buying. We're not paying much more that other houses in the area went for pre-pandemic because it needs a bit of modernisation but you have to be willing to compromise on some things to get a bargain.

The location is a million times better than where we are now and we sold for almost double what we bought for.

Oh god is it really that bad a time to move? Like a pp said it seems its been that way for years due to Brexit, Covid etc. We are planning to move due to needing more space, we also currently have awful neighbours and lack of privacy. I suppose it's not totally ESSENTIAL to move right now, but then when will there be a better time? No one really knows what's going to happen in the next couple of years.

There is rarely ever a good time to buy a house for most people
Just like there is never as good time to have a baby
Although at least with a house you can sell it generally make a profit 😂

No one really knows what's going to happen in the next couple of years.

Yes we do.

But if you have done your maths - increasing interest rates + increase utility bills + increasing tax + increasing food bills + increasing petrol ….. and can absorb these increases comfortably for the longer term then that’s fine …. we don’t know the extent or duration of any recession but we do know the cost of living crisis is real and enduring.

It depends on your age too. We decided to go for it in 2019 partly because we were getting to the upper age for a 25 year mortgage.

@DFOD

No one really knows what's going to happen in the next couple of years.

Yes we do.

But if you have done your maths - increasing interest rates + increase utility bills + increasing tax + increasing food bills + increasing petrol ….. and can absorb these increases comfortably for the longer term then that’s fine …. we don’t know the extent or duration of any recession but we do know the cost of living crisis is real and enduring.

That still doesn’t help predict the housing market though. If there’s a crash, what you can afford doesn’t matter. There won’t be many selling, or much lending. You also can’t predict the extent of price increases. There are too many variables.

We’re currently renting and faced with the choice of buying in a riskier position (scraped together deposit, no money for fixing etc). Or staying put, with rising rents and old, energy-wasting houses.

There’s the risk of losing our jobs in a recession(low, as our industries are ‘safe’). But there’ll also be very little on the market, with lending criteria being tightened. Mass repossession of houses, 2008 style is unlikely to happen this time.

Don’t know what to do really…

@LegMeChicken - I wasn’t predicting the housing market - that has shown to be v locality specific short term and long term and I was responding to the OPs situation who is already on the housing ladder and assuming is taking on a bigger mortgage and incurring sunk costs like stamp duty, estate agent fees, legal fees and moving costs. They have to do the maths for their own situation.

As do you for yours. In my area (London) and for certain properties rent is way in excess of mortgage for an equivalent property so if the maths worked for me and I have significant cash deposit to buffer and drop in house prices I would be looking to buy as day to day costs would be cheaper and home is a longer term financial and emotional investment which would eventually ride out any peaks and troughs over 25 years.

Same here, we own, house is big enough (3 kids), but no garden, and in a deprived area that was getting better up to 2008 but has since got a lot worse, nightmare neighbours, anti social behaviour. Want to get away but would I just be replacing shitty neighbours/shitty area stress for financial stress? Neither is appealing!

Really interesting perspectives, thank you. Majority seem to be thinking it’s best to stay put! Agree there never seems to be a ‘right’ time to move, we’ve been mulling it over for what feels like years and that ‘right’ time has never appeared!

@Frazzled2207 I’m specifically worried about increasing our borrowing and having a larger mortgage repayment plus higher bills and everything else which is increasing.

Having spoken to a few people about this today, there appears to be some who are selling now whilst the going is good and hoping to buy later down the line, moving in with family or to a rental etc. in the short term.