To want to sell the house that we just bought?

[toja555]

Probably I am in a moaning mood today. Have been trying to reach peace of my mind for a while with no success. We just bought 2 bed Victorian mid terrace house. The house hunting process nearly made me ill. We were initially after a 2 bed maisonette, found one, then pulled out (I think pulling out was a mistake but my DH did not like it much anyway), then were outbid from several properties that we loved, and this seemed like the ?last chance? of affordable house in our area. The house itself is OK, quite large and as you say with potential and character, but also needs a lot of work (did not look that bad when the former owners were still there with all the furniture).I am currently doing small redecorations for us to be able to move. I can see that the work there will never end, all bits will have to be redecorated/replaced eventually. I wish we had bought something smaller, less character, less stylish and more affordable, like smaller flat or ex-council house. I think I was a little naïve thinking that when you do things yourself (I am keen learner in DIY), it is going to be cheap, but it is not. Also I thought that if I buy a house, it could be for life, because I hate moving. The problem is I cannot see this house for life, I just hate it and completely don?t want to move in, don?t want to change my postal address or anything to do with it. I just go there in the evenings, do my decorating job and go back home. I was even thinking that we should do minor decoration and sell, even if it will be clearly with the loss. Then agreed with DH that this is not wise and instead arrange to take a lodger to make us more comfortable with money. The only thoughts I keep having is ?we will sell the house as soon as the lodger moves out?. It is like my whole nature says it was a mistake buying it at the first place (somehow it did not look a mistake when we were making an offer?). Even if I assume we will be fine with the money, I just cannot accept the house. Not that something is wrong with it?. it is just probably me?

And, for what it's worth...

when we were moving last year , I sadly packed up all my belongings from my beloved, tidy, well kept home (which we had outgrown)...

the removal men came and took all our furniture away....

and the place looked horrible. Truly horrible. I could see all the wrinkled wallpaper, the marks on the carpets, the bare walls etc. Without blinds and curtains the windows were stark.

And worst of all - it smelt strange, and damp, and old.

I would have hated it if I'd been moving back into it.

Thank you, guys, for your moral support. Not everything is lost! Just came back from the house (11pm now) after doing some bits.. Actually ran away from there because I was downstairs, heard some noise upstairs, felt very weird, started thinking of ghosts and decided I'd rather go home. The noise was probably for moving door upstairs - but since the previous owners left us with faulty lighting, I was afraid to go and check. Hmm, next time I should bring a radio to make myself more comfortable.
I am only trying to quickly repaint the living room, kitchen/dinner and put wallpapers in bedroom, and renew the floorboards as they are very worn. Oh, and fix electricity. Still hate it, but maybe things will change slightly after we move in... fingers crossed (not much belief though).

BalloonSlayer and Prinpo, thank you for advices regarding the cat pee, will try that, have no other choice!

toja - I remember your thread about your DH possibly getting a job with the Royal Mail. It seems there is a lot of unhappiness and uncertainty in your life at the moment? A newly bare house can certainly look very depressing and it is a lot of work and expensive. Probably you are so tired anyway and feel unsupported by your DH so it makes the effort seem worse? However, as others have said, things will probably seem much more like home after a paint job and having your things in it.

If you think that you can get a lodger then that sounds financially viable but how would it affect your already strained relationship? There are an awful lot of rooms to rent available in some areas of London at the moment, but to live with a family with a small child someone would probably want reduced rent?

What sort of mortgage are you on? How long is it fixed for? That would be a consideration when thinking about the possibility of selling, the penalties if you sold now but also the reality that if, for instance, it is a 2 year fix, the mortgage is likely to be much higher when it resets so you might have to be forward planning for that?

AnAuntieNotAMum, a bit of off-topic ? the RM job is sorted out by now, DH realized (without me interfering!) that there is no much point to work daytime and arranged working nightshifts. This is hard but at least viable financially. And yes, this is a very difficult period of life for us.
Our lodger will be my friend, so I actually feel extremely happy about her moving in. This for various reasons will be beneficial for all of us. At least to mention that when DH will be working at nights, I will be not on my own in the house where I don?t feel comfortable.
My mortgage is fixed for 5 years with a good rate as well as penalties for exiting however if I sell I can port my mortgage, so hopefully it would not prevent me from selling. On the other hand, If I continue to hate the house I probably would not care to loose 4k for exiting the mortgage.

Will see how it goes when we move in?.

Sorry, other side of the world and a birthday have kept me away :-)

If you're still around... we bought again. This house is great (although filled with our crap it looks a bit average sometimes). I walked in to it on a day when i'd seen 7 houses already, it was 88 degrees outside, I was 5 months pregnant and not very well... and I didn't even have the energy to look at all the rooms, and I knew it was the right house.

the last house revealed mice, possums (like huge mice with commeasurately large quantities of pee)spiders like plates, roaches, and blocked sewers, and I could go on. By the time I was 6 months pg. i couldn't actually fit in the bathroom without "negotiating" the bathroom door, and eventually had to just go to the loo with the door open it was that small (think aeroplane without the exciting destination).

We were very very lucky that we only lost the = to stamp duty - we had bought the original house for far less than it was worth so 6 months later we actually sold it for slightly more!

TBH, I did have issue with the house we bought before that (in London) it was just such a mess when we moved in, but I still had that flicker of excitement which told me it was going to be worth it.. even though it took almost 3 years to get it finished. I miss it all the time.

Houses certainly leech money but with a reliable lodger lined up and a five year fix it sounds like you will be OK to spend the amount that you need to to get the place livable?

Selling again would also be horribly stressful - as you say, you've got to get it looking nicer if you want sell anyway so no harm in doing the work and seeing how you feel about the place. It is very likely that it will grow on you isn't it?