We moved 8 weeks ago, should we move again but with it costing us more?

[moveagain]

Without going into too much detail, we moved house 8 weeks ago as we needed more space. My main question is in bold at the bottom of the thread but for more context feel free to keep reading.

The house itself is great, using air heat pump technology so no gas/oil bills, and provides us with all the space we could need and wouldn’t necessarily ever outgrow it without being too big.

The issue being is that my husband isn’t 100% in love with the location (it’s about 10 minutes drive from where he would ideally like to live and where we recently moved from). It’s not even further out of the city really, just different area, one that we are just as familiar with. In terms of desirability it’s still great and close to great schools, just not within walking distance to shops, cafes, restaurants or schools which I think we are missing a little already. Our children aren’t in school yet but we will be applying for places in the next two years.

The issue if we move back is that we would get a little bit less value for money, so it will be a smaller property and much older (probably between 90-120 years old) which compared to our new build means we will end up adding an extra £200+ in heating bills each month which will only rise. The home energy rating right now is A and we have no oil/gas concerns to worry about but if we move the properties are all between D/E energy ratings as so old. We will also likely need to spend more renovating and doing up the properties to some extent.

Financially it can be done, we would just be saving less and spending it on energy compared to now, but this is not going to be uncommon these days either.

On paper it would seem nonsensical to move from one great house in a desirable location to another house and add on significant costs and lose space, but my husband really values the convenience and location and is feeling down about where we are living at the moment and just wants to be back where we were. He is genuinely trying to be open minded and adapt but we are probably both struggling a little with just how different it is not to be within walking distance to things! Our nearest shop is now a 40 min round trip walk away, whereas previously we could walk to the shop in under 30 seconds! There are plenty of shops, cafes and and shopping centre nearby, they just all generally involve getting into the car for a 5 minute drive, so not far at all either way.

Nevermind the increase in mortgage rates and all the other costs and fees associated with moving house, would you move to a smaller, older house for purely location & convenience even if it costed you a significant amount more in living expenses to do so but still affordable? Or if you’ve had similar experiences do you have any tips how you maybe moved past and learnt to love living in different area?

Its very common to feel unsettled after moving to a new home YOU CHOSE. Just wait for DH to give his head a wobble. he'll soon be telling you how lucky you are that he found this great place and persuaded you to buy it.

I think this is one of the biggest things for us that we need to weigh up especially when it comes to the kids being old enough for school. The thought of a 2 minute walk to the school gates sounds like a dream instead of having to load the kids into the car, 5 minute drive, battle to find a suitable parking space, walk to the school and then the journey in the car home again. Yes, millions of people do this and it’s part of life but I guess we just need to weigh up the difference and value we need to place on it both mentally and monetary.

Hopefully the next 6 months will provide some clarity.

Glad to hear that so many feel that it’s normal to feel a little unsettled after a move. We are both overthinkers and big planners so moving to a different area was always a bit of a gamble I guess. I think it will be worth it, but just a little harder to see when you’re in the middle of it still! Time will tell!

I cannot believe people would consider buying/selling/moving 8 weeks after buying/selling/moving.

I mean - how does one’s brain actually consider that to be an actual option?

Did you read the post or thread at all? One’s brain might consider it an option based on the reasons outlined.

If you read the thread you will see plenty of helpful comments and reassurance that it’s normal to feel unsettled so soon after moving! If you didn’t have anything valuable to add why would you even bother posting?

It’s a 5 minute drive to town and if you move you’ll need to move again in the next 12 months?

This seems absurd

Did you read the post or thread at all? No part of that sentence is accurate.

There are plenty of shops, cafes and and shopping centre nearby, they just all generally involve getting into the car for a 5 minute drive, so not far at all either way.

yes it would be very annoying to have to pay again but we could afford it. Just thinking more that if we do move again, we would need to do it probably within the next 12-14 months again before applying for schools! So we would have a bit of time to prepare again.

Your posts OP.

No
That would be utterly nonsensical

So it’s a 20 minute walk to a shop now? That’s very much still walking distance! I wouldn’t move because I was unwilling to walk that short a journey, no.

Maybe it’s a language thing, but having shops nearby wouldn’t reference to “town” where I live as it’s just part of the area. Town would refer to the city centre which would be 30 minutes, hence the confusion of when you mentioned only only 5 minutes away from town.

In terms of moving, the “again” is to reference the second move, the most recent move being the first. Not having two make a planned move twice in 12 months.

Yes it would be about 40 minutes total walking trip - though with a 3 year old definitely a lot longer spending on how many bugs they want to stop and look at! Definitely still walking distance, not disputing that, just quite literally 20x longer than what we were used to previously so just need to get used to that!

And it’s not just really about the shops but moreso about the schools, restaurants, parks etc. Just not quite as convenient.

So with a three year old you have moved somewhere where you’re going to have to move again for school? Do you enjoy funding the Treasury’s stamp duty coffers?

I’m not clear if this is where you’ve moved to or where you’d move back to but either shows a lack of foresight

No we don’t have to move for school as I said in my op there are very good schools where we are which we of course considered before we moved. My post is about the convenience to lots of things (including schools) which is why I highlighted it in bold at the end of the post.

As a said, on paper we are in a perfect location and is nonsensical to move again, but our heart is still where we were before. I was also asking if anyone else has been in the same position and for tips on how to love living a new area.

When we moved initially, the options to upsize there were limited at the time due to crazy overbidding upwards of 20% more than their value. We bought our new house a year ago that required no bidding, so we paid the actual value of it, but only moved in recently so it’s increased in value already from when we booked it. Since then things have calmed down a good bit and we could stretch further to get what we would like, but the actual property itself wouldn’t be as good as what we have now but in a better location.

Despite your blunt comments you still haven’t offered anything valuable to what my original post was asking for thoughts and opinions on. I suggest you comment less or think before throwing out sarcastic questions as plenty of other readers have been able to grasp the post.

Why did you chose this area

Tho if it’s only 10m away from
where dh ideally wants why is a shop so far away

but life is too short.

only you can decide if smaller house in better location

as the programme says it’s all about location with Kirsty and Phil

you are born unhappy. Sell and move

and yes walking to school is a lot better then driving. Finding somewhere to park etx all which takes longer then the walk

Youre certainly right about location location location! We chose the area as its a good one and on paper meets all our needs so certainly not a bad one at all, but as you know the house buying process has been crazy the last few years and something had to give and doorstep convenience was the one we thought we would sacrifice as of course hoping into a car to pop to shops or restaurants 5-10 mins away instead isn’t that bad at all!

But in reality when you’re used to walking and having access to shops, cafes, supermarket, restaurants, bars, gift shops, hairdressers, post office etc all within 2 minutes all it just takes a bit more getting used to! Maybe it’s just too quiet where we are now and we like to be in the mix of things.

The shops are farther on foot now is all. It’s about 10 mins on a good day of traffic just to drive to where we used to live is probably where the confusion lies!

Thanks everyone who provided some food for thought and reassurance that it’s normal to feel a bit unsettled after a move. 😊

We will definitely not be making any decisions this side of Christmas and aim to make the most of our new home and learn to love the location!

If anyone else has thoughts on doorstep convenience over quiet cul de sacs (essentially the main difference!) or any other tips on how love a new location then I am all ears. Other than that I’ll not go into any more detail as I think I’ve answered all I can on the thread.

My thoughts.

On paper it would seem nonsensical to move

Yes it would. In real life it would too.

Hello, you've pointed out the energy costs benefit, was your home quite cool temperature in the recent heatwave? That's a massive plus if it was. However, some new builds really hold the heat and it's excruciatingly hot.

Anyway, back to your main point.

Stay put as you have suggested and decide after Christmas.

We moved to a house with big garden, parking, beautiful open countryside nearby, peaceful from a terraced Victorian house in a nearby town.

We were so unhappy in the country house that we moved back to town, although it took us four years.

I wish we'd just moved back after a year but the thought of all the hassle involved (I do all the admin and everything else connected with house moving) meant I couldn't bring myself to go through it quite so soon.

Good luck op, I know how you and your DH feel unfortunately.

I’m not sure how you can describe yourselves as ‘big planners’ if you’re in this situation after just eight weeks. Surely none of this could have come as a surprise?

I presume you have a better fixed mortgage rate than what is out there now. That alone would put me off moving for a very long time.

Have a look on the planning portal for your local area at what is being built, if you are on a new build it's not uncommon for shops etc to be built around it. Ask the developer when they are doing the play areas etc.

We went for a catholic school so always had to drive it doesn't bother us, I am that ruthless parent who just dumps the car drops DS at the gate and goes back to said car.

Remember kids need more space as they get older and new build estates often have more kids for them to make friend with than an established area with older people who have been there for years.

Also try to get into the habit of doing a weekly shop so you aren't having to pop out as often.

Have you celebrated your new home?

The issues over location are ones you've considered enough to make the decision to buy this house.

Write a big list of positives and negatives.
Write them for five years time as a separate exercise.

Thanks for this - I hope we do eventually love it as the admin alone is enough to put off moving as you say!

Thankfully it did cope well during the heatwave, it has some sort of technology where it extracts the heat from the house to use for heating water etc and pumps fresh cool air around. Certainly not like air con but not stuffy at all.

Oh no it’s certainly not a surprise - we were uncertain but our choices were limited at the time and this was the best option as we desperately needed more space as we were in an apartment before and both working from home too. We just thought we would learn to love it maybe a bit quicker than it’s taking, a bit more getting used to. But long term just weighing up the value of convenience too