Pregnant teacher looking to relocate - advice needed!

[preggersteach]

Am currently 20 weeks pregnant. My DH and I are looking to relocate near my parents in a year so that I would come back after my mat leave and not have to pay anything back and start at a new school a year in September.
However his 'ideal' job has just been advertised and we have seen a house this week that we love that won't obviously be there in a year.
Jokingly I've just said why don't we just move everything forward a year but now wondering how unrealistic this would be to actually do.
I would need to come back at the end of my mat leave and finish off at my school but my dhs family live near where we are curtly are so I could stay with them whilst I finish off at work.
Does anyone teach and have done this? Not sure if putting myself in a vulnerable position when it comes to looking for a job in a years time and not even sure if I technically don't have a job where we are moving to and won't for ages would we be able to get a mortgage for the new area whilst I am still employed for a year at my current job, nearly 2 hours away from where we would be getting a mortgage?!
I'm worried this opportunity and things falling into place won't happen so easily in a years time!
Any advice or word from anyone who has done similar would be greatly appreciated, tia

I did something similar - we relocated when I was on mat leave so I did not return to my previous job, and started a new job when DD was 13 months.

Can you afford not to take the enhanced mat pay, and take only the ‘ordinary’ package? If so there is no need for you to return for 13 weeks. If you can afford it then this might be your simpler option.

If you’re reliant on your salary for the mortgage then you might have a problem in twelve months’ anyway- your payslips and bank statements will only show your mat pay so you would potentially have issues meeting your lender’s affordability criteria. Better to apply for the mortgage and move now while you are receiving your full salary (assuming of course that you can afford the repayments when you’re on mat leave).

I've just spoken to a mortgage advisor and they said not to apply for a mortgage this year as thy would only give it going from my husbands income which wouldn't be enough for what we want to buy, as I don't have a job in that area.
Next idea is selling up and renting for a year, all much bigger decisions than we wanted to be having at this moment in time!!

We rented for the first twelve months. It saved us from an expensive mistake and meant that we were in a position to pounce when the perfect house did come up. Good luck

Thanks very much, it all seems a bit scary and real! Just trying to plan what we would do for child care for 12 when I go back to work to finish off my contract if we take the plunge! We've been throwing around the idea of renting our house out for a year but not sure if this is just too much hassle

I would really encourage you to work out how much your 'additional' mat pay would be (so assuming that your school follows the burgundy book, that's 50% pay for 12 weeks). If you can possibly put this money aside now while you are still working, or while you are on mat leave, then you will have options - either to return for 13 weeks and have a lump sum to help with moving costs or childcare, or not to return at all and to repay the school.

I'm in a very similar position so if it helps, at least you're not alone.

Last year my husband went for a complete career change and now works in a job that's a 60 mile commute from where we live. We only ever lived in our current city for his job (he worked in oil and gas so we were very much tied to one location) and currently live 90 miles away from my family - I moved to be with him, and we have no-one here. When he took the new job, we put our house up for sale but so far have had no luck selling - the housing market is slow where we are due to the fall in oil price in recent years.

Now that I'm pregnant, we are more desperate than ever for our house to sell so that we can move closer to my family, get a cheaper mortgage (our current city is very expensive), and avoid my husband having a big commute and not getting home until 7.30 at night. As soon as I go off on maternity leave, we will also be living in a city where neither of us are actually working - so my husband will be doing a 2 hour commute each way (and spending a fortune doing so) for essentially no reason.

However, I am also relying on the enhanced maternity pay and can't afford to go without it - so although we are hoping hoping hoping that our house will sell and we will get moved at some point within the next year, I would also have to go back after maternity leave to a job that will be 90 miles away from where we live - I'm tied to going back for a minimum of 3 months, which is manageable, but would be tough! I'm obviously worried about how I would manage this with a young child, but I think overall it would be worth putting up with it if it means longer term we are moved and settled where we want to be, and have family near by - so I'm trying to focus on the benefits of that! I'm also hoping that I might be able to go back to work part-time, and my work are flexible with allowing me to work from home (although I know you don't have this option with teaching!) so I'm hoping between all of those things I could cut down on the number of days I will actually have to commute.

We've also started toying with other options like renting, moving in with parents whilst we wait for our house to sell etc. but it's all a lot of hassle and happening at the worst time - when you know you've got a baby coming it's the one time when you really want to be settled in your own home!

Sorry for the big essay - basically just wanted to say that I know the feeling, I know how complicated it can all be trying to get everything to come together with work, house, mat leave etc. all at once, and I sympathise! Hope it all works out for you.