How the hell does any ever actually move house?

[curlytoes]

How, how, how are you suppossed to juggle kids, keeping your house spotless, having people look round your house, looking round other people's houses and sorting out the financial stuff without going mad? We finally found a house we really, really liked and phoned the estate agents to be told the vendor is pulling it off the market. Grrrr! We were childless, first time buyers when we moved in here and it was kind of fun. Now I think we'll be stuck here forever and ever. I don't think I have either the stamina or organisational to get to the end of this process.

Clearly I also can't type! It's the stress - sorry!

You'll manage it, its hardwork and I swear I'll never be doing it again whilst my move is still in my memory! We had 2 preschoolers, one with SN and had some rather interesting mortgage meetings with DS screaching and charging around wrecking the joint. The mortgage advisor eventually offered to come to our house in the evening once the kids were in bed so that we could actually think about such major money things. As for looking round houses I think having the kids helped. DS decided that he had to try out every toilet in every house which meant that we soon worked out which houses weren't well maintained because they didn't flush properly . We actually bought a house that both DH and I put the particulars in the bin after drive by but DD kept going on about. We decided to keep her quiet and go and view it (we were also running out of options of things to view) and loved it, she was right.

I don't think it I could ever describe last year as a fun experience but we got through it and it was worth it in the end.

Hey Rebl just saw your post. Thank you. Glad you got there and love your house.

Oh please don't remind me.

It was awful last time and I got so stressed I swore I'd never do it again. We moved 5 days before christmas with a 2 year old into a filthy house. I've never worked so hard in my life!

Sadly after nearly 3 years we have never settled and have finally decided to do it all again. We are currently decorating with a view to getting our house on the market in the next month or so.

I'm just hoping that my lack of emotional investment in this place and no real desperate need to sell will make it less stressful. But maybe I'm just kidding myself!

I so related to your post

I could have screamed at the couple who turned up and said. We've decided we don't like the area, took a cursory look round then left.
I had spent the day tidying, keeping on top of the kids, had taken the four of them out plus the dog and hung around down the park in the rain while they took their time to arrive and then they said that!

I havent been looking at houses in person as we've already been on a year and I don't want to put others through that tidy up for viewing stress innecessarily but what I do is find a house that I love on paper and read the details every now and then to try and keep me motivated. It seems to help.

We missed a call from the agents today asking for a viewing this afternoon (couldnt had guest staying anyway) so please keep your fingers crossed they'll want to come back and at a time when I've had time to clear up again.

Oh it is awful I don't envy you. We're moving at the moment but doing it in stages as dp already has this house and mine is rented. It's still a nightmare and I'm getting rid of loads of my stuff!

I hope when your time comes it goes well and you get lots of help with dcs. Mine are old enough to help so that's not too bad.

Good luck.

It is possible curlytoes, I just did it with 3 under 5, but it was grim and my sanity is still holding on with fingertips. You will get there if you grit your teeth.

Can I just ask you feedthegoat - what makes you think you didn't settle in your new house? Is it something tangible or not? I'm feeling miserable in the new place and wondering why.

It isn't anything I can put my finger on Lazylion.

On paper the house should be fine, it is a good sized 3 bedroomed semi which is much bigger than the house we came from. We have a conservatory, 27 ft lounge, enclosed garden and garage, all things I wnted on paper. it is in the right location and got ds into my first choice school.

I think the problem is slightly symptomatic of that though. We bought this house with our heads and not our hearts. We never really liked it but as it ticked all the boxes we thought we would learn to love it as we put our mark on the place. It hasn't worked out that way.

We've been much happier since we accepted that we have made a rather expensive mistake. We are fully prepared to rent if needs be this time to wait for a house that ticks boxes and that we love.

Thanks feedthegoat, that makes sense. I chose the town with my head rather than heart. I hope you find a house you love.

I'm in rented in the new town while I wait for the vendors to move out of the house I'm buying. I only looked at it for 10 minutes with 3 screaming children in tow so I think the expense of a horrible mistake has frozen me with terror.
There's a tip for the OP, don't do what I did.