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Original poster

Have just moved...but want to move again. Is there anyone else like me out there?

64 replies

allatsea1 · 04/02/2011 21:22

We have recently moved house. We've moved to a bigger house in a nicer area and I know I should be very thankful...but I'm still not happy. There are still other places I'd much rather live. Realistically it's going to be a good five years or so before we can consider moving again and I just can't see myself being happy until we do. Does anyone else ever feel like this? Am I on a constant hunt for perfection that I'm never going to achieve? My partner seems comfortable wherever we are...

OP posts:
Original poster
allatsea1 · 05/02/2011 22:09

Hi figcake - what did other people make of you moving on so quickly or didn't you care? I think we have to give it two years due to a hefty redemption fee...

OP posts:
angel1976 · 05/02/2011 22:13

allatsea1 Is your mortgage not portable? Because when we got our mortgage, we were told we could move houses and not incur a redemption fee on the mortgage as long as we keep the mortgage? Is that not the case???

BehindLockNumberNine · 05/02/2011 22:33

figcake, I think that was the difference - everything outside the walls was wrong in your case. And those are not things you can change.

The location of this house is good - a desirable village with a pretty centre and the canal running through it.
We are on a busy-ish road but have a large front garden (50 odd feet) and the 65ft back garden backs onto a lock of the canal. We are going to put a gate in the back fence and have direct access to the tow path (you will need to cross the lock bridge first, our garden is not directly onto the towpath)

The house itself is a characterless box which we have just recently completely remodelled. And it all feels too new. We need to live in it and make it feel 'lived in'. I hope that I can grow to love it.

Original poster
allatsea1 · 05/02/2011 22:59

Behind - can I please have your house?! Sounds perfect! Our house is lovely but I'm not passionate about it - same with the area. I might feel diff if there was one thing I was totally in love with?? Angel - I'll be def checking that, thanks for the heads up. I think because overall we're certainly not in a disaster zone there's no need to get into a desperate panic to get out. It's made me feel a lot better just to hear that other people also have doubts so quickly after vowing never to move again!!!

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BehindLockNumberNine · 05/02/2011 23:04

allatsea, it is not that perfect though... I can't get used to the noise from the road to the front (even though it is not a busy road as such) and behind the canal is 60ft of trees/wooded area and then another main road. And if the wind blows this way that road creates more road noise. Having said that, most people living on my road have lived here all their lives and all say they got used to the road noise quickly.

I don't actually know what I don't like. I can only put it down to the fact that I loved the old house and lived there for 13 years which is longer than I have ever lived anywhere in my life even as a child.

Am curious to see how I will feel in a year or so....

Original poster
allatsea1 · 06/02/2011 08:11

Right - in one year's time I'm going to re-start this thread and hopefully we will feel a lot different. If not then I'm afraid it's back to the drawing board!!

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BehindLockNumberNine · 06/02/2011 11:32

I am up for that!!

As an aside, dh and ds are busy putting up framed photographs in the hall and on the landing, hanging shelves in ds's room and putting all the finishing touches to the place as I type this.
And I can feel my mood lift ever so slightly.
I just need 'my' things in here now.

See you this time next year Smile

BehindLockNumberNine · 06/02/2011 11:34

Am putting this thread in my 'watch' list so I won't forget it. And this time next year I will re-activate it and put out a shout for you Smile

Guildenstern · 06/02/2011 12:27

Just wanted to say that I am in the same boat. Moved house 8 months ago and am only on MN to stop myself looking at Rightmove again and again and again...

I would love to move house again. Love to. DH not so much.

mamatomany · 06/02/2011 13:01

All I can say is 5 years will fly by, we moved to this house because it was handy for a school the DC's no longer attend and was all we could afford at the time.
It'll be 5 years next March and I'm panicing i've not got enough time to make it smart enough to sell.
We've spent a fortune and it will look fantastic but 5 years seems like the bat of an eye to me.

BehindLockNumberNine · 06/02/2011 16:13

I think it will fly by too.

Ideally, we will be here for 10 years. That is how long it will be for both the dc to finish A levels. (Ds is currently in Y7, Dd in Y3)

By then we will hopefully have been able to landscape both the front and back gardens and knock down the horrid concrete prefab garage and build a new one with cloak room and study/guest room / teenage den behind.

At the moment 10 years feels like a life sentence. But I know it will fly by. And I should not wish my dc's childhood away for the sake of moving house...

BehindLockNumberNine · 06/02/2011 16:17

Guildenstern - what is wrong with your new house? Is it something you can put your finger on? [nosy]

Guildenstern · 06/02/2011 21:12

Oh, well, its kind of a compromise house. It's perfect for DH and the kids, but not for me. I don't like the location.

Bascically we moved here so that DH could walk to work and I could have the car. As a SAHM having a car makes a lot of difference.

What I want now, of course, is an even bigger house AND the car AND a better location. And some cake. :)

figcake · 06/02/2011 21:16

Hi figcake - what did other people make of you moving on so quickly or didn't you care? I think we have to give it two years due to a hefty redemption fee...

Well, I was surprised by their encouragement actually. My parents and close friends always had their misgivings but I was a feisty young lady at the time who could not be persuaded at the outset. This was pre-kids and I have since learnt that there are a couple of great schools in the area - it would still not persuade me to return mind you.

I only moved a couple of miles up the road from there. My current house is so like my childhood home it is actually quite scary. I really love it including the shabby bits. One of the reasons I could never have settled in the 'mistake house' was that it was perfectly finished - there was nothing that was not smooth, unglossy, cracked or malfunctioning. I am not cut out to live in such a perfect, low-maintenance place.

Original poster
allatsea1 · 06/02/2011 22:58

I know exactly what you mean fig - I need some bashed-about-ness too. As everyone rallied round so much to help with the move it's going to have to be done in a couple of years time with very little fanfare. In the meantime there is much worse a fate than having food to eat and a fully functioning roof over our heads! I'm going to have to suck it up and hope that next time we get it right (well, I say we...partner and boys quite content)....

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figcake · 07/02/2011 09:36

allatsea - well, that's just it. My DH loved that house and simply could not understand why I felt that way. If he had his own way (which he def doesn't!) we would have lived there forever.

CHDmum · 07/02/2011 11:58

I'm sat here waiting for the estate agent as we speak. We've been here a year and a half and I cant stay any longer. We moved 14 miles from work/school as it was the only place we could afford to buy a house (we were renting before)but it isn't working and me and the kids need to go 'back home'. Husband not best pleased but he appreciates we will be happier going back. Not the best move financially we will ever make but my heart tells me it is.
No, it's not just you. x

Original poster
allatsea1 · 07/02/2011 17:37

Well at least you're doing something about it CHDmum. I hope it all works out - the market seems to have really picked up :)

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BehindLockNumberNine · 07/02/2011 19:22

I think a year and a half is a decent amount of time to wait. If you don't love it by then chances are you never will. Good luck with selling and buying Smile

figcake · 08/02/2011 10:19

all at sea - can you not just test the water by making that call to the agent and seeing if it leads to anything? Presumably, there is no work to be done on it, given that you bought it recently.

confusedperson · 08/02/2011 17:07

Oh guys, the lovers of old houses! I have the bay windows (at the back as well!), a Victorian fireplace, nice staircase rail, old floorboards, large kitchen/diner (everyone says 'wow' when they see it), potential for 2 additional bedrooms and downstairs cloakroom (what neighbours have done), lovely garden (not my style but done lovely), cul-de-sac location, nearby large park, close to train station. But also, everything I touched within last 1.5 years, needs work and my heart feels - never ending work! I have fighted draughty floorboards, leaking bathroom, leaking conservatory roof, penetrating and rising damp, peeling paints, faulty electricity, cracks here and there, slugs and cats in the garden, not too mention that I don't have money for the potential. I question myself, whether I should spend at least 10k for relocation (the money which I don't have!) and get something cheaper/modern/low maintenance, or should I invest in my theoretically super-desirable property. I doubt if I ever going to love it...

confusedperson · 08/02/2011 17:11

Well forgot to mention, that I went from hating my house to it being just about OK, like it was an old sick person which I got used to take care of.. A bit sad though :(

confusedperson · 08/02/2011 17:12

And I have never stopped looking at Rightmove, it is my everyday activity since the day one. Sorry for three posts in a row, I guess just wanted to vent.

BehindLockNumberNine · 08/02/2011 17:19

oh no, confused person, your house sounds lovely to me Smile

Mine is too new (it was built in 1953, not touched since 1970 and we have just completely renovated it) and too soul-less. I have no fireplace for a start!!

But I have to think of this house as a means to an end, not a great love affair.

It is convenient, comfortable and offers the children easy access to school / friends / the town via cycle path and bus route etc.

Once they have grown up dh and I will probably not stay here. For me this is not a house for life. But it is a convenient and suitable house for our current family life.

confusedperson · 08/02/2011 17:28

BehindLockNumberNine, I would love to have your house! Your house is for living, my house is for an outsider's admiration, but not a pleasure to live constantly thinking 'what on earth next is it going to break?' Perhaps one just needs lots of money to own an old house.

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