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Original poster

Really want to move house but I don't think I can be arsed with it all ...

26 replies

Mintyy · 23/11/2013 15:46

The whole selling and buying process and being in a chain and no suitable properties for sale in the areas we are looking and the horrors of sealed bids and people scrabbling desperately for the few properties which are for sale.

First world problem, but its getting me down a bit :(

OP posts:
MILdesperandum · 23/11/2013 16:07

In those circumstances I don't blame you. Why do you want to move house?

Yama · 23/11/2013 16:11

Yes, the whole process is very stressful. It took 6 months for our house to sell - at a fair bit below Home Report Value (we are in Scotland). No suitable house so we rented for 6 months. Then, our dream house came up and it went to a Closing Date.

Anyway, our offer was accepted and we've been in a few months now. I love our new house. Love it. Smile

Golddigger · 23/11/2013 16:16

Wait for a house that is chain free, and then bid over what it is "worth"?

BrownSauceSandwich · 23/11/2013 19:14

What's the problem with where you are, and is there scope to improve It for the price of moving?

beaglesaresweet · 24/11/2013 00:43

great thread title Grin
are you near/in London then ?

LittlePickleHead · 24/11/2013 09:25

Ha, Mintyy I know from previous threads you live close to me, and as we are going through the process right now I'd say to stay put! This has to be one of the most stressful things I've ever done (though ours is mitigated by extremely pernickety buyers)

I suppose it depends how desperate you are to move, and how easy you would find it to deal with falling through and starting again etc.

But it's all completely stupid our here playing housing eBay, and if we weren't so desperate to move (severe lack of space) then I'd jack the whole thing in and stay put til we decide to leave London

Original poster
Mintyy · 24/11/2013 09:56

Sorry! Forgot I'd posted this thread Blush.

Yes, London and yes, near you LittlePickleHead.

Dh is keen to move, not far away, because we really could do with a 4 bed house rather than our current 3 bedder. Our boy and girl have a room each and we have no spare bedroom and parents do come to visit quite often. Also, dh and I both work from home a lot.

But although I have no doubt whatsoever that we could sell our house in a week, I just don't think we can find one to move to.

There is nothing on the market - I think there must be thousands of people like us who can't face the prospect of going through the process, hence less property on the market, hence the over-heated situation and prices going through the roof!

Our neighbours have just sold their house for £220,000 more than they paid for it 3 years ago.

It is scary.

OP posts:
lalalonglegs · 24/11/2013 10:33

I've come to the same conclusion. The prices in my part of London are so ludicrous that to make the move from our lovely maisonette to a house of equivalent size but a total wreck would probably cost £400k in higher price/stamp duty/renovation costs. And the thing is, I don't even like the Victorian terraces which make up 95% of the stock round here. So I'm going to remodel my flat to give me a bigger kitchen and stay put.

LittlePickleHead · 24/11/2013 10:50

Yes lack of housing stock is a huge problem.

Could you do a loft conversion? That way you get the extra space without the hassle of moving, probably for not much more than you'd pay in fees and stamp duty, and add value to your house. Win win win!

We are actually buying a 2 bed and converting the loft to add two more bedrooms and a shower room and 3+ bedroom family houses are in such scarce supply.

Just need to hope the chain doesn't collapse now.

LittlePickleHead · 24/11/2013 10:52

Sorry it's meant to say "as 3+ bedroom family houses are in scare supply"

Lucylouby · 25/11/2013 13:00

We live in the midlands and there is a lack of housing here too. There was a choice of two in our price bracket, with enough bedrooms. One was on a dual carriageway so we went for the other. It wasn't so much the house of our dreams but it is bigger than the one we are selling (which sold within a week). I live in fear of it falling through as there is nothing else suitable (and for once it's not because I am fussy, there is just nothing). If we didn't have more children than bedrooms we would be staying put where we are, this whole process is such a nightmare.

onepieceoflollipop · 25/11/2013 13:08

Feeling a bit the same. Our actual house is ok, but the parking has become more of an issue in our small close. We have 2 parking spaces, (drive and garage) but our drive is getting blocked more frequently (proper dropped kerb) as is the entry which leads to our garage. It's just basic rudeness and inconsideration, usually from visitors, but sometimes newish neighbours. 2 adults in one house have a car and 2 large vans between them Hmm
I look round and see all the work we have done on the house (inc loft conversion) and I am reluctant to go ahead with a move.

Applefallingfromthetree2 · 26/11/2013 01:49

Last time we moved seven years ago it cost us £37,000 in costs and loads of stress! It would probably be double that now. Hard to justify.

msmoss · 26/11/2013 12:23

I would love to move to a bigger house but only if I can magically wake up in it one morning without having put in any other effort!

brainonastick · 26/11/2013 12:26

Could you buy a tiny little studio nearby, that you can use as a crash pad and an office?

Or just rent something, it might be cheaper!

LittlePickleHead · 26/11/2013 17:19

If you have a spare £300k there is a shed for sale on brenchley gardens Wink

www.roybrooks.co.uk/property/1-bedroom-house-for-sale-on-brenchley-gardens-in-forest-hill-se23/royb-008890/1

(Hard to tell from the photo, but from the road it really does look like a shed in someone's garden!)

lalalonglegs · 26/11/2013 17:33

There's an estate of self-build houses around there, I think it's one of those. I think it's quite nice.

LittlePickleHead · 26/11/2013 17:43

It's not, it's built in the garden (sectioned off) of a big period house, on the corner of brenchley road and forest hill road. It really does look like a shed in the big house's garden. I'm sure it's nice though, it just made me laugh when I walked past!

Original poster
Mintyy · 26/11/2013 17:46

it is quite literally a shed

Yes, I've seen it in rl. My jaw was on the floor!

OP posts:
brainonastick · 26/11/2013 17:59

Ha ha! Ok, a little studio might be a bit of a daydream then. Didn't realise you were in London.

Original poster
Mintyy · 26/11/2013 18:02

A little studio is a lovely day dream of mine Smile. We have a very big garden here, plenty of room for a shed/office but we wouldn't build one here because ... well, because we want to move!

OP posts:
YellowDahlias · 26/11/2013 18:24

The shed is under offer?! Shock OMFG

The market does seem absolutely mad at the moment. I pass an estate agent on the way home from work and they often list the advertised prices and what they actually went under offer, which is generally quite a bit more.

This is one of the self build properties in that area. www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-28546392.html But I think they've made it look very bland. Scope to expand apparently and make it a 4 bed.

msmoss · 26/11/2013 21:38

You could get one of those pods for the garden that Sarah Beeney is always going on about on Double your House for Half the money. I often day dream about sneaking off down the bottom of the garden to my office.

msmoss · 26/11/2013 21:41

For example officepod.co.uk/

I think they may be relocatable.

Levantine · 26/11/2013 21:46

I know people with teenagers who have put garden rooms with bathrooms at the end of their gardens. I would do that and the attic. Then see in a few years