Getting in a tizzy - moving area: job or house first?

[Kaida]

Apologies if this is a daft question, but neither DH or I have much experience with moving house and none with moving so far. We're planning to move house later this year to be nearer to my family and to mutual friends, a move of about 40 miles south (there are good roads, so it's only about 50 minutes drive, but traffic can be bad which can double that). DH works about 15 miles north of our current house. His job is fairly specialised; there are a couple of roles suitable in maybe half a dozen organisations local to the new house, so the chance of a job being available when we need it is slim.

We don't know which we have to do first. I assume we have to sell our current house in order to get any offer on a new house taken seriously. But should we:

1. DH look for a job in the new area, then commute from here to there whilst we sell this, look for a new house, and go through the lengthy conveyancing process? The big con to this is I'd struggle holding down the fort here with DH gone for such long commutes - I have disabilities and no friends or family here, that's why we're moving.

2. Move house first, then DH commute back up to his current job until he finds a new one. This would be a longer commute probably for DH (new house up past old house then on for a further 15 miles), but I'd have support nearby. The con to this is that finding a job might take a long time.

3. DH find a job, then ask if we can move in with my parents whilst looking for a house. BIG downside: I'm not sure we'd avoid killing each other! They have foster kids and we have a toddler and two dogs, and keeping their charges and ours rubbing along together is hard enough, add in my DSis and her DP who live there already and the house would be overcrowded and stressful.

Help!

or 4) sell your house, rent in the new area for six months, use that time to find a job and find a house.

yep -- I am all for renting as well....also puts you in the best position to put in the lowest offer on your next house as you are chain free

Renting had crossed my mind, but I've never done it - I bought this house straight from living in uni halls. Won't it be very hard to rent with two dogs?

I'm also really worried about being out of the market. When I was little my parents sold and rented for a while to be chain free and sort work, but then the market shot up and their buying power was massively reduced - we ended up only being able to afford a fairly rubbish area, which we were then stuck in for most of my childhood. So being off the ladder scares me lots tbh.

Also, we have a pretty good mortgage, so were probably going to take it with us. And what our maximum monthly budget can afford doesn't buy as much rental as what we can get with the same amount of monthly mortgage payments.

dogs will indeed make it harder to rent, especially if they are large. Offer a much bigger deposit, make it clear that you are home a lot (So no worries for neighbours about endless barking - DON'T say 'they never bark' because they don't when you are there) and to get the place professionally cleaned at the end of your tenancy.

the off the ladder thing is much less of an issue now UNLESS you are in London.

You might find you can put your mortgage on hold while you rent, we did (6 months), and then ported it over to the new property we bought.

Generally speaking, I would be job led rather than house led in your position - it would be awful to move somewhere and then find that your DH was unable to get a job he enjoyed as much.

I think job is more important too. That's a hell of a commute for him if he has to travel 40 miles/50 minutues but could be double PLUS 15 mins. That'll end up killing him on a daily basis! Especially if he only used to a 15 min commute now.

Jobs are hard to find. Good jobs are very hard to find. Good jobs with good employers that are likely to last are hardest of all. Start with that.

And a long hard commute can destroy your pleasure in life, especially if it is to a rotten job, and leave you worn out every day.

Dogs will make it harder to rent, so it'll depend what the new area is like (if there's a lot of competition for houses they will be let to tenants without dogs).

On the plus side, the market is not likely to "shoot up"!

You've also got to think if DH gets a job first then you find your dream home it is going to be very hard to obtain a new mortgage while he is still on probation. I know the bank i used to work for liked to see 6 months salary coming in from the same employer before agreeing a mortgage and rarely lent to some one who had just started a job unless they had a massive deposit or assets in the back ground. So personally i would find a house and then suffer the commute.

The commute might be an hour and a half each way. Throw in rain, snow, fog, roadworks, traffic jams and it will sometimes double.

Some of the people trilling that your DH should do it every working day of his life for an unspecified period may not have experienced such a thing.