Don't know what to do - should we move?

[Lottie4]

All year my husband has done nothing but go on about moving, looking at new houses and properties in our area online. Reason for moving is that we have a two bedroom house (albeit two big bedrooms) with three of us living here, but sometimes it would be nicer to have more room and certainly an extra toilet. My heart hasn't really been in it as it ticks a lot of boxes in that it's 5 mins from school, lots of local shops, takeaways, a pub and we have the best neighbours in the world, not just immediate. We can't agree on how we would extend so that's not an option.

Anyway, have half come around to the idea and mentally have let go of the house (albeit I will miss neighbours and I've sure I will cry saying goodbye to one lot who will be here until old age). We got the house valued last month with a view to marketing in the spring. One of the agents has a lady who particularly wants a house our style in this area, so we agreed to a one off viewing. She wants to come back tomorrow for a second viewing. My husband suddenly seems to be waivering on whether he wants to move and I just don't know, but we don't want to mess this lady about if she makes an offer.

Do most people really know they want to move, or do they panic a little on whether they're doing the right thing at this stage? Does anyone think we should stay put or have any comments.

Said to my husband earlier, if this lady makes an offer, having got this far and so he won't regret not moving, I think we should at least view 2/3 properties (even though there is only one we would seriously half want) and then review things in a few days. If we can't make up our minds, tell her we can't find anything we really want more than our present house and that we don't want her hanging around for us.

It sounds as though the agent is press ganging you into to viewing before you are ready.

Regarding your house - is it in a particularly desirable place? Do houses there sell quickly?

You shouldn't worry about upsetting this viewer, she is the one pushing it when the house is not on the market. If she wants the hose, she will wait a month while you look at other properties for yourself. If not, it's not meant to be.

you would know if you wanted to move. Everyone is a bit sad about it (unless you hated where you live) but I don't think either of you want to go.

take it off the market and look again at extending. Consider the cost of moving (stamp duty etc), that should help!

Thanks for your comments so far(!). It is a good sized two bedroom house and for us location is spot on, but they generally take 5-10 months to sell, so we do have to think seriously if this lady offers as we may not sell again so easily.

My husband is out at the moment, so have gone through everything for sale we would half think about and written my comments down for him to see what he then thinks about any of the properties. One does tick all boxes so worth looking at, not sure about others but would be willing to look at 1/2 stronger possibilities. Will also speak to husband tomorrow again about extending. We're seeing some of his family tomorrow, so might see what they think about our differing ideas.

Have you had an architect look at ways to extend your house?

Honestly if size is the only issue, the house is otherwise perfect, and you have the money/space to extend (and tbh moving can cost as much as an extension anyway) then I'd do that. it will be hard to find somewhere that ticks all the boxes of your current house and is bigger too.

if you can put a drawing of your floor plan on your profile I'm sure many MNers me included will happily make extension suggestions!

Go and look at other properties - think it will help you make up your mind for definite one way or another!

Your husband might be wavering now but I reckon as soon as you pull the house off the market he'll start virtual house hunting again and drive you crackers for 2014.
A ) Have the lady view and see what she says. The numbers may give you options you didn't know you had; or they will tell you that a move is going to cost buckets

B) canvass ideas on current property for improvement. Shortlist the preferred options and visit an architect for opinions

C) visit other houses in budget.

D) I suspect you want different types of extension because you want different things from it. Before you can make good use of an architect of even friends and family, and certainly seeing other places you need to agree priorities. Is it three beds, a home office, a playroom, kitchen diner etc etc. Would an uber garden shed cure your DH's cravings for solitude or is he a masterchef in waiting.

Last point. Lots of people spend a lot of time on line looking at houses and talking about them, me included, even when we are mostly perfectly happy with our current abode. It's a modern hobby/case of extreme nosiness Most of us crave more space but when push comes to shove, there's a reason we're an urban and not a rural society these days, its sooo much more convenient. My point? He'll probably continue even if you do move.

I seem to have killed this... How did it go OP?

Thanks for your replies. Well the potential purchaser has done her second viewing and feedback to the agents yesterday was that she was taking the weekend to think about the amount of her offer and would have one ready within 48 hours, but at that time she wanted an early indication of whether we could find something (told agent previously there wasn't much around that appealed) as the rest of the chain is set up and ready to go - which we totally understand.

We are going back for a second viewing tomorrow morning on a property but will have to offer well below the asking price as needs to lot of changes to make it work for us - it has been on the market for five months though, whereas others are selling within a month around here. Looked at a property yesterday, which my husband hated (he didn't even look in one room) whereas I was trying to take it in. There isn't much else we really want to view, but am going to ask the agents if they've valued anything recenly which fits our criteria.

Have talked again about an extension and still couldn't agree. I did say to husband last night more space would be really good, but we are happy here, so if we're likely to stay a good number of years then it's worth talking things over with an architect to see if we incorporate eachothers wishes.

Have a headache here thinking about it!

Don't allow yourself to be bullied into selling your house by either this viewer or your husband! I particularly would question the reason why the estate agent and her friend seem to be in cahoots. Are you absolutely sure your house has not been undervalued by the estate agent in order to get a cheap property for her friend? If I were you I would

1. Get a second estate agent in to do a valuation
2. Seriously think about extended and try again to reach an agreement with your husband. Book an appointment with an architect and find out what your options are.
3. Wait until Spring like you had originally planned to do unless this woman makes a spectacular offer that you can't refuse. By spring there will be loads more on the market for you to choose from.

Please whatever you do don't feel guilty or like you are stringing anyone along!! Just respond to the offer saying you and your husband will be waiting until Spring to sell as originally planned, wish the viewer well in finding a house to buy that is available now as you are not yet ready. You are being far too nice to the pushy viewer and estate agent IMHO!

Don't try to blame the agent.

You go to an agent and say "I want to sell my house, please find me a processable buyer."

The agent does that.

If you had said to the agent "I don't really want to sell me house, please just send me uncommitted time-wasters" he would have told you to piss off come back when you're ready to sell.

No actually it's a well known scam and one to watch out for (undervaluing and getting a friend to purchase). Not saying it's happening here but something to be aware of and it can't hurt in this case to get a second opinion. Here are a couple of articles about it.

www.home-sellers-club.co.uk/sell_own_house_agents_tricks.html

www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertyadvice/propertymarket/3293652/Spot-the-scam-behind-the-smile.html

Luckily we did get three valuations and this particular agent gave us the middle valuation, which was slightly higher than we had expected from any agent.

We've just received an offer today from potential purchaser which we are more than happy with, as it's about 5% more than we thought we'd sell the house for. Agent thinks we could get offer up £2,000, purchaser is a cash buyer with a sale under the way, and will move in with relatives while waiting for us to find somewhere. This is a brilliant situation as these properties take 5-10 months to sell and we've got someone straight away.

Hubby is still unsure, whereas I've come around to him wanting to move in the first place. He's not happy in his job and has said he really wants to move, but the chances are it would be for less money, so is worried about the increased costs if we move.

We have done a second viewing today, on a place which would be brilliant for our daughter with friends visiting as a teenager, but then for us in old age - close to shops, bathroom and two bedrooms on ground floor - also shower room and bedrooms upstairs though. Agent acting for potential purchaser says she has a similar one coming on market this week, same size, same price, nicely done in a quieter road, so have said even if we accept this offer we won't be in a position to agree a purchase for another week. This style of house generally only comes on the market 1-2 x yearly, so the chances of two being around at the same time in the future is very little.