Is this a normal level of nerves? Or should we back out?

[DelBoyImNot]

We're in the early stags of buying a house, and most of the time when I think of it I either want to cry, or I feel sick.

I'm not sure if this is just a normal level of nerves given that

• we're moving from a much loved home which we have outgrown to a project which might not feel like home for years

- we're moving to a new area which is better for schools and more affordable but still feels sad to leave this area - house, plus work thats needed, is at top of our budget and will mean a lot of belt tightening for next few years at least - house isn't perfect; ticks a lot of boxes but its not my dream for a family home

I think part of it is that when we began the search I was excited by all the possibility; all teh choices out there. Now circumstances have changed and our budget is lower and the new house is very similar to this one, but bigger. So it doesn't feel exciting and new, just sad to leave this one which I love. I'm telling myself that this will just be for a few years, until the kids are in good schools and we can move to a home that is closer to my dream.

But shouldn't I be excited? Is this normal nerves? Can someone hand me a grip, if needed?

CityDweller I've just seen so many sellers reducing their price in the areas we're looking (maybe it's summer slow down), and properties sitting on for weeks and weeks in areas where they previously got snapped up. Plus I think the latest figures do show prices slowing or falling in SE and bits of London. We put our flat on market just after the general election, expecting things to pick up, but they haven't. With changes to BTL tax aswell I expect we'll see many landlords letting go of their properties in the next few years which could see prices dip for 1/2 bed flats. Perhaps I am putting too much store by the Mumsnet crash-predicters.

You're right of course when the move is a big one it's so hard to imagine your life in the new place. Tonight I'm second guessing the area as much as the house and wondering if other parts of our locality would be better investment bets. But I don't like thinking like that about the place which is really meant to be our home, not an investment.

OP I am also panicking about a house purchase at the moment, and I am wondering (hoping!) if it's a normal part of the process.

We are moving from a much loved house in a great road that we've grown out of. We had been waiting for months to buy a bigger house very nearby, that was a project. Seller pulled out at the last minute, and properties in our very sought after village are rare.

We had to make a quick decision on the only other thing in our price range. Less nice road, but needs zero work and has the space we need. We saw it once and offered 24 hours later to get it off the market. I've driven round there a few times since and I feel sick at losing the lovely surrounding we have now, even though the new house itself is lovely and gives us all the space we need.

I hope I'll learn to love it, but I am worried

How frustrating Toodleoo, it sounds like you made he best decision you could in the circumstances.

Are the things you dislike about the area things that might change? Eg if new shop opens or cafe it can change feel of an area.
I've found it helpful, when freaking out about how quickly we made the decision, to remind myself that actually we made many smaller decisions which led us to that point. I go over them and each one makes sense so the overall big decision feels a bit tiny bit less scary.

If it was your home and you let it in the short term you are unlikely to have any cgt to pay when you sell it. The period for which it was your home plus the last 3 years is totally exempt from cgt. Then if you let it there is additional relief to stop that period of time being taxed up to a certain amount. As long as it isn't let for years you won't have a massive tax bill.

I don't have much to add on the other side of things but wanted to give some clarity (I hope) on that side of things!

I don't agree with you cautious void periods.

A lot of places I look seem to have voids running to 3-4 months and the tenants leaving after less than 6 months.

A really cautious plan would be the tenant not paying any rent and taking 6 months+ to evict + 4k court fees. I know that sounds harse but its a lot more common than you think.

Our plan is to sell in 2-3 years dyneovran, to reduce the huge mortgage. We did a spreadsheet working out CGT each year ( with made up price increase of course) and yes it leaps up after a certain point, though we thought it was 18 months that you had exempt, not 3 years?

So basically we just hope to break even on the flat until we sell it, but hereandtherex I do worry about situations like that. We have 3months rent saved and will try to build that up to six months but with the works on other house as well...its all just a big stretch and for a house I don't love I am still pretty nervous/miserable about the idea of living on a strict budget to make it work. I remind myself how good it will be for kids to go to the school over the road; that the strict budget is only until we sell the flat; and that we need to move and this is hte best we can afford right now.

I'm daydreaming about the survey coming back with a huge problem so we can pull out without feeling like it is my decision and therefore my fault if we don't find anything better. That's not good, is it?!

Im not trying to put a downer on your plans.

I'm looking at worse case situations, which as an engineer, I have to think about.

Too many plans involving housing and mortgages tend to assume the 'happy path'. Real life can be very different.

I appreciate that hereandthere, and I appreciate the advice on here from people with much more experience than me.

We keep discussing what we think are worst case scenarios to see if we'd still feel.happy with the choices we've made. I just wish I had been quicker in giving up my hopes of living here for a few more years then we might not be in this situation

Sorry yes you're right it changed to 18 months last year (that'll teach me to keep up with my professional development whilst on maternity / career break) .

I checked to make sure the letting relief rules haven't changed and they have stayed the same. To clarify then:

As an example:

If the whole period of ownership was 10 years and you lived there for the first 7, then you get the first 7 years plus the last 1.5 years = 8.5 years exempt. So 85% of the gain is exempt.

If you let the property for the last 2.5 years (for example) then 1 of these years falls within the period which isn't exempt. For this one year you can claim the lower of:
1: £40,000
2: 10% of the gain (1 year out of 10 years)
3: Ppr relief claimed (here 85% of the gain)

So unless you make more than £400,000 gain on the house in total, the let period is also totally exempt.

The only taxable part would be the 6 months between moving out and starting to let the property (in this example).

You also qualify for an annual exemption of around £10,000 each so that may reduce any remaining gain to £0.

Hope this is helpful and apologies for original red herring of 3 years!