Property chaos. Move back after 1 year for dream house/area???

[Jumpingjack4321]

Help Mumsnetters!!! I have a dose of curiosity killing the cat from the evil temptress - Rightmove!
We have lived in our current house for little over a year, moving from the countryside to a more urban area. This area has a lot of things going for it, but a lot has gone wrong for us since moving. Without going into too much detail a dream house in the right price bracket has come up for sale, in a location more desirable but nearby to our old property location. I never thought I would see a house that ticked so many boxes. It is a do-er upper, no chain and past family lived in the property for 60years. So this is the type of thing we were hoping for a while ago but just never came up so we decided to up sticks to a completely different location entirely.

Our child has not settled into her current school and is missing her old lifestyle/area to a degree which we did not think was possible. I never let onto her how I truly feel, I try my best to not be impressionable. This area just isn’t speaking to me at all, in my gut it just doesn’t feel right. We moved fairly hastily because of schooling time frames. DH is happy to move but ideally wanted to give things at least 2 years, which is understandable. But I can’t stop feeling like this is wasted time and I don’t want to miss this property opportunity.

I’d like to know if anyone has moved back before in a short length of time, what did this do for your mortgage/money situation, we’re you happy to take a hit? Was it worth it? Am I mad to convince our family to be dragged back into the direction of our old area so soon?
I am certain there will be high exit fees for our mortgage, though it is portable. The only plus side being that our current house is quite sellable as the area is on the up and on a quiet road. Advice and wisdom please x

How old is your child? I would not consider moving rurally with children, I would stay in a city where there is more to do and grants her more independence.

Hi thanks for your reply. She is 6 years old, to be fair it is not the most rural of places - more of a market town on the edge of the countryside with good links into the city (dream house area has even better links than old property area nearby). But I can agree with what you are saying as that was one of the reasons we listed as a ‘pro’ for moving into our current Urban area. A lot of pondering to do.

Your DD would be happier and you would too. DH is happy to move. Your mortgage is portable. What's stopping you? Put your house on the market and see what happens (provided you can afford it, of course). Hopefully you'll get it before anyone else does. Good luck.

Why did you move to where you are now?

Ultimately tho do what makes you happy. 5 years from now would you kick yourself if you didn't move? Would the financial hit be worth being in your dream home/area? If you can afford it and it's what you want then do it. Your daughter probably won't remember much of this when she's older anyway. Sounds like you're both unhappy where you are currently

Thanks for the reply singlenotsingle, we have only moved once and waited until our fixed mortgage was ‘finished’ so I guess it is the exit repayment fees of our current fixed mortgage which is one hold back. I am quite sure the exit fee will be quite high - is this true even if the mortgage is portable?

You'd have to check with the mortgagee on the terms of you particular mortgage, OP.

If you moved in the first place because of the schools, OP, what do you think has changed in a year? Because this sounds familiar to me, I could be thinking of the wrong poster.

I would go for it or at least investigate, don't stay unhappy where you are. 1 year is enough to know. We have moved rurally six or so months ago and already know its more right than where we left, first few months had odd wobble.

Thanks for replies. ChicCroissant, I think you may have got me mixed up with another poster as we did not move for schools in particular. I don’t think anything has really changed in a year, just that it would be in a nearby (but better) location than previous and current, than where our old property was. The area is about 2 miles from our old house so it isn’t our old area as such, but we know this area of the dream house to well enough to know that it’s a great location. It was a location we were ultimately priced out of at the time of moving/searching for property, but I think that is down to there being no doer uppers available at the time of moving within this other area.

Three years ago we downsized to a suburban area of nearby large town after 30 years in a rural village close to a lovely market town.

It was a nice house but never felt right from the start. We hadn't anticipated how much we would miss our 'home', home being the familiar and lovely general area, not so much the exact house.

We did work on our new property, always keeping in mind resale, while I scoured Rightmove like an addiction.

Then a perfect fixer-upper came up in our old area so we put our house on the market (it was always 'market ready', just in case) and like yours it was a popular style that would sell quickly, which it did.

We offered on the village house and almost three years to the day we moved back. We have never doubted our decision even though it's been a nightmare of hard work. We are so much happier here and are no longer in limbo. Here feels like home.

So yes, I say do it. Good luck.

It's better to acknowledge the mistake earlier rather than later so yes I'd investigate it.

Totally investigate the possible house. One of the best things about being an adult is being able to change your mind about things, and action change (and admit mistakes and fix them).

We can’t get decisions right all the time.