Feeling a bit odd at the moment.
We've not exchanged yet, but current plan for us and the sellers is moving in two week's time.
I like the house, I really do. But I don't love it, and really, it's the next 5-10 years of our life together. I wanted to a smaller city (I work from home so salary would be portable), my wife wanted to stay where we are (and, to be fair, keep her job), so we're staying where we are.
I feel like we never really talked about what we wanted, I just got really itchy feet after renting for 9 years. Feel like I've rushed us into buying, and now that she's excited I've got cold feet.
Told her this last weekend that if it were up to me, we'd be moving out of the city. She was totally surprised by this, and understandably not happy because things are so far along at the moment. We've already told our landlord we're moving, have arranged movers and started packing, spoken to utilities, etc. I've pulled us out of two house sales this year after offering and then getting cold feet. In fact, when we first saw this one one of the main reasons I suggested we put an offer in was to ensure that we could get away from the previous one, as my wife really quite wanted to go ahead with it.
I know we'll not get our dream house right away, but I had thought it would feel different. With our last three places together, the moment I saw them I thought "YES this is it". I don't feel that for the new house. We do a lot of cooking and the kitchen is L-shaped, no dishwasher, old gas range. Feels like will need a lot of work to get up to snuff, but most of our savings are going into the downpayment. Overall rest of the house is absolutely lovely, but also quite highly priced for area. Friends bought similar in same area 5 years ago, needed a bit more work but was £100k less.
I feel like buying a £270k house with a £30k deposit +£5k in fees and having £45k left to play with would leave us in a better place than buying a £375k house with a £60k deposit + £8k in fees and having £12k to play with. Of course, wife would have no salary initially in the £270k home so £40k less per annum, and with Brexit looming job prospects are much less assured.
I don't think there's any way we'll back out now, and I'll just need to lump it for the next 5-10 years. My only advice to anyone out there is, actually talk about what you want out of a move. I made all sorts of assumptions about what my wife would be comfortable with, and expected her to guess what was on my mind instead of actually telling her. I have learned a lot about how selfish I've been, and how important saying what I actually think is rather than just what people want to hear.
I've been treating it like moving to a new rental where you can make a move if you change your mind, I'm locking myself in now. We'll be fine, just feel a bit frustrated about what might have been.