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Original poster

Would you buy your house again!?

38 replies

frost8bite · 04/01/2020 20:38

DS was 4 months old when we bought. We were thinking get-on-the-property-ladder quick and then buy a proper house later.....
Its not the perfect house (zone 4 south east London) but we weren't fussed at the time

Long story short we are still here 4 years later with DD 1yr old as well, and filling out school choices and we're nicely positioned for the worst ones in the area :(
Broker says it will be 3 years before we can afford to move to a good catchment. What were we thinking!? Sigh

OP posts:

JoJoSM2 · 04/01/2020 21:20

You get go into waiting lists for the schools you prefer. So it might still work out.

Bunnybigears · 04/01/2020 21:25

Yes, the actual house is a crock of shit with damp, WW2 bomb damage, very old electrics and rotten floor boards BUT if we didnt live here my kids wouldnt have met their wonderful friends, joined their sports teams, gone to the schools they go to so no I wouldnt change it.

AnxiousandExcited · 04/01/2020 21:51

I like my house - also a first house but it's right for us. I had to renovate when we moved in and I did that all wrong, though. I think I would have spent a bit more on the reno and done it right - too late and can't afford it now!

Busymummy16 · 04/01/2020 21:57

Re schools, we are SE London and I wouldn’t worry about schools as so many people move out or change schools that you’ll probably have a good chance of getting a different school by years 1/2 if you go on the waiting lists. Good luck!

CountFosco · 04/01/2020 22:01

Yes, but we only bought it a year ago. Period property in a perfect location with a gorgeous modern extension and lovely garden with brick walls. We love it.

Choppersicballs · 04/01/2020 22:02

Yes because it was all we could afford and has allowed us to get on the bottom rung.

CakeAndGin · 04/01/2020 22:10

Given what else was in our budget and what was available at the time - yes. It was the worst of a bad bunch.

Doesn’t mean I’ve not spent the day on rightmove looking at houses and playing with the mortgage calculator though.

Ginger1982 · 04/01/2020 22:28

I like my house but the school catchment isn't the best (not the worst either) but if our house was in a better area then we couldn't have afforded it and at the time we were crying out for space.

Bluntness100 · 04/01/2020 22:30

Yes, but I've made mistakes before.

Shylo · 04/01/2020 22:32

No a this was my EX-DP’s choice and now we’ve separated I’m still stuck here next to the railway line with ridiculously small bedrooms and kitchen because my kids don’t want to leave their home ..... the minute they go to Uni I am out of here

ParkheadParadise · 04/01/2020 22:43

Yes I love my house.
We built it. It's exactly how we wanted it.
I used the company that does all the interiors for dh's business (house builder)to furnish and design each room.
Now we have dd it's in a great catchment area for schools, so we will never need to move. DH would probably like to live more rural, I dont.

fastliving · 04/01/2020 23:13

Ask me in 18months when I hopefully will have finished extending it and finally get a garden that I've always wanted!

lcarmichael · 04/01/2020 23:18

Whatever happened to being thankful for what you have? I'm stuck renting so think yourself privileged and lucky that you are actually a homeowner.
As for having to apply for the 'worst schools' that could come across purely as a snobby shallow attitude. You can't buy the meal eat it then complain afterwards?
A myriad of factors determine school ratings such as funding and attendance etc. Your LO could have the best time there with lovely teachers and children.
Just look at what you are blessed with rather what you don't have.

Gotanewname · 05/01/2020 08:38

Not in a million years. Beautiful house in the heat has turned out to be completely the wrong location. We really miss where we lived before, it was a terrible mistake. Seriously contemplating selling it or even just letting it out later in the year.

Gotanewname · 05/01/2020 08:38

In what has turned to be, that should say!

BitOfFun · 05/01/2020 08:46

Absolutely. It just feels like home, and I'd never leave it.

CarrotBarrot · 05/01/2020 08:57

Yes, given the location and potential. But I'd have made more of an effort to get a better price considering the amount of work we've (had to have) done.

I think the competitive nature and worries over 'good' schools nowadays is insane.

DaphneduM · 05/01/2020 10:11

Yes, but only been here six months. Our last home definitely. Perfect location in a village with pubs, shop, fish and chip shop and regular bus service into nearest city. But my husband can be in the countryside for long walks five minutes from our house. We've exchanged a pretty period cottage with large garden for a modern four bed with small private garden and a garage. Much easier to look after and am so looking forward to tweaking the garden and decorating to make it our own. Biggest joy? Being 30 minutes from my daughter, son-in-law and new grandson. She asked us if we would consider moving. Job done!!!!!

TyrannosaurusHex · 05/01/2020 12:18

No. Though technically I didn’t buy it as it was DH’s before we met. It’s best house/worst area (or at least it was before the forced gentrification started) and for all its pluses as an actually property the one thing I can’t change - where it is - is such a negative that it will never be somewhere I want to live. DH loves it though, and it costs so much to move (London property prices = huge stamp duty) that I just have to make the best of it and focus on the positives.

BrokenLogs · 05/01/2020 12:27

When we bought zone 3 SW London I wasn't convinced we'd done the right thing, but when we sold 7.5 years later it turned out we had made a good decision as it sold for 80% more than we bought it for 💁

Dd1 started at a school that needed improvement and y1 she had something like 8 teachers, although now it's doing well (she'd be in y4) .

We sold 18 months ago and bought mortgage free. Would I buy this house again? Probably, because it's close enough to my parents, not an impossible commute for db and generally ticks all the boxes.

I don't really believe in forever homes. So each one serves it's purposes.

You've bought a house in London - for many that's a pipedream!

Bouledeneige · 05/01/2020 22:06

Not now as my kids are going to university but it was an incredible investment and a brilliant move into a lovely area - great schools, parks and woodland, shops, cafes and restaurants. So technically if I was doing it again with a young family I'd jump at the chance.

The only way we could afford to get into the area was to buy a wreck that needed tons of work doing as it had been a flat and bedsits. It needed gutting, complete re-wiring, new bathroom and kitchen and it took about 5 years to make all the rooms habitable. I have had to re-do a number of things because we couldn't afford quality options when first done up. It was awful when we moved in with a 1 year old and I would never want to go through living in such a mess again.

But it was a great investment in a pricey area.

Weatherforducks · 05/01/2020 22:25

Yes! I would buy my last house again too, if we were in the same position, needed the same area etc. I think I always buy with my heart rather than my head. It’s when you come to sell up and have to try to look objectively at your house that those little compromises/annoyances resurface in the stark light of day and some of the things you could live with are absolute red lines for the majority.

MrsMoastyToasty · 05/01/2020 22:26

Yes I would buy it again. However I would have extended it differently.

ButterflyRuns · 05/01/2020 22:28

No, because it's only a smallish flat in the city centre and I wouldn't want to start a family in it. That said, it is a lovely flat and I don't regret buying it because it was right for me at the time, intending to sell it & tobuy a house with my DH.

Myyearmytime · 05/01/2020 22:39

I always buy for location. The houses them self always need lots of work which I never do as run out of money / time .
So bought this dump before I lost some of my sight which means the fact that there are buses going everywhere with walking distance ( I dont even have to cross a road ) means I got my life back .
So best move I ever made .

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