Rent bigger house while both working from home?

[Tigersocks88]

My husband & I are really struggling to WFH in our small property.

We can afford it - But would we be stupid to find a bigger house to rent for the next 6 months? (Or longer if WFH goes on for longer)

I woke up in the night panicking about the idea. But we’re both really struggling in such a small house with our DC. We’ve both ended up crying and feeling really low.

DH and I get on really well. But we’re both feeling claustrophobic.

Would you move back into your house at the end? What would you do with it in the interim?

I guess we’d leave the “tiny house” empty (ish) and take advantage of renting by putting the tiny house on the market.

Then I guess we’ll be in a good chain free position for a bigger house - we know it’ll take months for the conveyancing to go through though.

I that case I would. Seems sensible if you can afford it, you can move at your leisure and be chain free.
If you were planning to move back in that would be crazy, but if you're re9to up size it seems fine.

It depends really. How small is small? How much is your mortgage and how much could you rent your house out for? How much would rent on new house be? So many variables before deciding if it’s a good idea or not!

55sqm small!

Would have never bought the house knowing we’d have to WFH and Homeschool

2020 what a tricky year.

I think I’m too scared to work out the sums but I will anyway. We bought the house in early 2020. The worst thing we’ve ever done but I guess we didn’t know there’d be a pandemic like this.

His employers have suggested that he’ll be WFH until sometime in 2021

Oh flipping heck you've only been there a few months then? I assumed you'd organically outgrown it and this was just giving you a nudge to move.
Why did you chose such a small house, there must have been reasons - will the reasons still be there post Covid?
Can you bung an office room in the garden or suchlike?

Can you add a home office in the garden?

@Darkestseasonofall we wanted to get on the property ladder and thought if we bought a small house then our mortgage would be low and it would be great to pay it off ASAP.

Home office in the garden might work!

I just spoke to an estate agent and they said many people are feeling the same way about their houses now.

We feel like numpties. I think we’ll probably hang on here.

I hope 2020 will be a distant memory soon

2020 can definitely do one!!
Could you rent a caravan/chalet type thing for the year? Take it in turns to “work” from there? Might be cheaper? Home office is a good idea though.

I don’t know why I put “work” in inverted commas, I’m not suggesting you’re not working sorry OP

That is exactly what we did OP. It's been an absolute game changer. We are all able to spread around. There are three desks in different room so we can both work and our eldest can do her work. The toddler tends to roam but I put my desk in the playroom so I can look after him while he plays. It feels like we can all breathe again.

And in the meantime we cleaned our property up and put it on the market. It sold immediately after lockdown which I think is because it was empty and we were able to present it nicely.

Hopefully this will also put us in a good negotiating position when we decide to buy a bigger house.

@SandysMam that made me laugh 😂 good idea too!

@Dogsandbabies oh wow you have given me hope! How did it feel paying for two properties at once? Did anyone think you were bonkers? Sounds idyllic!!

We actually want to move town closer to work. This could solve a few issues!

@Tigersocks88

Paying for the two properties has been painful but we can afford it, so for us it was worth it.

We went from 65sqm to 140sqm with two kids so it has been a huge improvement.

We have also been lucky that we sold so quickly. Although we did put in work and priced it well.

Also keep in mind though that it's not just the mortgage, but the utilities (albeit reduced) and the council tax that you will need to pay double.

@Dogsandbabies oh yeah I budgeted for double council tax and almost cried!

I think we’ll keep going for another month - see how it goes. But at times we’re feeling claustrophobic and panic. So if it keeps happening we’ll just have to make the move!