Stay or move?

[Jujuball]

Hoping for some impartial opinions!

For background, DH and I own our house (3 bed 1930s semi) and have lived here for about 5 years, it is our first house. We don't have any DC but would like one or two in the future. We're both 27 and think we'd like to try for our first DC in probably 2-3 years time. Current house (NW) is worth about £140k at present and needs a new kitchen and decoration in the living and dining rooms, the (big) hall and all of upstairs are done, including the bathroom. We owe about £94k on the mortgage at the moment and the payments are about 1/10 of our joint take home monthly pay so lots of money spare for holidays etc.

We put our house on the market in Feb this year hoping to move to something slightly bigger on the outskirts of our hometown. Our current house is very central and we'd like to be a little more out in the countryside in a village, but not isolated. We're looking at houses around about £280-300k so it would be a big jump in our borrowing.

Unfortunately, we've had tonnes of viewings but no offers on our house. Most of the comments are about the lack of off-street parking, or that the garden isn't big enough, which obviously we can't change. Of course, COVID hasn't helped us either!

As it's been a while, I'm getting more and more stressed and down over the lack of interest in our house and the endless prep for viewings with no success. Im quite an anxious person and it's getting to me I'm starting to wonder whether to stay put for longer and put in a new kitchen/do the rest of the work on the house and think about moving again in maybe another couple of years? Our current house is big enough to have DC here but I like the idea of moving to a nicer area before kids.

WWYD? I feel like our lives are a bit on hold not being able to either get on with moving or finish doing the house up and feel like I need to decide either way. DH wants to move too but would be happy to stay if I wanted, he's pretty easy going

Sorry this was long !

Is it priced accurately? If there's little interest, the most obvious explaination is the price.

It's priced fairly for the condition, size and area when looking at comparable sales. As I say we've had loads of viewings so price doesn't seem to be an issue, the agent thinks it's well priced. We've actually reduced it a bit too.

If you've priced it correctly then it may be that it's because of the Covid slowdown that you're not selling. Maybe your area is particularly affected by redundancies?

Possibly, I'm not sure.

I'm still interested to know whether others would stay put or move in my situation though, regardless of why our house hasn't sold yet? My friends either aren't homeowners or have very recently bought houses so I'd appreciate some outside opinions.

Well tbh moving isn't an option if there's no offers unless you aer willing to lower the price which may well lead to an offer. If you can afford accepting less, try that. You can stay for a while and do renovations, but many predict the slump in orices in about 6 onths when redundancies happens (and yours is a younger buyer market, as it sounds).

*happen (and many other typos, sorry)

I know you've reduced already, but possibly not enough...

I think you're going to have to say, right if it's not sold by Sept/Oct then you're going to stay for another few years.

Fwiw, your house sounds more than fine for the next few years.

I had 2 DC in a 2 bed end terrace in London with only on street parking, and only moved because we moved back to Australia.

We were planning to move again soon too but now dh thinks we need to wait 2 years. I was surprised because he's been the one pushing our next move, but he works in finance (not banking) and he's worried about what's coming down the line.

So I would stay put, paint the lounge room and see what you can do to do up the kitchen without spending too much.

Being central and having the luxury to enjoy your mat leave will be priceless when the time comes.

I appreciate the comments about reducing the price again, I know everyone is trying to help, and we probably will do that if we decide we're definitely going to move. But I'm not really asking why my house hasn't sold, whether we should reduce again or how to generate more interest.

I'm asking whether you would press on with trying to move in our circumstances (which would then entail reducing etc.) or if you'd stay put for a while longer and do the outstanding work to the house?

Thanks @ReefTeeth that's really helpful I hadn't thought of the benefits of being central on mat leave, I'd just romanticised the idea of going for pram walks in a pretty village instead the lower mortgage payments would be helpful during that time too I guess. Argh it's so hard !

So if it is a three bed house, and you don’t have children yet. You can stay put a bit longer.

Are you over paying your mortgage? If your monthly payment is only 1/10 of your joint take home income, you can afford pay off more? But the if holidays are higher on the priority, ignore that.

I would wait a while, have a child, do some work on the house and improve the budget for the next house. In the mean time, I would watch the house market in the desired areas like a hawk and get a good sense of sold prices.

Hi @mothergooseinnorthwest, thank you for your reply

Oops posted too soon!!

Yes the house is big enough for even 2 kids to be honest - 2 big double bedrooms and 1 smaller single room, but would be fine for a child probably up to teen years if necessary.

We aren't overpaying the mortgage just because we've been doing a mix of nice holidays/saving a "safety cushion"/spending on home improvements/now more recently, putting savings aside to move. If we stay we'll probably use some savings and take out a loan to finish off the work to be done to the house (new kitchen, living room and dining room) and buy a camper van to be honest

All the sensible-ness in my head is now leaning towards staying here a bit longer, but I can't seem to shake the want to be in the countryside at the moment

On mat leave I would have loved to have nice cafes in easy walking distance, it was about 25mins to walk to the local town. If you have good wide pavements for prams, shops and cafes and a park or some green space nearby then that’s perfect for tiny babies. For toddlers parks and soft plays in walking distance are great. Do the areas you’re looking at have amenities or would you have to drive everywhere? Can you park easily where you live at the moment? Nice to have easy parking with small people.

What are the schools like where you live and where you would look to move to?

If you have good amenities and schools in your current location then I would probably stay put, unless the area is unsafe and spend a bit of money improving the house. You will enjoy it more and will make it easier to sell on in the future if that’s what you decide to do.

Hi @Cottipus

Where we'd ideally like to move to would be in/on the edge of a village so walkable to a little shop (or just to get out with baby and dog for a nice walk).

Where we are now isn't rough or unsafe but it's not super "nice" either. Lots of schools nearby that are pretty average as far as I'm aware. The schools where we'd like to move to are rated outstanding (although that could obviously change by the time we got to that point anyway).

The parking where we currently are is on street and maybe 15m from the house, as the actual access to the house is pedestrian only (so not great tbh and the reason most viewers are put off!). The houses we're looking at would have both a driveway and a garage.

Thanks for clarifying @Jujuball. The lack of parking might be a bit of a faff with carrying a tiny baby. The schools being better in the village is a consideration but not something that needs addressing for a while.

I suppose it will come down to how much you want to move (which it sounds like you do), and whether you would be willing to accept a price reduction for a fast sale.