Having a wobble about house we have chosen - tell me we made the right decision

[Coriandersucks]

We are moving to be closer to my family, about 200 miles away. Have a cash buyer for our house and had an offer accepted on a property and things moving along.

But I’m having a massive wobble. Whilst I’ve been desperate to move back home for the last 10 years, we are making huge compromises.

Our current house is old, full of character, we spent £30k renovating it and making it perfect. It has lovely views across the countryside.

Our new house is a new build so with two small children we thought this would be easy as little maintenance and no more renovating. And parking which will be a dream come true as we have a bit of a slog to get to our house from our car at the moment.

But we are losing two rooms (utility and a play room) so storage will be minimal I’m having to massively downsize. We are going from 11 cupboards and 7 drawers in the kitchen to 4 cupboards and 3 drawers. Plus losing all the storage we had in the utility.

I’m looking at extra shelving and an island that we can add in the kitchen and potentially one of those office things in the garden, so there will be ways around it but I just can’t help feeling we are taking a huge step back.

We also had to compromise on area. We have had to choose a large town over a small village which is what we are in now. It’s good as it has a swimming pool in walking distance and lots of shops but its certainly not pretty or rural.

I keep looking on rightmove to see if there are any other houses but there’s literally nothing - the market has ground to a halt in that county now so I think it’s a case of beggars can’t be choosers and I’m nervous of waiting til next year because who knows what position we will all be in by then.

I’m guessing it’s normal to feel like this when you love the house you live in but could do with some reassurance!

I would say if you want to move to the area and that is the best you can see within budget - & it has space where you can reorganise things - maybe over time - then do it.
As Kirsty always says - you can't necessarily have x house in y location.

& for me being able to walk to places rather than drive is always a bit plus but that's not everyone

If you hate the house that's a different matter - if you are prepared to move and rent and wait a year or two for a better house - that's a different matter . Unless there are perfect houses in the location you want to be in then there will be a compromise & just move and say goodbye to your current house a bit like the Apollo 13 astronauts - Fare thee well ( because it has served you well )

(Assuming you are not moving to the moon )

Ah best wishes to you @Coriandersucks

I grew up in a house with “lots of character”
Yes it was lovely having people visit and ooh and aah however I watched it consume my parents trying to maintain it.
Your children will start to grow and having local amenities, good school and a town plus a sturdy house that is easy to keep warm is worth a lot.
If you have the spare money you can go to town with making it unique through interior design. Also really worth getting s few kitchen designers in to see if they have a better way to lay out your kitchen. You honestly don’t need as much storage as you think as long as it’s cleverly laid out.

Mmmmm will you manage to sell it in a few years if you don’t like it? If it’s a less likely area to be able then I wouldn’t move as you will be stuck. If it’s a v popular town then this might be less of an issue.

One thing about new build estates is the kids will probably love it and have lots of friends and that might make you feel happier. But don’t get into a situation where you can’t sell!

Personally I think we all have too much “stuff” and that it’s not a lack of storage but stuff we have more than we need. I cleared out our winter hats yesterday bemoaning our lack of storage and realised we have about five winter hats each!

We are just waiting to move, but are deliberately downsizing, and I have had a wobble too.
We are 'losing' 3 rooms, lots of storage too, but like yoik moving closer to amenities, friends etc.,

What has helped me is we have a motorhome. We quite happily lived in it for 13 weeks, touring the UK last year and survived.
We have hired tiny holiday cottages and been quite happy.
We have spent weeks in hotel rooms and been content.

We need a lot less space than we think, we just want more!
I am madly decluttering and to be honest its quite liberating, the amount of 'stuff' we have accumulated is mad.
Go ahead, enjoy your move. You will find places for everything - a lovely island, lots of open shelves, a beautiful dresser - there are solutions to everything. The house doesnt matter, it is the lifestyle you are looking for.

Good luck!

Op, I was you last year. We sold our gorgeous 300 year old detached farmhouse in a semi-rural village, and moved into a large end terraced in the city centre near my family. We moved to benefit from the equity we had (our mortgage is about 40% loan to value now), get more help with childcare and be closer to our jobs. I still miss my old house. The garden, the character, the safety of a rural area. Our new house is huge, has a different sort of character but there's no denying it's in a city centre. Petty crime, a real mixture of people walking through. I don't regret moving though as we have a great quality of life and are comfortable financially. I don't like having neighbours but do like the fact my street is a lovely community with children for my daughter to play with. There are more negatives with the area that we often moan about, but we'd probably still move if we did it again. I've probably been no help but what I'm saying is, you'll probably continue to regret moving once you've moved, but you'll certainly rationalise it xx