Is anyone else preparing to put their house on the market?

[Clettercletterthatsbetter]

I know, I know...we should have done it last year when the market was crazy busy but finances, family circumstances and whatnot meant that wasn’t possible and so we’re looking to sell our house and move this year.

Is there anyone else in the same boat who fancies a support thread to get us through?

We’ve had our place valued by 4 agents, have chosen one to go with and are currently doing a few minor bits to the house to get it in tip-top condition (filling old screw holes, a bit of touch-up painting and a good declutter) before we have photos taken.

Who else is looking to move in 2021?

I think it was just too much change and uncertainty after a year of that with home schooling / worry about grandparents and covid etc. Complicated by the fact they are adopted so have early memories of moving and losing absolutely everyone they knew

Which isn't to say we could never move, but they just don't have the resilience for it right now.

I am trying to be positive and think of this house in the same way I considered a new house - when virtual viewing I was thinking I would move that, re-do that, switch that around etc...but I think it gets difficult to "see" your own house in that way. Oddly, looking at the agent details for our place was quite helpful in looking at it objectively.

Is anyone concerned about economic issues in regards to moving?

We will be upsizing quite dramatically and I’m just worried we’re being silly doing something that like just now.

@MutteringDarkly my husband and I are really keen to move towns which would involve a school move but our eldest child just gets so upset when we even mention it so I know how you feel.

@Housebuyer2021 I am worried about that, but we can afford the new mortgage and we think DH’s job is secure, and mine might not be but I’d be able to freelance if I had to so wouldn’t be going from a salary to zero - would take a hit though. And I hope to stay in the new house for at least ten years so my main concern is being able to keep paying a mortgage rather than not making a profit.

I think everyone's worried about it to a point
I wouldn't be buying a house i might only live in a few years right now but this is meant to be the forever home

We're going to keep our same mortgage amount and terms but I still wonder if now is the right time
But then again yolo

I find it so frustrating that we can't move
It would be a welcome distraction from the grinding boredom of Groundhog Day lockdown
This house feels like such an albatross round our necks now
I feel bad complaining about it with other people so worse off tho

@Housebuyer2021

Is anyone concerned about economic issues in regards to moving?

We will be upsizing quite dramatically and I’m just worried we’re being silly doing something that like just now.

We'll be doing the same, however rationalising it by the fact that we have to live somewhere, and we need a bigger house.

Mortgage will be going up by about 60% of the current one, however we are in very secure jobs, and will continue to work from home for the foreseeable. DS nursery fees will stop in September when he starts reception, so there will be a bit extra in our pockets.

We're aiming to get a 5 year fixed mortgage for our new, forever house, then overpay, as we have been doing in our current house.

@Housebuyer2021 it worries me a little, but we need to move this year to be settled in a new area before DS’ school application. We’re also planning for this move to be to our ‘20 year house’, so hopefully we will ride out any price fluctuations.

Just spent all evening painting the kitchen following an afternoon deep cleaning the conservatory.

Forgot how much I hate bloody DIY 😖

We've done so many little jobs over the last six months or so. We replaced the following: a dripping kitchen tap (which also fixed an annoying water hammer issue), our rotten garden fence, several misted units of double glazing (although another has just blown ). We also had a new downstairs WC fitted, got new internal doors as the old ones were very scruffy, had some repointing done on the house and patio... it feels never ending some days! Now the new ish built in washing machine is playing up, so that's next on the list, along with redecorating the kitchen/diner.

I’m with you! Got to be in a new place by October for secondary school applications. Lots of decluttering and repairs to do so aiming to put it on early April when things might be a bit more positive..not sure if that might be cutting it fine time wise though...

Right - photos and floor plan have been done, now need to sort the paperwork the agents have sent through and we’ll be on the market! Eeek!

@ConcreteUnderpants how was your weekend of cleaning and tidying?

Manic weekend! Photographer just been and gone, so hopefully will have them back by Wednesday!
What about you, Cletter? As knackered and stressed as I am?!

Housebuyer, we are planning on moving to a property twice as expensive as our current one. Increasing the mortgage by more than double. I’m scared shitless, but regarding the property prices, I also plan on staying there for a long long time, so current fluctuations aren’t too much of a concern.

Yes same concerns here. Mortgage payments if one of us loses our job rather than worrying about selling later on. Glad it’s not just me!

@Housebuyer2021

Is anyone concerned about economic issues in regards to moving?

We will be upsizing quite dramatically and I’m just worried we’re being silly doing something that like just now.

yes, i feel a bit like that. we would be increasing our mortgage by about 30k which doesnt seem a lot, and is less than the increase last time we moved house but... i dunno. does seem a bit scary! It would mean about £150 extra mortgage payment per month which we currently easily can afford but if one of us lost our jobs or whatever it might be an issue, but then it would be an issue now too so! i dunno. Its really hard isnt it.

the other option we are thinking of is moving into another doer upper, but if there is a massive crash we might not make back whatever we put in and then might not be able to move again for a while.. but we would have more spare income to save if we wanted to move and didnt have enough equity i suppose.

feels like a bit of an impossible situation!

We started prepping our house to sell back in October 2020. Got the house valued, and started doing small jobs and decluttering to make it more attractive (it was very lived in, and neglected, to be honest). Once we started, we didn't stop.

And now we've spent a fortune, are mid-way through the redecorating and refurbishing and decluttering work, and we've decided that all these improvements to the space and decor mean that we'd like to stay!

That sounds like a good result, WellTidy - saves all the hassle of moving (and you've probably still spent less).

We're moving across the country, to be closer to family, so that's not an option for us. If we were staying around here, we wouldn't be selling - very happy with the house, but it's in the wrong location.

i wish staying was an option for us, the faff of selling is awful, but we inexplicably hate our house. Loved it when we viewed it but its not right. The house doesnt like us and we dont like it, no matter how much i try and pretty it up! (i sound mad, i know)

I'll join we want to put ours on in the next couple of months.

Its definitely cheaper than moving so far one - note sure it will be cheaper by the time we finish the refurbishing though! I keep seeing more and more things that need to be done!

@ConcreteUnderpants yep, very stressed here! The house looks lovely all tidy though - I’m wondering if I can get away with permanently getting rid of some of the stuff we temporarily hid in the garage without the kids noticing...

@TrustTheGeneGenie that doesn’t sound mad at all - we’re the same. We bought this house off-plan so we didn’t get to look around it before we moved in. The house itself is fine - functional, though bland and a bit small for us. But the estate isn’t what we hoped it would be - it’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but it doesn’t have the ‘feel’ we want. This house was the right thing for us at the time, but it’s never felt like it’s really ‘us’ and we both feel sure it’s time to move on. Now we just need someone to buy it!

Yes we are. Mid March. Houses are selling like hot cakes around here, (South Wales), up for 4 days and sold ! Got some stuff to do then it’s going up

Does anyone else get frustrated when people basically tell you no to bother doing X Y Z to the house before selling because it’s not worth it?

There’s stuff we absolutely will leave but some things I do think you need to do not even just from a value perspective but just to make it more appealing for selling!

I’m sick of people telling me to leave stuff when I know my house and I know what will help it sell! Argh.

DH & I are now planning to paint the en-suite in Feb half-term. Can do that in a day.
I guess we're fortunate in that we don't have to move this year but I've got very itchy feet!
We want to move a) for more space & b) to get into catchment for a better secondary school.
But DD is only in Yr1 at present so have a few years till it's required. I keep trying to convince myself that maybe the local secondary isn't that bad - buts it's been 'requires improvement' for over 6 years & has pretty poor results & a bullying problem.