Hello wise mumsnetters,
Inspired by the post on AIBU about upsizing, I'm hoping for some advice/outside perspectives on our housing situation!
We live in an expensive part of the SE (commuter-ish town) and bought our house, a 2-bed semi, 5 years ago. We bought the house with the view to living in it 3-5 years. Fast forward to 2021 and 2 children, and we are practically bursting at the seams. After to-ing and fro-ing for a while and viewing some other houses locally, we realised it was far more economical to extend our house than buy. We will hopefully start building a loft extension this summer. This will give DC2 a bedroom and an office space for both me and DH. We do love many things about our house but I don't see us living here in 10 years and I don't want to live in this area forever. It's also unlikely that we could afford to upsize to the kind of house we'd love, as it's so expensive around here.
We've had itchy feet for quite a while and have considered moving area. Pre-Covid, we visited various places within commutable distance of DH's work (I am self-employed so can work anywhere) but nowhere really grabbed us or had a pull factor apart from housing. We'd love to live nearer our families but have ruled out the areas where they live, for various reasons. Thanks to the pandemic, it looks like DH may be able to work much more remotely going forward, which would allow us to move further away. As well as wanting a bigger house, we'd love to be in an area that's a bit less built up, nearer the countryside/coast but also not too rural.
The thing is, the longer we live here the more difficult the thought of uprooting feels. I've lived locally for 15 years and my husband almost all his life. We have a lot of friends here, and since having my DC I've made a really lovely group of mum friends. My DD started school last year and we love her school. I know it'd be easier to move while our children are small but I'm also reluctant to give up what we have right now. I've done two major moves in my life (once moving country) and the thought of starting over again is scary when where we live is comfortable for now, if not the forever ideal. I'm also aware of the grass being greener on the other side, when in fact we do have a nice house that will eventually be bigger, great neighbours, community, friends and excellent amenities on our doorstep.
What would you do if you were us? Bite the bullet and try and find a new area to move to, or stick with what we have here?