Went for a nosey. Fallen in love with a house. But am I being rash?

[sellotape12]

Anyone ever brought forward their plans to capture a house that’s just perfect?
We have an 11 month old. We hadn’t mentally planned on moving until late 2024 (arbitrary). And in this economy we figured just hunker down - our own house is more then adequate and we’re really lucky.

but I accidentally fell into an estate agents this week and let them show me a house in the next postcode that has honestly given me butterflies. I wasn’t expecting to feel that way. Now I’m wonder if we put ours on the market to try and secure this. But in this economy? When we’re about to start monthly nursery fees? We could do it but it’d be tight for a few years although obviously not dangerously so. It feels reckless though. I guess I’m ready for a change having looked at my own walls for so long whilst on mat leave.

FYI in a coincidence there are 2 on the same estate. One is an empty nester chain free but the house is a bit 90’s in terms of design so would need a new kitchen and bathroom. One is much nicer but is a divorcing couple so not sure which is least risky?

whats everyone else’s experience with life plans?

Yup.

We had been talking about a move up north (I have horses and want land to have them at home) but it was the worst possible time with jobs/finances.

Then the perfect one came up for sale. We managed to sell ours in time to secure it and now waiting (trying to be patient!) for the move.

Its an entire life change, it’s 200 miles away from everything and everyone I know but it’s a stunning property with everything I could want.

Wow good for you! I think that’s totally fine because it meets your values. You know your hobbies and what makes life more happy for you. Good on you. And the 200 miles thing is doable; you just plan it more. Those trips to see people become something to look forward to.To be honest, even with our friends living under 3 miles we still don’t see them more often than every two months - kids and life get in the way.

Can I ask, did you end up taking a stupidly low price on yours to secure the next one? Did agents use and abuse your position to rush you into a quick sale?

Yeah we did the same, put the house on the market after seeing a house we loved and I've fallen out of love with our house (since my neighbour uses noisy power tools in his garden all the time) my house has been up for nearly a month now though and viewings are slowing down and doubt we'll see much movement till Jan now. We have a 2.5 year old so understand the cabin fever from mat leave too. I use to make an excuse to leave the house every day even in lockdown.

Hopefully our nursery bill should reduce significantly when he turns 3 though. I work part time but it is so expensive even with tax free childcare so definitely make sure you factor that into the budget. X Good luck.

@sellotape12 no, we were pretty lucky to be honest. I mean the estate agent had his own agenda (our buyers still had to sell and sold through them as well in the end) but he got the job done.

We were able to put an offer on the property we wanted before ours was sold which I appreciate is rare! There wasn’t really any other interest and we were confident of a quick sale so we negotiated an extra 5k in exchange for a 2 week grace period.

We accepted an offer of 5k under asking within those 2 weeks. They did advise at marketing 10k less than we did to get a quick sale but we decided not to based on what other properties in the area were selling for. We also only bought current house 18 months ago and they had 3 offers at asking on the first day of viewings - it’s a lovely house in a good location…it just doesn’t work for us.

We turned it on them really - basically they had to get the house sold in 2 weeks or we wouldn’t be moving as this was the only property we wanted.

Ultimately life is for living. I have concerns about the cost of the upkeep of new property due to the land and it’s over 300 years old and my job pays less up there but we have plans for how to deal with that (despite initial pay cut, my salary will still increase significantly in the next few years as I’m public sector and pay is banded in years of service), will save a fair bit of money having horses at home. If mortgage rates and electric bills really bite we may have to accept a lodger for a year or so but hopefully it won’t come to that.

My Husband had been saying we should move for the past year. I was quite happy to stay put and improve what we have but was lazily looking at Rightmove and sending him links to properties. He fell in love with one and made me fall in love with it. Our house was on the market within 2 weeks. It's been on for a couple of weeks now. I'm slightly cursing the fact that we didn't have photos done when the garden was full of annual flowers and the house was bright but I've made peace with it now.

If you can afford it - do it. Not easy to find what you want tbh. Divorce one sounds easier because they are likely to move into rented (ask) therefore chainfree. Ask about both chains before concluding- estate agents will tell you but you have to ask

Unless it is a health risk, nobody really needs a new kitchen or bathroom immediately. If the house is the right one, you can always wait and do it when you have saved up a bit, rather than getting stuck with a worse house (smaller garden, or whatever- things that can't be changed) with a nicer bathroom. I have seldom if never seen a more ghastly bathroom than mine, and we've been here 3 years and it will be some time before we get to doing it. It's so awful I have resorted to tile paint to at least get cream walls rather than brown and green speckly ones. I'd always go for the better house than the better decor.

Buying from a divorcing couple can be a nightmare if they don't agree on things. Despite things being in theory settled by the court before we offered, our vendors went back to the court at least 3 further times during our purchase, and it took over 6 months though there was no chain on either side. We had the time to wait, as we weren't selling, but if we had been I think the stress, already bad enough, would have finished me off. You need endless patience with that sort of sale. Which I do not have, but fortunately Mr BlueMongoose does.

Tell us why this is THE property though. With a small child you need to think ahead to schools.

Yes it’s in the catchment for 2 OFSTED Outstanding primaries (as is our current house). It’s also in a conservation area so tends to hold value. And near a good park and public transport route. Our current house is very narrow and very small garden.

Inapicklee this sounds like the best of both strategy and emotions at work. You need to think long term. I’m going to sleep on it

Yes very good points. It’s not a health hazard house, just looks like a museum from the 90’s. It’s livable for sure.

I actually don’t know if the couple in the other, more modern house are divorcing or separating. There are no dependents. Weirdly they only purchased it in 2012! But for 18% less. And I’m conscious that is a bit of a chill coming to the market… I’ll have to find out from the agent what the real situation is for both parties.

This was meant to say in 2021, so about 18 months ago. Obviously they put their money into renovating it and are now looking for an 18% price increase in a much colder market.

Before you get invested in the outstanding schools, check when they were last inspected. Ofsted are now inspecting all outstanding schools and the vast majority are being downgraded. It may have been years since the last inspection and schools do change.

Otherwise, it's good to follow your heart sometimes. We moved a year ahead of schedule, had to make compromises as a family but, a year on, it was worth it.

Good point @ShaunaTheSheep We live in the catchment area for a school that was rated outstanding from at least my early teens (early noughties). I still remember the local property newspaper highlighting houses in the catchment area and for years it's been the only outstanding school within an hour of where we live. In 2014 it turned into an academy and the new Ofsted rating was good. Everyone assumed it would go back to outstanding soon enough. They finally had a new inspection earlier this year and it's come back as requiring improvement.