What's the shortest amount of time you've lived in an owned/mortgaged house before moving?

[Iloveangelslices]

and why?

Sorry to hear that it is taking such a toll on your mental health.

Life is messy as I said above, sometimes things don't work out how we hope they will or expect them to.

I think it's complicated if you try and move within 6 months so personally, I would commit to the house until next Summer say, then put it back on the market if you still feel the same way. Your mental health is more important than sticking with a house you hate and at least you know now exactly what you do want. It feels bad in this moment but it's not the end of the world, one day you will just look back on it and say well that was shit wasn't it? It will pass.

10 months. Made a 25% increase in equity on a flat and had the chance to buy a house for only £5k more than selling price of the flat and in a nicer area.

Thank you 🙏🏼 you’ve given me hope that my children will hopefully not remember this time.
I’ve been prescribed antidepressants and anxiety medication as it’s been so debilitating.

How did you cope and get through that period of time?

2 years. Broke even on it after selling fees and stamp duty etc. Hated the street but loved the house. Just shows it's location location location!

Thank you, I really hope I can reflect on this period in the way you describe. It’s such a horrible feeling.

4 years, wanted to move out day 6! Awful house such a bad vibe. Gives me shivers just looking at it on right move 😬

I think this is a good way to look at it. If you can afford to move and take the hit, then that’s fine. Your mental health is worth more than staying in a place you truly hate.

However, I think that new builds can also be fraught with stress. They really can be built badly and depending on the builder, they just don’t give a shit.

Use this time to weigh up the pros and cons of both. Do you really hate the area of the house? Or is it just the house? If it’s just the house, how much would it take (both money and emotionally) to fix the house?

I’ve done both and they were pretty much on a par in terms of stress level.

Can you put a finger on why you are finding your current house situation so stressful?

To the OP
Very interesting discussion! I hope that everything will work out with your house situation, and that you will feel better.

To @Alphabet1spaghetti2
How exciting to live on a narrowboat! What was it like/what is it like?

Also @Iloveangelslices read this thread. You are not alone.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4779628-im-unhappy-in-my-new-house-and-regret-buy-it-now

@SkaneTos loved it! Did it for 23 years (we both have become old apparently and being upside down in damp engine compartment in winter isn’t so nice🤣).

Met lovely people and had some cracking times, but it is hard work and so expensive. But we both like to be very independent of authority and others. Which narrowboating allowed us to be.

It’s a constantly evolving lifestyle and we did our share of campaigning for the narrowboat community - time to hand over the baton to young generations to shape it for their needs.

We moved at 20 months in our first house but market was rising so we made £20k which, with pay rises for dh and I, gave us a deposit to buy a family home. It was a happy home (tiny cottage) and the damp was horrendous (caused by the terrace on one side being a guy’s project house and him not fixing the hole in the roof even though it was grade 2 listed).

Well not me but the people we bought our house from were only here for 2 months before they put it back on the market. I've heard several different reasons why, no idea which is true but we've been here over 2 years now and we love it.

I didn't really cope at all. it was the worst time of my life BUT I got through it. and you will too.

Things that helped was house hunting and Pinterest (new house ideas!)

I'm glad you have meds. I needed them too and as soon as I had moved again I could gently come off them! it took about a year to fully recover afterwards

Just shy of 3 years when I was a child aged 11-14. We lived in a sleepy seaside village. My parents told me a few years later that they had been utterly miserable there because of arguments with the neighbour about a boundary. I knew about the arguments but I never picked up on how miserable they were and how it affected their health.

My dad was also tired of being my taxi service and wanted to move closer to the town where I went to school and socialised (I didn’t have any friends in the village, the kids were nice but my group of mates all lived in town and I was quite extrovert so always back and forth). Mum did not drive then, she learned at 50. Village life didn’t suit us as a family and my parents admit that the move was an error.

11 months, in a central London flat that turned out to be a mistake. It was over 20 years ago and a rising market so we still made about 80k on the sale. Financially it would probably have made better sense to stay, but I'm glad we didn't.

My suggestion would be to focus on getting it looking better, both for yourself and any potential buyers, and then take stock in 6 months. It's not a great time of year to move in to a new place, as nowhere looks its best in late November. You might feel very differently by the early summer.

@Alphabet1spaghetti2 Thank you for your answer! Wow, 23 years!
It sounds lovely, but I can understand that it's hard work!

2 years. DH died and I didn’t want to stay there without him.

Bought Sept 2015. Up for sale Feb 2017 and finally moved July 2017.

Had a job that meant a 104 mile commute per day (wasn't the case when we bought).

2 years.

We liked it ok, but moved area. It was a heart over head purchase as well, which often pans out well for us but had its downfalls in this instance.

About 18 months but had bought another house after 12 months. We'd relocated to that house for a job but didn't really settle and moved again (into the town about 5 miles away) as we liked that area better. DC were still young so thought it better to do it quickly and before they started school. Been in the house we moved to for nearly 20 years.

Basically the first move was a panic buy as I didn't want to commute. I'd been made redundant, I was the major wage earner and had got a new job 50 miles away. We looked for what we could move to quickly and didn't do enough research.

20 months. I bought in a hurry at the beginning of covid. The road was so noisy and the house felt claustrophobic. I spent a bit on a new kitchen and generally smartening it up then sold making a very nice profit, which enabled me to buy the house I am in now.
As somebody else said, don’t beat yourself up. It happens a lot but it takes a while to settle in a new house.

6 weeks - yes really

An unexpected change of job which required relocation meant we put the new house on the market the same day we moved in.

Accepted an offer that same day and moved out again 6 weeks later.

Made a £6k profit too which fortunately covered all the solicitors fees.

(Scottish system so no backing out once offers accepted)

4 years.

Split with my EXDP and wanted to be rid of the place as well as him. Caught on the post Covid wave when we sold, so made almost £100k during that time; receiving half of that plus half equity was great for starting my new life.

Have just accepted an offer on the house I bought 20 months ago so if that all goes smoothly it will be around 2 years. Lovely house but now my kid is finishing at the school we moved to be nearer for her, I've changed job so go to an office in a different city every fortnight and have since met my lovely partner so we are buying a house together near his children and nearer my work.

2 years - our first house together. It was a lovely three bed semi and when we bought it we planned to raise a family in it.

Two years later and no babies due to infertility but our incomes had gone up lots and we had lots of savings so we upgraded to a 4 bed detatched.

Stayed in that house 7 years before moving to a new and much more expensive area ( with better schools) when our eldest DC was almost two. Still here now 16 years on.