Sod's law. Lovely house back on market 1 year later - but by now we've spent ££ on our own house. Thoughts?

[StationeryNerd]

Just did a lot of swearing. A year ago we went through the painful experience of losing out on our 'dream' house on a nearby street. Why? Our ftb buyers gazundered us. We lost the onward purchase, despite scrabbling around to find another FTB. But then we emotionally moved on. My husband and I took £10k out of our life savings to glow up our current house to fall back in love with it again. Which we have. So we've changed the kitchen and added a couple of other things.

Well no surprise - now the house next door to the one we wanted to buy is coming onto the market.

The agent called me personally this afternoon. Question - do we go and see it anyway even though we've now invested cash into our current place?

Pro compared with our current house:

• it's not near a main road (our current is near to a main road)
• it's near the woods, families say their kids go and play together
• it's a Play Street, so closed to cars every other weekend
• it's got a front garden, our current is straight onto street

Cons compared with our current house

• It's further from the nursery, and we wouldn't want to change. So longer nursery commute for 2 more years.
• It needs a touch of work, whereas ours now is modern and finished. Nothing major needs doing, but new kitchen and redecorating.
• It's a bit more expensive, but once nursery fees are finished in 2 years, is just about do-able.
• ... Can I hope with the emotional turmoil that is the UK house buying process all over again?!

what would you do?

I’d go and look at the house and see what you think. The 10k you have spent on current house isn’t an awful lot in the grand scheme of things.

I would be round there like a shot

Go and have a look.

It might not be right when you see it.

If it is perfect, the market is lower so you can realistically make a lower offer than the advertised price, and the work you’ve put into your house should help that sell. Hopefully.

Personally, I would forget about it. Review again in 2 years when the nursery fees end. Ask the EA to remove you from their lists

Also, as an aside, I worry about Play streets- surely it's not a good idea to get kids used to playing in the street, especially if it's not closed every weekend? False sense of security?

Presumably to money you’ve spent you can recoup, you may even make a bit on it.

Absolutely go and see it.
If you live it the £10k spent will have made yours more saleable.
Maybe you won’t like it and will then be content where you are

You’ve probably made money on the one you’re in. At least have a look. So you can’t regret it later

I'd go and have a look - you might not feel the same about it anyway

Ask the agent to come and revalue yours and go and see the other house to see if you still love it. And then do the maths.

I’m a true believer of having no regrets in life. If you don’t look, you’ll never know

So it's no bigger etc, just in a better location? How will you manage for the next two years whilst still paying nursery fees, if the costs are only just doable when nursery has finished?

I'd go and look, but keep my head very firmly screwed on. Do you have the appetite for doing up a house just after finishing one? Is the price difference worth the reduction in quality of life?

Yeah possibly, but i guess there's no guarantee. Some of the things we used the money for aren't cosmetic or visible, e.g. switching out for high quality glass in a door and really nice taps. It was the stuff we knew we would benefit from if we were staying, but might not necessarily be profit-generating for a prospective buyer. I guess there's no harm in seeing though?!

Go on, you know you want to.

Yes this is exactly the rational thinking I need to apply. At the moment our house is affordable so we're lucky enough to be overpaying the mortgage. The other is more expensive but never to the point we'd not be able to eat or socialise or save - just less saving, and domestic holiday rather than foreign holiday. Gosh this sounds so snobby when I write it down! We're actually fairly square and don't go out all that much, I just mean we've been able to save a decent amount by paying down.
Another way to look at it is: if we stay - we can retire at 55. If we move to this being the final house, we'd still need to work until 65, ish.

All good points you make. Need to do some sensible thinking.

maybe not quite 65, would need to do the maths

High end finishes could increase your house value, people do like these little touches.

Doable in two years after nursery, means it isn’t doable now. What happens if nursery fees increase? How much of an increase in nursery fees can you absorb without getting into trouble, particularly with everything else increasing?

I started the house move process last year and it’s really shit. We got our house in the end and I’m glad we’re in the new house but it was a really big slog last year. Especially with a toddler. I also wouldn’t see a front garden as benefit. Our old house had one and this one doesn’t. It’s just extra maintenance. Nobody actually uses their front garden and there are other ways to increase kerb appeal that are much less maintenance.

As a FTB who's been waiting a long time, I'm chomping at the bit to buy a house that's been nicely refurbished, as you describe your current home. The housing stock coming to market this year has either been vastly overpriced or are stuck in the 1970s. If you price really realistically, you could find folks fighting to buy it.

I say go for it. At the very least, have a viewing.

Definitely go to see it. You might be remembering it as so brilliant because it's the one that got away.
Go with a cool head and critical eyes and look at it afresh. You might think it's actually nothing special. Or you might think, blimey, I love it and will move heaven and earth to get it.

@StationeryNerd Blimey, retired at 55! I honestly wouldn’t know what I’d do with myself!! You’re likely to have another 35 -40 years left
I have a big mortgage on a big house that I absolutely love, I work hard doing a job which is part of me. I’m planning on working and living this life( I may reduce my hours a little) until I can’t do it anymore.

£10k is a relatively small amount over the lifecycle of homeownership (assuming you still have the means to purchase) many people will spend that over a period decorating. I would go view. But hope I didn't like it because it's so stressful!

Although re-reading your pros and cons I'm not sure sure it is worth the stress and turmoil of selling and buying, that alone is SO expensive and just awful to go through, for what sounds like quite minimal benefit really? So actually I change my mind, stay put and enjoy your house :)

Ah thank so much! We heard the opposite from agents. Some agents told us that FTBs have this fantasy of a doer-upper. Having being in that position with our current house when we first got it, never again. Renovation was so stressful and 100% of your free time and conversation goes to it. Plus after Brexit, apparently it's not financially the smart thing to do since building materials cost so much. I guess there's always a subset of FTBs who see Instagram content stuff and think "ooh how nice and romantic would it be to take something back to brick!"

well let me tell you it's not 🤪

Thanks, that's a really sensible response. Part of me hopes it's awful just to put the thing to bed. It's like the last temptation...
but we'll try be as cool and rational as possible. A full year off and all the reflection that went into it has helped with that actually. There was no buyer remorse but it didn't succeed, but we still got to live through the complex post-purchase emotion, if that makes sense.

Are people missing that it's not the same house that you originally wanted to buy, but the one next door? So you would be neighbours with the people now living in your dream house?
I would stay put personally.