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?

(People arguing about other people's working preferences - can we just quit it? That wasn't the point of the post. Each to their own. Respect difference)

Our current house is perfectly good. It's really modern, just probably a touch too narrow and pokey and will become a squeeze if we have a second child. Small garden too but we live 15 mins walk to a big London park so it's fine....

The big thing that's put me off since seeing the other house is renovation cost. The steep garden would need major overhaul. The interiors were all a bit 90's and worn. So even after the cost of an extension, you'd be forever finding more jobs. And with a hyper toddler? Sounds like stress. I like our life now. We know a couple of families nearby who are struggling with renovations all going over budget, stuff going wrong etc. It's no longer as financially 'clever' to renovate as costs and mats have gone up so much and there's a labour shortage post Brexit.

If the house had been cheaper, or interest rates cheaper, or we had capital to pay for the renovation, I'd go for it. I just can't justify the idyllic street costing £1374 a month more...!

If anyone else is in a similar position to me, I still recommend going to view the temptation house. It's the only way you can reach your own conclusion.

@StationeryNerd apologies if you found my posts annoying. I was trying to help you decide whether bigger payment/potentially longer working would be worth it.

I'm glad you've reached a conclusion about whether the move is financially viable. I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for, which may even be the house you're in now, which you've obviously spent time and effort to make into a lovely home.

You've had some great advice on this thread. I thought the best advice was to create a list of all the things you love about 'perfect street' and see if you can find that elsewhere with a house that doesn't need quite so much work.

Best of luck.