How to deal with moving stress

[FasterMichelin]

Our house move has been awful. We offered in March and what should have been a straight forward move with only 3 parties in the chain has turned into a nightmare.

Solicitors have found issues and it's taking months to work through. We're now at a stage where mortgage offers are due to expire and yet another delay

My mental health is in tatters. I can't deal with feeling so out of control and powerless. I'm trying to chase solicitors and estate agents regularly but it's making no difference and the delays are now risking our chain.

Any advice on handling stressful moves? There have been times when it's gotten me very low and I've felt like pulling out and forgetting the whole thing.

Sorry that your move is proving so stressful.

If your mortgage offer is about to expire you can ask your Lender to extend it - most will extend by about a month if necessary. It sounds as though you are getting close to the end of the process.

The process is awful I know. All you can really do is keep going forward. Maybe join the thread on here for people trying to buy a house if you haven’t already? It is a place to vent and shows you aren’t alone.

The thread I mentioned is called the new buyers/sellers waiting room.

Are you doing anything such as extra yoga, meditation or exercise? When stress goes up, it helps to increase stress mitigation.

Accepting we are not in control is hard, but you have to find a way to deal with that. I've been there, it's hard, but ultimately if the chain breaks it breaks.

Sending you love. I've just had to step back from a purchase after 10 months. It fell through then it was on again, but even though I loved the place, I can't cope with the mental health issues at the moment. I wish I could as house prices are likely to go up. I wish I had the answers. It is so hard. I've gone on anti depressants to cope.

I'm so sorry OP, it sounds like a nightmare!
We're currently moving again and remembering how stressful it all is and how much is out of your control. I try to distract myself by arranging stuff like meeting up with friends, long walks, hobbies and lots of self care- yoga, pampering etc I may not have time for in the flurry of moving.
The process usually works eventually albeit with some bumps along the way but ultimately there's often not much you can do other than leave the professionals to it.
Do you have a good relationship with anyone involved - a solicitor, estate agent etc?
I've found one of the team at our agent who is brilliant so I try to limit my contact to the odd call to her and she seems to get answers.

@standardmum I've actually had to step away from communicating with our solicitor as it was too stressful, when we spoke I felt like it was an emotional rollercoaster that my nerves just can't take. Works busy, kids busy, and I couldn't take this on top so it's now down to my husband to get the updates.

I've swung from love to apathy to excitement to disappointment so much in the process that I'm now just shot.

I'm crap at self care unfortunately but am trying to remove myself from the stress so I can focus on other parts of my life.

I'm scared of losing the house as it's our unicorn house. For us, it's the only house we've considered in our area in a long time that's within our budget, which adds to the pressure.

@Oakbutterfly I'm so sorry you've experienced similar and good for you for knowing your limits and protecting yourself. I was VERY close to this last week, just calling quits. Luckily there's been a little progress in the past few days but I'm still on the edge.

I've also considered getting medication to help but I'm trying to see it as a temporary situation but if it continues I may need to.

I wish you all the best and hope it all works out for the best and you find your dream property once you're feeling better. Big hugs.

Thanks @Twiglets1 will take a look.

I can totally relate to this. We exchanged contracts yesterday after a 10 month process, and we're finally moving next week.
It's been a total rollercoaster of emotions, but try to remember that in 5-10 years time when you're settled it won't matter and you won't remember how bad it was to get there.
I had really amazing estate agents that held our hands through all this time and neighbours and friends always willing to listen to us moan! We booked a last minute holiday back in August to get our minds off things for a bit.
Its so frustrating that you can't do much about it and I'm a total control freak, so I had a really tough time letting go.
But it will happen eventually! Try to focus on positives - maybe you can get a better interest rate now!
Good luck!!!