We’re on the cusp of exchanging contracts and I feel really sad.
We used to live near Oxford in a beautiful but tiny cottage which, with 2 children, poorly paid jobs and not enough money to reasonably upsize we sold 6 years ago to move north with much better jobs.
That move was a wrench and due to lockdowns, sale delays etc, after a period of 18 months squatting at my parent’s house we had to make a decision and decided to move to my home town (never thought I’d move back!). I had a lot of reservations (schools being a big one) but my partner loves the town and I could see some benefits for the kids (lots of fresh air and countryside being a big plus).
We found our dream home, something we never thought we would be able to buy, newly-renovated and just beautiful. Everyone was amazed when we bought it and we were so proud of ourselves and excited.
However, a little bit of decorating quickly turned in to a lot of heavy-duty DIY, living in a building site and spending every weekend and evening trying to fix it up due to hidden issues. It’s been a terrible 4 and a half years with the house and other things that have happened and partly due to both, it’s been a very unhappy 4 years.
We decided over a year ago to sell, move closer to family and to somewhere with good schools to take away some of the worry. Our mortgage is due to rise in summer on the current house and due to the rise in value on this one we could pay off a big chunk of the mortgage.
We frantically finished all the urgent jobs last year, put it on the market and had an offer in the first week. We’ve since, for the first time, been able to invite friends over and we’ve had people gushing over the house which has put things in to perspective a bit and we realise how lucky we’ve been to have this. The kids are also gutted and terrified about moving so I have a lot of guilt going on.
The new house is lovely (and needs minimal work!) but not as dramatic as our current home, it’s a much more “normal” house. It’s near an excellent school though, pretty, although quiet, village and closer to grandparents. It’s not my dream home but it’s nice.
I feel like we’ve failed. If me from 4 years ago could see what was happening now I’d be in disbelief that we were selling the house. We’re also moving away from friends (some of whom can’t understand our reasoning) and I’m worried we’re going to be very lonely.
Has anyone else bought a dream home and then downsized/ had to sell?