Unsure about New House

[DineDen]

We have been looking for a new house for a while. We've had an offer accepted this week, but I'm really unsure whether it is the right house for us. Is it normal to feel like that?

Background: Whilst our house was up for sale, there were a few houses that we liked that sold or were withdrawn from sale. We had to pull out of buying a bigger, posher house in our preferred location as it had structural problems.

The one we are now buying is in a slightly different area. DH and DS really liked the house and garden, I quite liked it. We had offers rejected on 3 other houses before our offer was accepted on this one. They had all been on the market for over a year, and we offered around 5-10% less than asking price, as it is in an area where prices look to be falling.

I'm suffering from doubts! I don't remember feeling like this on any of my previous house purchases. Help, should we pull out? Bearing in mind, I haven't found anywhere I necessarily like better, and we need to move quickly to keep our purchaser on board.

Do you really need to move? If not will the new house make you happier than your current one? If not wait until you find something you like and risk losing your buyer.

If you need to move could you move out somewhere for a few months while you find something?

Big fan of a pros and cons list, if you can figure out why you are having doubts it might help you decide if it's the right house for you.

Did you prefer the other houses where your bids 5-10% below were rejected?

I'm not sure TBH. I didn't really feel bad when the offers were rejected, apart from maybe one. I preferred the bigger house that we had to pull out of purchasing, as it was a beautiful, grand house, that we felt we would be proud to own. We knew it needed work, but the extra hidden problems were too much. And the town was our first choice, however it had almost no garden and possibly noisy business next door.

We definitely want to move, and had planned to do so for ages. It's taken a while to find a buyer, and we are relocating to a new area, again a long term plan. I think I'd imagined myself in a few of the houses, that were sold before we could buy them, and the one we had to give up. It's easy to remember the good features of the ones we now can't have, rather than the downsides too I guess.

We recently bought a house that I initially discounted. I worried a lot about whether we were settling for something cheaper and more compromised than we could afford and if we should have held out for something bigger on a better road. Now I’m so glad we bought this place - it’s a great house, we’ve been able to move forward with our lives and nothing better has come onto the market in the last six months. You could wait for the perfect place - but it could be a long wait and you might find you lose your buyers.

I do really feel for you! It’s so hard sometimes to find the right house. I remember how confused I got when I last moved which was a very long long time ago. There isn’t much on the market in many arears. I don’t have any answers I’m afraid.