What costs surprised you during/after a house move?

[DavidG87]

Hi all,

Family of 4 here! When we were house hunting we realised quite quickly that the “affordable” number from mortgage calculators didn’t always match what real life would feel like month to month.

Once we started factoring in council tax, commuting, childcare, energy bills etc, two areas with very similar house prices suddenly looked very different.

What caught other people out the most when they were looking? Thanks

We bought new builds, but I think this is also relevant, particularly if you are upsizing. Lampshades, curtains, towel rails, shower curtains, toilet roll holders etc. Even if a house has some of it, replacing damaged ones soon adds up! Also, you think you have enough furniture til you get a bigger house or it falls to bits when you move it.

Commuting - make sure you add everything up that it will cost - i.e. not just the train fare, but the petrol and parking at the station, or bus fare etc. Energy, however, do use your own judgement/knowledge about your energy use rather than assuming generic estimates are correct. I've spent the last year since moving into my house fighting the energy company trying to set my direct debit at a level based on the energy usage of the last people here (who heated the house as though it was a sauna). Only now there's a year's worth of my usage to base their predictions on have they almost halved their "suggested" monthly payment.
Cost that went up massively when I moved was the window cleaner - went from £10 to £40

Decorating! I know it’s not essential but it’s nice to make a new home feel yours quickly. But unless you are reasonably competent you have to get someone in and these days decorators etc are like gold dust…and charge accordingly!

One I didn't think of at all - and I was pretty careful with the spreadsheet when weighing up the affordability of our much bigger mortgage - now we have a bigger house we host family and friends frequently. We are happy to be able to do so and of course I would never ask for a contribution to costs, but this has easily added £1-200 to our grocery bill most months.

We just moved in December, our budget was literally £50 out. Happy to help you cost it if you need

That's what I was going to say too.

Curtain poles, blinds, light shades, towel rails, mirrors etc.
Its 15 years ago I felt I was never out B&Q and every time I was £100.

Travel to the nearest town, i.e. is it cheaper to drive and park or go by bus. Your nearest supermarket, for those quick essentials. I have an Aldi near me and I can half my shopping bill going there.

Was going to say the same - specifically, lamp shades for all the lights in every single room of the house! We had to buy 15 lamp shades when we moved into this house due to someone's bright idea of having multiple lights in the same room!!

One other thing we noticed. We moved from a very working class area to a leafy small town - and found that because we were in a 'fancy' postcode area (which in actual fact was just 15 mins away from original place) tradesmen prices went up. People assumed we were well off so would take the piss with the quotes for doing various things we needed done. We hadn't anticipated that at all!

-Costs of multiple sets of keys
-Removal fees and tips for removal team
-Cost of changing contracts for Broadband, insurance etc if new providers and you are mid year
-electric sockets if they are in wrong places
-ditto central heating radiators
-external lighting and security

What I call £20 jobs. Eg, buying an extension lead because the sockets not where you need it, buying some coat hooks, getting an extra shelf for a kitchen cupboard, fitting a lock to bathroom door, buying hooks to hang paintings. Each job only costs about £20 to fix but I’d find a dozen per month for at least the first six months. I spent £1k-£2k on stuff that just felt invisible as I couldn’t point to one big thing I’d spent money on, however not spending the money means frustration that your house doesn’t feel like your home

But also sell on Vinted or EBay what you won’t need in new place.
I made over £1k on eBay and Gumtree in the six months before I sold decluttering
Everything from Lego, Dr Who, Wallace & Grommit posters, cheerleading kit, musical instruments, Wi-Fi booster pods, cushions, bed linen all adds up.
It paid for all the extras you need to help stage your existing house for the EA photos

House staging should be added to your hidden costs list, though …

Train costs to work. Plus Uber costs when train isn’t working. Petrol increase for getting around

Cost of keeping a garden for a larger, detached house. Surprised how much it all adds up if you need help with it, hedge trimming & lawn mowing, tree cutting, patio laying and cleaning.

I agree but it is so long since I moved they were £10 jobs and they really add up. Sometimes it felt like I was just opening my purse and saying 'take it'.

When you first move in you are so short of time and need things immediately so you tend to pop to the nearest place rather than comparison shop.

Plants fpr the garden, flower pots, compost, waterbutt, outdoor furniture, outdoor mats, it's just never ending.
I love shopping though, so can't complain too much.

Oh gosh yes keys!

We moved and what we call our hagrid key - turned out to be a hand rolled cast iron ancient key!

Timpsons man was thoroughly amused. Quote - £240 😂 so we just have one key for that lock and added an extra modern one alongside.

I was going to say takeaways! The number of takeaways you get because your decorating, or too shattered to cook, or doing work on the kitchen/ electrics/ water or whatever is insane! It’s got to be a few grand if you add up.

My hidden cost that surprised me was having to change all the internal door handles. I didn't realise how painful it was to have round twisty ones, plus they are absolutely useless if your hands are full and you only have an elbow or butt cheek to use. Lever handles ftw! Cost me 11 x £25 😫

We have a cat, and I didn't realise that putting a cat flap into a double-glazed sliding patio door would be so expensive - £400 as you have to replace the whole glass panel!
Unfortunately it's a small house with no other back door or other option for a cat flap so I had to suck it up.

When I was renting, moving involved overlapping tenancy dates. It was either suck it up or lose the new place. I knew I'd have to pay two lots of rent but paying two lots of council tax was an additional whammy I could have done without.

It can get very expensive if your furniture turns out not to fit because room layouts are different, chimney breast is different width, can't get sofa through tight hallway etc. My friend discovered that the only way to get a sofa in was to have the lounge window taken in so it could be carried in that way.

Curtains and light shades.

Key cutting.

Appliances - we had to buy a £1500 American fridge freezer as it was literally the only one that would fit in the gap in the cabinetry.

Oh also if renting currently, look carefully at when you have to give notice and how long it is. Unless you have somewhere to live in any gap you want want to give notice until you exchange contracts, typically with completion a week or two later. But if your tenancy agreement requires 60 day notice and you can only give it on one day in the month if you just miss it you can end up paying worst case nearly three months of rent.

I am in the process of buying a new build and like you say, so many hidden costs that I hadn’t factored in. But still excited!

The cost of a plasterer after it turned out that various bits of furniture and pictures had been strategically placed to hide issues with some walls

we put ours in the kitchen window and have a stool for them to get up and down (one of the cats is 17 so he can't jump the whole way up).