If you've moved/are moving have you had to sacrifice anything?

[Rumblebelly]

We're looking to move and viewing a house next week.
Positives are the area seems nicer. Has a utility room. Small garden at the front (presently have yard and shed) Kitchen looks bigger and has breakfast bar. House has 2 reception rooms same as ours. Also has a nice size loft room with stairs. Ours has too but this one looks bigger? Although probably because it's empty 😉

Negative is because they've extended the yard is very thin. And doesn't look like there's a shed? But maybe our bikes can fit in the utility room?

I think we'll have a drive over on a warm evening as that's when you can tell if it's party in the street time. Something that happens behind us. Plus lots of weed smell and burning in the yards near us now. It'll be nice if it isn't a street stinking of weed.

We own our home and think we're one of the last who live in a owned home in our street. We love our house but have had so many bad neighbours we're hoping this new street or wherever we end up will be more peaceful. Nothing against renters BTW we've also had some fab neighbours and I have rented in the past. Just some landlords don't care who they put in. We've had a crack den and a machete welding thug amongst others.

We sacrificed a 0.5 acre garden we'd lovingly created from scratch when we sold in rural Wales to buy back home on the more expensive south coast of England in 2024. There were lots of newer houses with proper gardens available but we've only ever owned period properties, so didn't want one of those. We also wanted to be within a short walk from the beach.

The 200 year old cottage we bought has a paved courtyard garden (plus drive, which is quite rare in our location), which has taken a bit of getting used to after having so much outside space. We've crammed it full of huge planters with trees and shrubs to make it feel more like 'us'...and the beach is just two minutes' walk away 😁

Space, but that was a given because we downsized. Surprisingly, we have a bigger garden.

Smaller kitchen/diner and smaller bedroom are the big sacrifices. Bigger garden and bigger garage are the positives. Living room is more or less the same, hall is smaller and we have a small utility.

@LibertyLily your new place sounds amazing. I'd have cried leaving the garden though. I used to have a lovely one too when I lived in my home town.

@Buscobel you must have had loads of decluttering to do. We'll be doing some but the space is similar by the looks if it? Apart from no shed. We still have one dc who stays when home on leave and another stays sometimes. Plus dgcs stay over. So can't downsize.

Our sacrifices were

1. location (gasp!)
2. garden

By location I mean that we moved to a cheaper area in order to afford the size house we wanted. We gave up a very boujee area for what is a much less attractive town, but one that still manages to tick practical boxes like good schools, good transport links, well situated in the country.

We bought a new build which inevitably came with a much smaller garden.

We moved over 5 years ago and no regrets. Got a much bigger and nicer home that was affordable to us, we live a good life with everything we need within easy reach, and we got the garden landscaped so while it is on the small side it’s still a lovely space that does what we need it to! It would have cost us easily £150,000+ to get this in our old area, which was only 20 miles away!

Nothing else about the house was a compromise, I still absolutely love it!

We are downsizing so sacrificing stuff comes as part of the package going from a 3 double bedroomed house to a 2 double bedroomed house.

We are moving from rural Wales so the biggest sacrifice we are making is definitely our breathtaking panoramic mountain views. As well as losing our lovely neighbours. However our new home will be 5 minutes walk from the beach and in a lovely seaside town where we will gain facilities on the doorstep again which is a definite gain and its far lower maintenance which will be great.

I see homes as fitting a lifestyle for a certain time of life. Our current home has been our wonderful family home where we raised our children and we have been extremely happy here. However, this next house is for my DH and I and our dogs to enjoy and we still have a great sized guest room for when we have our adult children come and stay with us.

You got a large house for less that 150k? Or did I read that wrong?

@ErlingHaalandsManBun that sounds wonderful. We're next to the sea but still will be. I can't imagine not living by the coast now. I lived most of my life inland in a big town. I've been coastal over 15 years.

Every time i've moved i've sacrificed a bit of my sanity 🥺

Our last move we sacrificed having walls and bloody ceilings because we've had to literally build half of it ourselves. Never.ever.again. If i hear the words 'it will all be worth it in the end' one more time i'm going to punch somebody.

@Laiste oh no. We almost viewed a single skin house. In my dream area but the damp would have taken thousands to fix. It was affordable before the fixing up. We didn't go and cancelled the viewing.

The one we're viewing is a mid terrace. We love old houses. Hopefully no or not much damp? 🙏

No sadly! Our house was £400,000, but to have the exact same style of house (new build so easy to compare!) would have been £550,000 in our desired area, we couldn’t stretch that far. But we equally couldn’t justify a smaller house for £400,000 just because it was a more desirable postcode. Our functional postcode has served us well!

@gaonimsc4 that makes more sense 😅

I am looking for a new place having broken the chain and moved into a rental after selling our family home (divorce).
It had plenty of space, a sunny kitchen diner, large sunny sitting room plus a study where we could all play music. It had parking and a lovely garden I nurtured and was 10 minutes walk from the city, great neighbours.
I will have to give up most of the above to stay in the same area where I have lived for 20 years. Which is quite painful.
I think my sacrifice will be space rather than location but its not an easy thing to decide on. So far my sanity has taken a hit too!

I think you do inevitably. We had to pull out of a house purchase at the last minute in 2020 after a last-minute discovery. That house was a Victorian mid-terrace, didn’t need much doing, only had communal parking out front, but was in a great area — good restaurants, a couple of great pubs, lovely vibe.

The house we ended up buying is closer to the city centre so more convenient for my work and DS’s school, bigger, end of terrace with a huge (though derelict) garden, but needed considerable work, and the area itself is prestigious though socially duller. Swings and roundabouts.

We’re moving from a Victorian terrace to a 1930s bungalow so we are sacrificing high ceilings and large rooms for outside space. Really going to miss this terrace and the lovely neighbours, although also looking forward to having land, storage space, and a double garage. Our master bedroom will only be about 2/3rds of the size of our current bedroom and both of our greyhounds sleep in the room with us so that is going to be a squeeze. We have to get rid of the wardrobes to fit their beds in!

Oh god, me too @Laiste! This is our eighth (I think!) DIY renovation and I'm so done with it now. No boiler, hot water, working kitchen tap and oven/hob for over a year is no fun.

My house is a mid terrace Victorian and we’ve never had any damp issues. We had a damp survey carried out recently by our buyers and the guy who did it said it was totally fine.

Yep (or at least hoping to in the coming month or so)
Positives:
bigger house
south facing garden
very near green space
in tiny catchment area of much sought after secondary that we hope will work very well for our eldest (and younger child). The key driver for the move.
Due to above factor will hopefully be a good investment as houses in the area typically hold value very well

Sacrifices:
Don’t like the area as much
Fewer nearby amenities
Increases commute to the station from a very short walk to having to drive, possibly cycle
20 min drive as opposed to a short walk to kids’ primary school
Away from our friends
Further for kids’ activities (with the exception of one, which is closer)
Less spare cash and much bigger mortgage

Hopefully will be worth it!

This was an end terrace. I love terraced. We're in one now no damp ( mid). Hoping one we're viewing is similar as that's mid too. But ours isn't single skin. Doubt the one we're viewing is single either?

I'm so sorry. That must be such a wrench. I hope everything works out for you.

@Sandsnake you're sacrificing so much. I'll not moan then 😉 Really hope it's all worth it for you.

@Fafner are the pubs and restaurants within uber or taxi distance?

Not us, but our son got his first job in the North and rented a lovely unfurnished flat that he kitted out with new furniture, curtains, decorations, and possessions, and made it a lovely home. The flat was 4th floor and had a lovely view over the town's centre and cathedral.

HIs work relocated him to London and he had to give it all up, as all he could afford in London was a pokey one bedroom basement flat in a HMO, no room for anything other than clothes etc. So he sold all his (nearly new) furniture on Facebook marketplace for a pittance, and most of his possessions came back home to our family home.

He must have lost a few thousand pounds in furniture, curtains, etc that he had to get rid of cheap, not to mention moving from a modern lovely flat with a view into a basement "box room". Quite a sacrifice just for a job, but he had no choice as there were no other employers in that town in his profession. No relocation package either as he was on their graduate scheme and it was take it or leave it!

@Badbadbunny that's so sad. My ds1 is in a house share too. His gf has a flat thankfully so he isn't in it all the time. He's due promotion so can hopefully get a house of his own. I understand how worrying it is.

Our last house was lovely, but would have sold for £50K more in a better postcode.

Now we have a better postcode, smaller house and bigger garden.

@Buscobel I hope you're happy?

I'm getting excited at the prospect of moving. Really hope we have decent neighbours when we do more 🙏