Should we sell our new house after 14 months?

[FlyKim]

So we moved house 14 months ago because we wanted a bigger one. Same village, kids haven’t moved schools. The problem is, we’ve realised we really don’t like it. The house is older, colder, and I can’t quite put my finger on it without sounding crazy but I don’t get a good feeling about it. My husband feels exactly the same. Should we just put it back on the market or should we try and grow to like it?

Nah, that’s totally normal. Ours did that in the kitchen. Older double glazing is a real pain (no pun intended).

But wouldn’t putting in new floors and insulation and getting new windows be cheaper than the transaction costs of moving?

Well yeah that’s the thing really. Should we stick with it, do the renovations and risk still not liking it or go?

Potentially not, it has 19 windows.

Sounds like you've already made up your mind(!)

Life is short, you have made a mistake with choosing your house, it happens. It’s not the end of the world, just move again.

A friend of mine moved into a property, within 4mths, it had been improved and was back on the market, there was nothing wrong with the property at all, lovely neighbours, great location, but she didn’t feel like it was home to her, she said I feel like I am living in someone else’s house. It wasn’t that she hadn’t given it enough time, she has moved many times, it just wasn’t right for her.

We relocated a few years ago, it was a risk, but the move has enabled us to do things we never would have been able to do before, we are happy with the decision we made. I was worried about it before we moved, a friend of mine said what are you worried about, if you don’t like it, just move again, you don’t have to stay someone you don’t like. This advice really helped my mindset at the time.

Good luck OP, I really hope you sell quickly and move to a new home you can be happy in.

Not sure you will get quite the money it’s been valued at if you move after 14 months. I give properties a bit of a swerve if they are for sale again so quickly, unless I really love it. Not sure how many other people would be bothered.

No, Absolutley not

OP, how old is the property?
you say the windows are 15-20yrs old, windows should last 60-100yrs. Newer Glass shouldn’t shatter, has something hit it, older glass would, but you say it double glazed so has something hit it?

creaky boards are part of an old home. You shouldn’t be changing this.

tell us more, right now I think the “fixes” will cost more and be in appropriate for the property. I think you suck it up as the wrong decision at the time and accept you and it arent compatible

What attracted you to the house, how long had the family before lived there. But it does take time to settle into a new home, buyer’s remorse is a real thing.

What's stopping you moving? Will you miss this house or is it worry about the next house?
I'm not sure why (except for the market) you aren't moving house? :)

Sounds bonkers I know, but it does sound like the old house is giving you the creeps. I agree with a pp - see about getting a priest to bless or cleanse the place. Can’t harm.

Yep - that's me. I detest them. If I was the OP, the property would be on the market and I'd move to somewhere I truly love. Life is far too short to be miserable living in a house I hate.

Move, what’s the point in staying somewhere you are not happy. We left a house after two years I put it up 18months after we moved in, we got a little bit more money as we’d put in some work but not much but it was still the right decision for us to move.

So your floors squeak and the windows are 20 years old and have started almost shattering in their panes and you think youll have turned a profit on this house after just a year?

You coildnt make this up!

well that hapoened to us with a huge window in our dining room.. It was only 2 or 3 years old so not even old. Annoyingly not covered on the warranty but it is just due to thermal shock.or cooling. It never happened again and was easy to sort.

Unlikely. The renovations may have offset the drop in value if you're lucky. Sell the house if you can afford the loss.

The renovations may even contribute to more loss. If OP isn’t an old property sort of person, which is what comes across here, she may have taken value out of it. I hope not for her and the home but a very real scenario

Was going to say this as well - you can’t rely on what an estate agent said. Sold my house earlier this year - several estate agents wanted to list at £325k but I wanted a quick sale and thought it was too high and went for £300k. I ended up having to accept an offer at £292k as we had about 12 viewings and absolutely no other offers.

So true! My mum talks often about how in 1999 she sat on the floor of their new house that had wiped out all their savings and sobbed. She hated it, they had made a terrible mistake, she wanted her old house back. They stayed there for 24 years after that - it’s just a big shock to the system and nothing feels like home yet.

If you aren’t settled and you think the house has a bad vibe, and can afford to move, then move. Maybe go for something newer and pay attention to the feel of the house.

Before you decide, I would try to split the list into things that are fixable and a feeling you cannot name. The cold, the lack of insulation and the creaky floors are all things you can price - a heat loss survey or an energy assessment, loft and floor insulation, secondary glazing - so you know whether it is a few thousand pounds or a never-ending project. The cracking window glass in your daughter's room is the one I would not shrug off. It can just be thermal stress on old or badly fitted glass, but it is cheap to have a glazier look, and if you ever sell a surveyor may ask about movement, so it is worth knowing now. Then do the sums on moving honestly:: stamp duty and agent and legal fees on both ends, plus the chance the market gives you less than you hope. Compare that with the cost of fixing the house you already have. If you still feel the same after one proper winter with the problems sorted, that is useful information and nobody would blame you for selling. But if you move in a hurry you might simply be buying a different set of problems, and the next house will have a list too. I do think a character house is lovely and still can be won over, if the cold is solved.

We had a similar situation to this. Moved to an older property and it wasn’t because it was old necessarily but something just felt off. None of us could settle or relax. We were on edge. We listened to our gut and marketed it after 7 months and moved out around month 10 I think. I don’t really know how we did it! We’d also done minor renovations whilst there and we sold at a profit luckily but the market is different now I guess which is a consideration. But I’d say listen to you gut and do it. We’ve been in our new home for over 5 years and we were instantly comfortable and I still love it. Equally the people who moved in to ours are still there. So just shows some people just don’t match the house!

We moved into a house that the owner had died in, we were told he went into a care home. I couldn't sleep and it had an odd smell randomly waft through it and I heard voices in my headphones. We treated the place with sage, every cupboard, room including the loft. It all stopped happening. Then is happened in the outbuildings and my other half saged that. Since then it's all been quiet.

Thanks, this makes me feel better. We’re exactly the same, constantly on edge and I feel like moving out is the only way it will stop.