I need a reassuring pat - am in shock

[ReshapeWhileDamp]

or a slap round the chops, not sure which.

We decided a few months ago that we should move house, as the bedrooms here are quite poky and we're expecting another baby, and the house generally isn't large enough for our needs. We also would like to move further away from the local RAF base (we live on the edge of a village that borders onto the base grounds) because a fleet of larger, far noisier helicopters are moving in within two years!

We decided it'd be easier to move and do up a new place while I was still pregnant rather than with a newborn being tended round the clock. So here we are. I'm 15 wks (due at Christmas) and we arranged things so the house could go on the market while we were actually on holiday this last fortnight (ok-ing pics and house write-up via email and ringing the EA a lot). We presumed this was the start of a long and nervewracking process, but amazingly, we got an offer of the full asking price within two days of it going on the market! (Is there a 'smug smile' emoticon?) So we came back yesterday to find a SOLD board outside where there hadn't even been a FOR SALE board before!

I'm obviously in the thrall of my hormones at the moment and finding this all quite hard - I feel like I'm no longer living in my own house, and we haven't got anywhere to go to yet. We really want to stay in the village (just further away from the RAF side) and there is very little available. One house we've earmarked from the beginning is still around and cheaper now, but there are reservations about it (it's a 3 floor townhouse and I'm wondering about life with a 3 yr old and small baby, but they do grow up eventually, don't they? And the garden is pretty small) and we now have this pressure to find somewhere FAST and move. Our buyers have a cash offer and no chain behind them, and their buyer is very keen to move into their house asap, so naturally they don't want to lose him as a buyer. We don't want to lose them as quick and eager buyers either.

So basically I feel like I've got to find somewhere for us to live in the next couple of weeks. I'm just quivering a bit because it's such a big deal, and I honestly thought this process would drag on for months and other properties would come up... Of course, our buyers could pull out, things could fall through ...

Sorry, this is long and tedious! I'm just in need of some reassurance, really. We're looking in the wider area now, but there's not much available for what we want in our budget. I keep on wondering why we started all this...

keep looking, your be fine If it comes to it and you cant find the house you like, could you rent for a while?

Just stay positive, think of the lovely big rooms, what you can do with your nursery once you find somewhere...I would rent for a bit and take your time. The main thing to do is to think of yourself - stress won't be good for you so you need to keep telling yourself that there is always a way round things. Could you afford to have a full packing service and removals? Get an agency in to clean for you. I packed up ready to move pre ds and he was a week late. The removals came when I was in hospital and we had nowhere to go - as we were going to move overseas. Time is on your side.

We're considering renting, but round here, rentals (even a 2 bed one, which is all we'd need for a couple of months) are really pricy and obviously we can't tell how long it'd be - it could really eat into our budget. But we might yet do that.

To compound the stress, I'm hoping to have this next baby at 'home' and now we don't know where that'll be! I want to find somewhere and nest down a bit before that all kicks off (EDD is Boxing Day!). I suppose the good thing in all this is that assuming our buyers don't fall through, things are moving much faster than we hoped, so as long as we find somewhere that we can move into reasonably quickly, we might be settled by autumn.

Yes, I definitely think we need a full packing service! I was a bit sceptical about that to begin with, and then I saw a thread here with everyone praising it to the rooftops. Skymoo, blimey, that must have been traumatic! At least you'd packed everything up before DS arrived!

Take money and run - rent if necessary. If you buy somewhere that needs lots of work, being in rented would be a blessing anyway.

Sit down and work out the costs. Six months rental on a house would be what, £3,000. Would that really eat horrendously into your budget? You would then be in the enviable position of being a 'no chain buyer' with regards to buying a new place.

Yeh, it was very traumatic...had a cs as well and didnt have anywhere to live until he was 3 weeks old! Ended up at the witchy mils for a bit and then oop north to my family. When we arrived overseas, our furniture didn't show up and so I had one chair and an airbed. To make matters worse, then H was sent out on exercise for a week! We moved again after 6 weeks as the flat was only temporary. It took me a long while to get over that!

I think it's a weird situation once you sell your house. We also sold ours in a couple of days and I felt a bit strange - we decided to sell it one day and then 3 weeks of solid DIY later and 1 viewing later it was a done deal. People kept saying I must be so pleased but I just felt a bit shell shocked and wondering whether we'd done the right thing. We have found somewhere now but for a month I was really stressing.
I would agree with renting - it means when you see your perfect house you will be the lucky person with no chain who will be able to buy it.Good luck finding somewhere.

We don't move until August and I now feel like I'm living in someone elses house. The new buyers are coming round again this afternoon and I am meant to be scrubbing the place from top to bottom whilst dh takes ds to soft play - but I appear to be on MN - oops.

I agree that you should take the money and go - rent if needs be.

The fact that the location is definitely going to get noisier within the next couple of years could be very offputting to potential buyers. Also, even when you get a keen buyer, there are so many things that can go wrong when you have a complicated chain. So, getting a cash buyer who wants to move quickly is too good to turn down. Find somewher to rent, buy yourselves some breathing space, and then you will be in a good position to buy a property when you're ready.

paddypoopants - yes, that's exactly what happened, and just how I feel - shellshocked. I feel like I should be elated, and I was at first, but now it's really hit home. I'm someone who loves 'home' - I like nesting, I like surrounding myself with Stuff (we did a LOT of decluttering into storage!) and I hate the idea of uprooting. All I can think at the moment is - what have we done? And I'm sort of worried about the impact on DS, who's 2.4 at the moment - but I'm sure he'll adjust to a new place faster than I do! Although not sure what he'd make of staying in a rented place for a few months and then moving into a new home.

As for renting - the lowest I've seen an unfurnished 2 bed place round here is £750 pcm. So 6 months renting would amount to a bit more than 3 grand, but I suppose it's still not too bad. We want to save every penny though - we're trying to move from a 3 bed to a 4 bed house and though we have a good amount for deposit, it's a large jump round here (or anywhere).

Sounds like you're in a great position having found a buyer so quickly - you don't have to deal with all the stress of viewings and negotiations - fantastic.

A similar thing happened to us - we sold to the first people who viewed. It was a shock and I was worried we wouldn't find anywhere to buy, as we were looking in an area where houses come up infrequently - and we are very fussy as this is going to be our 'forever' house. We found somewhere a few days later. It was one that almost passed us by, but after viewing it we knew it was the one. It does need a lot of work but it is mainly cosmetic, and we plan to do most of it when the kids are older.

We are about to exchange, and if all goes to plan it will be around two months from the offer to moving in.

Try not to feel rushed into buying somewhere (I previously did that when I was pregnant, and we are moving again 18 months later!). Just keep looking and the right place will come along. Your buyers' buyer will know there is a chain and will have to be prepared to wait for a bit. Worst case, going into rented would put you in a great position to buy when the right place comes along. Good luck - it will be worth all the stress in the end!

Re. townhouse - are the kitchen and sitting room on the same floor? Or is it a big kitchen/diner?

Lived in a three story townhouse with kitchen and sitting room on the same floor when ds was a baby with no problems at all. Moved to a place with daytime rooms on different levels later on and it is really awkward from toddlerhood until they are old enough to be unsupervised (and I only had one to worry about).

At least with a baby you can carry them downstairs or up very easily. Oh, and even now he's about to turn 7, it's still irritating when I have to persuade him to come downstairs for meals and he's busy upstairs playing or watching TV.

Oh, and ds's bedroom is on the top floor, so we had to use a baby monitor for ages as we just wouldn't have heard him if he needed us after bedtime if we were on the ground floor.

Take the money and run. Then chat up all the local agents, make it known locally that you are in a proceedable position and see what comes up.

We were in a similar situation last time - sold to first viewing couple, full asking price, high pressure chain behind them, so we agreed to move out. Fortunately SIL offered for us to stay with her whilst we looked. It was amazing how helpful the selling agents became once they knew we had sold our own house and were going into storage. They were falling over themselves to give us first viewings. We ended up buying a house that had been 'sold' for 4 months, the vendors had enough of the buyers dragging their feet, and re-marketed for a quick sale.

out of interest does anyone know how much it costs to put a container load into storage?

We were paying £85 a month for storage in the midlands.

Thats a good price, teta. We have been quoted £25 a week for a 6x4 space!

Thanks teta, is that like a 30 or 40 foot container lorry thing? That's kind of what I meant, but didn't make clear rolly eyes

oops I meant rolly eyes as in the emoticom, not calling you names, honest!

Thanks for all of this - I'm feeling a bit more relaxed now!

cathbath - good luck with the move! It really takes you aback when someone actually says 'yes, I really would like to buy your house' so soon, doesn't it? I do want to move, but still can't quite believe that someone wants this house so soon - not that there's anything wrong with it. Still.

I don't want to feel rushed into buying the wrong place, and am having to convince DH that renting is an option (I really hate the idea myself, since apart from anything else, it may well be where I end up giving birth and I probably won't feel 'nested' there).

Edam - the townhouse has, on the ground floor, a large kitchen (ie, large enough for a good-sized dining table), a study, a bathroom (which I'll make into a utility room with a loo) and a converted garage off the kitchen that is a 'family room' - I would make this our downstairs living room and have toys mostly down there. On the first floor is a large living room and a bedroom and then the bathroom and two more bedrooms are over that.

I'm still really undecided about living in a multilevel house - I probably underestimate how often I pop into the kitchen during the day, even when I think I'm having a lazy day in the living room with DS! Do we really want to be stuck downstairs for most of the day? DS is very good with stairs, though. But then it'll start again with his sibling. Still, it's only a phase, I suppose...

Skymoo - we're paying £100 a month on ours, but no VAT or extras (some companies sting you for extras like padlock hire and insurance). It's a standard container, I think it's 20' by 8'. About garage size, anyway. We're in the SE.

Rent! It'll cost you far more in the long run if you buy the "wrong" house. If you're planning to buy a 4 bed house, presumably you don't want to move again, so it's worth waiting until you find the place you want. Remember you have NO maintenance costs when you are renting!