Moving: pros, cons, and indecisive us

[Melaine]

I know that I have complained about my home enough here. Ironically, I am feeling more content there now than I used to, however we are discussing it again.

basically, we could probably sell pretty quickly because the market is really good.

but then we’d have to buy and that’s complicated. We would love to live in a different home but there are soooo many factors how do we decide? I can literally make a 100 reasons pro and con list. What makes it worth it? I don’t even know what I’m asking!

[dogmom]

I think right now the biggest issue is there enough inventory out there. I would spend a week obsessing over looking at houses online. It will either get it out of your system for the time being or spur you to do something. Then talk to your family. They might not have the reserves to make change right now with everything going on.

[Liziz]

If you're confident you'll be able to sell your house fairly easily, and it's something you can swing, I'd look for houses before putting your current one on the market (have it ready, but don't actually list, etc.) . If you start looking at houses, you'll either fall in love with something (then act quick and try to get it!) or you'll realize that nothing really matches what you want and you'll be happier staying put for now. But if now isn't a time you feel like you can make quick decisions and act quickly, it's probably not the time to try to dive into a seller's market for buying a new house.

[KpbS]

Have you looked at what is out there? Any neighborhoods/areas you would like to relocate to? That's where I would start.

[SnuggleBuggles]

We made the leap this year and it was kind of a whim. Our market moves well but not so fast that I needed to hire an agent to keep on top of listings. I just had my realtor.com set to show houses available newest houses in my area and if one looked good, I went to the open house. It was just a casual shop- I was content in our house. I could have stayed in our old house forever. I wanted a better outside space though hence my looking.
I know in other markets you need to be ready to pounce on list day- no waiting to open houses (or some markets do open houses to start and take offers after...every market is so different that no one on here can really guide you specifically). When I saw our house on the website, I had a good feeling. We did the open house and knew it was the house for us. We contacted a friend who was an agent and we got the ball rolling. Namely we got our mortgage pre-approval letter. I highly recommend that as a good step one. It'll let you know what you can afford and it'll let the sellers know you can secure the mortgage.

[hellokitty]

Before you sell, you need to see what availability there is out there. We bought our house almost 4 years ago and I guess that is when the market in our area finally started to pick up. We had been looking for what seemed like forever (the house we moved from was the least worst house that we looked at... we could only look at christmas time, so inventory sucked), and had given up. On a whim I saw a house list and we decided to go to the open house and I fell in love with it. We had been wanting to move out of the area for a while, but my husband had applied for jobs for a couple of years and was unable to find a job with the right balance of work/family balance. So, what cinched the deal for us was that we weren't happy with our other house (in a subdivision, which I hated), and we had pretty much resigned ourselves that we are probably stuck in this area due to DH's job. Since he is on call 50% of the year, we decided we needed a house that we would really enjoy living in and basically that is how we justified moving. We love our current house, it has needed a lot of TLC and has been a money pit (we were only 2 years from paying off our other mortgage had we not moved!). However, we truly love this house, we have 6 acres, it is in a neighborhood that is tucked away and people keep to themselves and there is a neighborhood pond where my kids can go fishing. The funny thing is that there was a job opportunity in the city that we wanted to go to, but in a HCOL area and we'd have to downgrade to a house smaller than this and probably in some subdivision. I cannot believe we are staying here because we love our house, but for now, yes. My kids also were born and have been growing up here, so it would be hard to pull them away to a new area and my oldest one just got into a college degree program, while still being in high school and we felt like it would really mess him up to yank him out of the plans that he had set forth.

[Melaine]

Thank you all! These are around the same thoughts we've been thinking. We are looking at neighborhoods and homes available right now, and see if anything feels like it would be worth it. There are a ton of things to consider. At the same time we have a few more things to do around the house so trying to line that stuff up. I'm decluttering AGAIN regardless since I always try to start the school year very much paired down. Talking to my friend who is a realtor as well. I'm starting to make lists of what we would do to stage, etc. just in case. I'll let you know what we decide. Feels very overwhelming. Plus we just refinanced to a 15 year. And we still have ideas of buying land with my parents and building but I'm just not sure if that is realistic or just a pipe dream. Lots to think about.

[KpbS]

I wouldn’t start another house project (remodeling, not decluttering) until you have made sure your realtor says you definitely should. Don’t want to waste any time or money. Sometimes buyers want to walk into a house and make it their own. Repairs yes, but other projects I would wait.

[Melaine]

I wouldn’t start another house project (remodeling, not decluttering) until you have made sure your realtor says you definitely should. Don’t want to waste any time or money. Sometimes buyers want to walk into a house and make it their own. Repairs yes, but other projects I would wait.

Good point. I'm talking to our realtor currently.

[jgenie]

I think it’s great that you’re looking for a new house. I would look at listings and see if you fall in love with anything. Have you thought about how you’ll feel having people in your house during the pandemic? I know your DH is working outside the home so it might be a nonissue for you. I have to say I’m surprised how much the germs and unknowns have unsettled my family.

[smiles33]

I can totally understand your excitement and hesitation at the same time. We loved our last house, but the neighborhood really started to change. Families moved out and lots of single renters who work in the tech industry moved into their homes (e.g., 5 cars in the driveway and people showing up late at night). DH and I thought we would live there until we retired but we got sick of obnoxious neighbors.

One day, on a whim after we drove by a semi-rural part of the city on our way back from donating blood in his dad's honor, DH reached to our realtor (his high school best friend's mom) and she started pulling listings for us in that area of town. We literally put an offer on the second home she showed us. We were both shocked at how "impulsive" it felt, but we haven't regretted it for a moment. We're now in year 3 of living in our current home (which is in month 10 of a major renovation). The house was not at all what we wanted at all (1957 ranch home that previous sellers added on/renovated in a very haphazard fashion) so we ended up tearing down everything but the bedrooms. Even so, every bedroom has been impacted (e.g., taking out old awkward windows, like the long narrow windows that were more than 5' long but only 2' high near the ceiling in 2 bedrooms). I sometimes regret taking on such an ambitious renovation while still living here, but I do not regret moving.

GOOD LUCK!