We've lived in our house since 2009 and as much as we love it, something needs to change. We aren't making the most of all the space and there's still a lot of work to be done. We're at a point where we either need to move house entirely, or give this house a makeover to make it fit our needs.
There are pros and cons with both so we've had a tough week figuring out whether to move house or stay. Here's a bit behind my thinking (or over thinking!).
Staying
- We are quite happy here mostly.
- We disliked the area but it's grown on us.
- We can't afford a second car and don't need one here as I can walk to school/town.
- I love our house.
- My babies were born and raised here.
- I get attached to stuff!
- Alf is really bad with change and gets anxious easily.
- The house has a lot of potential and we have a lot more space than most properties that we could buy for the same amount.
- We could make this house epic for a lot less than moving and buying a better house.
- We can remortgage to pay for works.
- The kids are happy.
- garden is easy to maintain.
- School is a few minutes walk away.
- We have good neighbours and can walk to everything we need.
- We know what needs to be done work wise.
- No surprises to come as we know this house to the bones.
- We can still move if we want to in the future.
Moving
- We could maybe have a proper garden.
- We'd have a whole new house to decorate, this excites me.
- We could potentially buy a home that needs a lot more work doing to it than this.
- We could move somewhere with nightmare neighbours.
- We could move somewhere nicer.
- We could live somewhere quieter.
- The kids could go to a smaller school.
- We might not be able to afford to do the work needed.
- We may not be happier elsewhere.
- The kids could be unsettled.
- The kids may be even happier?
- We may not like the school.
- The area might not be as nice as we think.
- We could inherit worse problems with the house than this one has now.
- Moving could cost a fortune.
- If we regret moving it's harder to fix.
This is such a huge decision for us and although we can always make further changes in the future, this sort of stuff costs so much money and it's so much harder having to think about the kids, how fast the years are going and that in the same time we've been here, both kids will be in secondary school! For now, I think we're pretty sure we will stay put. We know what needs doing in this house, we know everything could do with being replaced and so expect no surprises. Moving house could potentially be amazing but also potentially bring stress, more work and upset with the kids. If we stay, then this is probably something we will revisit now in another 5 years when Alf's moving schools anyway. How is time going so fast?
What would you do? Brave the adventure or upgrade your home?