Last week we had our first house viewing. Yep, we are house hunting after almost 9 years living in our lovely semi in suburbia. We are not in a rush. Last time it took us 1.5 years to find this house, so I am expecting something similar. 8 years ago I was a first time buyer and very naive about the whole process. We bid on the very first house we saw and way under the asking price, so obviously didn’t get it. The thing is, it wouldn’t have been right for us and this time I will only bid on a house that I would want to live in (and not take crazy risks!)
We are still in the midst of a pandemic and that does make me feel a little anxious about the whole buying process. Who knows what’s going to happen to the housing market! Nobody would have predicted covid-19 to change the way we live and work a year ago, so I guess everything is possible. Many of my friends have already fled London. They have left central London or the suburbs to live further out in the country due to flexible working conditions. I totally get it. It’s been on my mind too and I keep asking myself do we really need to be within a 20 minute commute from central London. Probably not, but we love London. We also live in the suburbs and I really feel like we get the best of both worlds. We have the city and the countryside on our doorstep. My husband will need to commute to work in the future (maybe not daily but still) and I hope to be doing more work and attending more events in London once this ‘corona-coaster’ is over, or at least a bit more settled.
W H Y A R E W E M O V I N G ?
We’ve been quite happy with our current house, but it was never meant to be our ‘forever house’. I’m not a fan of term by the way. It sounds very old fashioned and restricting. You never know where life takes you and I wouldn’t want to limit myself living in one place for the rest of my life. I guess we can talk about a long term house in this case. A house that we would expect to live in for at least 10-15 years. Of course that long-term house could always end up being your forever house, but I don’t want to put a label on it. Both of our girls are now at an excellent primary school and we have no plans to move anywhere else in the (near) future.
We definitely have some needs, wants and wishes for our next house. Otherwise what’s the point in moving, right? Putting together a little wish list is a great way to organise your thoughts and to make sure you’re on the same page (especially if buying as a couple).
N E W H O U S E W I S H L I S T
✔ Detached
✔ Located on a quiet road or a cul de sac
✔ Bigger kitchen
✔Bigger bathroom(s)
✔Ideally partially open-plan
✔ Large, leafy garden
✔ Easy commute to London (max. 15 minute walk to the station)
✔ South facing garden (not a must if the garden is big enough!)
✔ Few extra rooms in comparison to our current house (that can be used as a gym or a study)
✔ Lots of potential to improve in the future
I’m not asking much, am I? After our first viewing we had a reality check. We are not going to find the ideal house (fully renovated to our taste) close to all the amenities and the train station in our area. We live in a South East London suburb and dream houses are hard to come by unless you have an unlimited budget. We don’t, so we will need to compromise. I read somewhere that if you get 7 out of 10 things on your wish list that’s pretty good. Of course there are few things that I can’t compromise on. Location is one, but this is different for each individual. Location might not be a priority for everyone, but it will have an impact on the resale value (you should at least take it into account when making an offer). I think it also helps if you already know how you live and how you will need the house to function. Will you be working from home? Are you going to be having regular guests staying over? Is it close to your hobbies? Will you need dual-purpose rooms etc? I didn’t ask these questions when we were house hunting first time round, but you can be sure that I’m asking myself these questions now.
B U Y I N G A P R O P E R T Y D U R I N G C O V I D – 1 9
Buying a property during the pandemic can seem like a really risky thing to do. I can’t tell you if it’s a right time to buy right now. It all depends on your personal circumstances, job security and the amount of risk you are willing to take. The way I see it though is that if you are looking for a long-term property (at least for the next 8-10 years) you have a better chance of minimising the risk. If property values drop they will have a chance to catch up in the next 10 years before you’re planning to sell. We haven’t really seen a dip in the property market yet. In fact, it’s the opposite! UK property prices have hit record high and it’s mainly due to easing of the lockdown and the ‘stamp duty holiday’ that will remain in place until 31st of March, 2021. What this means is that anyone completing on a house costing up to 500K will pay no stamp duty on the property (which makes house buying very appealing for the first time buyer). If you’re buying a house for more than 500K that will be taxed on their value above that amount, so you can still get a discount (although it won’t be quite as significant). I think this explains why so many houses seem to overvalued in the South East right now. Always check the previous sale history when buying a new house (so you know what it’s worth). It definitely seems that the houses we are viewing are overvalued by 10%. Anyway, this is why I won’t be rushing to buy one. I’ll wait and see if they sell at the asking price (which I doubt).
This post ended up being a lot longer than intended, but I hope it’s been useful. I might write more about this topic here soon. I’m sure there will be lots of highs and lows and I really want to share the journey with you since so many people are in the same situation right now. Like I said, we are giving ourselves two years to find the right house and hopefully we will find one that will suit our needs. If we don’t, we are staying put as simple as that. Of course this also means that we are in the process of putting our own house on the market and I’m sure I will have a lot to say about the topic too (from a sellers point of view). Our estate agent is coming for a valuation later this week and we are seeing two more houses this weekend. It’s really exciting but also a little nerve-racking to be honest.
I’d love to know what you think about moving homes during the pandemic and post-covid? Do you see it as a risk or an opportunity? I think it’s probably a bit of both. Feel free to leave a comment below!
