When the time comes to make the leap and move house, to an extent you know that the hardest part of the process is to come. You’re probably as ready as you can be for the following problems, all of which most people moving home will have experienced at one time or another:
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- You can’t find anyone to buy your house and you know the seller of the house you want isn’t going to wait forever.
- You have the horror of moving, which is always a terrible experience no matter what you do to try and minimise it.
- The oddity of having other people come and walk around your home, and feeling rejected on the house’s behalf when they don’t make an offer.
Those are the kind of problems you’re probably anticipating – but there is one that can hit you, taking you by surprise. What if you can’t find a house you want to move to?
It does happen. Almost all of the advice you will see based around buying and selling a house is about making your home more attractive to buyers, or dealing with the stress of moving. But what if you’re the picky buyer, who is not swayed by the sudden home maintenance blitz on the houses you see or the smell of bread baking when you walk through the door? You’re the person offending other people when you refuse their home – and nothing on the horizon is inspiring you at all.
Despite this, you know you do want to move – in the abstract. You just haven’t found the right property yet. Initially, this seems okay. You think it’s normal; buying a house is a massive purchase so of course you should take your time and only move forward when you find something that you truly want.
As the months tick by however, it stops feeling quite so reasonable. It starts to feel like your whole life is on hold. You can’t move forward with your own sale or plan your move, because there’s nowhere for you to move into yet. But at the same time, you’re not committed to your current house, so everything has a feel of being somewhat temporary.
Unfortunately, there is no easy solution to this dilemma. You do have options, but none of them involve finding a way to magic up the house of your dreams out of thin air – unfortunately! You could look and see if you fancy the DIY route to the house of your dreams and start consulting with home builders to see if you can make it come true. Or you can expand your search options to a different area, or potentially change what you’re expecting from a house.
However, what you should categorically not be tempted to do, is buy somewhere for the sake of it. Your home is one of the most important purchases that you make; it’s the kind of thing where you have to get it right. Unless there is a pressing need for you to up sticks (such as a change of job or a new baby on the way), then give yourself time – if you rush into a purchase for the sake of a purchase, you’ll probably regret it.
