Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 66 total)
  • Buying first house with sprog on the way ??
  • RopeyReignRider
    Free Member

    Hi

    Mrs RRR and I are expecting mini RRR in January. We’d like to buy a house before she goes on maternity leave but can’t (for a variety of boring reasons) apply for a mortgage for a couple of months (late September).

    This would mean that, assuming we found something we like and assuming it was chain free , we could potentially be moving before or after her due date.

    Has anyone successfully managed both these things at the same time? Am I entirely stupid and should keep on renting for another year?

    Ta

    kimbers
    Full Member

    you could do it but it will be hell

    we moved when wy wife was 7month pregnant and I had to do all the lifting and then rush to decorate the baby room

    I think that redecorating with a newborn will be the main issue!
    If you have good family support it should be manageable, just

    RopeyReignRider
    Free Member

    Hmm, we only have to give a months notice on our current rental so perhaps if sprog had arrived I could decorate the new place while we stay at old place … Hmmmmmmmm

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    woody2000
    Full Member

    We did it when Jnr W2K MKII came along. Missus was about 4 months pregnant when we sold old house & moved in with her mum, completed on new house when she was about 5 months, then gutted large portions of it and re-decorating before moving in about 3 weeks prior to her due date. It was bloody hard work, but we’d have never got it done afterwards with a 13 month old and a new born!

    So, doable, but (you!) need to be prepared for some hard work. Congrats, and good luck 🙂

    funkrodent
    Full Member

    Me and the missus had agreed a purchase of a new house prior to the arrival of rodent junior. The day before contracts were due to be exchanged the other party changed their mind. This was in April, with sprog due in August. In 2 days we found, offered and were accepted on another house. Fortunately it was no chain, but it was an old lady who’d moved on and hadn’t been decorated or improved since the 60s. We got in about 3 weeks before the baby was born and spent the next year or so doing it up and putting in new kitchen, bathroom etc.
    Would we have been better off staying where we were? Not sure tbh. At some point you’re going to have to bite the bullet. Whilst a new born is knackering (sleep is at a premium), they have the real benefit that for 9 months they’re essentially immobile and they do tend to sleep a lot (though it’s usually during the day). This means it is in some respects easier to get things done whilst they’re still small. Once they get mobile and become toddlers then it becomes much harder to focus on anything.
    Not sure what the answer is as there are so many unknowns (state of house you’re looking to buy, parental/familial support, how laid back your missus is etc), but all things being equal I’d say get it done now and it’ll be done. Leave it until the baby is born and it’ll get harder and harder to get anything done and you’ll be making major strategic decisions when you’re both knackered as opposed to just one of you…

    dooosuk
    Free Member

    We moved 7 weeks before our little one arrived. New house didn’t need too much doing to it and I did have help with lifting and cleaning whilst the Mrs was heavily pregnant.

    We left decorating the Nursery until after the birth. They aren’t in the room for the first 5mths anyway.

    I’d say it depends what type of house you’re looking to buy. Move right in and you’ll be fine; a do’er upper you won’t have much time, energy or inclination for the first few months after arrival.

    freeagent
    Free Member

    My best memory from when we did this 3 years ago was my wife coming home from work to get her ‘hospital bag’ after the contractions had started a month early… while I dashed home from work to meet her.

    (As we thought we had another month, and having had our hand forced by the failure of our old ‘back boiler’ we decided to fit a new heating system, and re-wire the house…)
    Our new combi-boiler was upside down on the lounge floor, and as she headed toward to loo the plumber shouted down from the loft – ‘you can’t use the loo love – I’ve had to turn the water off’

    you can only imagine the razzing I got when I arrived home from work a few minutes later.

    So the moral of this story is – Babies don’t always turn up when you plan for them to arrive –

    mrmonkfinger
    Free Member

    Once they get mobile and become toddlers then it becomes much harder to focus on anything

    try “almost impossible” not “harder”!

    dandax1990
    Free Member

    My other half’s sister and husband managed it.

    They moved in when the baby was 4 month old. Repossessed bungalow, taken walls down, put in brand new bathroom, kitchen, double doors to the rear. The lot.

    They’re doing fine, they said it’s very hard work but they wouldn’t change the situation.

    He is a plumber to be fair but he’s been a cripple for the past 4 month’s after a nasty football tackle ruined his right knee. Still getting work done.

    It all depends on the motivation you have to do it.

    Good luck.

    sleepless
    Free Member

    we moved whilst preggers into first house, birthed first child, changed jobs twice, renovated new house (new roof, total rewire and plumbing, kitchen, bathrooms and new ceilings amongst other stuff- whilst living in it with new baby!) then moved house again (ching-ching£££) and got married in the same year. Oh yeh, And had two family members die as well!

    We are still all on speaking terms- even with my dead grand parents.

    suppose some would find it stressful, but everything in ones stride so to speak.

    never moving again though, as have found house of dreams.

    franksinatra
    Full Member

    The Obs and Gynae Consultant at out local hospital reckons that about 80% of his ‘customers’ move house within two months either side of the birth of a first child.

    We move into rented 4 weeks before the birth as our new build was late, we then moved again into the new place when the baby was 8 days old. That was also the day that my wifes c-section scar chose to burst open. 🙄

    theprawn
    Free Member

    yes, we’ve done it twice.

    it’s really handy for remembering when you moved into a house for those forms you have to fill out.

    ideally you wouldn’t do it, but if it’s the right house then get it. don’t buy somewhere for the sake of it though, that would be silly.

    Kryton57
    Full Member

    New baby’s, especially the first are really hard work, more involved and tiring than you can ever imagine.

    If you want to add the most stressful event in life (aka buying and moving into a house) at the same time, go for it.

    Personally I wouldn’t, but I think as others have said it depends on your ability to handle the stress. FWIW we moved six months before KJ02 arrived.

    Oh, and whatever you choose, RRR Jnr & Mrs RRR will need a guaranteed warm safe environment when they get home, so make sure there is one.

    RopeyReignRider
    Free Member

    Cheers guys

    The big dillema is that if we don’t buy a house now we’ll have to wait another year at least until Mrs RRR is back at work. This would mean yet another year of expensive renting and I’m sure prices would have gone up again by then too.

    It’s made more stressful by the fact that every bank seems to want a 15% deposit where we had accounted for a 10% deposit. This means going from looking at an entry level ok ish house to whatever we can find for a pittance in an area that’s not too bad/on fire.

    We’re going to have to move within a year anyway as this place is too small/pokey/cottagey for a toddler to be roaming around :-/

    mrmo
    Free Member

    It’s made more stressful by the fact that every bank seems to want a 15% deposit where we had accounted for a 10% deposit

    can’t help with rest but completed on purchase last month and nationwide were fine with 10% deposit, broker had no issues when we said that was all we had?

    dooosuk
    Free Member

    Bought in March with a 10% deposit with Barclays.

    Kryton57
    Full Member

    I can recommend a really good independant advisor RRR…

    ajc
    Free Member

    No idea what part of the country you are in but housing market in most places is very slow at the moment. The chance of finding a place you like with no chain has to be about zero whether you want to move or not. Buying a house nearly always takes longer than any estate agent will admit to. Loads of people do manage to move whilst heavily pregnant or with new baby but it does add to an already hectic time. We moved house on first child’s first birthday.

    brakes
    Free Member

    we moved a month before sprog came along.
    best thing is that you get to take decisions away from the wife as you wouldn’t want to worry her about such things…
    I had a week of overlap between moving out and moving in so spent that week redecorating – was well worth it.
    I would do everything you can to do it before baby comes though, otherwise it would be hell.

    legalalien
    Free Member

    Like Kryton57 says, the decision has to come down to how well you and Mrs RRR handle stress and handle it together.

    I did a fairly extreme example of this last year.

    Due to contracts etc. we had to move the week before baby was due. The new house needed renovations that we tried to have completed by that week. We were also renting vans and moving ourselves (with help from number one son and buddies).

    So, on moving week (we planned 3 days for the move), the second day resulted in my wife going into labour and me spending the night at hospital with her.

    Oh, and of course the renovations were late and two weeks behind at this stage.

    Managed to juggle between hospital and moving vans with number one son really stepping up to the plate to help while I was with mum and baby.

    Cue us moving into new place with new mother and baby installed in the dining room on our bed while the work upstairs was being finished.

    Did I mention with baby that made 4 kids? Yeah, had their usual gubbins to deal with too.

    The best bit came when, after being ‘home’ for a day, the temperatures had risen to 100degF and the power went out in our suburb. For 4 days. Luckily we have a decent generator, but the house was not wired up for it to power the air conditioning (we live in Detroit, so it’s common). It did power the fridge though.

    Needless to say this was incredibly stressful, but my wife and I have a very strong relationship and when under stress like this can detach it from the personal and just deal with it.

    When it feels like the world is against you, just being able to look into your wife’s eyes and know that nothing else matters so long as you are together is like an invincibility shield.

    I’m not saying it was a picnic (and I did get a bit sweary at one point or another – that’s mainly because I’m a Northerner though), but we made it through relatively unscathed because we were truly in it together.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    Ajc – not everyones moving to another house……

    Death sales tend to be chainfree 😉

    ajc
    Free Member

    Trial rat that is very true but kind of restricts the properties you can look at. You might not want an untouched for 40 years property with a baby due in a couple of weeks. A friend of mine left for hospital from one house and left hospital 2 days later to go to their new house. An extreme situation especially with 2 other kids.

    Sui
    Free Member

    It’s all doable. We did it with the missus 4 months pregnant, except we (royal + father in law) gutted the house back to bare walls and started d from scratch, we finished the main living quarters with about 1 month to d day, the rest followed on shortly thereafter. It was a nightmare as the woman will have an opinion on everything whilst being uber hormonal, these opinions may or may not actually make any sense to normal folk, including not least timings taken for jobs and also costs involved…… be warned.

    mogrim
    Full Member

    We moved when mrs mogrim was 7 months pregnant with our first daughter, not ideal but it wasn’t that bad. No major building work to do on the new place, though – not sure I’d want to risk that!

    RopeyReignRider
    Free Member

    Thanks guys.

    The deposit issue seems to be to do with our average credit rating (if it was all sparkly we’d get a 90% mortgage).

    I’ve been to two independent brokers and have had the same response :-/

    The market here in Sheffield seems to be picking up and there are quite a few houses available without a chain it seems.

    To buy a hovel or not to buy a hovel (not helped by the fact that we’re currently renting in one of the nicest areas, opposite open countryside blah)…

    Kryton57
    Full Member

    Have you thought about future costs? The mortgage interest rates have no where to go but up, Mrs RRR I doubt will go back to work full time and if she goes in any capacity do you need to think about Nursery fees? That’s basically mortgage x 2 btw. You need plenty of stuff for jnr RRR too – I think ours including decorating the nursery was about £5k before arrival. Babies / kids will eclipse the cost of your bikes in days.

    What I’m getting at is – are you sure you want to buy right now? Sounds like you have a good location….

    P.S. kj02 is 10 months now, we have loads of 2nd hand baby gear if you want to save a bit, bottles, sterilisers, neutral vests baby seat, Moses basket. But you can’t have William Worm 🙂

    doof_doof
    Free Member

    Moved into our first house last month, 2 weeks before my wifes due date.
    Worked out fine. Get friends/family to help with the prep work so you have the bare minimum to pack at the end. Get the pros in to do the big/heavy stuff, and get people in to do the cleaning on the rental when you move out.
    Live life on the edge and do it.

    stevego
    Free Member

    It can be difficult, but as other people have said it depends on the level of stress and chaos you are willing to accept.
    We moved about 1 week before my son was born. We already had a 15 month old and the house was a ‘renovators dream’ (read absolute sh*thole). We spent the week ripping carpets out, stripping wallpaper, knocking out badly put in partition walls etc. Most of our stuff was still in boxes scattered about the rooms.

    My wife was stripping wallpaper till 10 pm the night she went into labour (she got the nesting instinct bad).

    Cue being woken up at midnight with the ‘I’m in labour’, time to grab a few things, call a good friend of ours who was coing to the hospital to help. Luckily the good friend lived two blocks away and had already had 5 sons, she heard MrsS on the phone, dragged her partner out of the house at a flat run, realising we didn’t have the couple of hours I thought we did. I was obliviously wandering around slowly packing a hospital bag when she stormed in, dragged my wife off the toilet (pointing out the baby shouldn’t be born down the toilet. My son was born less than 10 minutes later, ambo didn’t have time to get there, neither did midwives. It was quite an experience, made more worrying at the time as MrsS had major bleed when the placenta didn’t come through with the first child, resulting in her being rushed into surgery. Luckily everything went smoothly though.

    2 or so hours after labour began everyone had left and we were all in bed with the new addition.

    Also, it was the middle of summer and all the windows were open, we hadn’t met the neighbours at that point and obviously woke them all up, next morning there were lots of flowers from them all, they were all great neighbours.

    shuhockey
    Free Member

    HSBS declined our mortgage because they saw that the wife was pregnant with number two and they where concerned about the cost of childcare when the wife went back to work. Quick call to an FA (Charcol?) and we had a mortgage with Santander (All done through the FA, so they never knew) So we ended up moving two months before to birth, so had time to decorate etc.

    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    If it were me I’d wait till a few months in, but having said that anything is possible if your willing to work at it.

    RichPenny
    Free Member

    If you can’t afford to buy a suitable house now, I’d say you’re better off moving to a larger rental property.

    darrenm
    Free Member

    We moved a week after number 2 arrived. 1st Son was 22 months at the time.

    Like others have said it is possible (like anything really). The move day was stressful as our buyers just didn’t seem to be living in this world and didn’t actually finalise their mortgage until the day of the move.

    Get more help than you think you will need.

    All I would say is be very cautious on timings, whatever time you think it will take, double it striaght away and add a bit more.

    We had a chain involving 3 parties, but it only takes one to hold things up.

    tommytowtruck
    Full Member

    It’s perfectly possible as many have said but can be hard work – my wife is about 10 days overdue with our second. We’ve been living with her folks for about 6 months and got the keys to a house with much “potential” 7 weeks ago. I’ve had it rewired, some structural work done and half of the rooms replastered – now it’s just (just?!?) decorating and putting a new kitchen in. It’s very very tiring and quite stresful but in the end it will be worth it, and we wont be moving house again for a long time. As said above, depends how you handle the stress etc – and also how quickly you can get the various trades in to do work if required. I was really lucky in that respect – otherwise, I could still be waiting for an electrician to do the rewire and unable to get on with other work.

    If you happen to find somewhere you fall in love with then go for it. Failing that, rent for a bit longer.

    simonm
    Free Member

    Congratulations Dan…. in the words of a good friend of mine when he found out my wife was pregnant “Now your F”£()$*()”£”

    Don’t move and have a baby at same time. Its a big enough shock as it is. Get used to being a family for a year then move. Trust me, had some friends who did it all at once and it was a nightmare.

    Worst case do it 6 months after, its not like Baby will need her/his own room until 4,5,6, months old anyway.

    scotchegg
    Free Member

    Do it.

    Our first is due in mid October. We move next week and I broke my back last week.

    In my mind moving is never easy so grab the bull by the horns and get it over and done with. My fear of renting has always been the unknown. We will be in a home for the next few years and in full control. I will certainly take a little more pride in painting the nursery knowing it is ours.

    peter1979
    Free Member

    We did it just a few months ago.
    We viewed lots of houses, the searching process is probably the most stressful.
    We found a place, put an offer in and started off the process when my wife was about 2 months pregnant. Then one problem after another with the sale came along (chain related things, survey reports, minor repairs before sale, contract changes etc).

    We moved in around the beginning of May and baby was born beginning of June. The move was helped by family and friends, which took the stress off my wife, although I had problems getting time off work so couldn’t help much during the day.

    The things you need to consider are, what condition is the house you are buying in? Can you get people to help you move? Have you seen a place already that you like? What is the chain like?

    Searching for a property is the hardest part, the rest is just a waiting game. Be prepared to get messed about. I dont regret it, we love our place and its a proper family home. I’ll always remember the day we walked through the door with out first born.

    RopeyReignRider
    Free Member

    Cheers Si! I am mildly terrified by it all!

    Scothegg – how did things go in the end?!

    UPDATE… Well, we managed to secure a 90% mortgage after all (typically after returning from holiday having given up on the possibility and having spent too much money!) and we’ve had an offer accepted on a little house in not too grotty an area (but not a patch on where we’re currently renting).

    Survey has been done, no major problems and mortgage finalised. Mrs RRR is now 22 weeks ..

    So, no chain involved so what do we think is realistic for moving in? Another two months?

    murf
    Free Member

    6 weeks seems to be minimum, from my humble experiences.
    Congrats on the sprog and the house!

    dirtycrewdom
    Free Member

    Will let you know. Have just agreed to buy a house yesterday, well have it taken off the market while we get a surveyor in, We are trying to get everyone moving at superspeed and have it done within a month. Will see how that goes! I have been advised 6 weeks usually.

    spacemonkey
    Full Member

    Survey has been done, no major problems and mortgage finalised. Mrs RRR is now 22 weeks ..

    So, no chain involved so what do we think is realistic for moving in? Another two months?

    If the mortgage valuer doesn’t find any issues and the solicitors do their job then you’re looking at 6 weeks or so if you’re lucky. Beware though, if things start to go wrong it really can eat into your time and wellbeing.

    We’re 3 months down the road on our purchase and it’s been a ****ing nightmare. I’ve literally spent 10 man days chasing people/stuff and it’s made me ****ing livid at times. Just make sure you do your due diligence at every stage and know where you’re at. You’ll be fine. Congrats on home and sprog BTW.

    EDIT: it helps if your vendor isn’t a ****, your agent is actually prepared to do some work, your solicitor is on the ball, your lender is agreeable and not one to find problems, the property doesn’t need any remedial work and … you keep on the pace.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 66 total)

The topic ‘Buying first house with sprog on the way ??’ is closed to new replies.

New deal added to Members Discounts