Today we put our house on the market, and we're planning to move upto Yorkshire later this year, pending a number of things happening in the correct order.
Why?
Well, why not? We've always said this was not our "forever home". We both moved to Reading (separately) about 25 years ago for work...me with 2 rucksacs and no real plan besides a noddy office job, Gill with a sensible grad-placement. We've both gone through the phases of crappy flats, house shares, starter homes and then finally to Woodley and Addington Gardens, the quintessential suburb house. We've been here (almost) 10 years, and it's been great, especially with the last 3 years...lockdown and home-working. We had enough space to adapt comfortably, as well as getting 2 office-dogs. That transition has massively reduced the need for us to actually be in Reading.
Gill's family are all up in Yorkshire...parents, sister, nieces etc. She went up there for Christmas (a well deserved break after nursing me back to health, for the second time that year), and when she got back we had a discussion, and decided that moving ourselves up North would be a net positive. Last year we had talking about maybe Cornwall, Devon or Norfolk...but then I broke various bones, we bought a new dog, and then were generally distracted for a while.
Why Harrogate?
Put simply, it's really bloody nice. We had a look around the Leeds area generally (we don't want to live in the City itself), and generally settled on Harrogate as a good combination of facilities, and countryside. I'll need to get to my office approximately twice a year, so just need to be nearish a mainline station. Gill has to be in an office approximately once a month, however her company have offices in York. Harrogate is a big town with a lot of unique shops, areas and facilities, without sacrificing the general life comforts.
Harrogate is posh, and not super-cheap...but still significantly cheaper than Woodley (as a ballpark I'd say 20% cheaper comparing like-for-like houses, though obviously with some exceptionally expensive areas, similar to Reading with Sonning, The Warren etc). Moving has some costs involved (stamp duty, estate agent fees, legal fees, removal costs etc), however we reckon we can at least halve our mortgage (and as as stretch goal pretty much get rid of it). For me, the cycling up there is great...loads of clubs, loads of events, the dales on the doorstep, and (a big once since the incident in October) less traffic (though I totally understand that it's still the UK, and tourism up there is a thing). If we do this right, it should be a real upgrade in quality of life...and in the last couple of years that has become super-important.
Where in the process are we?
We've both confirmed the move is OK with our respective companies (it is). We've done some fixing up of the house, which has been generally stressful (the biggest one being replacing the kitchen floor, which had some settling cracks). Generally cleaning everything, re-painting damaged walls (in the last 2 years we have gained a lot of labrador-high scratches, marks and dents in the walls), and starting the probably never-ending task of rationalising furniture and belongings. Cleaning everything, and dressing the house for photos. For myself, I've decided the motorbike is not going up with me (I've not ridden it since 2018...so I now really need to get it fixed, MOT'ed and sold).
We appointed an estate agent last week, after speaking to 5 of them. Today the house went onto Rightmove (this house is never this clean or tidy!)
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/131873969
...which really does feel like the start of things. In comedic timing, I'm pretty much away for the next 2 weeks (Spain, then France), leaving Gill to handle keeping the house spotless for viewings. Once I'm back, she is heading upto Leeds for a long weekend with her family, where she'll arrange lots of property viewings. We have a longlist on Rightmove, and hopefully we can get a better feel for areas.
The mortgage is already sorted...unless things go remarkably off-plan we are downsizing the mortgage. We've got solicitors lined up (the same ones we used to buy here...they are 10 minutes away, so if there are any problems we can literally walk in and sort stuff out). The logistics of moving 220 miles north will be "fun"...definitely more involved than this was...
(240p baby, welcome to the mid 2000's)
Nervous?
A little. I've lived in various areas of Reading for more than half my life, though definitely been through various life phases here.Since lockdown the majority of my friend circles have been online/virtual, with the exception of the cycling brigade. I've always been fine with rocking upto clubs/societies solo for stuff i have an interest in, and generally inflicting myself on them...this will be no different. There are loads of cycling clubs up there (I mean, they got the World Champs a few years back, which was a huge community effort). I can ride bikes and talk shit while eating cakes with the best of them. Harrogate is big enough to have some niche shops and clubs, and small enough that it will be easy to get to them. I'm also pretty excited...we've talked about moving before, but it felt very hypothetical. This very quickly felt like the right thing to do, and the right time to do it.
Comments
It's definitely the right thing and at the right time. I must admit I'm a bit gutted as I've always wanted more face to face gaming or movies or anything but then since I've had kids with special needs, it's been fucking impossible. Not to mention the myriad support that Kate needs. I can't even get down the pub for a coke with Byrn these days.
Being close to your adopted fam is really important - especially as the old ones get really fucking old. Can't knock this move, it's spot on mate.
Coke in a pub before you go?
I doubt we'll be vanishing super fast...when we moved here it took about 6 months start to finish. I'll be sorting out "au revoirs" once we have some idea of dates, but I'll also be back 2-3 times a year for work. I'll need to up my train travel game (actually should be fine, similar to flights to the continent, only more expensive 🤣).
We have 3 viewings booked over the weekend, so back on cleaning duty tonight. I have no idea how people exist in clean, tidy houses...it's exhausting!
Well things have moved fast, much faster than we expected. Most estate agents we spoke to were suggesting a period of 4-6 weeks to agree a sale, and a general air of caution around the current market. We ended up having 8 viewings over the first weekend the house was on the market, and on Tuesday accepted an offer for the full asking price, and the buyer has already sold via the same estate agent to a first-time, so the entire chain below us is "known". All the viewings were from parents who's children goto, or are going to goto, Rivermead Primary School, something I'd not even thought of! My base education was in a tertiary system, so I was only at Primary School for 3 years, whereas two-tier has you there for ~6 years...with 2 kids that's suddenly 8'ish years of school drop-offs to contemplate, so having the school effectively next door is a big boon.
This means we have to get our arse in gear now. I was supposed to be popping over to Nice next weekend...that's now been "upgraded" to Yorkshire, and next Friday we have 7 viewings booked at various places in Harrogate, with some time for second viewings on Saturday, alongside some general area investigation. It's all been fairly manic, and complicated as I'm currently in rural Spain on a training camp, with limited internet. Gill has been doing all the legwork, while I slowly break myself 😂
Congratulations on getting a buyer, that's superb! You might remember some time after you fragged me I went into hospital while Kate bought our house. Just saying.
She's still not paid me for that.
LOL, that's a fair point. The life insurance policy would have just activated as it began when we started looking and there was a 3 month lag.
A fairly crazy week. On Thursday we headed upto Yorkshire...in the worst possible weather (Thursday's weather peaked around Leicester for us, then calmed down a little to the opint where we could see roads and snow was not drifting). Overnight in Guiseley (where Gill's parents are) it snowed heavily, and we had to dig out her car...before very delicately driving to a main road. Once there gritters and snow ploughs had done their job, and it was fairly clear to Harrogate...though for the morning we had to park up slightly away from houses and do the final sections on foot. We ended up seeing 6 houses in one day...it was exhausting. For your viewing pleasure, I now give brief summaries of each, in the order we saw them.
The biggie (aka "Tenants") - Has a lot of potential, however has been rented for 10 years with virtually no maintainence. Loved the location (right next to a park, perfect for dog walking), but we conservatively reckon it needs £20k of renovation immediately, and probably more (leaking roof, ancient double-glazing), and was already at the top-end of our budget.
Bryony Road - Similar scale to our current house, beautifully presented with no chain. A 2 minute walk to a park, small garden. Ultimately the lack of utility room and an exceptionally small en-suite put us off this.
Norwood Grove (aka "The extension") - OK, we liked this one. Bigger than the photos give credit, amazing garden (there is a stream at the bottom, and the otherside is land belonging to a golf course). Objectively, the bathrooms are a little strange (the en-suite has a bath, and the master bathroom is very small, and has a shower). The planning permission we thought had expired, but the owner has undertaken commencement, so we have the option of extending (he's had a quote for ~£30,000. I don't believe that, and reckon it would be closer to £75-90,000).
Heather Way (aka "Tudor House") - smaller than our current house, but again beautifully presented. They've done something dodgy, and fenced off some council land off the back of the garden. Without that the garden is very, very small. Kitchen/Diner is amazing (has underfloor heating etc). Bought by a couple from Finchampstead last June, who regret moving (miss family), and are trying to sell up and move back down south. They have bought at the peak, and are facing the prospect of selling in a dip. Oops!
Pecketts Way (aka "Dead People") - Overpriced. This is a probate property, being sold by an estate, and is (in my opinion) too expensive by £40-50k. Needs some refreshing, and based on a replaced carpet someone definitely died in one of the rooms. Great location (100 metres walk to Knox Park and the Nidderdale Greenway), but estate are not willing to budge on price right now.
Milton Close - smallest and cheapest property we saw. It was...fine. Again, well presented (how do people live in houses in this condition? We struggle to keep the carpets clean for 4 hours at a time). Big conservatory with all the bells and whistles (automated blinds, underfloor heating, bifold doors), but it dwarfed the garden. Kitchen was small and awkwardly shaped (though good-sized utility).
On top of all this we also walked around each area, getting a feel for the location...we covered about 12km of walking in total...got home absolutely shattered. We bumped into a lot of nerds and geeks wandering around, and it turns out this weekend was Airecon, a big "analogue gaming festival" (aka boardgame convention) at Harrogate Convention Centre. I'll totally be going next year.
Ultimately we decided to second-view Norwood Grove on the Saturday, and were able to speak to the owner (who was a lovely chap...he lives by himself after 2 sons moved out, and is down-sizing). Afterwards we walked into Harrogate Town Centre with the dogs (20 minutes slowly, including icy footpath negotiation and hyper-excited dog wrangling), had lunch and a bit of finger-pointing. Basically we love the garden, and I've bee promised by a green-fingered friend that it's not that high maintainence. Having a stream at the bottom is just amazing...we'll actually have to put some kind of fence up, or Reaver will just live in it.
Yesterday we had an offer accepted on the property, so we are now commencing Operation Paperwork-in-Triplicate it seems.
The house is not 100% perfect, but it's pretty close. What it does give is options...plenty of them. We think we will probably do the extension, however we'd like to make some amendments;
None of this is urgent, it's all nice-to-haves, and we can take our time. Mortgage wise, without working on the house we will have nearly cleared it, once we add in savings (I reckon about £15-20k left...given we pay £2k/month currently, this will get cleared in no time).
Wow, what a trip! Nice of the weather to make it 100 times harder for you. Of all of them I like Norwood Grove the best too. Definitely good vibes from the images. 20 minutes to the center for a walk is not bad at all in icy conditions. Looks like a doer! Did you put in an offer - I get the feeling that you did but not 100% sure from your post.
We had an offer accepted yesterday 😃 I spent most of yesterday emailing, filling in forms and getting various paperwork together for the mortgage advisor, solicitor and estate agents. Sounds like the aim is for a May/June completion, as I think the full chain is now "known".
The next goal is rationalisation of possessions, as don't really wanting to be moving stuff we don't need 200 miles north.
Wonderful! May/June looks to be better weather than the shit show we have now.
Another similar good news on a related topic, Byrn is moving house tomorrow! Into an actual house. Terrace job like mine and round the corner. Excellent.
Good luck Byrnie! Hope it all goes well. Plenty of biscuits and a kettle to hand 👌