Over the last year, we have probably spent the most time at home than ever before thanks to the current pandemic. At first, it made a refreshing change from commuting daily to work and it also meant we could spend more time together as a family. However, working from home and homeschooling presents its own challenges as it can be hard to concentrate fully on either.

We had plans for the house, I’ve been in desperate need of a new kitchen for years now. It was something we’d been putting off as we’d decided that we wanted to extend out the back and put a brand spanking new kitchen in then. But COVID put a bit of the spanner into the works so now, we are wondering whether it might be better to sell up and buy somewhere new instead.

With two growing boys, we definitely need more living space. Currently, our work and school life happen on our dining room table as there’s not much room elsewhere to have desks for laptops and school work. E is 10 now and will eventually want to have his own room. We do have a spare box room but you can’t fit more than a bed and a small bedside table in it.

If we moved, we would ideally be looking for 3 double bedrooms (a fourth bedroom would be even better!) with a nice big kitchen and a spacious living area. 

We’ve lived in our house for 15 years now so a lot has definitely changed since then. I have been having a look online to find out more about how the house buying process works nowadays and also to find out how much we can borrow. MortgageCalculators.info has a really handy calculator where you can input the cost of the house you are looking to buy, the amount of deposit you have to put down and the term of mortgage. It will then give you a breakdown of the monthly mortgage you can expect to pay. You can even compare the difference between a fixed-rate mortgage vs an interest-only one too.

Although it can be worrying to think about moving right now, house prices have increased over the pandemic. And as we’ve been in our house for over a decade, we have a decent amount of equity, I’m hoping this wouldn’t affect us too much if we did decide to move.

I’ve been trying to decide whether we would want to stay local to where we are now, or whether we look to move into a new area that is a little further into the countryside as our money will go a lot further the more we are outside of London. I’ve looked to see what homes are selling for to give me an idea but it’s a pretty big decision to make!

Moving is stressful without factoring in moving during the pandemic where you are restricted in getting help but I think if it comes down to it, it is do-able. Especially if you are desperate for more space.

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