To move or not to move?

BethRN1987

Ok advice needed. We currently live in a 3 bedroom home that works well for the two of us. With all the things a baby needs its about to get very cramped. We would definitely have to move by time baby become school age as we don't like the school district or when we have a second.

We are debating moving now and saving the hassle of moving with a baby versus waiting until its absolutly necessary . We can afford to move but its obviously cheaper to stay put. What would you ladies do?

Kasharr

We are in the same boat and have put our house on the market to move. We want to get settled before a baby. Plus the interest rates are rising (at least in the northeast).

southernmojo

We are working our way through the same decision, so I don't have an answer for you, unfortunately. We're leaning toward moving early in my second tri (hopefully I'll get that energy surge that everyone tells me about!) and just getting it over with. I'd really like to be able to set up a proper nursery for the LO. Unfortunately it will only be a short term solution because our long term plans include a cross-country move to be closer to family; but so far we haven't been lucky in terms of finding work in that area.

Sorry, this isn't helpful at all. Just wanted to let you know you're not alone in needing to make this kind of decision. 

MrsS81112

We've had our home listed since February, we finally had an offer made yesterday that we could afford to accept.  It seems like such a blessing, perfect timing since I got my BFP on Sunday!  My SS is already in school here, but we don't like the district and we'll be moving to a district 5 miles down the road.  We already have the house we want on hold for us. 

I just feel bad that DH will be doing most of the moving since I won't be able to lift heavy things.  Luckily, my family is great and will be willing to help us!

The interest rates are rising they were down at about 3.5% in my area, now they are up to 3.75 and our broker said they will keep going up.  We bought our house 2 years ago at 4.5% it's amazing what 1% saves you!

angelsnight

How small are we talking?  We have a 3 bedroom house, 1000 sq feet and while it's not a palatial palace, it's just a tad smaller than the house I spend my entire life in until I moved out of my parents house, and that was with my brother also and we always had plenty of room. 

However both our house and my parents house have a full basement, so I can see how without a basement it would be much more cramped.  We could afford to move right now to a nicer neighborhood (not that our neighborhood isn't nice, but you know) and a bigger house...but with that comes higher property taxes, closing costs, higher utilities, not to mention the hassle of selling a house and buying one and packing and moving.  Ugh, I can barely stay awake at night to make dinner let alone think about doing all of that while pregnant.

Granted, moving with a baby is stressful too but as long as you can make it work for now, I would stick it out and see how things work once the baby comes.  Then you could take your time (not rushing to get it all done before the baby comes, it took us 9 months to find our house in a huge buyers market).  Then the only real stress of moving with a baby is having an extra room to pack up.  Good luck!

ring_pop

angelsnight said:

How small are we talking?  We have a 3 bedroom house, 1000 sq feet and while it's not a palatial palace, it's just a tad smaller than the house I spend my entire life in until I moved out of my parents house, and that was with my brother also and we always had plenty of room. 

However both our house and my parents house have a full basement, so I can see how without a basement it would be much more cramped.  We could afford to move right now to a nicer neighborhood (not that our neighborhood isn't nice, but you know) and a bigger house...but with that comes higher property taxes, closing costs, higher utilities, not to mention the hassle of selling a house and buying one and packing and moving.  Ugh, I can barely stay awake at night to make dinner let alone think about doing all of that while pregnant.

Granted, moving with a baby is stressful too but as long as you can make it work for now, I would stick it out and see how things work once the baby comes.  Then you could take your time (not rushing to get it all done before the baby comes, it took us 9 months to find our house in a huge buyers market).  Then the only real stress of moving with a baby is having an extra room to pack up.  Good luck!

I agree with all of this.

What is it about the house that won't work for you after the baby arrives? Do you need the other bedrooms as studio space or office space? Is there any possibility of purging your stuff to make space?

When you say you can afford it, have you all considered the costs you'll be incurring as you prepare for the baby?

Just trying to wrap my head around your situation. We're living pretty happily in a 3-bedroom house and having our 2nd, but everyone's situation is different.

BethRN1987

One room is very very small like big enough for a crib but won't be big enough for a toddler bed. The third Rooms temperature is not very well regulated so therefore I would not put a baby In there. I'm more concerned with actual living space such as the living room where there really isn't room for a swing or to play or much of anything.

VineyardMel

I'd get it over with. I moved cross country in the middle of my last pregnancy and it was much easier than I think moving with the baby would be.

ring_pop

bethclosen said:

One room is very very small like big enough for a crib but won't be big enough for a toddler bed. The third Rooms temperature is not very well regulated so therefore I would not put a baby In there. I'm more concerned with actual living space such as the living room where there really isn't room for a swing or to play or much of anything.

Similar situation here, down to the temperature-funky room. We got a crib from IKEA that is also a toddler bed (the footprint stays the same after it converts, you just remove the rails).

We're looking at renovating and seeing if the other bedroom can be better insulated so that DS can move into that room and LO#2 can move into the nursery. (That being said, we also know that the nursery probably won't be used much for a while - DS slept in our room for the first 4 months.) 

And we didn't get a swing because we didn't just have space in our living room. The space that he's been playing in is only about 5x7 ft... he's pretty active, but we've made do with it. We just take him outside if he needs to run around. He wasn't even really mobile until about 9 months.

If you're able to move to the school district you want to end up in, then it would be nice to get the move over with now. But if it's going to be a stretch or you'd have to move again in a few years anyway, I'd save the hassle. Besides, if you wait a few years, you'll probably be able to afford something better by then.

ring_pop

Your house sounds so similar to mine that I'm starting to wonder if you live in my neighbourhood lol  :-?

Drgn30

We live in a one bedroom apartment - I wish I could relate to your situation!

missperky

We're in a similar situation. We have a small 3bd 1 ba starter home. In the end we decided to stay put since a new home would be an extra 600-1000 dollars to what we pay already and would rather put it to other expenses. Moving is inconvenient regardless if you have a baby or not. If you're really sick of the place you're currently living and want more of a "forever" home now, do what's going to make you happy. Best of luck.  

Andreabills

We are currently renovating an upstairs loft space for a nursery, I can't imagine having to pack and move while pregnant. I would suggest trying to find a way for your current place to "fit" you. Good luck!

BethRN1987

Rad&Co said:

I would move now if I were you. We are in an apartment and would like to buy a house, but DH is in med school so we can't make any permanent changes until we find out where he's going to do his residency. He graduates two months after our EDD. The thought of moving with a newborn is terrifying to me! But so was the thought of being PG while he was in residency so we picked the least inconvenient! 

Yes a coworker just gave birth and her husband is starting med school this fall so thankfully yours is at the end if his med school. Good luck! My sister in law was born while my FIL was either in med school or residency and it worked out well for them.

EveM83

I know what your thinking and this may be really sentimental (Blame the hormones) but I would love to bring our baby home to our current house. I think we might try to move when we start talking about number 2 but there's no reason the 3 of us couldn't live in ours for the first few years. I just think growing a baby is enough on your plate at the moment but go with whatever your heart tells you!

jenferian

Whatever is easiest, do it. We currently commute 3-4 hours/day to-from work (only live 23 miles away, but it's DC traffic) and had planned to rent out our house and rent a place close to our jobs before I got pregnant; while part of me wants to just stay here because we just renovated our house and it's big and beautiful, I know I'll hate the commute that much more when I'm SUPER pregnant and/or when we have the baby. And when we move, we plan to just rent for a year anyway. My DH wants to move back to California (where I'm from); I told him if winter is tough while pregnant and/or with a baby, he'll get his wish. But I like it here...I just don't want to live THAT close to DC. But for now, we need to and I'm all about making life easy.

ufsandra85

Are you going to have professional movers? I move all the time because i am in the miliary. With professional movers it is super easy. you sit back, drink some tea and watch them pack and move everything. If that is the case I wouldnt think it would make that much of a difference. We also have them unpack and put together all the furniture. If you are doing it yourself do it now. Moving yourself is a PITA

talitha712

We want to move, but are choosing to wait. We have a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath house. We want 4 bedrooms and a basement, and maybe a different school district. But we don't have to move right now, so we aren't. We could afford it right now, but we would rather have a bit more time to save to have a really large down payment on our next home so that we can keep our monthly payments and overall loan amount similar to what we have now, though we will have a bigger house. We also just bought a minivan and plan to get that paid off within a year. We plan to put our house on the market in spring 2015 since we can make our house work just fine until then. That is what works for us, but I realize it may not be the best solution for everyone.

Peaceb0ne

Drgn30 said:

We live in a one bedroom apartment - I wish I could relate to your situation!

Yeah, we luckily just moved out of our dinky 1 bedroom to a 2 bedroom right before my BFP! 

JessiTheSmilingNerd

We currently live in a two bedroom apartment, but we use the second bedroom for office/storage/ guest bedroom.  We've already started moving things around in the hopes of making room for baby stuff, but we're seriously thinking we're going to have to upgrade to a bigger apartment.  DH is looking for jobs out of town, so we're in the limbo of trying to decide if it's worth moving to a bigger place here or just waiting until the big move.  I do have to admit, I'd love to move to a place where I can actually have a nursery and not just a corner of our spare room dedicated to baby.

ellajune2012

Anneplusone said:

dotgirl2 said:

If it's this is your first child, I don't see why a 3 BR house won't work for you. We live in a 1 BR + den condo (900 sq ft) with DD, and it's been fine for us for the last two years. We are actually moving to a 3 BR house next Friday - we started looking for house in March after we started TTC - because we knew having 2 kids in here would be too much. In my opinion, you should stay put. It sounds like you'll have plenty of room.

I live in 700 sq feet 1 bed condo and might upgrade to a 900-1000 sq feet 2 bed very soon. Babies don't need that much stuff!! You can make a three bed house work.

This. My sister and I shared a bedroom in a railroad apartment (meaning you had to walk through our bedroom to get to my parents' bedroom) until I was 11. It was fine.

I wouldn't move based solely on space. In my experience, moving to a bigger space just means you will find a way to fill it all up with 'stuff' you never even thought you needed. If on the other hand, you want to move anyway for other reasons like schools, etc. and you can afford the place you want now, then go for it.

karacakes98

Our house is tiny. Definitely not ideal for 3 kids. But DH is starting a new job Aug 5 in a completely new industry and the bulk of his income will be commission, so we're looking at a minimum of two years before we can buy again. We might end up leasing out our house and leasing a bigger one if need be.

Personally, I wouldn't move yet if I were you. our tiny house and tiny mortgage have been great. I'd rather live in tight quarters that jump into a bigger mortgage.

KariB509

I say move.

I was in a similar situation when I was pregnant with DS.  We lived in a fairly large one bedroom apartment with a den.  The den was the size of a small bedroom but didn't have a closet.  We went back and forth about buying a home, if we could afford it, etc, etc.  Finally we decided to look for a home and ended up making an offer one on.  We got the house and closed two weeks before DS was born.  We hadn't even finished completely moving and unpacking when I came home from the hospital.  It was a bit chaotic but it worked out and I'm glad we didn't have to cram all his stuff into an apartment.  I'd say look now and look fast because it sucks moving when you're 9 months pregnant and not being done by time the baby arrives!

BethRN1987

Thanks everyone for your advice. It's just so scary to move. I've only ever bought a house so to sell and move its a whole new adventure. We are going to rely on the good old pro and con list to help decide.