Anyone else buying or bought a house while pregnant, or moved?

S-Tuna

We currently rent a house, and our landlord told us last Monday that he wants the house back. He gave us 90 days to get out. So we have decided to buy our first house. Not the greatest timing, but we are ready for this.

I'm not sure what I'm looking for here exactly. I guess if anyone is in the process or has been in the process I won't feel so crazy. Does anyone have advice? I've basically been banned from carrying any box already. I'm also feeling stressed about the fact that nursery planning has to be on hold until we move. Planning a registry will be a little more difficult without knowing which house we will be living in.

I'm not looking for sympathy. I'm just hoping someone can relate/offer advice?

ejmay01

I don't know how much advice I can give, but I am in a similar situation.  We just closed on a new house last week.  It needs a lot of work, so we aren't moving in for probably another month or so while we paint, refinish the floors, etc.  We are going to hire movers for the heavy things and my husband is just going to have to have the burden of moving other boxes/heavy things, etc.  You can still help unpacking and doing other things.

 The way I think of it, moving now is much, much easier than moving with a newborn.  So I'd encourage you to go for it.  You will be so happy to have your own home to bring baby!  Good luck!

abell77

I found out I was pg the day after our offer was accepted on a house!  So we moved while I was in the first trimester.  Upside was I didn't have to do any heavy lifting, downside was I had to get things packed up while completely exhausted in the first tri.  It's not fun, but it's doable.  I don't know that I have too much advice, but just be sure to take care of yourself first in the whole process.  Don't be afraid to ask others for help.

 

Good Luck.

Shaynnon

Hi!

We just moved, but it was an "easy" move since it was from one floor to another.  DH & I plan on buying in a few years (hopefully in SoCal!) so we rent currently.

I used a good dolly and when we packing (okay, by we I mean me since DH works a lot) I made sure to watch the weight of the boxes, and label the heavy ones. 

I took plenty of breaks, drank a ton of water and ate every hour or so.

We hired people to move the heavy stuff, expensive but 100% worth it!

I'll be honest and say that I'm stubborn, I got annoyed when people kept saying I couldn't or shouldn't do things and figured I knew myself, my body and what felt like "too much".  Advice?  Trust yourself.  

atack

We are actually going to look for probably the 20th time (since October we've been searching) today.  We live in a townhome now that my husband bought before we were even dating, but it has negative equity so we are sort of stuck. Our mortgage is more now than what it could be if we buy new with the lower interest rates.  I suggest get a realtor - they are tons of help!  Plus see what you prequalify for from different banks or mortgage companies.  Lastly, for planning purposes I am planning on being in the home we live in now with baby - but that could easily change - so I am not going to do anything more than paint the nursery at this point. 

Good luck!

S-Tuna

Thanks, everyone. I will have to remember to color-code the boxes! And we hang just about every clothing item, so the trash bag trick will come in handy.

And I am excited about the fact that we will have much more room in a new house! We are moving from a 1200sq. ft. House to probably about a 2000s. Ft house! We will need more furniture lol (eventually...).

kimwinn

I have a friend who the same thing happened to when she was 8 months pregnant. They had to buy a house and get moved in less than 4 weeks! Don't get stressed, that will just make you sick and tired all the time. Let DH handle the hard stuff! Good luck!

WillisWife

We were going to build, but now we are going to have to sell and buy. Which means I have to prep our current home for sale and then get a new one ready to live in. I just started painting last night, I bought a low voc paint and wore a mask, as long as the smell doesn't make you sick you would be fine, although I don't recommend getting on any tall ladders.

Gilliebear

DH and I plan on moving before August back to my home town which is 4 hours away from where we currently live. We both decided that we needed to be closer to my family because where we live now, there are no family/friends support. Our home now is closer to his work but he is also out of town quite a bit for business. I said that if I was going to be alone with a brand new baby with no support I am a prime candidate for postpartum. I have no experience with kids what so ever and have never changed a diaper before so I need all the help I can get.  

I agree, now is not the time to move but I see it this way, would you want to move with a brand new baby under your arm? P.S, because I am pregnant DH thinks we should have movers, so all I need to do is pack and delegate.  

whitney9382

We need to move as soon as possible. We are going to rent a house probably. Tomorrow we will fill out our application for a house that we found. It is stressing me out that I have nowhere to put the baby stuff and can't start on a nursery. I really hope we get this house or it is going to be that much longer that I can start on any baby stuff. Also, it sucks because I can't even help move really because I'm not supposed to lift anything... Hopefully everything goes ok in the long run...

olivia_eve

We have moved twice while I was pregnant.  When I was pg with my DD, we moved from a one bedroom apartment to a two bedroom townhouse.  When I was pg over the summer (it later ended in a m/c), we bought a house and moved from the townhouse to our current home.

I didn't do any heavy lifting, but I helped unpack and tell people where to put boxes.  It was a little stressful thinking that I didn't have a nursery set up, but there is lots of time to set up a nursery.  Just try to relax and pace yourself, you should be fine. 

jfgates05

We currently live in an apartment, but my husband has to drive about 40 minutes to work, so since I'll be a SAHM, we decided to buy a house closer to his work.  We put an offer on a house a couple of weeks ago, it was accepted, we close the 28th of this month, and we move mid-April.  Crazy? YES!!  But I'm SO excited to actually have a place of our own where we can set up a nursery and continue to grow our family to fill our new house.  You can totally do it!!  It's stressful, but really not too bad, especially at this point.  I think it'd be worse if we were doing this a couple of months from now, but doing it sooner means I'll have the summer to get everything really ready for the baby (I'm a teacher, so I'm done in May).

dakota01

Our house listed the 1st of march. We just signed the papers and approved plans on the new house were building. It won't be done before the baby's born and we'll pry be in an 2bd apt with our two boys and the baby till it's built in septber. Not ideal but we have friends and fam to help with the move. Organization is key!

megd06

I haven't done any of that while pregnant, but we did move out of state with a 4-5 month old...and I have to say, you are smart for doing it now. MUCH easier I'm sure while the baby will be inside you--not out. =/ Plus, the added benefit of being able to NOT lift anything, will make it semi-easy for you (other than the stress of finding a place). GL!

mcatmay

We JUST placed an offer an a house TODAY - we'll be moving approximately two hours south of where we currently live and just found our dream home. Our offer is certainly not accepted yet so we're just starting the process. I'll be about eight months pregnant when we actually move everything. Finding a house, thinking about the finances with a new baby on the way, etc... has been incredibly stressful but i think it will all end up being worth it if it works out the way that i hope it will. You and i can be moving buddies! GOOD LUCK!

vstevens

Our lease is up on July 31, but our landlord is letting us out of the lease 1 month early so we are moving July 1 to a new apartment (we live in NYC, so buying a home is not particularly feasible or common among our friends).

MH works crazy hours, so we are throwing money at the problem and hiring full service movers...it will be pretty pricey, but we're skimping elsewhere to afford it. If you can swing it, probably the easiest way to go  

Matt Dvorak

One thing to keep in mind - my friend is currently selling her house and says that it can take 60-90 days to close right now b/c of the difficulty of obtaining loans and that good stuff. Do you have a place you could live temporarily if you get into a situation like that? I'd be a little nervous about feeling rushed into things with your tight timeline, but I guess that depends on the housing market where you are and if you already have a good idea of what you want.

S-Tuna

lincolngirl:

One thing to keep in mind - my friend is currently selling her house and says that it can take 60-90 days to close right now b/c of the difficulty of obtaining loans and that good stuff. Do you have a place you could live temporarily if you get into a situation like that? I'd be a little nervous about feeling rushed into things with your tight timeline, but I guess that depends on the housing market where you are and if you already have a good idea of what you want.

 Our realtor said we should be able to close in 30 days, but we can stay with my step-mom for a month or so if we need to. I just really don't want to move our stuff in storage for a month and then move again into a new house. But we will if we absolutely have to. There are a ton of houses in our area that will certainly fit our needs. We actually found one yesterday that we both love, but we are looking again on Wednesday just to make sure.

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. I'm surprised at how many of us have done this before (or are doing it now)! 

navybride06

I did and our process was a NIGHTMARE!  We found house in November, signed contracts and sellers were a PITA and didn't sign for weeks (we should have backed out but we needed out of our apartment and I wanted to be moved before baby in May.

Longstory short, we CLOSED April 1st, and still didn't move until APril 10th because they needed it still.  I had baby MAY 14th, talk about rushing it.  We also had to leave our apartment and live in a friends spare apartment for 1 month with just our mattress, dogs and suitcase.  Oh I was miserable.

Once we moved it, we painted it that day.  We did living room reno, paint and trim before baby.  We did kitchen reno when he was 2 months old which was hard to have no sink and a baby.  

Advice: prepare for unexpected.  

*we also are forced to be here 3 years now, which was fine at first with 1 kid, but with 2 it is not big enough, so now I am counting down to move again  

plumag

It's tough.  We bought a new place and moved when I was almost 9 mos pregnant with DD.  Best advice - hire movers if you can.  If there was ever a time when you need them, it's now.  I'd never done it before and it saved me so much stress I don't know if I can go back even when I'm not pregnant.  As soon as we got into the new place the nursery was our first priority with unpacking.  We had lots of extra help with setting the rooms up, putting together nursery furniture, etc.  Another thing - don't stress about getting everything perfect prior to having the baby especially if you're as close as I was.  We had boxes to unpack for quite a while afterwards.  Also, we stayed in our apartment for a bit before moving so all the painting, etc could be done before we got there.

DarrenAndMelissa

We are! We're hoping to buy our house at the beginning of July and will be moving in at the end of August. Really interesting timing, but it will all work out.

September2007

We had signed the paperwork to list our townhouse in early December, but after learning it was twins, we decided to put selling.buying on hold until this fall, after the babies arrive.  Knowing that with two, I could end up on bedrest, especially with the placenta issues of Baby A, it's just not something we're willing to do at this point.  However, we're in a slightly different position than being forced to move... 

I would focus on creating a nursery you love, even without knowing the space.  My guess is an average second bedroom is somewhere around 8x9 or 8x10, so maybe start there with sizing, and build yourself a layout plan.  You won't know exactly what windows, doors, or closets you'll have, but at least you won't feel so in the dark.  You could pick a crib, dressers, changing table, etc., and plan a layout you'd be happy with. 

Good Luck!  It is certainly stressful...  I'm thinking of you!