Need Advice: To move or not to move?

Sorry in advance if this gets long.

We have lived in this house for over 7 years and are simply out-growing it. The kids are getting bigger and we just have no room in this small house. Our plan was to live here for the next 2 years and do a few more upgrades then we would try to move (my youngest will then be in Grade 1). I originally bought the small 3 bedroom house for myself to live in while dating my now husband and we quickly grew to a family of 5 within a few years.

By complete accident my husband took a wrong road home from work and discovered our dream home was for sale, at our price! I am not concerned with qualifying for the mortgage but I do have other concerns I hope you all can help me figure out :-).

Concern#1

Our house is located in a very small town in Ontario. There is little employment here and little to "attract" new residents. In total I would guess 1000 people live here, but there are a few other small neighbouring towns as well. Its an affordable area for those who prefer more of a "country" feel but we are 35 minutes away from the closest big city. However, this house would be PERFECT starter home. Everything expensive has been replaced: roof, furnace, cupboards, hydro, carpets, etc. The only few downsides to the place are: No bathtub (we only have a standing shower), only 1 bathroom, storage room/office has no heat (it's freezing in there) and the front door is impossible to open (we do not use this entrance, our driveway is closest to a side entrance which everyone uses).

Concern # 2

I run a daycare out of my home. I do have a regular part-time child and several occasional children who I watch after school sometimes. I do have potential other children that I might take on when my youngest starts school in September. My income is extra and not dire that we replenish it, it just helps pay for things like hockey for my son. Without my income and possibly moving this may be a bit of a stretch for us as far as "extras" are concerned. I DO NOT want to upset any of the mothers I work for and possibly jeopardize any future business if we do not sell. We are not hell-bent on selling our place to move yet, we just want this particular house. I would continue to watch the part time child I do now in my new home if the mother wants to drive her a bit further.

Concern #3

We can't be that flexible. My business is ran out of the house during daytime hours and my husband also works midnights so he sleeps. We would only be able to show evenings and weekends.

Concern #4

We own a pool and have been told this can be a hard selling point. We would be willing to take it with us, however, would not take a reduction in the sale price of the home for doing so. Because spring is in a few months I do not want to spend the time or money opening the pool and not being able to enjoy it.

Concern #5

Being embarrassed - again. This will be the 3rd time we try to sell our place.

The first time it didn't sell we had it on the market for 6 months. Too many home repairs were needed, wrong price and a sucky real estate agent were the reasons why it failed. We decided to stay, fix it up and try again a few years later.

The second time it didn't sell we had our first offer in 2 weeks. We completely renovated the place and it was gorgeous. We did it right this time, found a good local realtor and put it up for sale. The same week we put it up for sale my hubby's mom became sick (later to find out it was cancer) and she was my babysitter. I was pregnant with my daughter at the time and had no choice but to take leave early from work and the whole situation screwed us financially. We had to decline the offer and stop showing the house. It was VERY embarrassing going through this a second time, a third time would be even harder.

Our plan is as follows and I'm hoping for some honest feedback from those reading this:

1) Mortgage Pre-Approval (happening tonight, not a concern)
2) Call Realtor of house for sale we want for appointment to see it.
3) List with same Realtor asking for a reduction in commission fees as he will be a dual agent. WE DO NOT WANT A SIGN IN THE YARD OR ADVERTISED IN PAPER. We want serious buyers only, not snoopy neighbours who want a personal tour of our home. We will allow our house on MLS online and be sent to the local realtors. If people do happen to find out and ask us we will discuss our plans with them then. We will list for 60 days, no more. If it doesn't sell within 60 days we will continue with Plan A.
4) After we list, we want to put in a conditional offer on the desired property, us selling our house as one of the conditions. We are not interested in looking at other houses. (There are none that meet our criteria currently selling in the area anyway).

So is this a crazy idea? Thoughts?

What is so great about the 'dream' house, and where is it - how far away from where you are now?

The "dream" home has 4 bedrooms which would be enough bedrooms for everyone.

It has a basement and multiple bathrooms + a bathtub (which we don't have now, just a standing shower). This extra room (basement) allows the kids some much needed space to play inside.

It includes an attached garage, we have a garage now but you have to walk outside of the house to get to it. The garage is a "must-have" for hubby, the fact I don't have to drag garbage bags through snow anymore would be awesome.

Its located in the country (on a paved road) which right now we are "in-town" on a corner lot. Majority of our neighbours are okay, but most days I would like more privacy. For example, we have a pool. We NEVER enjoy it as a family it seems as all the neighbours seem to come over. There are other "minor" neighbour issues but it mostly comes down to privacy.

It's closer to the school that my children attend.

It's about a 7-10 minute drive from where we live now.

It's closer to my husband's work.

It includes a barn and over-sized storage shed. We don't have an immediate use for now but possibly in the future. Both have hydro and water.

Lots of land behind the house for kids to play or a pool.

The new house sounds amazing. If that's what you really want, go for it. The heck with it, life is short and its sounds like a great place to raise your family!

Wouldn't the kids you babysit move with you? I mean if it was still convenient for the parents - good day care is hard to get. If you lost some kids you have now, I'm sure you could pick up new ones quite easily.

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Originally Posted by Tuktu60

The new house sounds amazing. If that's what you really want, go for it. The heck with it, life is short and its sounds like a great place to raise your family!

Wouldn't the kids you babysit move with you? I mean if it was still convenient for the parents - good day care is hard to get. If you lost some kids you have now, I'm sure you could pick up new ones quite easily.

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I totally agree! Life is short and this home sounds awesome! Better to try then to regret it in a few years...you never know what may happen..so try!
And like Tuktu said won't the kids you babysit go to your new place, you did say its only a 6 to 7 min drive from your current house so not to bad!

best of luck!

With that added information - definitely MOVE!

Don't feel bad that it's the third time you'll have your house on the market, that second time kinda doesn't count....
Just depends what the market is like in such a small area like yours, whether someone is looking...

Whatever you decide, I sure wish you good luck!

Thanks for the responses so far.

The regular part-time child would most likely "move" with me, however would inconvenience the mother more as she lives around the corner and usually walks here. I've babysat her for over 2 years and our daughters are months apart in age and will both start school in September.

All of my occasional part-time kids would not come with me. I usually pick these kids up from the bus stop and watch them if their parents cannot be here in time for the bus. I'm not too worried about these kids/neighbours their parents will have to find alternative arrangements.

The potential kid I might take will probably not come because I won't be ready to take on a new child, move and have my youngest start school - it's too much for me all at once. The hard thing about this is she is next door neighbours with my regular part-time child. We last met on October (when she was pregnant) to possibly start anywhere between April & September, but nothing was finalized or confirmed.

Do it! Your plan seems pretty sensible :)

Before you list it, install one of those nifty wall-mounted heaters in your cold room, and get the front door fixed. Those two things would put off a buyer in a hurry, especially in the winter.

No sign, no ad - that's just called a confidential listing. I think they're pretty common, I've seen a lot.

Market it as a starter OR retirement home - no bathtub isn't necessarily a deterrent to someone with any mobility issues, so you just need to put the right spin on it.

How much do you know about the agent in question? We've done a dual-agency agreement, and it worked really well.... once. He was someone we had known for years and trusted. BUT - he was away when we had an offer come in from someone, and we were dealing with a different agent in the same position, and she was AWFUL, she rammed through an offer that wasn't even really valid, she misled us and as a result we said that any future offers from her clients had to come through a different agent because we would not allow her to make any money off our listing. So be careful.

Thanks guys. I am looking into those wall heaters too. Even if we don't sell this would be a good fix.

Tonight we met with the mortgage specialist and no problems there. Tomorrow we have an appointment to see the house and found out the reason the couple is trying to sell is because the man who lives there is very elderly and not in good health. He requires oxygen to get around :(.

I guess we'll know tomorrow whether we'll take it to the next step after we get a good look at it. Thanks to all that responded!

If the person is elderly - make sure you do a home inspection - be careful of hydro, plumbing, insulation, drainage/water mold issues that this person may not have had the energy to deal with lately. (I currently live in my 47th home - have had a lot of experience with moving and buying and selling) Water problems have been my worst nightmare over the years.

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Originally Posted by avoncallingu

If the person is elderly - make sure you do a home inspection - be careful of hydro, plumbing, insulation, drainage/water mold issues that this person may not have had the energy to deal with lately. (I currently live in my 47th home - have had a lot of experience with moving and buying and selling) Water problems have been my worst nightmare over the years.

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Oh yes definitely! My hubby's good friend is a home inspector/contractor so we have a great guy for the job and he is a perfectionist. I would never even consider buying without a home inspection done, it's not worth the risk!

*On another note* - I think I am more convinced to move than ever now after the news I received this morning. While waiting for the bus with my son this morning another neighbour told me that someone who lives on our street just went to jail on Monday. When I asked why she told me for CHILD MOLESTING! I am very disturbed by this as he seemed like a very nice older man. You just never know...

"our dream home was for sale, at our price!"

That says it all for me....chase your dream! OH! And a barn,I would be all over that!
:)
G

So we went Friday night to have a closer look and the home is lovely, just what we want. It's so much bigger than what we expected! Nothing major to update, just a lot of cosmetic work/cleaning. We are busy prepping our current home to list in a few days, we even rented a storage unit and its near full!

*Khipson we bought a wall heater for our colder room yesterday and will be hooking it up today, thanks for the advice it's perfect!

How busy is the real estate market in your area?

If it's moving along sluggishly...it might take a while to sell your home, especially if it is not attractively priced. On the other hand, there would be less competition for your dream home.

Are conditional offers common in your area?...especially the condition of selling your house first. In my area, often times offers with conditions are less competitive than ones without conditions, especially for desirable properties. The condition of the buyer selling his/her home first is a fairly risky one to the seller. Also don't know if your dream property is "desirable", in the sense that many buyers would be interested. Again, these depend on your local real estate market.

I don't have any advice, but I just wanted to say I hope this all goes well for you and you are able to get your dream home.