After a whole year of uncertainty and unprecedented changes we can finally see a glimpse of life as it should be. The ripple effect caused by this pandemic will be forever felt by generations to come and the immediate effects are still very much alive. The damage caused to businesses and markets worldwide is all over the news daily and in this post we will share how some of these profound changes affected the Real Estate Business.
My husband and I live in West London with our daughter and our beloved dog Luna. We love it here. My husband grew up in the area and knows it really well. Our daughter is 4 years old and goes to the same school that he went to when he was little. Everything is very comfortable and familiar. We really like it here but we always pictured our family happier in the countryside, away from the rush of the big cities. It is a big change and not one to be taken lightly. We had long conversations and many considerations to make in order to make our little dream become reality. All this in the middle of a pandemic. I know it may sound crazy to even consider such change during such turbulent times but lockdown didn’t give us much to do but to ponder and act on things that we didn’t have the courage to consider before lockdown.
And so it began. We decided to take the first step towards moving away. We called three local Real Estate Agencies to value our property so that we could start planning the next step. Once you know the value of your property you can start preparing yourself financially for what comes next. We did not have much trouble getting the appointments and they were very quick to come to our house. By far this is the easiest step in my opinion. Things will just get more complicated and intense from this point on.
In parallel with getting our house valued, we started researching properties up North that we were interested in and that’s where the issues started. Some Real Estate Agencies completely blocked us from even viewing properties when they asked where we were travelling from. They would only accept bookings from people living locally. We didn’t argue on that because at the time we did not know that travelling to view potential properties was considered essential travel so they should have booked us in. We know better now. We also noticed that the there was not many properties around our area for sale. I believe people just preferred to stay put during such chaotic times and when all you hear in the news is that the economy is suffering and people are losing their jobs. Recently, with restrictions easing I noticed a increase on properties for sale in my area and also up North.
We also had to change our search requirements because of the pandemic. At first we were looking for a 3 bedroom house with a garden. We wanted a spare room for visitors but now we also need an office. My husband does online trading and needs a space and now I am also working from home therefore we decided to add an extra room to our search filter on Right Move.
The funny thing is that before the pandemic I was actively looking for office jobs which is where I have expertise but I simply couldn’t find it. Eventually an amazing opportunity happened to work at an amazing office in Mayfair for an incredible company. I was excited and looking forward to finally working again after a 4 year break to look after my daughter.
The opportunity fell through before I even had an opportunity to start. With the uncertainties of Covid the company decided to stop hiring and I was again job hunting. Little did I know that my best friend would invite me to join her on the blog and this has suddenly become my new passion. I absolutely love it here…so much so I now need an office!!! That’s is how much impact Covid-19 had on all of us. It brought a lof ot pain and suffering but also to some people like it brought a new life and new opportunities.
A house with garden was also a priority. A big garden where I can grow some vegetables and somehow become a bit more self sufficient. We also want to teach our daughter how to grow vegetables and herbs. We are also considering getting a chicken coop. I believe is so important to teach children these kind of forgotten basic life skills. Growing vegetables and fruits, looking after animals and caring for your survival and the environment. She already loves being outdoors and playing with soil. She is very much in tune with nature and I am sure she will love getting involved in planting and harvesting her own vegetables.
The beginning of the pandemic was quite scary when it came to shortage of basic items. Coming from a poor country and a very humble background I never imagined I would worry about not being able to have access to supplies. It was very unsettling to watch the news showing empty shelves and people fighting over the last package of toilet paper. It saddens me to realise that the sense of community completely disintegrates when people are consumed by fear so we had to take this into consideration when moving away, unfortunately.
This pandemic showed the best and the worst in people and the worst is terrifying. I remember roaming around big supermarkets and local grocery shops baffled that I could not find baby milk for my daughter because people were bulk buying and stocking up. Just talking about it brings me so much anger and anxiety. So we are not only looking for a bigger house with 4 bedrooms and a big garden where we can grow some vegetables we also need plenty of space for my very active daughter to run around. Luckily we have a house with garden because some of my friends that live in small flats with their kids told me about how much they struggled being locked up for weeks in a tiny space with their families.
Now let’s talk about the practicalities of buying and selling a house. If you are looking to buy or sell a property in the UK there are some companies that can help you. Mortgage Calculator website was created to cater to the UK market and has been online for a couple years with over 99.99% uptime, serving over 100,000 visitors to date in their short history. It has a feature which allows you to link to a specific calculation with the results already filled in.
Mortgage Calculator also shows graphs of loan repayment along with monthly and yearly amortisation tables which makes this tool even more unique. If you are looking to make to calculate mortgage affordability based on income or re-mortgage for example they have especific calculators with these features which makes your life even easier.
Life is finally going back to normal. Shops are reopening. The news are improving every day. It has been a tough year but we are on the other side now and if you have been pondering on selling or buying a house maybe this your sign to take the first step towards it. It is a long journey and it can be stressful so do your research and take as much time as you need but take that first step and trust that in the end everything will just work out as it was supposed to.
Luciana joined our team as a mum blogger in 2020. A dedicated mum to a lively daughter and a dog, Luna, Luciana brings authenticity and passion to every post. Her expertise in parenting and lifestyle topics offers practical, relatable advice for real-life situations.
well, real estate will “never crash” in the sense that a shelter, a home, i.e. something functional will never lose its intrinsic value, because the mortgage holder or a renter can still live in the property and make use of it. That doesn’t say, that hugely inflated mansions with a lot of useless extras won’t lose like half their “inflated” value.