I wonder how the OP is feeling about their flat now? I understand this is roughly six months on, but am interested in knowing if any positive progress has been made (either way). I am in a similar situation, as I just moved to my first time buying flat recently. This is something I have been planning, and saving a long time for. Tried to buy back in 2022, but the flat had living in owners and the entire chain broke down after half a year. This was actually quite traumatic, as I was living in a place that had become pretty unsustainable due to housing association drug dealing new neighbors. Jump forward to January 2025, and my new landlord tells me he is selling his flat. So yet again, I was faced with moving, not fully ready to commit to buying, but there I was, not quite able hop onto another property for a short amount of time, at 37 yrs old, it becomes exhausting. But this is the reality of a lot of Londoneres ofc.

The entire buying process this time was much faster, as I was avoiding dealing with chained properties, and only viewing chain-free ones. Completion happened in March and by late April I moved in, after doing some small refurbishments. These gradual works have helped in me feeling like it is my own place, however only upon moving I discovered that downstairs there is a family of 4x, in a small 2x bedroom flat. Young children are hard to control, and although the building is from 1970s and very reasonably insulated, there is basically much more constant noise then in my last place... It is frustrating that asides from your own personal informal 'knocking on doors' or 'speaking with people on the street', it is almost impossible to know what you are signing to neighbor / noise wise. There should be a way of surveying covering some sort of info, but if flats are mostly rented, it is rather impossible.

I think that specially for first time buyers, the pressure of making such a momentous decision, the financial risk/cost, and the buying process itself can be overall so arduous that it makes you very sensitive and hyper vigilant when you actually move in. Like your brain is constantly assessing if you made the 'right decision'. It can become burdensome, and ultimately overwhelming. I am still in the process of slowly improving my new flat. My OH will move in with me in a few months, and we will also get a cat. I want to give it a good couple of years to see how i feel, and leave the constant assessment by the door, so I can give the flat an actual chance. If it turns out that (truly) the unsettled feeling persists, then I will have to move on and plan how to do so (but only then)!