How did you decide on your 'forever' home?

[DanTheMan]

I'm curious to know how you all made the decision on the house that you plan on living in long term? (10 years +)

Was it location / size / style or something completely different?

I live in a typical 1950s 3 bed semi. Good location, decent size, decent garden etc. We only ever plan on having the 1 child we already have so we don't need any more bedrooms.

If we stayed here, we'd be mortgage free at 45 and it has everything we need, but for some reason, part of me keeps thinking that we need a bigger house.

 

[alexakasloth]

We are in our first house and don't plan on moving out any time soon, I cannot see it being within 10 years. It has 2 bedrooms and it's possible to convert the loft if/ when we need a third, space to put an extension out the back or in the side return although I'm thinking of a conservatory/ utility there.
It's been a bit of a doer-upper so I think i've grown a bit attached to it, plus moving would incur a lot extra costs.

 

[johnny6]

We bought our first house 7 years ago and to be honest at the beginning we didn’t see it as our ‘forever’ home. It’s a 3 bed post war ex council house in a ‘dodgy’ housing estate. Lots of comments from people when we were buying it that ‘you wouldn’t catch me living there’ and what not.

Actually though the area is relatively quiet, you get the odd scallywag but mostly it’s just normal people going about their business worrying about work, the family and paying the bills. The dodgy reputation was really only valid during the 80s to early 90s and it’s changed massively since. No doubt heavily influenced further by the local council spending lots of money regenerating the area again about 6 months after we bought our house.

so actually now I can see this being our forever home. It works for us. We are unlikely to outgrow it. It’s convenient for work, the broadband is pretty good and getting much better in the near future. We know and talk to our 10-12 closest neighbours. Yes it could do with a downstairs toilet and maybe some better off street parking, but nothing that is a deal breaker.

 

[DampCat]

About to move into a new place, assuming nothing goes wrong. In theory it's more than i should ever need. 5 bed, detached, double garage, decent garden, good schools, good transport links etc.

I know though that the idea of my son (3) moving out and going to uni etc while I'm still in that house seems impossible. I get bored very easily. I'll come back to this thread in 15 years and let you know.

 

[Jimmeh]

About to move into a new place, assuming nothing goes wrong. In theory it's more than i should ever need. 5 bed, detached, double garage, decent garden, good schools, good transport links etc.

I know though that the idea of my son (3) moving out and going to uni etc while I'm still in that house seems impossible. I get bored very easily. I'll come back to this thread in 15 years and let you know.

Same, and have been through my adult life. Have moved, on average, once every 5 years.
We moved into what we both decided would be a forever home 2 years ago. Similar size to yours. We have spent money and time on it to make it our own.
I have itchy fit and am scrolling through Rightmove most weeks. Haven’t told the missus.

OP, sorry, not much help.

 

[2004typer]

Moved house a couple of months ago, main driver was an additional room for home office and to make sure kids had a bedroom each, plus proximity to a decent high school, property is 4 bed detached in a reasonably decent area (some scallywags nearby though, but that's just life around Tameside (East of Manchester)).

If we ever move again will be to downsize when old and wrinkly, but I'd be happy to stay where we are forever.

 

[IvanDobskey]

We moved from a two bed semi which was paid off, to what hopefully is our forever home just last year. It's a four bedroom detached, so loads of space for home working. It has the big kitchen diner we wanted and a proper brick sun room. Decent sized garden for the area and a garage. So really we shouldn't need anything more.

 

[potatolord]

Bought our house 8 years ago now, as a wreck. We spent a lot of work and money getting it fixed up and it's got everything we need- little traffic, fronts on the village green, lots of space.

I'd moved a lot in the previous decade and just wanted some stability and to avoid the hassles of moving. I could probably afford to move "up the chain", but would struggle to find a bigger/ better house, so there's little point, really.

 

[sovietspybob]

We built our house to our own design and moved in 5 years ago so assuming nothing else happens in life it would do us forever.

It was built with 2 home offices, nice big bedrooms etc and i've got my massive mancave of a workshop/garage and a garden big enough for my miniature railway so i couldn't want anything more really house wise.

Only thing i could see us moving for is schools as we have a 2 year old daughter now and after looking in to it more the local schools all look pretty cack, all welsh medium where me and my wife don't speak welsh at all so it might be either pay for private school or pay to move house!

 

[MrKnifey]

Took us nearly ten years to move out of our first home. Spent years sorting out debts and getting finances in order to be able to get in a good position where we were able to move into our forever home (detached bungalow with huge garage and plenty of space). I didn't want to move with any loans etc on our heads as our mortgage pretty much tripled and our council tax doubled!

 

[Miguél]

Number one for me is always location/area. You can do whatever you want to turn your house into a home but you can never change the location of your house.

We are in a house now that is a 3 bed Detached with downstairs large extension, Garage, nice size garden, has eveyrthing we need in a house and in the perfect location for us. We have slowly refurbed inside and out for 2 years and now have it to our taste.

Can I say this will be a "forever" home? No.

But it depends what type of person you are I guess and if you are motivated by change. I enjoy DIY and the satisfaction of house refurbs, so in a few years when our fixed deal is coming to an end we may decide to move again or do something with this house like a loft conversion. At the moment this house has everything we need and we are really happy with it.

 

[Jimbo Mahoney]

For us it was:

1) Detached.
2) Practically next door to family & good commute for work.
3) Within our budget.
4) Layout of rooms.
5) South-facing garden.

 

[mid_gen]

3-bed terrace here. Not having kids so it's plenty of space. Great location, good price, SW facing garden. I don't have any great desire for a bigger house, it's just more work to look after. A garage might scratch an itch, but I'm past the stage where I care about my car.

Forever? Hard to say, we've lived abroad for 10 of the last 12 years and there's a good chance we'll end up abroad again, but will keep this property.

 

[fastwunz]

4 bed detached that we bought and had been lived in for 40 years by two nuns.
Green carpets, beige bathrooms and artex all over the shop.

the location is amazing though and once we have finished with the building work and renovations, it will be great.

It’s in a nice part of suburban Surrey.

however, the moment the wife opens the door even slightly, I’ll bolt to the countryside and I absolutely won’t look back - she can come too is she wants...

 

[Royal Fleet]

part of me keeps thinking that we need a bigger house.

We have lived in this house for 15 years. We have expanded it a couple of times but it is still only 3 beds (and we have 2 kids) and it will never be made into a 4 bed.

The way I look at it is that I could afford more. However round here that would about another 200k. My kids will leave home in the next 5 years (or at least head off to Uni). I have more savings than mortgage and have no desire to take on more debt at my age 48.

You really have to decide what a bigger house would bring you when you only need it when the kids are at home, or you can be debt free so much earlier.

 

[DanTheMan]

We have lived in this house for 15 years. We have expanded it a couple of times but it is still only 3 beds (and we have 2 kids) and it will never be made into a 4 bed.

The way I look at it is that I could afford more. However round here that would about another 200k. My kids will leave home in the next 5 years (or at least head off to Uni). I have more savings than mortgage and have no desire to take on more debt at my age 48.

You really have to decide what a bigger house would bring you when you only need it when the kids are at home, or you can be debt free so much earlier.

I think that sums up my underlying feelings. I know the sensible option is to stay here and be debt free as early as possible. For how often we have more guests than sleeping space, I could pay for them to stay at the Premier Inn a mile down the road 1000 times over and still be better off.

Id quite happily move somewhere further away from the city and have a bigger house in a more rural location but my wife loves being near Manchester. Plus from a work perspective, the commute would be painful.

 

[rodders]

It was just big enough and we could afford it.

 

[ants83]

Wanted to stay in my 3 bed semi for about ten years but only lasted 3 and a bit due to idiot neighbours.
Had no choice but to move and am now in a detached which cost me £50k extra on the mortgage but the lifestyle and house is a dream for me compared to what we came from.

 

[GinG]

4 bed detached house here, this is the second house we purchased.

The house we have now is big enough with chance to do a garage conversion, extend into the loft and rear.

The garden backa out onto fields so not overlooked... Its perfect really but we still find ourselves looking for a little more land as we are a new build so you don't get a great deal of land.

We have however made the decision to stay and make this the forever home (for now!) purely down to lifestyle. Taking on a bigger mortgage means less disposable income and especially after the last year we have had I think family time and holidays are much more important that a bigger house.

By the sounds of what you have the house is perfect, only you can tell if its the right choice but for lifestyle it will allow you to either retire early or save a good chunk prior to retirement.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

We built our house to our own design and moved in 5 years ago so assuming nothing else happens in life it would do us forever.

It was built with 2 home offices, nice big bedrooms etc and i've got my massive mancave of a workshop/garage and a garden big enough for my miniature railway so i couldn't want anything more really house wise.

Only thing i could see us moving for is schools as we have a 2 year old daughter now and after looking in to it more the local schools all look pretty cack, all welsh medium where me and my wife don't speak welsh at all so it might be either pay for private school or pay to move house!

Your best investing into a home with a cracking school nearby especially secondary.

You will get that money back and more in future too whenever you or your dependents sell it.

Whereas private school will only ever give your kids the best opportunity at life if that opportunity fails your left with nothing but the thought that you tried your best.

Let's say you have 2 kids. £15k per year minimum. 6 years. That's £180k.

I'd rather plough that £180k into a home on top what I have now and have the best state school within an hour's drive in any direction that's so good it's only a minor step below private.

So it looks like I have roughly 10 years to make that £180k extra and see what that gets me on top of whatever the current home will be worth.