I can't wait to own a house...tell me all the good bits so I can have ownership envy...

[BloodyStranglingwithBling]

I can't wait to buy a house. DP and I aren't there yet, but we're working hard to sort out finances and then to buy next year - depends a lot on whether I do okay at my job (bank ) and whether DP can pull things together.

But I DREAM of my own house. Not for investment purposes or anything as sensible as that. No no, I fantasise about being able to bang a nail into a wall with gay abandon. Or redoing my garden the way I want it instead of with the crappy concrete the landlord has. Or, choosing built in cupboards so that I can sort out storage...



Go on then, tell me what you love about owning your own house!

[Kathyis6incheshigh]

When I bought my first one, the best bit was not having to have magnolia walls. I had lived in magnolia for so loooong....

[mankymummy]

you shut the door, its yours.
you can live there forever if you want.
if you spill anything on the carpets/DCs write on the walls its not the end of the world.
you can knock a wall down should you so choose.
everything you do will add to the value. you can make it a home.
you can watch your children grow up there and then have your grandkids to visit.
you can plant expensive trees in the garden and know you will see them mature....

enough?

[sazzerbear]

Yes, you can finally get rid of the magnolia and paint the house whatever colour you like. Also, spill wine all over the carpet and not worrying about losing your deposit! Good luck

[autumnwardrobeonthecheap]

You can get a cat! That's what excited me the most. Also putting up a bloody picture is going to be heaven.

[Habbibu]

The feeling of staying put... we have moved A Lot.

[ninedragons]

Every rented place I've ever lived in has had a glaring flaw that could have been so easily rectified. This flat has a new kitchen with hundreds of cupboards but not one single drawer. Our last place had the most obvious spot for a conservatory (would have been overlooking a little stream and a waterfall - instead they had a brick wall with frosted windows).

In three weeks we move into our own place and if we see anything that should be done we can do it. I can't wait!

[MrsMattie]

I like the feeling that if we choose, we can stay here forever. No landlord or council dictating to us. No more packing up and moving (have also moved a lot). And I feel like a proper grown up when I talk about 'my mortgage'

[BloodyStranglingwithBling]

The cat! Yes yes, I'd forgotten that for a moment. Autumn, you are so right. We can't wait!

Manky - your list is pretty definitive. I like it. The wall thing particularly...

[wendylanguage]

Love this thread! We're renting after relocating, been here nearly a year now and still renting ... I HATE it and can't wait to own again.
Ninedragons is right, the problems with rented houses just can't be rectified! Our drive is horrible little black pebbles which turn into black sludge in the rain. We have black mould on the walls. it's all magnolia everywhere. The gas heating is on a meter and the house is freezing even if we could afford to put the heating on beyond about 16! The garden is huge with all grass not a single border or flower bed or tree or bush. I could go on.
Renting. It. Is. Rubbish.

[wendylanguage]

Out of interest Ninedragons, have you got a decent rate on a mortgage at the minute? Did you manage to get a good price on your new house? Sellers here seem to be in denial. The house I want to buy, the seller is just stupid and won't accept our (fair - 20% below inflated asking price) offer.

[ninedragons]

Ah, actually we bought it a year ago (we are overseas for work) and it's in Sydney, where the market isn't tanking.

I am amazed by the stories I see on here of sellers who are holding out like it's still 2006. Don't worry, every day that passes means when they finally do wake up to reality, the price they'll have to accept is even lower.

[QuintessentialShadows]

We are doing a selfbuild at the moment. The good thing about that is that i get it EXACTLY as I want. I have planned our kitchen to its minute detail (Lots of drawers rather than cupboards) and bathroom too. Meeting the electrician tomorrow to decide where all the sockets go....

[BloodyStranglingwithBling]

I'm jealous Quint. I told DP that I'm not really the "fixer upper" type so when we buy I'd rather buy one that is more or less ready to rock n roll. But I also said if the kitchen was awful, that was ONE area I was willing to rebuild from scratch to have it just the way I want it! I dream of a kitchen where the shelves are not hard to reach or where the fridge is in the right place and not on the other side of the room completely....

[Jampot]

i dream of having a side of the kitchen i cant reach from the middle

would love to do a self build. i have my eye on an overpriced plot atm but am waiting for them to be realistic about it

[BloodshotEyeballsintheScarySky]

When DH and I were engaged we used to be going somewhere in the car and we'd look with real envy at all of the houses with their curtains closed and lights on. We both lived at home before we got married (I'm a good Catholic with a scary mother!) and so we didn't get a lot of indoor space to ourselves. We thought it must be so wonderful to be inside one of those houses and know it was yours and everyone else could sod off.

And my favourite part of having your own house is being able to come home in the pissing rain, close the front door behind you and it's warm and dry and your own space. Lovely. Every time I get hacked off with my small Victorian semi I think of both of those things and I'm happy again.

[PavlovtheWitchesCat]

You can put pictures up using nails wherever you want them - that was a big thing for me. Not to have to use whatever was there (not that it stopped me in rented houses, I just always worried a bit when we left that we would not get a deposit back)

You can paint the walls whatever colour you want.

YOu can paint the outside of it. I am looking forward to doing this soon.

You can buy things for it that will stay, as you are not giving it to a landlord (ie we just bought a nice new shower as the old one broke - one we wanted, not a crap cheap on a landlord would buy).

You can change the layout as you please, whenever you please (money permitting).

We do not half expect to hear the owner is going to sell up and we will have to move quickly. Again (like others, I have lived in a lot of houses - let me see, 14 different places since I left home!)

It is not a shit pit. Or, if it is, its because we have made it so, not because the landlord won't pay to redecorate (it currently IS a shit pit, but only because we are decorating!)

We have proper heating.

I don't panic when DH/DD spils something or chips some wood.

We can extend it if we want to.

I do not ever have to answer to another person, have critisism about something I have done in this place (ie our ruined carpet in bedroom due to spilt coffee on a cream rug!!!). If this happen, they are our responsibility to replace/fix, and we do it when we are ready/can afford it/can be bothered, not on some-one elses say-so.

I am not paying some-one elses mortgage for them. THAT is a good feeling. I have given enough money to other people to live on thank you very much.

It feels like HOME.

[saramoon]

What a great thread. We have never been able to buy and are hopefully going to in the next 18 months. I have moved about 20 times since uni (am now 35) and we are currently in our (hopefully) final rented house - damp, cold and shabby. Oh what i would do to be able to paint a wall whatever colour i wanted it to be. Can't wait to feel like i have a home. As i said on another thread a few weeks ago, i'm not interested in buying then selling up for a bigger place, just want somewhere that is ours.
Don't know about getting a cat but wouldn't mind some chickens - and DH says he would like a goat!!

[sazzerbear]

Ah yes, forgot about having whatever pets you want, even though they do shed fur and leave muddy pawprints everywhere!

[wobbegong]

You can paint the bathroom bright pink. That's what we did when we bought our first tiny little flat. Just because we COULD.

[ThingOne]

You can put the hooks and shelves where you need them. You can build-in bookshelves and wardrobes to fit properly (or get it done for you). You don't care when your two year old draws on the wall.