How long did it take to buy your forever home??

[yellowpolkadots101]

Myself and my partner are looking to buy our first property hopefully by the end of the year and I can honestly say it will not be a property of my dreams and albeit I cannot predict the future I don't see it as our forever home. (We will have to start small in a not as nice area to get on the ladder!) We are both 29 so still both relatively young, no DC yet!

It made me wonder how long it took or will take to be able to purchase your dream forever home?

I bought my forever home outright in 2017 and I’m now going to be 53 tomorrow!

I have previously had mortgages homes but moved to Wales and as I didn’t know the areas well, rented for awhile and moved around until I found the perfect area and home.

I would say that at 29 your home is unlikely to be your forever home.

Not sure it exists for me. I'd like to go up in terms of size and value in my 50s and it's highly likely. But then I plan to downsize when it gets too much and spend the leftovers in retirement

Bought my forever home at 27. Property was a lot cheaper back then (1983).

I’m 65. Not found it yet. Would stay where I am forever, but it’s just not practical.

We bought a site & built ours when I was 37. It's our third property, we bought for the first time when I was 24.

I’m not sure I agree with the term ‘forever home’, apart from it sounding really twee , your needs change over the years. We bought a beautiful home when we were in our 40s & paid the mortgage off; we subsequently moved for work and bought another very nice (but not as nice) home in a cheaper area & also bought a buy-to-let to give us an income as we near retirement (& I like to think we are responsible landlords, I know Mumsnet hates landlords).

Only just managed to get a shared ownership house in a nice area after 25 years of renting. It's a 2 bed and a bit pokey but will have to be our forever home as we're in our mid 40s with one child. We didn't borrow money for a deposit and had no help from parents. The only thing is it's now too late to have a second child as we're older and can't afford a 3 bed. Also DH is out of work. But I digress!
Good luck OP..I wish I was 29 again

We bought our first house at 25 and then our perfect house at 35. We’ll probably move once more for something smaller when we’re older but I love my house and feel lucky to own it.

We’re very fortunate to live in a relatively cheap part of the country.

There's no such thing as a forever home for me. Different houses have been right for particular stages of my life. What suited me in my twenties wasnt what I wanted in my thirties with a family, and now children have left home, that opens up a whole different realm of houses.

I'm guessing my forever home will be the one I die in so am hoping not to buy it for at least another 25 years (I'm mid 50s).

Well I’ll never get my forever home in my forever area as I will need a lotto win! 🤣🤣 However we did decide to skip the middle step due to stamp duty & stagnating prices & will likely do a loft conversion. In another 5 yrs we will re-evaluate & maybe get the forever home then?

Got my forever home when I was 30. When kids move out might move unless grandkids fill up the rooms (on the weekends) of course. Still in 30s so grandkids should be few years off I hope

I don't believe in 'forever home'. Things change.
Started with an ex-council semi in the inner city. Now have a big detached house with big garden in a fancy little town. It took 4 moves. Age 25 - 39.

I would really like a small cottage near the sea, or a very neat little flat in the middle of a city.

Bought first one at 24
Second one at 27
Third at 30
Current house at 38, major renovations to it at 45. I'm now 50 and don't plan on moving for a very long time.

We bought ours last year, 35&36. It ticks all our boxes with location, space and potential and we love it. We have 2 small dc. We've moved from owning a 2 bed flat to 3 bed house to 4 bed house now so it's been steps up the ladder.

Surely very few people buy their 'dream home'. Isn't that just something to daydream about? We bought a house we could afford. It's fine, not in a great area but big enough for us. I guess it will be a 'forever home' as I can't imagine suddenly earning enough to buy anything more expensive, especially as the kids cost more and more as they get older.

Surely your forever home is the one you live in after you retire and don't plan to move again... While I'm working there's always the possibility I could get made redundant and then need to move. And I don't like where the jobs are, so this can't be it!

So I assume it's where you plan to live in your late sixties....

4 years after our first home. BUT! our first house was a project in a shitty area. Lived there (and tbh it was fine i quite liked living there despite its reputation!) Made a nice profit on it and bought our forever home BUT this is a project too and an even bigger one than the first.. its literally horrendous but the only way we could afford this area.

If we are talking 60s I like the idea of an executive apartment in zone 1.

First home at 23, forever home at 32.

As you get pay rises or benefit from better interest rates increase your payments as much as you can. Means more equity in house which will be bigger/quicker deposit for next house.

We bought our house in 2011 when I was 31, I love it here, I never want to move.
DH and I are about to build a big extension and when it’s done our house will be perfect.

I don’t believe in forever home.
We’re in our family home.
I had a tiny 1-bed, then together dh and I had a 1.5bed, has ds, moved when he was 2 to a 3-bed house with room to convert the attic. We will stay here till youngest is 20 at least.
We will likely move again after that.

We bought our current home in 1988 when 29. it ticked all the right boxes and we struggled to hang onto it during later recessions.

We would have hoped to get a bigger better house, but we already had DCs when we bought our house, eldest was 3. As the DCs grew up it became apparent that we would need money to put them through uni, so hopes of a bigger house evaporated.

Now that they have both left home, it is more than ample for our needs so we will stay put. I hope only to eave if carried out in a box.

First house we were 26 and 40, two bedrooms.
Second house we were 37 and 51, five bedrooms. Big enough that we won’t have to move until the kids have left home but I don’t plan on living here forever.