Did you stay put?

[user87382294757]

Instead of moving away to a place with lower house prices and maybe a bigger garden, when you had DC did you stay put? And how did that go?

Just out of interest really as we are doing this. Not in London but another smaller city in the South. Our DC are getting older now (teens) and it is working out OK. I can't drive, but we can walk or get a bus / uber if needs be. We have a small place with no garden, but it is great to have everything close by. And when they leave we will still be there, no need to downsize.

Just me then

Yes. Moved to a bigger house but not far from where we were (though it was much nicer, seemed like a different world). That was many years ago, however if we moved again we wouldn't be going far, we'd want a different, manageable place, near to where we are now. Not very adventurous are we?

We are doing this too. We are in London and can't afford to move the next step up the property ladder in our area. But am happy to stay put. We have a small house with busy off street parking and a small garden but we are less than 20 mins by train to central London, dc are in good schools and we have great local transport links, amenities and a great range of after school clubs. I do still dream about having my own driveway but by staying here we will hopefully be mortgage free by the time our first dc starts university which should free up much needed cash!

Living in the city centre where we are we quite randomly (moved here before even thought of DC) managed to be in the catchment area for the best local secondary...the main areas of housing were outside the city centre and have struggled to get places in recent years so it worked out quite well. It also means don't need to deal with lifts for DC as they can find their way home from school and clubs etc, so in a way has made life easier.

We had a (distant) relative say we were 'selfish' for staying in town but I'm quite glad we did. there is really good park nearby and as the DC have grown it is much easier to get out and about. We like having e.g. theatre, shops and swimming etc all in walking distance.

We could not get another mortgage to move either

I've moved regularly. Prior to dc1's birth I'd never lived anywhere more than two years, so there was no concept of staying put.

I had a flat in a dodgy area of London when I met DH but he wanted to live in a house, so we bought a house outside London - couldn't have afforded one in London - when we moved in together. Nothing to do with DC, though we stayed there when we had dc1 3 years later. Moved when pregnant with dc2 because DH had a job offer which meant things would be less shoe string tight with 2 DC.

We've never moved specifically to a place "for children" but just generally been mobile.

However once DC are in school I think it's best to stay put until they're through school, so we're doing that.

I think you've done right to stay in the city though - better for teens and to be accessable and attractive to adult DC visiting, and manageable for you very long term too, within walking distance of everything.

We're accidentally stuck rurally but I'd rather be in a small city. Rural is only good with very small children, such a short phase. We'll certainly move once the kids finish school, don't know for certain where though. Wish we could move to the big town where the older kids are at secondary but it's too expensive, and any other move would be too big an upheaval at this point - DH might be able to stay in his job but all 3 kids would have to change school and I'd have to change job, as cheaper more convenient locations are far from my work and the kids school, but potentially no further from DH's work just in a different direction...

We have stayed put. I love it. Moving to the countryside now would depress me. Maybe one day when I'm old but now now.

We all love it. DC used to ask to move to the countryside, now they say they're glad to be in London and they are so busy and have so many friends.

I never in a million years would have thought I'd end up in London, but we have chosen to and are so happy here.

PS I grew up very rural and loved it although I was always keen to get to London once I entered my teens.

I also grew up very rurally and think it has affected me as I found it hard as a teen and was bored, got away as soon as I could to university and never went back.

It isn't easy these days moving at all really with house prices and costs, etc. I guess we all make the most of what we have got and I have given up looking for the 'ideal' as things change so much anyway.

We stayed put, but we had the advantage of being in a family with property where I inherited some money for a deposit on my first place, then another family place was sold before DH and I bought together (I kept first house and let it so rent could help cover maternity leaves). We stuck it out in a largish 2-bed flat for longer than we imagined because each time we were ready to move, one of us lost our job and it was while before we were back on track!

But London is so crazy that if we hadn't had two properties to sell, even on a very good household income by national standards, we'd have had trouble upsizing to a family-sized home in London and probably would have had to move out to a commuter town.

user87382294757 me too! I never imagined landing back in a rural area at all! It was never my plan but our last move was international with a very tight timeline and the house was found for us. The bargain price compared to anything within 70 miles in any kind of town has somewhat trapped us. Prices rise all around us, and we went on to have more kids who are used to a bedroom each plus other extra space, and unlike me growing up they go to local state schools so do have friends who they can walk or cycle to... Although also friends and classmates 30 miles away impossible to get to except by parent taxi due to the massive rural catchment area...

We did recently consider buying in a local small town - we could just have stretched to it, but would have been paying an incredibly large mortgage right up to age 68 - even with the expectation of selling it rather than staying until the mortgage was paid the idea of the size of mortgage for the foreseeable future was incredibly stressful.

I'm toying with this, DH not keen. It's partly psychological on my part - grew up abroad in a huuuuge house as an only child with distant parents, so having everyone cozy and nearby feels appealing. Will probably change when they are big and hairy . Plus I'd rather pay down our mortgage and having a great lifestyle/flexibility, rather than larger and larger properties.

My parents bought a small house on the outskirts of NYC and intended to move to a bigger place when they had more children. I was the only one who came along so they never moved. It's quite a small house and we really felt that when I was a teen, but it's still a much beloved house and now it is the perfect size for them on their own.