Are you in your forever home and if so how old were you when you bought it?

[ytee]

I feel like I should be in our forever home by this stage in my life ( early 40s dc7) but I'm not

Tell me there is still hope!

I have a nice 3 bed semi but it's not what I dreamed of a 4 bed detached with a big garden

Maybe I'll never get that! Who knows!

Seriously, OP? You thought that what you had to have by your forties was a detached house with more bedrooms than you actually need, just because?

I can't see a great need to move on and think our house is fairly future friendly.

The stairs should be able to accommodate a stair lift should it be required. Failing that, a reception room and downstairs toilet could be remodelled as a bedroom and wet-room. We have access to local services and bus routes if car use ceases to be an option. It has a nice size garden, but not overwhelming to maintain. Our aging neighbours have the same plot and manage well. If we downsized in this neighbourhood, room size quickly gets pokey. As it is, we have a good number of rooms, but some are... economical with space.

We've been here since our first baby and second baby arrived here. We were in our early 30s/ 40s. We chose the house for its potential and it is taking years to get it there. Having abruptly moved on from our previous house soon after completing all decorating over several years, I'm determined to enjoy the years of work we put into this house! The housing market was in an odd phase, and this house was the first that ticked the boxes after a year of browsing, and we were ideal buyers for a quick sale in a sluggish, uncertain market.

Our house is beautiful. Big, old and beautifully renovated large farmhouse. We’ve 4 small kids. My DH said to me recently ‘yeah and when we downsize later...’ and I said ‘WHAT! Over my dead body. I will rattle around this big old house alone till I die or need full time care if that what happens but I’m not moving. Ever.

There are of course seriously unexpected things that might make me move but I grew up around people who stay in their homes, no matter how big, till they die. I know lots of people with big old country piles and they ALL stay and then usually one of the children take on the house.

So this is my forever home. It’s possible I won’t end up here forever but right now, it’s my forever home.

I’m 30 (DH is 37) and just moved into our forever home - 4 bed detached. BUT to achieve it we moved to a cheaper part of the country, both have worked a lot of hours and lived in a cramped flat for quite a while to be able to.

Probably not, dp wants us to buy together eventually, he has a 2 bed 1930's semi, I have a large 3 bed victorian terrace but has a good 150-200ft garden (overgrown and yet to find the actual end yet!). I only moved here earlier this year and am tied in to a 5 year fixed rate so it is home for the foreseeable

Bought at age 21 (now 40) - 3 bed terrace and there is just hubby and I with no plans for children. Mortgage will be gone next year. We have no plans to move until we probably retire as I will get a substantial inheritance so we can move to anywhere in our area (NW).

I don't really get the concept and when someone asked me if it was our 'forever home', I didn't know what to reply.

Bought aged 31, will pay off in our early 40s. We could afford bigger/smarter, but it's got everything we need for the foreseeable future so why fuss about moving? Anyway our careers might take us elsewhere. I love our house but don't get this 'settle for ever' idea.

I think we probably are although I yearn to move to the country and have land/ponies/multiple dogs! We bought this place when I was 34.

Yes . Built it on family farm and moved in when I was 33. Hope to be here forever or one of the children will move in and we’ll move to the farm cottage if we can’t manage the stairs or the upkeep .

42 yo when we moved to our ‘forever house’. But actually it will be far too big once the dcs leave home.

No, I want to escape London before I'm 40 (currently 36). The house itself is fine though, nothing special, an ordinary London mid-terrace... Neighbours each side have lived in their houses for 30+ years and I think I thought I would stay longer when I bought this, I just can't cope with London anymore.

We are in our last family home. I guess we will probably move when we retire as our current house will be way too big and I certainly won't want the size of garden we currently have when I am elderly. We moved in here 20 years ago when I was 33 and DH was 34.

Yes. I was 32, DH 36. DS1 was a baby (he’s now nearly 13). It was our second house together and we renovated every part of it and extended. It’s been a labour of love. We also let it sometimes so it can pay for itself when we need it to.

No. And we cant agree on what or where our forever home is. We are on our second home together and although I hate the process of moving I imagine I'll move at least one or two more times.

Finally got there at 48. It's small enough, with enough ground floor, to manage when I'm 70. Dormer bungalow, so enough upstairs for currently teen kids.

And if our fortunes do improve, we'll be buying a fuck off massive detached bungalow because my knees ain't getting any better.

No forever home here! Our current house (our second) was a sideways step due to moving from north to south and doubling our mortgage for the same number of rooms, so that put us back by a move or so. We’ll have been here 5 years by the time we move, which is pretty essential to do since we need more space. The next house may or may not be the ‘forever house’ ie the ideal, dream house - I suspect our ideal house is about 200k out of our budget, so we’ll have to work with what we’ve got . But neither our previous nor our current home have been our ‘dream home’, and yet I’ve loved the time in each of them and both houses hold so many happy memories; I’ll be particularly sad to leave this one. So whilst wherever we end up may not be the dream, it’ll be the last move we make with young children, we’ll be staying there a long time and it will be our kids’ family home, so I have no doubt I’ll love it regardless for the time of life it represents and the memories that will be wrapped up in it.

Yes, 29.
We extended it into our forever home.

I won't live here forever if that's what you mean, I'm mid 40s. I'll move at some point after DD goes to university, possibly a bungalow or flat, maybe I'll move in with DP. Live changes and your housing needs change, too many people try to hold into the family home long after it's impractical, at my life stage it's friends trying to stay in the FMO even though they can't really afford it and they could get a better divorce settlement by letting it go, forgoing pension shares etc.

45 when we bought this house and I don't plan to ever live anywhere else.

Posted too soon. It would be too big for us once the DC leave but I want them to always have space to come back to, hopefully with their own families.

Not me, but my parents. Dad's mid 50s mum's late 40s, their forever home is currently being built and they will be moving in next December if all goes to plan. They bought the house DB and I grew up in when I was 6 and sold it last year.

DH and I are looking at buying our long term family home next year, but that will only be until children grow up and leave and then we'll downsize, so potentially will be in that house for 25+ years as DS is only 5 months and we want another.

Moved here with ‘d’p when we were in our early 30’s, (2 bed semi in a village), and he walked out a few years later. Managed to buy him out and through other people kindness towards me I have turned this to our forever home. It’s still not perfect, and there things I would do maybe a bit differently if I were to do them again, but we have a good life here and it has meant that I have been able to keep things stable in dd’s life which is what she needed.
Not everyone’s idea of a forever home but so much of my life had been here - tears shed, and laughter along the way - I can’t imagine anything else until I know I need to make the ‘old age vs what I can cope with’ decision.

I suppose I am, moved here in 1984 and I was thirty four, husband thirty five. We had one child aged nearly five. I do like living here very much but have been thinking I might move if I can find a suitable, low maintenance place not far away.

Rightmove have a couple of places I fancy but the time isn't right just now. No doubt when I am ready, there will be others the same.

Moving is such an expensive business and an upheaval.