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!

We bought ours nearly 5 years ago when I was 37. Tbf, we were helped by family property inheritance- not sure when/how we would have managed in London without that.

We did a load of building work 2 years in and probably have another bunch coming next year.

We brought our family home 5 bed detached when we were 31, had a toddler & baby at the time, brought the biggest house we could afford to save moving again if we had more children, we didn’t so we have a lot of space. We will be downsizing in a year or two, been here nearly 17 years. Been an amazing home for us all, loved every minute of raising our family here.

Bought in mid-20s, four-bed detached. We love it and have lived here for twenty years with no intentions of moving.

I do know older people who have drastically down-sized only to find they are then struggling for space as their health needs have changed. Having to store medical equipment, wheelchairs etc in a very small property.

@ytee you have more chance of getting the two holidays a year and the dog (particularly if you need to reduce working hours to get your dog) if you stay in your current home.

We have a small 3 bed (2 bed plus a box), it's not a perfect house as bathroom is downstairs. But - like you we only have one DC and the house is big enough for our needs.

DH and I now in our 50's, house bought just before we married so age about 29-30. Mortgage now paid off but even when paying it was a low mortgage and therefore we had a lot more spare cash to spend on doing things like holidays, meals out etc

My thoughts are now looking towards next 10 years when we'll be thinking of retirement and maybe moving to a bungalow or flat as it's starting to do my head in going downstairs to use the toilet at night!!!

Yes. I was 42 when we bought it. But it was sheer luck. We were looking at smaller houses and every sale fell through. We felt so unlucky. Then an elderly unmarried relative came into some mony and gave us a share which upped our budget enough to buy the detached with garden.

But turns out it isn't forever, as we'll have to downsize when DC leave home, to top up pensions now they don't seem to start until you are one foot in the grave.

We bought this (3 bed) house 20 years ago and paid off the mortgage last year. Even if we'd had children we'd have stayed. It's a Victorian terrace but with a slightly unusual layout which I love.

We occasionally dally with the idea of moving to another much more expensive town that we love when we retire but the affordable houses are tiny and parking is practically non existent. So happy to stay here.

'Forever home' is such a cliche. Circumstances change. We hadn't planned to move from our three bedroom cottage that we bought when we were in our late 30's. Bought extra land for an orchard and over the years improved the house gradually - we were happy there and it was the perfect size to bring up our only child. Getting into our sixties we began to be concerned about the amount of work to maintain our garden and the village we were in became very gentrified, and definitely not in a good way. Then we had the wonderful news that we were to be grandparents and our daughter asked if we'd consider moving nearer them. We took our time and found a perfect house for our retirement - modern four bed detached with a small garden, everything done - separate reception that could be a downstairs bedroom and scope to convert the downstairs cloakroom to a shower room if needs be. I love my ultra modern kitchen, which I would never have chosen myself in a million years, but somehow it works for us. We love the house and area and I feel lucky to be experiencing so many new things. We're near beautiful countryside, but right at the centre of all amenities, including a bus service into the nearest city. Fingers crossed we'll not move again - quite stressful, and I certainly wouldn't want to have been any older doing it.

BeBrave Death nest

I really thought this was my forever home (a 2 bedroom terrace with a courtyard in the centre of a nice little town in the SE) and I do love it, but fallen out of love with it if that makes sense. I was early 40s when I bought it with my dh. Now late 40s.

Dh died some years ago, and I have a dog, an animal I never even considered living with before. So the life I have now is very different to the one I had when I bought the house. Also the town I live in is changing, thanks to the streets being flooded with drugs courtesy of drug dealers operating the county lines. It's not uncommon to see people injecting themselves with drugs in the parks and streets.

I'm currently looking at detached stone cottages in Cumbria and Wales. I am at the EPCs!

For me a forever home has to have wheelchair accessible rooms that can be converted into a bedroom and wet room downstairs for me and a live-in care in the last years of life assuming I don't get dementia and go into care.

So, not yet! I think in the area I want I will struggle to achieve this until I am 50!

I'm not a fan of large gardens in old age unless I have saved enough to get a gardener on my pension.

Kind of by default. I never loved this house but I'm starting to love it now although always thought we'd move. Now it seems like a sensible idea to stay- mortgage nearly paid off, kids have their own rooms, it's ok and we've made the attic onto a bedroom so big enough. I would have loved a detached house in a nicer area but don't earn enough basically!

I was 35 when we bought it btw!

Me Aged 34 husband aged 36 we bought our first property and it's also our forever home that was 5 years ago now

Detached 5 beds and double garage. All the space we need in a location we love. We will only sell if downsizing when kids leave home.

I also don’t agree with the expression ‘forever home’, sounds rather twee.

We are very fortunate to have had some lovely houses over the years, in fact the one I loved the most was the one we bought when we first married, a lovely Edwardian semi full of character ... we actually live in a much larger house now but in a different part of the country, could never afford to move back [back].

I would like to downsize and move away from where we live now but we are near my elderly parents so that won’t happen yet.

My parents weren’t at all sensible when they bought their final home, in their mid 80s, a four story Grade 2 listed cottage with incredibly steep stairs but they love it and the stairs keep them active!

Well, twee, and kind of like the sort of retirement community that advertises its on-site wardens and bridge with some sparkly-toothed silver-haired couple laughing in easy-fit slacks and gilets against a background of autumn foliage.

No, I won't be able to afford to stay in my house once the youngest DC reaches 18 and child maintenance stops. That's 10 years away, at that point I'll need to downsize and try and be creative about having enough space for all the DC to sleep when they visit. Or move to a cheaper neighbourhood not that there's anywhere cheap around here!

We're in a 4 bed (we moved from a 3 bed detached to a 4 bed semi) that we bought when we were 47. Had our DC late so they were all still at primary school. No plans to move now until the DC have all left home. Plan to downsize and free up cash for retirement at that point.

We lovingly bought our forever home in our late 30's.
Did the place up really well.
Then accepted work overseas and have lived in rented accommodation for a few years now!
You never know what is coming your way.
Hopefully our tenant likes our house though.

Yes- aged 44- first house with wife.

We lovingly bought our forever home in our late 30's.

Seriously? Is that a specific kind of warm and fuzzy mortgage-in-principle?

We bought ours when we were 45, 15 years ago. It’s been a great family house but it’s getting too big for us now. We will downsize soon.

@Gallivespian it is a slightly tongue in cheek sentiment.
But seriously we did lots of talking about forever homes, space, playrooms, gardens, offices etc.
We definitely had roses over the door ideas.
The irony of then only living in the place for a couple of years wasn't lost on us.
We have previously bought houses that we considered to be practical for the time but had less romantic visions about. We actually lived in these houses for longer.

Fair enough, @dreichwinter. I just don't think I've ever bought a house I'm buying one now in a spirit of anything other than stress and irritation, no matter how beautiful!

I am on house no 22 and know i will be moving at least once more, i currently live in a very rural place and will need to move closer to town in the next 10 years

We are, I expect. Moved in when I was about 32yo.
We were lucky in that we had a bit of a local house crash at the time we were looking and then this house was repossessed. I think it was worth roughly double what we paid for it within a year, as prices rose swiftly after we'd bought.

Salene Not your forever home then