Anybody bought their home AFTER having children?

[chatterbug22]

Did you rent / had you bought when having your first baby? If you were renting, how old were they when you bought a house?

I owned a flat when I was single. I fell pregnant unexpectedly with first, sold up during mat leave and moved in with OH, who rented, when DC was 6 months old (waited to do this as I worked where my flat was and OH lived over 150 miles away).

We then rented together for years, had a second DC, then finally bought together when DC’s were 12 and 5.

We haven't bought (yet) but my friend bought her first house when her kids were 7 and 11.

I think we will buy in 2 years when DS2 is in reception and our childcare fees will go down a lot.

Bought a house about 18mths before DC1 arrived.

We owned a home but needed to move when DS1 was born. We then rented until my DC were 3 & 6, then moved in with parents and bought another home a year later.

I bought when DC1 was 6 and DC2 a baby. I think I only passed the affordability checks because I was on maternity leave and could be wildly optimistic about my long term childcare costs.

I live in London, where I grew up, and have a 'normal' job not a MN six figures job so renting with a child seemed very normal and unconcerning to me. It was a pleasant surprise to be able to buy when I did.

We did. Eldest was 2 and younger 6m. We had been renting because London.

We bought after. We were both 27 when 1st DS was born, rented for 3 more years and then bought. BIL and SIL did the same. I don’t actually think anyone in our families bought a house before the kids were born now that I think about it.

Yes but because we were expats, rather than affordability issues. Bought when we came back to the UK when DC1 was 3 and I was pregnant with DC2.

I was 30 when we bought; had one DC and pregnant with the second by the time we completed

Yes, bought when DS was three and I was pregnant with dd. Had some very frugal years while DS was tiny to save up but I have the happiest memories of lots of trips to the local playground etc. He didn't need fancy clothes.or expensive gifts.

Rented with 2 kids, bought first house while pregnant at 39. All good, no issues.

I know lots who have done this - usually when their first child was about 1 year old, the mum was back at work, and they wanted to get the mortgage before starting to think about a second child, because they would have struggled to get a good deal with two sets of childcare.

In many cases a previously owned flat elsewhere has been sold to afford the family home, so not sure if those ones count.

We rented while renovating our house we'd bought. DD was conceived and born while we lived in the rental

Bought for the first time when kids were 5 and 7 (same house we are in now). When DD was born we were in a rented flat then moved to live in a flat in my parents business (DS was born there). After 3 years moved back to hometown and lived in my parents house (they weren't there) until they sold it 10 years ago. We were in financial difficulties for the first 7 years of having kids but worked hard to sort it and now we are very financially comfortable and have paid off 50% of our house already.

One of my friends, met in baby group 12 years ago. They have lived in 6 rentals in that time and just bought. Has been a nightmare, each rental bar the first one ended because landlord wanted to sell. Only one place were they in for longer than 18 months. Desperately wanted to buy but no money, had three DC. In the end parents gave them a massive deposit and still they've bought a house they feel is too small.

I had my first very young so naturally yes, after children. I was eventually 29 when I bought, 11 years after the first but I did go on to college, and then university, have a second and onto establishing a career in that time and finally bought during maternity leave for my last!

We bought our first house when our kids were 7 and 4. Previous to that we didn't have the money and weren't settled in one location

I was 27 and our first was 7 when we bought our house. Had a second after we moved in. We held of on a second longer then we would have liked but it meant we had more money to put towards buying.

Yes bought our home at 25. Then had children. Then was disabled in a car accident and had to sell our home to survive. Started renting when the eldest was 13. Still renting.

We bought our first house when our eldest was 5. It was just the way it worked out. I hated being a renter while having a child, I had a real bee in my bonnet about it. After we'd bought I realised how unimportant it was. Lots of people rent with children. But it just made me feel embarrassed.

My ex was in the Army - we moved around frequently and either rented privately or lived in service houses , and we had our children during that time. We bought our first house when the DC were 9 and 13. It worked out fine - we bought a house which was suitable for our family at the time . I don't see that there is any problem with having your children when you are renting - it's just a house like any other.

Yes. And I think this is surely quite normal.

I rented until the age of 40, kids were 8 and 5 at this point

I've never wanted to own a house but always wanted a social home, permanent, mine. I have that now and husband wants an owned home but it's not the right time for a mortgage, especially now. I don't want a mortgage at all but even my husband is holding off now as it's a very bad time to owe banks lots of money.

Mine was 12 when I bought our house, so they understood how special it was

We just bought a house, DD is 16 months old.