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Original poster

Would you buy a house if you thought you’d need to move in about 5 years?

38 replies

rosieposiepopss · 04/04/2023 21:31

We don’t want to max out our borrowing so we will buy something in a nice area but small, probably a two bedroom house. This will mean we won’t be able to stay there forever if we grow our family.

Sister and brother in law saved and purchased a 5 bed when the market was a bit better a couple of years ago. They are higher earners than us but I must admit they were in the envious position of knowing they never had to move before they even had kids

It’s quite normal to start off small and buy your forever home later in life, right?

OP posts:
Hummusanddipdip · 04/04/2023 21:36

Absolutely fine to do it that way. Dh and I bought our first home 8 years ago, nice small 2 up 2 down (iirc my dad described it as the perfect starter home), plan was to be there 5 years, start a family, then sell up for something bigger.

We actually ended up staying 7 years because covid left me without a job for a while. We sold up and bought what we plan to be our family home for the next 15/20 years.

I think you've got to do what works for you, clearly the saving and buying big to begin worked for them, my best friend did it too, but not everyone is able to take that route.

Mañanarama · 04/04/2023 21:36

Yes, but buy somewhere with the potential to extend it if you decide you love the house/area and don’t want to move again.

I regret not having a bigger garden as even though we could afford to extend now, there isn’t really enough room.

Loraloralaughs · 04/04/2023 21:41

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nobrasfot · 04/04/2023 21:51

Moving cost, stamp duty is so expensive. if you can't afford a bigger house to start off with id definitely look at getting one that you have the option to extend in the future just in case you find it is too expensive to move.

ilovewispas · 04/04/2023 21:58

Yes very normal.

We are on our 3rd (and I hope final) house.

It went:
Flat - just us in London

Small house - Just us when we bought, still there when we had first child

Second bigger house - Had one child when we bought, joined by 2nd child ten months later

Final and current house - Moved locations to final house which fits us all in and is in the location our children will grow up in and go to school in.

Mitchumforthewin · 04/04/2023 22:39

5 years is fine for a first (or second) home I think. I did 2 in one, then 5, been in current home for 11. I love moving - I’d have done it again if it wasn’t a good place for the kids’ schools. I hate the idea of a forever home, I find that depressing. I want to keep moving on!

Sodd · 05/04/2023 06:00

Buy somewhere extendable, either extension or loft conversion.

i am someone who downsized after 10 years in a large echoey old property. The high bills, the endless upkeep and DIY, the limited life of the roof, the rattling around,. the dead space, all irritating. We downsized to something more compact and environmental, cheaper to run and it’s been the best buy.

Isthisexpected · 05/04/2023 06:05

Five purchases is the norm according to which?

Number four is the forever home and five is the old age downsized one. So that's a first time buy, and two potential upgrades in between.

princesssparklepants · 05/04/2023 06:12

Absolutely normal to work your way up the ladder.
Just be mindful of changing circumstances.... so think about how you'd feel living there if you couldn't afford to move etc

Our first property was a small flat. Thought we'd be there a couple of years but then the credit crunch hit and we were there for 7 years and we couldn't wait to get out by the end.

Twiglets1 · 05/04/2023 06:57

Absolutely normal, especially in more expensive areas.

Life can change a lot in 5 years and what you want in a bigger house might be different to what you want now. My first 3 homes I stayed in for less than 5 years.

TheEverdelightfulsamantha · 05/04/2023 07:06

Yes, that’s fine and very normal- we bought a two bed flat and calculated everything on the basis of being there for 3-5 years years, our first DC was born there, we moved after 4 years - house two was a compromise in many ways, we did a loft conversion, replaced the windows, fixed the damp, and then got a job offer in a completely different part of the country where we could live in a much bigger and nicer house in a better area for the same price - been here for 6 years now.

Tellmethespoiler · 05/04/2023 07:15

Yes, it’s normal, but be prepared to have to stay. I thought we’d move after about four years. 20 years later we are still here, our babies grown to adulthood.

RobinRobinMouse · 05/04/2023 07:18

Completely normal and sensible. We had a small starter flat for 3 years (dh bought this when he was about 21 and before we were married), then a medium newbuild for 9 years and are now in a cottage that we will hopefully stay in for quite a long time. We couldn't have afforded the moves if we hadn't already been on the property ladder with the flat.

MintJulia · 05/04/2023 07:20

Yes.

Buying houses can be a learning curve and you learn a lot during the first purchase. That helps you to make a better choice when choosing the home your dcs will grow up in.

It also allows you to have a go at redecorating etc at smaller cost etc

DanceMonster · 05/04/2023 07:23

That’s the way most people do it. We bought our first house 5 years ago, and plan to move within the next year.

Amotherlife · 05/04/2023 07:30

Yes, I bought a small house just for me in my 20s as it was a wiser move than continuing to rent. Ended up staying 6 years until I was engaged, when my DH and I bought a bigger house in a better area (obviously by then we had two salaries, but I also made a decent profit on my place). Then we bought a larger place with a view to having children.

We moved again after 17 years and were lucky to benefit massively from the area we lived in having become far more sought-after in the intervening years. Our profits far outweighed the stamp duty each time.

5 years is definitely worth buying for and best to get on to the housing ladder asap in my view. You don't need a larger place anyway till children are older and need/ prefer their own rooms.

Orangetapemeasure · 05/04/2023 07:40

We moved before Covid and bought a house that we didn’t love but ticked enough boxes. We said if we still didn’t like it after 2 years the stamp duty spent would be equivalent to rent. We still didn’t like it at 2 years, put it on the market and got 30% more for it than we paid. There is almost no situation where renting is better than buying.

pickledandpuzzled · 05/04/2023 07:44

We tried not to- to go big as we could and minimise moving costs.

Next time we will do the opposite as we are changing area. It's easier to do a short hop after a few years when you are based in the area.

CantWait01 · 05/04/2023 07:46

Yes that’s fine. I moved from my first home after four years. My current home has never felt right, even from the day I moved in, and I have been here six years with itchy feet but financially it was the right thing to do.

WordtoYoMumma · 05/04/2023 07:50

We started in a flat in a not so nice area, it was all we could afford. 6 years there, moved to a small house when DS1 was 3.

We moved 4 times before finding our forever home!

It was different 20 odd years ago I know, but we were keen to buy as soon as we could, we only rented for 6 months of living together, but the little flat was all we could afford.

starfish4 · 05/04/2023 07:55

You can only biy what you can afford now. We bought an older two bed, but rooms were bigger than a new build (two large doubles. We never managed to have more than one DC, but ifcwe had we'd have been able to put three DC in one bedroom for 8/9 years and if same sex forever. The house had a conservatory which could have been changed for an extension.

Spanielsarepainless · 05/04/2023 08:04

Perfectly normal.

lionsleepstonight · 05/04/2023 08:11

We did that but are now here 15 years later. We should have maxed out our borrowing at the time to avoid a 'middle' move.

reluctantbrit · 05/04/2023 08:13

We did, bought as a couple and when DD was 3 (we were 7 years in the house) moved to our current home where we are now 13 years.

It suited us as a couple and with a baby/toddler. No extension possibility and issues with school places were the last trigger.

I would look for one where you can either extend or know you can be ok for a while. Several friends moved when children were in early primary and the second child toddler age as they needed more space then.

DelurkingAJ · 05/04/2023 08:40

We did but have jumped more for the second home than we would have done had prices been more sensible…the middle wasn’t worth the stamp duty! Do I regret not stretching ourselves 5 years ago, yes, a bit, because we could have been in a better position now but at the time we didn’t expect to be in the same area now…nor did we know we’d have two cricket-mad boys and want a garden big enough for a cricket net!

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