Forever home but not

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Hello everyone. I wondered how common it is to have spent a lot of time and money renovating what you think would be your forever home to then consider moving on? We've been in our current property since 2021 and did a major renovation that we are now coming to the end of. We kept a strong eye on everything the builder did to make sure it was top standard. We spent a lot of money and time on it. Now that we are at the end and have had time to live in the area, have new neighbours move in and feel a general reduction in the buzz that was around when we bought the property (that may have been because of the property frenzy around Covid), we want to leave in the next 5 years once our kids have finished secondary school.

Anyone else spent time and money doing up their "forever" home only to realise that it isn't? What did you do and how did you deal with the realisation?

Anyone?

I'm the opposite. We bought this house as a doer-upper with the full intention of selling it as soon as it was done and moving up the property ladder.

ExH is long gone but I'm still here 39 years later. 😂

Did you do it up or is it still a doer-upper?

I don't think there is such a thing as a forever home (unless it's been in the family for a few hundred years), homes last just as long as you need or want them to.

If you want to sell, then sell.

No such thing, op
Life happens
We totally renovated our first home...but fundamentally it became a gorgeous house in the wrong location
We've been in this house for 14 years now and we've had to do things like new bathroom, kitchen, windows etc (things that were really poorly done by the previous owners) and I really don't want to do anything else!
I'd rather move to a house in good condition or buy something that needs just decor changes
The plus of doing all the work was we got a cash buyer pretty quickly - hopefully you'll be the same

@potato08 is your first house your current house?

@ELO10538 your words are succinct and strangely I have found them comforting. I feel a sense of regret but you are right, homes last as long as we need or want them. Very wise words.

The house we live in now was meant to be our long-term family home. It was a huge step up from our last place. In reality, 5 years in we have recovered from the stress of moving and become aware of all the little imperfections that were not apparent when we bought it. Equally our finances are likely to improve in the next few years, plus our kids will be old enough to get themselves to school, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up moving a bit further out of town for more space.

I think circumstances and expectations just change and it’s probably quite rare for people who proclaim a property to be their “forever home” to actually end up there forever.

No.
We were there for 12 years.
Been in our current home for 14 (I'm quite old!)
I'd like to move at some point - maybe once dh retires - but I haven't got it in me to do more reno

I'm pretty emotionless wrt houses, though.
They are bricks and mortar, they can't love you back 🤷

I think that people who have the drive and determination to push through renovations are unlikely to be content to stay put for very long. And the people who can live with imperfections and not be bothered making big changes, are likely to not be bothered to move either.

I agree the concept of a forever home isn't that useful, it's almost setting yourself up to feel you've failed when things change. But life doesn't always go how we expect.

Biggest qu for me would be if you put stamp duty in the equation are you likely to lose out financially? Even so, life's for living.

@Whathaveya you may be on to something but it is a pain moving and renovating. We probably wouldn't mind renovating where that only requires internal decorating and a bit of adjusting things but nothing major, major like we just did.

You all are so sensible with your approach to this.