To think our first house purchase should be our forever home?

[heydorothy]

There’s hardly any flats available near where we live. I know 20 years ago-10 years ago even, it made sense for people to buy small and build lots of equity then move up the ladder to somewhere bigger etc. It just doesn’t seem practical now.

House prices are stagnating now but obviously still very high. I wouldn’t say they’re gaining value like before at all. We have our deposit but renting currently as it is cheaper to do so while interest rates are sky high. When we do move, we’ll have our first DC to think about too.

AIBU to look for no less than a 3 bed / buy as big as we can afford to? I am neurodivergent and moving frequently causes me stress and it would be nice to just put down roots somewhere that feels permanent enough. We could buy a two bed but then we would likely have to move again, fork out for another set of legal fees and stamp duty.

House prices may be stagnating right now, but they always increase in value over time.
Yes, of course it is fine to buy to biggest property you can afford to. But I personally wouldn't want to buy a home and never move again.

Can you afford it? I’m sure everyone would like to buy a big family house but most can’t get enough deposit or borrow enough as a first time buyer. If you can straight off then great - every house move is stressful and costs money.

This is what I did. It wasn't necessarily the plan at the time, but bought a 3 bed and never saw the need to move. Love my house and couldn't get anything with larger comparable floor space still now.

If you can afford it do it.

Yes, I agree with you.
We bought a 2 bed end terrace a few years after getting married, had a third bedroom added about 12 years later when our oldest was 11 and needed a room away from his sister.
We will never move, this is home the kids are in their late teens now and this little house has been just lovely for us and won't feel too big when they've moved out. We've been here 19 years 6 years left on the mortgage.
I would hate to keep moving and not having roots. I have only lived in three places in my life, my parents home (the one they bought when they married and have been in for over 40 years) the place we rented when we got married and here.

You could also buy a two bed with scope to put on another bedroom if needed or access the loft space.

It would be lovely if you could do it, I agree. Only once (indirectly via the sale price) having to give money to the chancers and spivs who are called estate agents, and less to the legal profession who have enough else on their plate.

Chance of it happening for most people is probably minimal.

If you can afford it, sure

Most people couldn’t

Most people find moving stressful. It doesn’t happen often though.

If you can afford it then yeah sure go for it, it just comes down to your budget and what mortgage you’ll be offered and can afford to repay.

We bought our first house over 20 years ago. We're still here and no longer have a mortgage. We will only move when we retire as this house still fits all our needs.

My relative just did this, moved a bit further out in London to do so. I think it makes complete sense & if I was a FTB now would do the same.

If it's going to be your forever make sure you ask about neighbours and who you are living next door to and what future issues could arrise if next door is rented. If current tenants move out will you get on with next tenants or will it be a battle. Local area is important and whether it has everything you need and love.

If you can afford it there's no actual issue, is there? I'm baffled as to what you feel the problem might be.

I’m sure I read in the FT that the classic 3 bed home is the most desirable property as families want them as do downsizers.

Some people do, some people don’t. Some want to but life dictates otherwise and end up moving - on occasion moving several times during their life. Good to plan for the future, but remeber that the future doesn’t plan for you.

As others have said. You should always buy the biggest/most expensive you can genuinely afford as the costs of buying and selling are quite significant relative to the actual house cost.

As an aside I found the move awful. I cried every day for weeks and took a long time to settle into our current home. The noises weren't right, it didn't smell right, my sleep was disturbed etc etc. That still wouldn't be something I'd factor in to the decision to move. Realistically you'll probably only upsize 1 more time I'd have thought. So you're probably only considering one additional move at most.

It's a long term financial decision. Focus on that primarily in decision making.

We saved a big deposit whilst renting. We were in a similar position in terms of renting was cheaper than buying for a while.

We by-passed the first time buyer flat / small house and our first house was a 4 bed detached house. That could have been our forever home, however, we had to relocate.

If you can miss out a couple of rungs on the housing ladder, I say go for it.

If you can afford a 3 bed house as a first time buyer, it's sensible to buy one. Most of us cannot afford that. My first property was a flat on a main road with a factory behind and we struggled to get a big enough mortgage on. Ten years later we were able to a 3 bed house.

I do think that forever is a lot of pressure to put on a house, but yes, look to have to move as few a times as possible. Buy what you can afford and make sure you would still be able to afford it if you had kids and have potential for part time working and nursery fees added.

Everyone is different, there's no right or wrong way to approach this. Do what suits you, it doesn't matter what another person would do.

Moving causes everyone stress OP

Completely agree, move to where you can get the home you have space to grow, you deal with all the numerous issues just once and you are settled.

Everyone finds moving stressful. Often people don’t have a choice - need to relocate for work, upsize for children because they couldn’t afford more than a two or one bed when they first moved etc…..

If you can afford to buy a three bed/house not flat/whatever it is you want now then yes, go for it. Why wouldn’t you? Is there something making you think it’s not a good idea?

I agree that it is better to limit the number of times you move, so as to avoid stamp duty, stress etc. But lots of people's needs will be different at, say, 35, than at 25, especially if they've had children in that time. I don't think you can really get to grips with schools until you actually have children, especially for secondary, and that's why lots of people move.

It makes sense to buy somewhere that you can stay in for a good long while. Moving is expensive and who wants to keep paying stamp duty every few years?!

We’re on our third, about to buy our 4th. You buy what you can buy/afford at that time. I am glad we have moved and upgraded. I can’t have imagined waiting and renting all this time to afford a bigger deposit