At what age did you buy your 'forever' home?

[icravecheese]

And how much of a step up was it from your 'not quite forever' home?

I'm 34, DH 37. Many of our friends (who are admittedly turning or over 40) are in process of buying their 'forever' homes. And hence has left me pondering whether we are already in our forever home, or if we'll move on.....

Whilst I didnt buy our current house thinking we'd stay here forever (been here 8yrs, bought it the year we married, now have 3 young children), I totally love our house - detached Victorian, driveway, nice garden, playroom, good school catchment.

However, because we bought it before we were even married, it has never felt like our final 'grown-up' home, even though we really stretched ourselves to buy the most we could afford at that time (and consequently bought a family home before we'd even started thinking about family life).

I wonder if I just have itchy feet due to the number of friends moving / looking to move at mo, so I guess I'm just wondering when others found their forever home / at what age / what made it the 'forever' place?

OP, it does sound as you have a fantastic house that meets your needs. Don't move for the sake of moving- we'd outgrown our current home spacewise which prompted me to go on the hunt for a "forever home". Even though we are buying a place I love and have dreamt about for years, it is still far from perfect in many ways. There are always compromises wherever you live.

I like looking at other houses too but I've come to realise that the fantasy of living in these places is probably nicer than the reality.

I don't get the forever home thing. Each house we have owned has been right for us at the time.

Our "best" house was our last home in Spain which had 5 beds/4 baths, huge kitchen and a fabulous pool. My dad lived with us and when he passed away and our DS went to Uni we knew we didn't want to live there anymore.

I'm never going to be able to replicate anything like that in the UK - it's so expensive here we have downsized to a small bungalow for similar money but we are happy with our spot though I still get itchy feet and think of moving - even if it's only up the road

OP, if I was one of your friends I'd probably be a bit jealous bc your home sounds lovely and like a forever home to me.
I'm 33, DH is 43, and we've just moved from our first flat - a small 1 bed - to a bigger 2 bed. We have a 3 year old. We can't afford a 'forever' house (to us that means a 3 bed and garden) bc, well, we live a city and property is expensive. We will need to move eventually if another baby comes along. But it suits us now, and we can afford it now. Admittedly I sometimes get a bit jealous of friends who seem to be in their 'forever' house now i.e. They have the 3 beds and garden, but their circumstances are different (rich parents that could give deposit, or made a fortune on sale of first property, whereas we lost loads on sale of ours) and being envious is not healthy.

You're going to be accused of stealth boasting soon OP

Property websites can be so addictive, we're househunting at the moment and I keep pointing out quite unsuitable, but very well presented houses to DH saying things 'like wouldn't it be lovely if we lived there', he just laughs and points out that unless we include the children in the inventory for our house we could never keep a house that tidy and uncluttered in our day to day life

we bought our first house 30 years ago & we're still in it, with no plans to go anywhere else, so I guess this is our f-home (thanks, Mintyy ). we were early 30s at the time.

it's nothing special but we all like it

I tell you now, I aint moving again, I bloody hate moving.

Previous flats/houses I never really settled in properly- we have always renovated so would decorate neutrally with an eye on selling it on. This house we have done what we like and set things up for our own convenience. It feels like our home.

We were 33/39 when we bought this one.

I bought what I thought a "forever" house when I was 29. It turned out to be not "forever" - for slightly unclear reasons to myself I have never settled there properly - like Ginformation said decorated in neutral style with the idea to sell. Overall I hate moving and I pray that the next house we are buying turns out to be our "forever" or at least very long-term home.

Hmm- we're still in our first house and we will need to move if DC2 comes along, probably into something 'forever homeish' ie at least 3 beds with a kitchen diner and a lounge (currently stuck with a dark lounge diner where we run a business from and it's a pita doing weaning/childcare/business all in the same room!). However, it won't exactly be a forever home as we would probably plan to downsize back to a small house again for retirement etc.

We thought the last house was our forever home, we were there 8 years and moved last year. We now think our current house is our forever home but realistically when we are old and decrepit it will be too big, and too expensive to heat, I imagine we'll be here 20 years or so kids are 8 and 10, I'm 46.

Our last house was perfectly fine but we just got bored and fancied a change.

37 when we bought our first property, which is also where we plan to stay for ages and ages (assuming there are no disasters ahead).

We were really lucky as we had a large deposit meaning we could buy a 4 bed house as our first home.

I also hate that expression.

To be honest the loveliest home we ever lived in was the first one we bought when we got married, it was cosy, characterful and just wonderful - it suited us for 12 years, then we had DS and moved to a much larger and 'grander' home - suited us for a few years but then moved again - slightly cheaper area which enabled us to buy a small flat to rent out as well . When DS moves out no doubt we will down size again ........ so there is really no such thing, to me, as a 'forever' house.

I can't imagine having a 'forever' home... I get itchy feet, I couldn't live in the same house forever!

I don't really think in terms of "forever home", let's face it it's a bit cheesy and besides you never know what's round the corner. We've just moved into a fab house this year, its perfect for us and we love it, we plan to be here a while. We're 39 and 45. Our old house was much smaller and in a part of town that was getting increasingly run down but we couldn't afford to move until last year, mostly due to childcare costs. Everyone gets ti different stages in life at different ages, comparing with anyone else won't do you any good. I know people much younger than me who are in a similar place in life and people my age and older who aren't, not everyone has the same priorities.

We moved here when I was 33 and DC1 was 18m. That was 6 years ago and we now have 3 DC. I hope it is our forever home!

We just bought what I hope will be our (almost) forever home at the ages of 51 & 53, but that's because we've been globetrotting for 10 years. I lived in 2 houses before that, either of which could have been "the one" but life is what happens whilst you're making other plans and we had to leave both those houses to pursue careers.
I love, love, love my new house, but I know that in 20 years we'll be moving to an OAP style home. But that's a long way off. I will be glad though when we've done all the DIY and I can sit back and enjoy rather than thinking there's always a long list of jobs to do to get the house how we want it.
OP it sounds like you and your family are happily settled in house you love. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

We are about to move to a new home, we expect to be there for the next 20yrs + , I doubt it'll be our last home but it'll be the one where our kids grow up.
I'm 34, DH is 37 we are moving due to work but due to the nature of that work we are also unlikely to move in that time.
We are taking a big but affordable step up the property ladder. We are lucky to have a lot of equity in our property and we are moving from a more expensive part of the country so the jump seems huge if you put the properties side by side but in reality it is very affordable for us and can incorporate some life changes we want to make.
Don't get moving envy it's causing me no end of stress and worry and is bloody hard work.

I can't actually imagine ever having a 'forever' home tbh. We have a perfectly nice house at the moment, but I'm always open to the idea of moving either locally or relocating entirely (we've done that twice), and I'm determined that when we are 70 we'll be in a flat in a nice complex so ds isn't fretting about our house.

33, it was the first one we haven't had itchy feet with.

As others have said, don't know if it is forever,. but it is certainly where are our DC were born and will grow up. We might move when we are very old , but would be to a bungalow or flat in the same area. (Tho' I suppose if we win millions on the lottery we would move to a castle...)

23 - first home and intend to stay here..... now 40 ish own it outright, just clicked when we saw it... suburban, 3 beds so big "enough", nice cul-de-sac, nice schools, shop and pub nearby, 2 min walk to bus route to local town and neighbouring city... "naice" park round the corner... why would I move???

It's crept up on me, but this is my fecking forever paying off the mortgage house. They'll be taking me away in a box...

I don't think I've ever seen any home as my 'forever home'. I bought my first home at 30, lived there for 5 years, bought my second home after a gap, at 37, lived there for 10 years. I saw it as a home we'd have until my ds was an adult and we did. I'm over 50 and now renting and have no plans to buy. It depends on things like where the jobs are. I hope to one day have a seafront flat, maybe rented or maybe owned. The idea of a forever home seems to assume you'll always stay in the same job, which seems optimistic these days.

6 years ago, both aged 34.