What to consider when searching for forever home

[yellowduckredduck]

I appreciate this is very personal but my husband and I are currently viewing houses, looking to upsize to our 'forever' home, and I'm interested to know what people find really important. What could you not live without? What do you wish your home had?

I don't think a "forever home" exists. So much depends on your life at the time.

So, when looking for the home we currently live in we wanted a big garden and to be in the catchment of good schools.
Next home, school catchments are irrelevant and we are actively put off houses with big gardens to maintain now we don't have anyone here to play in them.
We are now at a stage where there are sometimes 5 or 6 cars outside our house, so the parking is a lot more important than when we only had one.
When we bought this house no-one was looking for space to wfh.
A house over 3 or even 4 storeys is fine when you are young, not so much when you are waiting for a hip or knee operation.
When you are working, being near your work, or the station are a real positive, but once you retire, the idea of being in a much less busy place appeals a lot more.
etc
etc
etc

Our home has almost none of the pluses listed in the posts above ... no parking, no second shower, no south facing garden, no bike storage (except in the hall), no sunroom, no countryside nearby, no spare bedroom, no office ...

But you know what? We are perfectly happy here and are not looking to move. It doesn't have to be perfect, OP.

Our last move was planned as a 20 year house. We had outgrown our first home, bought when we were newlyweds and needed more space for 2 kids. Schools were a huge priority for us to as primaries were good where we were but secondaries not so much. We wanted to be moved well before secondary age so kids were settled. Our other preferences were
Off road parking
Good size bedrooms for both kids
A good garden
Bigger kitchen (old house was a very narrow galley that only one person could use at a time)
Two bathrooms. (Got a downstairs loo but not the second bathroom in new house but there is room to extend in future)

We ended up in walking distance of excellent primary and secondary schools in a house that needs some tlc but has loads of potential. We'll be here for as long as the kids are in school if not longer as love the area.

We are all very different - and are all shopping in very different markets.

you are right, no home is perfect. OP has asked for people’s views to see what should be on her shopping list. There will always be things you don’t think about.

no parking would be an absolute no for me.

I think this thread is a really good idea. When I bought my first house I didn’t realised a shared driveway would be such a pain- and that having no hall would drive me batty!!!

i actually prefer a south west facing garden to south.

Love this ... you call it 'forever' but really just mean 'nice'.
If you are serious about it being 'forever' you need to think about:

30-40 degree south-facing roof (for solar)
700 sqm garden (for ground source heat pump)
Wheelchair accessible entrance, hallway, kitchen, toilet and a ground floor wetroom/shower
On-premise but separate accommodation - initially for the au pair, then later for post-teenage kids (and their partners), then later for one's own elderly parents, then later for own's own live-in carers

Detached, garage, south ish private-ish garden, good porch or decent hall, utility (dogs), side access, no through road, downstairs loo (preferably wet room), close enough to amenities to walk/cycle/get takeaway, room for an office, low maintenance, space to extend/alter if required.

I have noticed the term forever home gets some people angry on mumsnet.

very few people can afford separate living annexes - and what proportion of people will need a wheelchair?

okay yes old age might mean needs change - not necessarily though. Or you might lose your job or awful neighbours might move in.

but people mean the house they never want to sell. And that’s okay. Most people know that life can throw curve balls. They went signing a deal with Saran that they will blender move! They just mean a house they hope to see their days out in. That’s certainly what I mean. There is a downstairs loo in my house and I could have a downstairs bedroom. I hope i am never wheelchair bound but if I am I will rethink.

bit don’t get so literal on a term! You will be saying only billionaires can have forever homes😂

I don’t think any home is ever forever, long term yes, but not forever as needs can often change.

Our last home I thought we would be in forever 5bed detached, 3 bathrooms, nice gardens, double garage, we lived there with our sons 2 and 7mths at the time for 18 years.

Downsized to a detached 3bed bungalow with two bathroom. I was dx very unexpectedly with Multiple Sclerosis at 40, it was becoming impossible to have such a large house, especially as my lovely cleaner I had to let go, when the pandemic hit, due to shielding.

Good luck with your search OP, buy a home that will fit your needs for the coming years.

We moved in our 50s so one eye to the future rather than thinking about kids. But it will be a good house for grandchildren.

we wanted off road parking
side access to the back of the house
location … it’s walkable to town, local shop, cinema, pub and has a park in front of it that won’t be built on.
we moved for a bigger garden, it’s not big enough for my tastes and may be the thing that’ll prompt us to move on retirement.

Our top basic requirements were (not in any order). We looked at 15-20 houses when we bought our house ten years ago and wouldn't look at any without these

Off road parking
Location good for public transport and local amenities
Good Schools

It’s very personal isn’t it? We were obviously budget constrained so had a compromise, like everyone.

So for us:
Location, near great schools, amenities, lovely parks, beach etc.
Period house, high ceilings, original features.
2 reception rooms plus kitchen diner.
Decent sized bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
south facing private garden but small.

We chose to forgo a larger garden, side access and off street parking. For the same budget, we could have had a semi with off street parking and so on. But, we would have had to drive to beaches, parks, cafes etc, lost a bedroom, 30s house instead of Victorian,…

Horses for courses. We made the right choice for us. Good luck OP!

The location - good, local walking but also close to a station.
3 good sized bedrooms, maybe 4. With an en-suite and at least one other bathroom & downstairs loo.
Huge kitchen/diner/living room.
Separate living room
Utility room
Decent parking/garage
Nice garden, with a big patio, side access and south/west facing

Don’t look for a forever home. Too much pressure and who knows what might have changed. Work out clear priorities and where you’d be prepared to compromise, then buy the best you can get for your money. For me my priorities were peace and quiet, no traffic noise/ busy roads and a good size. I was prepared to live with no allocated parking/ garage, not fussy about the age of the property and prepared to do renovations over time- but that’s my personal preference.

Something adaptable. Our previous house was the same size as our current house but it was mid terrace with a low roof and a courtyard garden, so there were no options to extend. The inside was open plan so no options for changing rooms purposes.

Parking

Close to amenities.

For me our forever home is where our family will grow up. Other homes were inbetweeners.

So on our 'forever' list
• garage
• side access

These were missing in last house and made everything difficult.

• parking and room to park on road if needed, lots of newer builds only have parking for 2 and zero street parking. We have three dc so expect more cars in future.

• office
• kitchen diner
• two reception rooms
• two bathrooms.
• loft space (so not converted loft for more bedrooms)

Good size garden and flat
Detached
Drive way
Quiet street
2 separate living areas for space from kids
Ability to create large kitchen diner
Downstairs loo
Utility
Space for a study as we WFH

I love my home and think of it as our forever home until dc leave home and dh and I get to a point we find it too big.

my main things I need are:
parking
garden that isn’t over looked at all (never realised this as we’re in a town so most gardens have some element of being over looked. Ours isn’t and I really can’t imagine living somewhere that is now).

That sounds lovely. That sort of balance is my dream next home. Walk to town, overlooking park, shop nearby.

@NewToWoo the park is lovely, it's what sold it to us. Lovely view in the morning. And it's a private park with only a few people having a key (not us) so it's really quiet.

Good fences make good neighbours oh and lots of parking

My total deal breaker was I wanted a South or West facing largish garden and an extra reception room downstairs for a playroom/teen room when older.

What I'm luck enough to have, that I didn't realise was important before, is a house on a culdesac, with a really good position. I'm tucked in a corner, and the very few people that walk past can't really see in, and I've got a great garden at the back, which due to the position of the houses means I'm almost totally unoverlooked. It's something I didn't notice really at viewings, but definitely something I'd never want to lose. There's stuff I want, such as a utility room, which I can add at a later date, but the position of the house can't obviously be changed, so it's my priority.

We are just waiting to exchange on our next house. We always thought our current home would be a forever home but honestly we’ve outgrown it due to only having 1 bathroom and 3rd bedroom is tiny. We have 2 teenagers aged 15 and 18

our list was fairly simple as we were restricted by budget (if money no object we would have loved a utility/laundry room and a snug)

our must haves were

3 double sized bedrooms
lounge at least as large as current house
en suite
downstairs loo
kitchen/diner
newer house
nicer estate on different side of town (closer to school, work and friends for the teens)

we did compromise on parking - we have a separate garage and parking spaces rather than a driveway in front of house and we will have a much smaller garden but it’s big enough for a patio and to sit outside and quite honestly our current garden is way too big for us to manage

We've just bought a 4 bed house which will hopefully do us for 20 years or so (until the DCs leave uni).

Must haves:
Zone 1 or 2 in London
Up to 30 min walk to DH's office
Up to 15 min walk to DCs primary school
Catchment of a top comp secondary
Max 10 min walk to tube
2 reception rooms
Min 4 bedrooms
Not a doer upper
A garden, of any size/direction
Good amenities nearby - shops, places to visit, parks, leisure centre, kids activities

Would have liked but couldn't get:
5 beds (so I could have my own hobby room)
Off-road parking (no car currently so not an issue, but nice to have the option)
Bedrooms of equal size
House on 1 or 2 floors
Newer, more energy efficient house (they just don't get built in this area)

New house is over 5 floors, so I don't expect it to be a 'forever home' as I'm sure DH and I won't manage all those stairs eventually. Plus it'll make more sense to downsize and help the DCs out with house deposits.

Everyones ideals and needs are different. We have been renovating 2 yrs and moving into the actual house very soon. Our wants that we got were:

• Large garden to grow veg and have space in the garden for a large shed and also car spaces at the front
• We've ended up on a cul-de-sac which is lovely. No through cars, less traffic etc
• 15min walk to seafront and 2min to local fields to walk to dog
• Detached, utility, storage, downstairs loos and downstairs bathroom
• Large enough bedrooms that 1 person doesn't need to crawl from one side or from the foot of the bed to get into it! (This was always me!)