How many steps did you take on the property ladder (or where are you now)?

chris_m

Still on step 1, a two-bed flat flat in Southampton which I bought some 22 years ago.

Step 2 will be when I retire in a few years time and buy a house of some description somewhere near the Lake District.

Step 3 will be, if I'm lucky enough not to need any further moves, into a 6-foot long wooden box and a hot fire.

franklee

My steps so far:

1. House shares or lodger.

2. OO studio flat and then the market crashed.

3. At bottom of market OO three bed semi + LL of studio flat.

4. Sell studio flat sooner than I should have. Only sold as tenant left to buy their own place

5. Sell 3 bed semi approaching top of market could have done better holding off a couple of years.

6. Tenant of fab sea front flat and then boring three bed terrace.

Next steps planned:

7. OO three bed detached.

8. Small wooden box when they carry me off.

But who knows what the future holds

Happiest times step 1 when a lodger and step 6 renting sea front flat.

KatieJayne

We rented, then bought a 2 bed in an area we could afford, made money on this and bought a 2 bed in our ideal area. Hope to make a bit on this one and then buy the 3 bed in the same area, which we'll stay in!

Norma_Desmond

We didn't plan it, but just 2 steps to here - our forever home.

DH and I first rented a small house for a couple of years and then bought a tiny doer-upper of a flat in the Cotswolds - just before prices hit the roof and a fast train to London started.

We sold it two years after that for a very good price - and nearly 12 years ago bought this big, 4 bedroom, ancient (slightly ruinous) stone house on the moors overlooking the sea in Pembrokeshire.

We had been looking for a nice little terrace in a cosy village in the area......but these things happen.

suki1964

2nd step

1step was a 2 bedroom mid terrace doer upper in SW London Ten years later sold and bought outright a 5 bedroom detached house in the middle of the country

This will be our home till the time comes and we can't look after it or ourselves. Then downsize to a flat or bungalow in a town

Goldiegirl

I've lived in three houses during my entire life.


Up until age 21 I lived with my mum and dad, in the house they lived in for their entire marriage.


Then I got married and bought a two bedroom end of terrace house, where we lived for 8 years.


Then we moved to the house we live in now, a 4 bedroomed detached house, where we've lived for nearly 25 years.


In the medium to long term (maybe 15 years) we might consider downsizing, but at present we are happy in this house.


I didn't really enjoy the moving process, so we moved into this house with the intention of it being a long term home.

Mrs_Z

We're still on the 1st step (although we have taken a couple of side steps but not counting those...)So we're in 2 bed house - this is our 18th year but looking to move up to the next rung on the ladder if all goes well (we've found a new place and have an offer accepted and have a buyer for ours, but the vendor of our new place to be is still looking....)

moneyistooshorttomention

I expected to do a 3 step process, ie because that's what my parents did.

My parents went:

- starter 2 bedroom Victorian terrace house in their 20s

- then a 3 bed semi with garden in their 30s

- then a 3 bed detached in "desirable area" in their 40s.

With that...though I hadn't thought it out like that...that was exactly what I expected too.

What actually happened was:

- that starter 2 bedroom Victorian terrace house in my 30s:mad::eek:

- then trapped there for MUCH longer than I had expected and going !!!!!!!s" with frustration for over 20 years

- then got my Final Home in my 60s and a move later...but it doesn't have that 3rd bedroom and needs a LOT:eek: of work. Its a 2 bedroom detached in decent area, where I had expected a 3-4 bedroom detached in decent area.

I still wish things had gone according to my assumptions/believe they "should" have done and am not best pleased :cool: they didn't (despite my best efforts)...but I guess that was the (unwilling) price I paid for being single throughout:(.

I am struggling to get my head around getting Final Home as late as I have....but needs must and am telling myself to "get on with it" and do all this work and adaptation 20 years late because that's how the cookie crumbled in the event.

Would I move again? Well, if I came up on the Lottery then I would give consideration to going back to Home Area (don't know whether I would or wouldn't in the event if I had a free choice...time would tell).

Either way, I might buy just a bit better house (ie that 3-4 bedroom detached I had thought I would have).

I don't know is the answer as to whether this house is Final Destination and it does depend, to some extent, on Lady Luck and whether I have a choice about it. If I don't have a choice...then its definite that this is it and I will be out of here "in a wooden box". At least, this house IS a "nice house" (well, it will be, when I've done the work on it) and various people are starting to tell me that it is indeed a "nice house"...so I don't feel trapped here any rate, as I did in my previous house, which I was quite quite certain wasn't "Me".

Whether I take the option to move back to Home Area IF I get a Big Win may or may not be down to the fact that I am somewhat resentful that I didn't have a "free choice" on the matter and therefore don't know what I would have chosen if I'd been able to get My Home in My Home Area iyswim. That's an unknown and, most of the time, I just tell myself "It is what it is and get on with it..." but I'm bound to wonder what a genuinely free choice would have resulted in.

katejo

I am on stage 2. I bought a 1 bedroom period flat/maisonette in 1993 and then upgraded to a 2/3 bedroom terrace in 2006. However I recently took part in a similar MSE discussion and someone told me firmly that my house counted as a first time buyer property not the next rung on the ladder. For a single person buying, in my opinion, a house is definitely the next rung up.
If I move again, it will be to a 3 bedroom semi instead of a terrace but I'm not planning to do so at the moment.

Mrs_Soup

I'm on my second house as an adult. Bought forst one jointly with my sister- 3 bed terrace, then my sister moved out and my husband moved in after a few years. Mortgage was paid off due to having been there 16 years and husband investing proceeds of his house in it as well. Moved to current 4 bed semi when expecting child number 2. Could have managed in previous house but had funds for bigger although it is mortgaged. Deliberately bought house with enough space for two teenage boys so we don't have to move again when they are older.