How long did you/will you spend in your first home?

moneycantbuyyouhappiness

We have just bought our first home. It's a 4 bed detached with integral garage, on a little cul-de-sac in a gorgeous area of town.

We had to compromise on room sizes over the new build we were going to buy, but it has so much character we really love it. Plan on staying here forever. We always planned to buy our forever home straight away. After seeing friends with kids having to move back to their parents as they are stuck in negative equity or can't afford a larger deposit. I get a lovely feeling walking into the bedrooms knowing one day they will be full of our kids belongings.

AlexMac

Prior to buying the current place I'd averaged about 9 years (4 "primary residence" homes over 36 years, excluding the current/last one, minus a few short spells in rentals).

I'm hoping they'll carry me out of this one in a box in another 25 years which will bump the average up...

What is more spooky than numbers is the way these homes' purchase costs escalated; fairly steadily in the 20th Century; £10k, £34k, £75k, but nightmarishly in the 21st; £350k, £720k!

I wish you hadn't asked

Davesnave

whizzybee wrote: »

. Why oh why was woodchip wallpaper so popular.. :rotfl:

Woodchip and anagypta were popular ways to disguise failing and blown plaster.

If yours was used for this purpose, and it's lasted until now, it's done the the job.

It also means you may have the job!

kirtsypoos

We bought our first property last year (2 bed semi) and have just accepted an offer on it to move into a lager property (4 bed detached) so we can start a family in a few years.

We didn't plan to move so quickly but we quickly realised we would need more space because medical issues mean children will be happening sooner than planned (if all goes well), may as well move before we have little ones while we can.
Also gives me a good year or so of chunky overpaying to the mortgage before maternity leave (after remaining debt is paid off) so we should be in a relatively comfortable position

anto164

We bought our first house earlier this year. We wanted to spend less and live for a few years then move, however a house that came up which ticked all of our boxes but was around £30k over budget, we decided to bite the bullet and view.

We fell in love with it, and bought it. It feels like we made the choice in getting a more family home, rather than a first house, we have no plans to do up and move, just take our time and settle into our home. It does feel like we could be here for a long time which is great.

William_Donati

Mortgage_Moog wrote: »

Having recently bought my first home I find there's an interesting split between people who buy cheap to move on within a few months/years and those that aim high to get the place they want right from the start.

How long did you spend in your first property? Has anyone moved on to their second and regretted leaving the first? I'd be interested to hear everyone's stories.

After years of wait , we had our new house built and sold our old house for a reasonable rate. Since it was our dream come true, we were had all reasons to be happy. We were celebrating. Its true there are nostalgic thoughts associated with my old house. Yet we know that we have to move on.

William_Donati

Mortgage_Moog wrote: »

Having recently bought my first home I find there's an interesting split between people who buy cheap to move on within a few months/years and those that aim high to get the place they want right from the start.

How long did you spend in your first property? Has anyone moved on to their second and regretted leaving the first? I'd be interested to hear everyone's stories.

After years of wait , we had our new house built and sold our old house for a reasonable rate. Since it was our dream come true, we were had all reasons to be happy. We were celebrating. Its true there are nostalgic thoughts associated with my old house. Yet we know that we have to move on.

lumpyspaceprincess

I bought my first home in 2002 and it was the house of my naïve 19 year old dreams. In 2009 I sold up, I couldn't stand to live there any more, because reality had set in and I was exhausted by the place! I had hoped to get back on the ladder almost straight away, however I made £104 profit, (that's hundred, not hundreds of thousands) so I had to go into renting.


I've been renting ever since, though we (as I'm now married) should be in a position next year to start saving for a deposit. We'll be buying a home we intend to stay in long term!

Mortgage_Moog

lumpyspaceprincess wrote: »

I bought my first home in 2002 and it was the house of my naïve 19 year old dreams. In 2009 I sold up, I couldn't stand to live there any more, because reality had set in and I was exhausted by the place! I had hoped to get back on the ladder almost straight away, however I made £104 profit, (that's hundred, not hundreds of thousands) so I had to go into renting.


I've been renting ever since, though we (as I'm now married) should be in a position next year to start saving for a deposit. We'll be buying a home we intend to stay in long term!

That''s interesting because after buying my first place I might well rent next year until I can afford to buy again. How does it feel going "back" to renting? It's not always a backwards step but it seems that way.

easilydistracted

Bought my first and supposed to be 'forever' home in 2013 in an area I was sure I'd never leave. Told the agent I was looking for somewhere I could die of old age Unfortunately I bought with a very long term partner when we should have been splitting up, not buying a house. We split up a few months later.

By 2015 I had moved halfway across the country to live with new partner and the house became a millstone round my neck because of the amount of work that needed doing and the size of the mortgage (had bought the ex out). Managed to sell it for a very nice profit after a lot of grafting. Current partner and I bought together this year, maybe we'll move when were older but hope to be here a while. Plan is to keep expanding it until there's enough space! Life is unpredictable sometimes.