How do you view your home?

Scotbot

I  too  think of my house as home but in practice it has also been my retirement fund as I moved from a very expensive city to a much cheaper area releasing a significanf amount of capital. If I had stayed in the area I worked in I would have had to have worked for longer. I didn't plan it that way but that's how it turned out. 

Davesnave

elsien said:

My house is where I live. It’s already a cheap house in a cheap area so downsizing to free up equity isn’t an option unless I want to retire to a tent, I don’t earn enough to have all the plans about buying land or whatever and I don’t particularly want to move. So my house is, and will stay the roof over my head. 

Yes, I suppose I'm promulgating a different myth, that we all make a lot of money in our work. I didn't, but I bought well with the first house.

A couple moved in across the road a year later, and they're still there 42 years later. They paid about £10k and the house is now worth north of £350k. However, they obviously like it and probably think they couldn't do any better. They travel, so it's ideal.

hb2

We live in a relatively expensive part of the country (but not as expensive as London) and love the area so have no desire to move away. We downsized from a 3 bed semi to a 2 bed flat 3 years ago - but the flat cost about as much as we got for the house so it certainly didn't free up any money. The flat is no cheaper to run either but, again, it suits us and we are happy here. We hope that we will stay here until we leave feet first.

babyblade41

Slightly different for me, I regard it as both my home and a way of topping up my savings each time I move.

It helps that I was  in property for a long time so know the pitfalls (think homes under the hammer scenarios)  and what is reasonably obtainable plus I love moving .

I've been in my current re-furb for 18 months and coming to the end nearly so hope to go to market in January .

I am downsizing , not so much in house size but certainly in outside space and to a bungalow not a house so looking at RM now and any that ticks my boxes I keep in my favourites until I eventually have an offer 

I've done the moving away bit and took me 4 years to get back home especially as home is Oxford and reasonably expensive  to buy so probably within 10 miles of where I am now and always rural as well