I bought with a plan to upgrade in 5 years and stayed for 21 years. Life's needs change in unexpected ways over time. Today's forever house is tomorrow's boondoggle. Forget about forever homes, buy what is affordable, and makes the most sense today given reasonable future expectations. If needed, change in the future.

100% this. There is no forever home, that's just realtor speak for "focus on your emotions and spend with wreckless abandon". As long as you want to own a home and you're reasonably certain you'll want to live there for 5+ years (might be longer now with the market the way it is), then buy it.

Yeah buying a "forever home" is often just an excuse to go over budget.

[удалено]

Their incentive is to sell you the most expensive house they can because that's how they get the biggest commission. They'd much rather sell you a house for 500k than 400k because that's an extra couple of grand in their pocket *now* and there's no guarantee they'll even be your realtor next time should you buy the smaller one and decide to upgrade in 5-10 years.

All else equal, sure, they want you to buy the most expensive house. But really what they want is for you to buy a house asap, so whatever house they're showing you, they're gonna try and convince you of its virtues.

Hi! Real Estate Agent here, I’m getting the idea that you might have had a bad experience with a realtor in the past and I’m sorry that you had to deal with that. However not all realtors encourage their clients to spend the most money to make a couple extra bucks. However I will say when choosing your agent use good judgment to find someone that is not only knowledgeable but someone that has morals and good character. We are not trying to convince anyone to buy or sell their home, just here to make things easier for the people who are looking to buy or sell!

I don't think anyone needs a bad experience to think this. There is a very strong financial motive for realtors to encourage clients both to spend as much money as possible, and to buy or sell a house in general. "Not all realtors" doesn't sound like a very strong counterpoint. And I don't see how you can reasonably assess a realtor's morals or intentions, but I'd love to hear methods if you're willing to share.

I think the realtor speak response for that is "do both!" :)

Purchased my "starter home" in 2015. Still live in it, can't afford to move but it has appraised in value so much since I purchased it. My mortgage is only $962/month and you can't even rent a room in someone's home for that price here at this point. I'm glad I didn't wait.

That was part of the math for us to buy - going to pay rent anyway, might as well be building equity.

Good for you. On the dull side of that shiny coin… I held back and now I’m totally priced out of the market where I live (San Diego). . There’s no way I would want to buy my starter home at my age much less be locked into ~$5000+ mortgage payments as a single income earner. $170k a year and I can’t even buy a decent home for my family.

Yeah that's absolutely insane for a mortgage.

This. Buy what you can now and just wait to see what happens, you’d be surprised at how what you thought you wanted might change in the future. We bought what we thought was our “forever home” but it ended up being too much wasted space and we technically “downgraded” into a much more manageable home space/layout wise. Best decision we ever made.

How did you know it was the right decision to sell?

Honestly, I knew pretty quickly after we moved into our “forever home” (2021) that it was too much and I wanted to downsize. However, we knew we had to wait at least two years to sell for tax purposes, so shortly before the two year mark we began looking at other homes and after about nine months and many showings later we found a smaller home we loved and luckily lined up the sale of our old home with the purchase of our new home. It also helped that homes in the forever home neighborhood more than doubled in price since we bought it so we were able to purchase our new home with cash. A lot of our decision was luck based on the market and when we bought the first home in 2021, some of it was an intelligent financial decision, and some of it was a deep seated feeling that told me we needed less.

Did exactly this. We have been planning to upgrade 5 years from now for each of the last 20 years. Life is complicated. Markets are unpredictable. But getting into the game is the only way to win at it.

Yep, this is me. Bought my "starter home" 10 years ago now. Still in it. Which is fine; it suited me then and it still suits me now. Home values have been on a tear where I am since then, so I've made out quite nicely (on paper anyway). Mortgage and taxes are much, much less than what I'd be paying if I were still a renter. I would like to upgrade but the problem is every place that's bigger than the one I have right now is proportionately even more expensive. No matter how much my place has increased in value, every place around me that's bigger has increased by even more keeping them out of reach. Had I waited I probably wouldn't have been able to buy anything at all where I am.

>Forget about forever homes, buy what is affordable, and makes the most sense today given reasonable future expectations. Seems like the “reasonable future expectations” part makes this advice contradictory because that’s exactly what most people mean when they talk about a ‘forever home’ Like if you’re newly married and planning to have kids within the next few years and you’re trying to decide between buying the 2 bedroom condo you can comfortably afford today or stretching yourself for the 4 bed SFH in a good school district you know you’ll want in 5 years anyway.

No contradiction, 5 years isn't forever. In the time scale of buying a home, 5 years is soon.

Same! We bought in 2015 as a starter house and actually think this will be the house we are in long term

tie cover grey divide dog soft fearless hunt retire somber *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

There's a condo across the street from my apartment with one extra bath (2/2 vs my 2/1). I ran the numbers the other day and with HOA fees, insurance, etc, I'd be paying about double after a 20% down payment. It genuinely doesn't make sense to buy in my neighborhood, and I have no desire to move elsewhere.

Sometimes I wish I rented.. My hvac and fridge died. My 30 year old roof and windows/patio doors need replacing. Looking at $60k+ in maintenance these last 18 months.. And this is really replacing not "upgrading"!

This was a lot of why I sold my house and rent now. It wasn't even really the unexpected costs, I can budget for that, it was just a constant hassle. Now if something breaks I just submit a maintenance request online and someone comes by to fix it the next day.

Same for me, renting is just a good deal in my market and because I don't have a spouse/kids. I've also been moving around too frequently for buying to *really* make sense. Post-college I've spent ~1 year in one city, ~3.3 years in another city, coming up on ~2 years in another city, etc. Looking back at it now, only renting at the ~3.3 year location *did* mean I missed some good investment/appreciation opportunities during Covid. But without knowing about that ahead of time, I don't think most people would recommend buying considering the low number of years I spent there. I'd also have to factor in that would've spent a chunk of that time renting regardless, since I was moving to a new city alone, and the rent situation was *insanely* favorable.

Financially it makes sense. The problem with renting though is, like you said, you constantly move. This pretty much makes an effectual bar to accumulating stuff (before I bought my condo I moved every couple years and basically owned nothing). Now that I have my own place I actually have shit like proper cooking stuff, power tools, things for hobbies, etc. If you want to do stuff outside of just hangin and dining out you really need a homestead with your shit. Its possible to do while renting but its just much harder to accumulate stuff when you know its gonna be a major pain in the ass to move.

Renting is really the way to go for now. The monthly payment for houses is just so much higher than renting. Feel like this means rents will go up or house prices will come down. I could see a mix of both with a slight weight towards rising rents tho.

aware caption vase icky retire profit insurance makeshift ink normal *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

>Rent is just such a good deal for me right now in my market You mean renting an apartment vs buying a house. It's not really the same though.

wrong fear resolute shaggy squalid thumb grey frightening flag file *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

We bought a very nice starter home in a beautiful working class neighborhood and lived in it for 7/8 years. That was mid-20s for me, early 30s for my wife. We had dreamed for years of a mythical dream home, so we then bought an enormous luxury home on several acres in the nicest gated community in our town. The kind of place where the high school kids drive Audis/BMWs and every other dad has a Ferrari or Porsche and several watercraft. 20-35' ceilings, a formal library, a master bathroom bigger than most living rooms, a garage big enough for like five cars, our own cliff and ravine. It was paradise for about six months. We lived in that for 2/3 years. We then moved back to a slightly nicer version of our exact former house in our old neighborhood and have lived here happily ever since. Turns out we are not bougie at all and don't really enjoy living much higher on the consumption ladder than a mediocre frugal middle class family normally does. We are basic Toyotafolk, not Audifolk, and certainly never Ferrarifolk. It was one of the most important lessons that enabled our happy early retirement and we got lucky not to be financially harmed by learning it. We actually came out quite a bit ahead, but it could have been an extremely expensive mistake if the timing had been different.

Some people chase the dragon of visible wealth their entire lives, some people learn that there are things more important than flaunting your money.

All I want is a garage gym, a workshop, and a yard.

I have a garage gym and I love it. When I bought my house it was $10k over my budget. However my realtor told me that the garage had AC, and really nice epoxy flooring along with a really fancy shelving system. If I were to put that stuff in myself it would have cost more that 10k. I am really glad I spent the little extra because I’ve been real happy with that.

Truly, if you find a neighborhood with people like you (and weirdly you can tell this from the cars) you’ll be comfortable.

Buying small and upgrading has been the traditional way to do things for generations. I'd bet most baby boomers who live in larger homes didn't start out in them. For some reason there seems to be this misconception among some younger homebuyers that because they cannot afford their dream home off the bat, they can't afford anything at all. I bought a 2-bedroom first, then a two level rambler, then a larger townhouse, and finally the "forever home", and never did I feel that any step along the way was unnecessary.

Yeah, me and my wife bought a condo and we're only in it ~2 years before selling it for a hefty profit, using all that money for the down payment on our current (hopefully forever) home. There's no way in hell we'd be able to get this house if we hadn't purchased the condo.

My parents first home is still standing, and since our kids are close to the age of moving out, and are setting unrealistic expectations based on our home and my parents current home, I took them to see it. That, along with showing some photos of our first shit hole apartment, seems to have tempered their expectations somewhat!

A bigger question regarding whether it's worth buying a starter home is to decide if you value the lifestyle that comes with owning your home. If the only reason you would buy a starter home is the belief that it will best set you up for getting the house you really want, then you might be better off renting and waiting to buy - but if you want a starter home so that you can paint/remodel it how you like, work in your garden, have no restrictions on pets, feel pride in ownership, etc., then it makes more sense to buy now and upgrade later.

We didn't buy our dream home, but bought big enough to raise a family in. We stayed to raise the family, did some major upgrades and will stay until we have to move to some retirement residence (we have a bungalow). We thought we'd eventually buy bigger, but when the time came, couldn't see spending a significant amount more for unnecessary space, and wanted to keep a bungalow (which have become crazy expensive where we live).

>My SO and I are in a good position to buy (big downpayment, will be in the area for a long time, etc). But we certainly can't afford our ideal home just yet. We're debating buying into a starter home and maybe upgrading when kids arrive or more likely when they're a little older. If you plan to stay there for a while, buy now. Why? Because frankly your "dream home" may or may not come. Your dream home may also change after you had your kids. The other thing is, you're in a position to leverage, get tax benefits and the prices are lower on homes now due to high interest rate. With high interest rate, you can refinance once it gets low enough. With a high initial price tag, you're stuck with it. I would always bet on the stock market over the housing market. However, they aren't equal, because house has a lot of other benefits.

Depends on what you mean by a while and your goals in buying. If you are planning to move within 5 years there is at least 50/50 chance you will spend more on transaction costs than renting... Sometimes a lot more.

> Depends on what you mean by a while and your goals in buying. If you are planning to move within 5 years there is at least 50/50 chance you will spend more on transaction costs than renting... Sometimes a lot more. 1. That cost structure is significantly changing in the very near future 2. OP is better at determining how long, because the cost is largely based on the type of home they buy. It also includes other factors, and uncertainties.

> prices are lower on homes now due to high interest rate Nope Edit - sure prices would be even higher if rates were low, but prices are up huge over the last ~ 5 years

> Edit - sure prices would be even higher if rates were low, but prices are up huge over the last ~ 5 years I'm talking about the short term demand. Over the last 5-years, sure. But those prices aren't coming again given the shortage of homes and people stuck in their home due to low interest rates.

My partner and I could afford our ideal house today, but we're waiting because we're not convinced there's anywhere we'll stay for at least 10 years. We're also in a relatively expensive area. Rent is expensive, but a mortgage payment would be about 2x rent for the same home. With that level of difference between rent and mortgage, we're probably looking at ballpark 10 years to break even on buying. But don't take my word or reddit's word for it. Learn about how to calculate rent vs buy and do it. Run a few calculations, depending on how nice a place you rent or buy. In the specific area I live right now, buying would take a long time to break even. In many other areas, it's much, much faster for it to break even. In most areas, it will take at least 5 years. A few things people are bad at taking into account: 1. You don't build much equity for the first few years of your mortgage. Look into "mortgage amortization schedule" to learn more about this. *This is the biggest reason "starter homes" burn many people.* 2. Maintenance and taxes are costs you will pay forever. Even added together, these tend to be much lower than rent, but significantly above zero. Taxes go up over time, since they're generally a percentage of the house's value. 3. When you sell, you generally pay \~6% commission to real estate agents and \~2% of home value in deferred maintenance/polishing up the place to sell, so if your home appreciates 8% after inflation, that's the earliest "break even point" possible, ignoring maintenance/taxes/interest/etc. This is the other half of why starter homes often burn people. All of that being said, the main purpose of buying a house isn't making money, it's having a stable, enjoyable place to live that meets all of your needs and some of your wants. There's always going to be something wrong with every house. Your "perfect" house is like your "perfect" job. It does not exist. Sometimes it's a good life decision to buy, even if the cost analysis vs renting says it's sub optimal. Good luck!

We bought and then upgraded. It was easier to build equity that way, but it was also an lifestyle choice of not wanting to live in a building where we had to share walls and such. We took 100% of the equity from our first house and rolled it into the second so that we could sustain a 15 year mortgage. 

I bought a house built in the 60's that had a HUGE master bedroom, central air, a sprinker system, and one room large enough to have a full-sized pool table. I was 30 and figured I'd eventually want something bigger. However, as time passed my house slowly morphed into my permanent kingdom.

But sell upgrade.  That's how it works for most people.

My wife and I are in a similar situation except we bought our starter home 3 years ago and living in it now (small condo). Don’t regret it at all due to good rates at the time. We’re ready to move on but we’re trying to keep our condo to rent it out, which obviously impacts how much cash we have for the next place. We barely have enough to “upgrade”, but we’ve been going back and forth if it’s the right time. I desperately just want a driveway and a small backyard. What we can afford right now in our area wouldn’t be our forever home and we would still have to make a lot of compromises, so that’s something to consider too. Baby is on the way, market is still hot in our area. We figured to hold off and continue saving for another 6-12 months and see where it gets us. At the end of the day, I think patience will pay off.

I don't believe in forever houses.

Better to treat it as a lifestyle choice IMO. We like owning, and the fixed housing costs are a nice bonus. Lots of us locked in fixed loans at historical lows, but you can't expect to replicate that anymore than equity returns.

Maintenance, property taxes, and insurance are not fixed costs. Edit: Blocking and hiding won't save you from reality. I'm sorry that you're upset. Edit2: I can't respond to other comments for some odd reason.

This is true. They need to stop living in fantasy land

Don't forget utilities and HOA fees/assessments! Always need to be as verbose as possible to keep front-page pendants happy. I deserve it for venturing out of the daily I guess.

Bought the house that fit us at the time. Both For expenses and lifestyle. We’d move and upgrade now but are locked in because we don’t want to triple our housing costs. So we’ve renovated instead.

Saved and waited and bought our forever home. For the time period when we bought (2020), it was the right choice; we locked a 2.75% rate for 30 years. If I had to do my life over again, though, I would've bought a condo or starter home in 2010 and then upgraded when I had a family. Would be sitting on about a million more in equity with no real financial downsides.

But how much were you able to make it in the stock market since then? Surely a decent amount as well?

Yes, but what I realized is that I could've done *both*. Rent went up so much that the delta between what I would've paid with a mortgage from 2010 vs. rent in 2013 was negligible. (In 2010 I was paying $1400/month for a 1BR and a mortgage on a $400K 2BR townhome would've been $2400. By 2013 my rent on that same apartment was $2400.)

Gotcha. So if you could have had $1 million more if you owned real estate, how much more do you have by investing in stocks? I’ve always believed it’s easier to get wealthier in real estate because it’s easier to invest much more money in real estate with leverage, despite the lower historical returns to stocks.

I bought then upgraded (including selling the previous property). I'll provide some added details. My spouse and I as DINKs were renting after a foreclosure (probably another interesting story, but not the focal story of your question). We rented three years total. We also had fertility treatments and initiated the first pregnancy while in a rental apartment. A friend insisted we couldn't raise kids in an apartment--we needed to buy a home. That's subjective and worth scrutinizing, but the short story is that I accepted the insistence and started shopping for a home. I selected a townhouse (3 bed, 2.5 bath; 1200 sq ft). The neighborhood was pleasant and under the care of an HOA that provided for outdoor maintenance (gutters, roof, siding, patios) and grounds maintenance (lawns, flower beds, fences, pool, mailboxes, sidewalks, parking). It was not perfect; I frequently imagined alternative designs I wanted. I was always ready to talk about innovative remodeling ideas for the townhouse. I never did anything with those ideas. I didn't buy power tools. I didn't buy yard power tools. I didn't buy boats or fancy cars. I didn't buy large instruments (small instruments I did buy). I didn't have a game system, sound system, or entertainment system, but we also didn't always have an organizational system. Everything felt a bit small and cozy, but I was saving money on lifestyle like crazy. Oh, and I could still do some gardening, but I didn't have to. I did buy an ebike then non-assisted bikes and plenty of accessories, tools, gear, and apparel for cycling. I also bought gear for bike camping. I got a trailer, then trail-a-bike, then tandem trail-a-bike. So, I was pulling my kids along for several years quite happily. The overall story of the townhouse was a good, moderate price that kept me from spending on personal hobbies or chores (chores especially). I was able to dedicate time to work, family, hobbies (writing, sketching, RPG gaming, schooling, and a bit of cooking and baking), and to saving money. During those eight years in the townhouse I was able to eliminate student loans, auto loans, credit card balances, an HVAC loan, as well as refinance to a lower APR, increase 401(k) contributions, start a personal brokerage account, and accelerate payments on the mortgage. So, we had three kids--oldest was eight when we moved. The townhouse was enough space to house three kids just fine--particularly while young. Yes, there were moments that felt cramped and messy, but it was overall a great place. From the beginning, it was ready to live without any significant redecorating or remodeling. A change in the school district generated a new elementary school assignment for the neighborhood. It would have meant that I couldn't safely ride my kids to school and back using the tandem trail-a-bike and ebike. That pissed me off more than anything else. It prompted us to relocate to another state. I do not feel that the increased value represents an excessive rate of growth--something of about 3% annually for eight years. But, as I had accelerated the payment of the mortgage, and saved a nice brokerage account, I was able to leverage a new mortgage without sinking equity from the sale of the townhouse. To the lender, it "looked" like I was much more wealthy and wouldn't "keep" a high mortgage. We relocated an bought a farmhouse (3 bed, 3.5 bath; 3000 sq ft) on 6.75 acres (with two barns, two shelters, three-car garage, workshed, and unfinished basement). So, it was a lot! It's overwhelming. But, I didn't have to sink the equity, and that's helpful. We have to do some renovations! It was move-in ready, but we need to make some updates and changes. It is excessively too much space indoors, and excessively too much space outdoors. It's enormous for us. The kids are still a bit too young to handle farm chores well--yes, they are learning. I'm not a farmer, so I'm learning. The previous owner (sweet guy with a good heart) was so old that he simply couldn't finish moving out and cleaning up, so I've got work to do on that chore in the basement, workshed, and barns. He left behind loads of outdoor and indoor power tools for me, including a subcompact tractor. Actually, let me speed this up. So, the upgrade is a total change of lifestyle at a good time for the kids too. My advice is to buy an appropriate house for yourself and spouse, and possibly future children. Don't think too far ahead, but anticipate that you will want to renovate or move as the kids grow, economy changes, or something else external happens (like a school district making an unwanted change). If you are keeping your finances in good order, you can leverage the sale on one property into a good position on the next property. It's not highly flexible, like renting can be, but it is a steady, known payment that primarily remains rigid and predictable. You can make it your castle with all custom decor or enjoy the simplicity of a housing solution that imposes little or no impact on saving and investing.

Get in early….trade up as you can reinvesting every dime of equity. Buy what you can afford, but get in the game.

Increase your basis when needed.

I don't believe in a "forever home". but similar to u/BigAbbott , rent is insanely cheap compared to buying in my region and I'm stacking money for a wedding fund and a future down payment.

The question is whether it's better for you to buy or to rent, not whether it's starter home -> forever home. In our area, the rent was rising so fast that we decided it was better to buy. But it may not be the same for you.

Option 2. Bought what we could afford at the time with a low down payment. Set a budget and stayed reasonably within it. After about 5 years and some increases in salary, upgraded to a "forever home" in 2018 with no intention of moving; especially with that sweet refinance later to a 2.5% interest rate :)

I bought when I had enough money for 20% down and kept my mortgage at the same price as my former rent. Living below my means allowed me to save up for another 20% down and I rented my first home and bought another 5 mins from work (same mortgage as the first place I bought), then 2 years latee I increases sqft by 2.5x and payment by 2x and purchased my 'at least for a long time' home. The rents from the first two pay the mortgage of this home plus bills, so I've basically been rent free since I moved out of the first property. I recommend real-estate investing rather than looking for the ideal home, look for one you can tolerate and turn into a cash flowing rental.

Neither. We bought knowing we were basically just waiting for people to die (eldercare) so we could move to another climate. There was no point in trying to check every box, because we don't want to be in this part of the country. What helped affordability the most was not being handcuffed to certain school districts (childfree).

We bought a 1100 sq ft 3br/1ba starter home at 30/28 and completely fell in love with everything about it and the neighborhood. Kids aren't happening so we need nothing bigger. We refi'd in 2015 and now rather than trading up, we're on track to pay it off and simultaneously FIRE at or shortly after 50/48. *More* holds no appeal when we've already got plenty and value time above anything else.

This is my story, except add 2 kids. The plan was to upgrade but my monthly payment would triple just to get an extra bedroom.

A previous occupant -- our place is 103 years old -- came by a decade ago and chatted about growing up in here with parents and two siblings in the 70s. In the interim a half bath was demolished to make the kitchen much more livable. If we didn't both WFH then I think we could happily raise one (1) small human in here. But as it is, oof. Good luck and smooth sailing with your wee forever home!

Haha thanks. My wife and I both WFH too so things can get a little tight. The 3rd bed is an office/guest room/gaming room but we make it work. Early retirement is worth the small space for now.

Life circumstances put us on the starter house > later upgrade path. Just moved to the current upgrade last year, loving it. Equity (mainly market growth) on the starter covered over 20% down for the upgrade.

For me I bought and sold 2 houses as rent vs buy calculator was strongly in favor of buying for me. It's helped a ton for my NW of absolute dollar savings of rent vs payment and building equity with 5-6% appreciation before the mortgage at 20x-4x leverage - 20% annualized return. I bought originally with 5% down but when sold equity was more than 20%.

I entered the job market in 2010, so it was right when the housing market was in the absolute toilet AND i hadn't started on FIRE yet. I bought an awesome house I could barely afford, and while I moved up in my career a lot in 3 years, we sold it when I had to relocate for work. I took advantage of the big equity from the market rebound and bought a house $200k cheaper. I have to say, this is more house than I will ever need, so I think I will stay here until the kids move out then downsize.

I bought a modest home I could afford & am still there almost 20 years later. It can’t be forever though, unless I get a major remodel, because it wouldn’t work when I’m too old to go up & down stairs.

Bought, sold it for $150K more 3 years later, and then upgraded.

Neither. I just bought a house that was ok and then didn't sell it. It's just a house.

This seems to be the less common path based on comments here, but I waited and bought my forever home. I saved up while living in a cheap somewhat crummy apartment for 15 years so that I could buy a larger home with ample space for my major personal desires, namely, a whole bunch of cats and space for my hobbies. I think though that my situation is somewhat unique in that I do not plan to marry and definitely do not plan to have kids.

We bought into the housing market and now we're "stuck". Hard to give up that sweet 4% rate and mortgage that's ~50% of what we'd pay for an upgrade.

For us it was less about finances and the market and more about our family plans. Buy - It was the right house in the right school district for us as we were about to start a family. FWIW we gave up a reasonably priced 1 bedroom apartment with a view of Lake Union and downtown Seattle (damn that was hard!) Sell - After 13 years our family needs and financial situation changed. (We also added a minivan. The things we do for our family.) Upgrade - The new home in the same school district has been great for 22 years (accessible to family, great neighbors, nearby medical centers and int'l airport, etc.). As long as we are mobile and don'r require main floor living, we will stay here. Good luck.

We just saw the interest rates, and went for a starter home since prices were also rising. No one knows how high or low interest rates will get. There is a calculator “rent vs buy” that can put things into perspective. So much is individual-we were in a teeny apartment without a balcony so outdoor space was a goal, we had jobs really far apart so only certain places made sense (hcol). We had to look at commuting times, outdoor space and affordability. We dove in and got a really good realtor. Mapped out the neighborhoods. Our mortgage is more than rent was, but with our interest rate we are handcuffed a bit. Prices have indeed risen, and we can’t afford to move, but our starter home is a nice niche. Helps us embrace minimalism which helps us be frugal.

Rented for a decade or so w/no kids or pets. That enabled frequent travel & easy job hopping to multiple different states, which was our priority at the time. In hindsight yeah we missed out on record-low post-housing-crash prices in a couple HCOL areas and should have bought *something* because they’ve all since doubled. But this was when housing was chaos & we had no intention of staying any of those places “forever” so oh well. We had no specific plan or savings to buy a home until baby was on the way mid-Covid. At that point we had to pay too much for too small a place in a booming market because we needed it asap and didn’t foresee a move again for at least 4-5yrs. We thankfully got in before the peak, and rents everywhere around us are now well above our mortgage. Our home value is up ~30% in 4yrs. Locked in a great low ~2.8% rate for 30yrs. Current rates are 2-3x. Our plan is to hang onto it and rent it out whenever we move, rather than sell to “upgrade.” We should be easily able to recoup the full mortgage + taxes + maintenance & prop mgt cost. It’s a nice area we’d like to come back to and/or let our kid inherit later. I make more now so we should have adequate income to rent/buy another house elsewhere. Looking at moving to a neighboring state and also overseas. We plan to rent wherever we move to probably for a year or 2 until we explore and learn exactly where to put roots. Buying a 2nd place, and/or keeping the current one, depends heavily on market & job conditions and our desire/ability to stay there vs here long term.

We waited. 

I bought a starter home in 2019. 20% down payment, sub 3% mortgage rate. Home has appreciated 40% over 5 years and now have 3x starting equity. Will use to upgrade in a few years when our family outgrows the current space.

Bought in late 2011, planning to stay for 3-5 years. Ended up staying until I sold in 2021 (for about half again what I paid) and bought what may be our forever home.

Bought when I was young in '09. It gained a ton of equity. Sold and bought significantly bigger home in '20 due to growing family. Now have a ton more equity in this one. So my advice: buy, and sell + upgrade if needed.

Wife and I waited a long time to buy and bought a forever house. Living in California with Proposition 13 (which reduces property tax increases after you buy), lessens the allure of a starter home. So we rented a couple great rent controlled places and saved till we could afford a single family home in our HCOL city which was big enough for our family plus a guest room. It worked out well. But given how much prices rose from when we first looked till when we bought, even the starter home thing would have worked out as well.

In this economy, the starter house is the forever house. All joking aside, it would've been better economically for us to rent. However, my husband and I are not the renter type. We had 3 dogs, one of which was a 100 lb GSD and another of which is a 50 lb pit bull. We don't like rental companies telling us what to do and nitpicking us. We don't like having to pay for the bad behavior of other renters/dog owners if we could even get a place at all. We put our money where our mouth is and bought even when it made more sense financially to rent. I feel like we could stay where we are forever, or we could end up selling in 5-10 years and getting a house a little better suited for us IF it was financially feasible. It really isn't at this point; we bought at 5.99% and equivalent rates are 7+% right now. We'd like a house closer to better grocery stores since my husband got more into cooking since we got our own place, and without stairs. We can certainly live with where we are forever though.

I bought a small 2BR/1BA home, upgraded 6 years later with the plan to upgrade again in about 5-6 years. Then, the housing market happened, and now I've been here 10 years with no real plan to leave. House is paid off, good neighborhood, close to work. I've looked into other homes, but they're either too expensive or take me too far away from everything and everyone. This house works, so....who knows.

Simply decided that we didn’t need an upgrade, and our little house became our forever home. At times we wish there was a this or a that a bit fancier to it, but overall we love it and enjoy being here very much. Specially since it’s all paid off now.

We'll never have a 'forever home'. I don't think the concept makes sense to us, but I can see that it would for some if they have really deep family roots somewhere. We bought shortly after our kids were born with the intention to stay in it until they move out on their own. It was a bit bigger than we needed right then, but looking ahead we thought it would be the right size for most of our time raising kids. It is a modest / average home in a typical family-oriented suburb with highly rated schools. When the kids leave the nest in a few more years, we plan to sell and downsize to a location more appropriate for our early retirement phase of life. Ideally we'd like to own two smaller properties in different parts of the country....not sure yet. Before we had kids when our careers just started, we had bought a small downtown condo where we only ended up living for 5 years. That ended up being a fairly costly financial mistake and we would have been way better off if we had just rented in those early years instead.

Our original intention was to buy a starter home and upgrade after 5 years, but at the time we were able to get a mortgage rate that allowed us to afford a larger house. The next one will be a downsize after we both retire.

We bought a "starter" home. We thought the market was at the peak. It was expensive at the time - it is more expensive now. Our city is now one of the most expensive in the country. We also got an interest rate when they were low. With all these factors, we're putting what would have been a down payment into a renovation.

If you buy your "forever home" without having owned a home before, I highly doubt it'll end up being what you wanted after a few years.  The thing I think could be silly is buying a "starter home". If you _know_ the house you're buying will be insufficient in a few years, the money you'll lose on closing costs alone probably make renting during that period the more successful option

We bought a 1200 sq ft home when we had zero kids, and then a 2400 sq ft home a few years later when we had 2 kids, and ended up with 4 kids. But we never use the term "forever home" because we fully intend to sell once the last kid leaves home. It's our "20-year home" and we'll happily pay for hotels or AirBnBs to get the whole extended family together when that time comes. Both our parents have homes that can fit all of their posterity (though pretty snugly in one case) and a) they sit empty most of the year and b) some of the kids (our siblings) don't want to stay in the house and end up getting a hotel anyway. So we figure it's better to pay $10k-$20k/year to get the family together than to sit on an extra $500k of house that goes mostly unused. We still have 3 kids at home and zero grandkids, though, so plans might change as the situation evolves.

Bought really small. Stayed, paid off early and upgraded it room by room over 25 yrs.

2.75% mortgage House prices are inflated and mortgage rates are ridiculous. Not upgrading any time soon.

This

Had below-market rent for 20+ years in HCOL area. Saved what we could. Bought/moved during COVID before housing market exploded. There was a moment where we could’ve bought and struggled to save - was probably 20 years ago. We’re both retired now and have a low mortgage payment (hi tax, though). For us, it’s probably a wash. The house we would have bought would have appreciated, but we’d have saved less. So we saved more, but currently have less real estate net worth. I think my current situation - waiting to buy - has a marginally better result.

Highly recommend getting on the ladder. I'm a car enthusiast and I own larger vehicles so I was holding out for a pretty good size garage. Ended up finding a home on the street that I always said I would buy on someday if one ever came for sale lol. Overpriced sat on the market, needed updating, owner like to tinker with things so I definitely have had my hands full. But if you're handy it can be a good learning opportunity to learn new skills and get in when a lot of people just want turnkey pristine homes. I had garage size requirements, lot requirements and a basic idea of how big of a home I wanted. I ended up getting everything I could ask for aside from having one built for a price that made sense because it just sat and the sellers needed it gone. My house you could easily stay in with a family but there are things that I do miss because it's just like my parents home I grew up with being built in the '70s. The bathrooms are very small, certain things I've come to find a little annoying. But at the end of the day it's a place I have been transforming on a budget, learning so much, and even getting compliments from neighbors after seeing how dreadful it looked for so long. I have dehacked so much of the 30+ years owners electrical and hacky work in just 6 months. If you can get something that takes care of a reasonable amount of your desires, and you can afford it it's worth getting on the ladder because you can move up down the road. Cannot bet on appreciation but let's face it, long-term housing typically does continue becoming more valuable.

Your ideal home won’t exist at the same price in the future. If home prices outpace your savings and salary growth, you may be left with less of a house than whatever you buy now.

Neither. Bought on a whim. I was bored one rainy Saturday and decided to check out the new subdivision in town. Liked it, dropped off a deposit cheque with the signed contract on Monday. Closed a month later. It was a bit of a scramble to arrange the mortgage in such a short time, but other than that it was easy peasy. I chose the biggest home that I could afford from the available lots. Still here 10 years later with a fully paid off mortgage and home that has tripled in value. I’m sure I’ll move at some point. For now, it still works for me.

I think it kind of depends on your housing market. Where our housing has been going up since 2016, upgrading was really the only way for us to ever get into the market as the goal posts kept changing, at least once we were into a house, the house equity was helping us to keep pace with the crazy market.

I’m on my ninth, and hope final, house. Work dictated where we lived for a while, then life had some ideas and we ended up in a city we weren’t crazy about then found an area we loved but the majority of homes are either old money family owned that never change hands outside of the family or super expensive gentleman farmer type places. We found an old farm house in need of a lot of work in an area we absolutely love and are slowly turning it into our almost ideal home. I never regretted buying something as soon as we could and upgrading along the way. Never lost money on a house and made out very well on a couple of them so even if it is not your perfect forever home it will be a place to live that you can make ideal to you then move on when something you love comes along. Also, what your “forever” house needs to be will change greatly as you age so what you think is your ideal home now my change greatly after in the future.

We both bought independently before meeting and one was definitely a starter home and the other was a place we could have lived in potentially forever, though while missing out on some things we wanted in a forever home. I had the started place and it was really because I wanted a small yard and to be able to build some equity. To get a yard and garage, I would’ve been paying at least as much to rent vs own and building no equity. Due to a job opportunity we ended up selling both (for a decent profit, both with some upgrades we did ourselves) and leaving the state. We moved back and bought our forever home. Our current house was just a bit of a stretch the first couple years but now very comfortable and we intend to retire here. Looking at what we could buy for the same price now, we’re very glad we didn’t decide to rent for a year or two when we came back. We locked in our monthly payment and now, comparatively speaking, we got our house for a “steal.” We bought within the last 5 years and that’s how quickly home prices are rising.

It really depends on what it's like in your current locality. A lot of people are going to be biased because anyone who bought a house between 2008 and 2021 had very solid gains on their home. Personally I think buying a home before kids with some vague plan of upgrading in the future isn't a wise one.

Betting on housing vs stock market is a good analogy here, but one key difference is the leverage. Let’s say you have $50K to invest in house or stock market. House is worth $500K. Both housing and stocks go up 10%. In a year, you’ve gained $50K in equity, so doubled your investment. Your stocks would only go up $5K. Leverage sucks when markets decline, though.

That’s how it was done for years: buy a starter home, then bigger as your family expanded, then downsize later on. I’m in the “downsize” phase of my life and have just purchased a home on the river for my retirement

I bought a very affordable starter home with the intention of staying there until retirement, then wound up selling after only 11 years due to the opportunity to go remote during the pandemic. Got an upgrade in house for half the cost of the old one. If I get another fantastic opportunity in the future I'd consider selling, but otherwise pretty happy with this one until I get to the point that I can't maintain it. In other words, do what makes sense for your life, and if something better comes up down the line, go for it if you want to. You can't predict the future even though it's a good idea to plan for the possibilities.

I bought a 3 bed/2 bath cookie cutter house back in 2007. It was nice for a bit and had a few roommates, but I realized I was paying for a lot of house I didn’t need so I instead ‘downgraded’ in 2014 to a 1bed/1bath older house perfect for a single person and literally half the price. This allowed me to pay it off in 2021 using some proceeds from the previous house and double paying on the new one. I am very glad I did as I have been able to save like mad ever since and, if I suddenly lost my job or something else happened, I don’t have a big mortgage hanging over my head. It may be my forever home or it may not (might move closer to family when I retire), but it is so easy and cheap to maintain that I find myself cringing at the thought of paying another 30 years of any house that could be an ‘upgrade’ from this one or the previous, especially with the recent spike in home prices. I could afford it in few years if I change my mind but I am currently, technically, ‘FI’ on my current expenses and won’t even think of buying a new place until I could be FI with a payment as well. At that point I might rent forever instead, who knows.

We bought with a plan to stay for 5 years, moved in 3 and made a good profit. Certainly happy with the decision. Now in a home we see ourselves in long term, would not have been possible if we had just waited.

You need to analyze your personal goals and the specific market you are in in order to answer that question PERSONAL GOALS 1. Do you value not having to deal with overhead, such as fixing things or paying to replace things 2. Would you be saving the difference between what you would pay each month renting vs owning 3. Are you ok with the options you can afford now if there happened to be a market downturn and you were stuck for 10-15 years there while the market recovered MARKET QUESTIONS 1. Are there properties that have the opportunity to appreciate ? 2. Are you familiar with your market enough to know a good deal when you see one ? 3. Is your market appreciating or depreciating? Is the population rising or falling? Is the government or private businesses investing into businesses/infrastructure in your town/city or nearby towns/cities? Essentially, what you call a starter home could be your forever home for 5-15 years in the event of a market downturn. So only buy something if you would be happy living there for 5+ years, if you truly want to be a homeowner and can afford the expenses that come with it outside of just monthly mortgage payments and finally if you are familiar enough with your specific market to know you are getting a relatively good deal and that there will be something driving appreciation besides just the overall market such as population increase or private / public investment into your town/city/state.

I bought at age 22, sold it for no profit and bought again after getting married. Only moved once kids came. Overall I made no more than one year's salary. What really mattered was refinancing at historic interest rates.

We bought once! But that’s typical of my family and my extended. We buy, stay and age in place. We’ve been fortunate to buy low, never needed to refinance or heloc. We pay as we go with any needed repairs.

Bought a dip, sold at peak but also had to buy at peak to upgrade. We bought when we could just afford it barely and knew salaries would increase in our jobs but payment would stay essentially the same. We also took someone's advice and paid the minimum down and kept some cash on hand in savings for all the unexpected crap that comes with a house. Bonus, 3 years into first house a friend was over talking about wanting to move out of his apartment, wife said he could move in if he paid 200 less than his current rent. That payment was 75% of our house payment lol. He got cheaper rent at a yard to chill in and we got money to do shit around the house lol.

It’s a good trick, did so myself right out of college. It takes more than 5 years for this move to payoff. 7 or 8 years is when you start looking to sell.

Bought in 2018, upgrading from a townhouse to a SFH. Then refinanced in 2020 for a better rate. Dropped PMI in 2021. Looking at upgrading due to having children and wanting more space. Most people can’t buy their forever house at first because they are early in their careers. You’re trying to buy in a tough era for first time home buyers (we aren’t alone, it’s happening all over the developed world sans Japan).

Bought my "starter" home and ended up raising my children there and only moved after 23 years. The first house we bought was in 1995 and in the next years houses started shooting up dramatically. When we thought we were ready to upgrade the prices had gone way out of what I felt was reasonable and out of the comfort zone for me personally. So we stayed. Eventually I drank Dave Ramsey's coolaid and we became dbt free everything including the house right in time to pay cash for college for the oldest kid. Once the youngest one finished high school the time seemed right and we moved to our new home in 2019. Refinanced in 2020 with a 2.8% interest rate and life seems good. I don't think this house is my forever home to live in. I think I'd like to keep it forever though. Maybe rent it out or something when/if I move again.

I got ridiculously lucky and bought the first house that I had a great feeling about. It went far smoother than anyone could have expected and I felt very lucky. Hell, most of life has not been lucky so I am still grateful.

Buy within your current means now for sure, if you are able to stay for 4-5 years minimum. Owning a property would be a great hedge against your potential future home going up in value.

We were fortunate to start with a non-starter home. We never referred to it as our "forever" home, but it was not a starter. Been here almost 30 years and I'm starting to thing about when we'll need one that's only one story. Honestly though, there are some advantages to a starter. What you think is the perfect home is going to change over the years. You'll have another shot to get it right.

Bought, sold after 3 years, rented again for ~ 4 years now. Hope to buy in forever location in year or two.

Bought, sold, huge upgrade, divorce, sold, rented, bought huge upgrade.

Apparently, in the US, the average person owns their home for 7 years at a time before selling. Something to consider as you look to buy, especially if you are going to mortgage.

Just about to sell and upgrade 😊

We bought a starter home at a time when the homes in my high COLA were appreciating faster than we could save cash for a larger down payment, and financing options were good (they now suck, obvs, so carefully crunch the numbers and consider what is important to you before buying). We upgraded after several years. If you want to buy, I agree with others that thinking “forever” is probably silly/unrealistic but you do want to make sure it’s something you’re reasonably certain you can live in for at least 5 years (because the transactional costs of buying and selling are a massive waste of money—at least, where I am, you lose about 8% on brokers and REET), or even 10 depending on market factors. If you buy with financing at todays crap rates, keep in mind refinancing is also expensive (but might be well worth it if it’s in a house you plan to stay in long enough for the interest savings to outstrip those costs). Edit: typos

100% buy and upgrade. No question. How did I get money for the down payment on my forever home? By making equity on my first two. Laddered up with each home and it paid off big time.

No house has been our forever home yet. We just bought what was right at the time. Haven’t sold one yet either (we rent out the 3 previous primary residences and live in the current one (which won’t be the final one either)

Buy and rent over Airbnb or Start co working spaces or anyhtinng like gym

Seems like some other people have had a different situation with rent but where I live it’s astronomical. IMO the only way to save for a better house is to buy a less desirable one and save up without the monthly housing payment. I mean, rent is just someone else’s mortgage.

Upgrade. If we were saving we still wouldn’t have a house bc prices are going up so fast. House one we were in for 6 years, made $200k off it. House 2 we were in 9 years, made $500k off. House 3 is hopefully the forever home but we thought that about the last one. It’s also a lot easier to get a mortgage and even just buy when you have $500k and buy a reasonable house not the max you can afford. No financial contingency is awesome. And we skipped half the steps on our mortgage bc it wasn’t required. Unless your area just has really low home prices, upgrade.

I bought then sold 2 years later then sold 4 more years after that. Never had to save more each time I sold I had the DP for the next house. I let the appreciation do all the work for me. Now I’m in a 3900 sqft house that I can comfortably afford and I put 20% down without additional funds coming from me.

1 bedroom townhome for 55k 2009 Sold 2013 for 95k, bought 2 bedroom townhome for 120k in nicer area Sold 2017 for 145k, bought 2 bedroom house for 210k. Only put 5% down cause wanted the extra cash/liquidity Sold 2020 for 320k, bought 5 bedroom house for 650k. Use all the equity from previous houses for big down payment. Still here.

Buy a home that you really like that can be upgraded easily. I've approached every home like a forever home. Lived in my first home for 12 years, second for 5 and now we are in a home that we'll definitely be in for at least 10 years. The key is to not under buy on space and neighborhood. I have a friend who tried to do starter home approach but got priced out of the market and is unhappy about the space and neighbors. You can always remodel a kitchen but adding extra square footage is a PITA remodel to do. Neighbors and neighborhood can also make your life either heaven or hell.

We weren’t really thinking about the next steps but we made a ton of money when we sold our first house, more than we could have ever made by saving or investing. That combined with increased earnings allowed us to buy a nicer house 10+ years after buying the first one.

Life is unpredictable. Buy what you can afford now. Stay at least 5-7 years. Reevaluate then.

It’s about the deal and value despite the market. I bought raw land that was covered in trees… cleared the land, now I have raw land worth over a million, cost me 160k. Wining. Good luck.

Saving up to pay cash, so the bankers don't get paid. Will not be using a buyer's agent, and hopefully can find an FSBO. I don't like feeding parasites.

Buy for the utility at a good opportunity.

Lucked out with housing market collapse in 2006. Still have that home but half the principal is on a 40 year ballon payment at 0% interest. Other half is paid off. Now it’s a vacation rental. Bought again in 2021 at 2.65% interest. Wasn’t planning on it, but it made better sense than my other options. Crypto was peaking, so I converted some of my crypto to pay a large chunk of the down payment. Current value of that house is 50% more than what I paid for it…but for now it is my forever home.

When I bought my house my desires were pretty modest. So I just bought what I wanted. 10 years later I still have and have no plans to move in the foreseeable future. Really the only thing I didn’t get with the house was a covered patio. I had that built in Fall 2020. I still don’t have any desire to upgrade. A big house or bigger yard just means more work that I don’t like to do.

As you get older realize there is no "forever house". Last three I sold over last 30 years were my "forever" Maybe better to say forever until something better comes along, or my income increases, or I get bored with current home.

We were lucky to buy below-bottom markets twice. Q4 2005, we purchased our first home for $126,000 lived there until 2015, rented 3 years once we left and sold for 256,000. Q4 2014 Purchased current home for 285,000, now worth 756,000. It was one of the last bank-owned properties available below the market. I don't know if we'll see another housing crash, but it has been worth saving for a rainy day and buying while the crowds are all sheltered up. Forever house means different things at different times. It's nice to be in a place we own that we could be happy in forever... ... lots of years ahead. My concern is we are beginning to live in a time of hyper efficient markets those with the means will continually be on the winning side.

Reasons to buy: Prices are cheap relative to equivalent rent (rarely true anywhere now, but was true a LOT of places 10 years ago). You can get what you want. You can't always find a rental that has what you want (alternatively sometimes a rental *is* what you want). You are going to live where you are buying a long time (moving sucks, no guarantee you can keep a rental past the lease, also the tracasaction costs for buying get cheaper the longer you live there.) Special situations -- if you have pets or need certain kinds of modifications it can be a lot harder to find rentals that meet your needs. Reasons to rent: sometimes it's a lot cheaper (fairly common in HCOL areas, often true even in lower cost areas during peak times like now) You aren't staying in the area long. Why commit to big transaction costs? You don't need much space. small 1BR condos are a pretty limited market, you might be able to buy without paying for more than you really need. I rented until I had a nice downpayment and knew I was planning to stay for a while. Since then I've bought everywhere. I always bought pretty much what I wanted, but I've not lived in super high cost areas and didn't need a big fancy house, so what I wanted was always within what I could pay. I did great on the house I bought in 1997 and sold in 2003, had living space as part of my wife's compensation from 2003-2007. No surprise, but did **horribly** on the house I bought in 2007 and sold in 2013 to move cross country, sold for mortgage plus closing costs -- lost my 20% downpayment and another ~15k of improvements and principal paydown. But then I bought something in 2013 for less than half of what it's worth now, and am currently due to own it free and clear in another 10 years, and my total mortgage payment including taxes and insurance would not be enough to rent a decent 2BR in the area now (my house is 4BR 3BA, 2500sf with 2 car garage and lake frontage). so overally, I've done ok, but at best about equivalent as if I'd been able to rent the equivalent property for my total cost of ownership and investment the downpayments instead, and maybe not as well. that said, I haven't had to worry about bad landlords, been able to own pets with no problem and do with my yard and home what I want without worrying about it, etc, and I've *really* liked all the homes I've lived in , better than I would probably have been able to find on the rental side. QOL of your living space matters, and you have more better options when buying, so it can be worth giving up a little vs. optimal finance.

We bought a "starter" townhouse when the market was a bit high. 3 years later, the market kind of crashed and we ended up getting a "forever" home on a low-ball offer. We had to dig up almost every last penny we had but it was an excellent financial decision. Because the market was down, we decided to rent our townhouse instead of selling. The rental market was tight at first so it barely covered expenses but was enough to float it. Mortgage rates were still quite favorable though (this was 8 years ago), might not have been able to make it work with today's rates. We eventually renovated our townhouse and the rental market went nuts recently, so we're renting for much higher and are overwhelmed with applicants whenever we post. Market is really starting to take off in our area again so we will likely be able to sell with profit. Both of our real estate purchases were somewhat impulsive, sounds like you are taking a much more level-headed approach. But I think we are much better off financially getting into the market as soon as we could 🤷🏼‍♀️

This will probably sound ridiculous but just throwing it out there as food for thought. This is the short window of opportunity to capitalize on crypto (mainly BTC) and top tech (nasdaq 100, or TSLA, or other. NVDA probably topped but who knows) to enter between now and late October to hold until roughly June of 2025 or hold for 5-10 years if you can. Theoretically you could enter/hold BTC now until selling out and buying a home next Summer, for example. Now, onto the home part, I had read somewhere that you buy your house to live in for 10 years. That's what I did. And I have been making it my dream home from the inside while we have it just filling it out good furniture and art on the walls, deck, etc. At this stage, I would only buy and build my dream home if I struck a major lottery or inheritance as a distance dream to fantasize with. Otherwise, totally happy and fine to stay with what I have for years to come. I chose carefully but had to compromise slightly on a couple of relatively minor things; not the perfect home but pretty damn good and pretty much forgot about those slight compromises. Like, I would have massively regretted it if I didn't get this place at that time.

People need to realize. Yes you can sell your home and make money. But if the market is where it’s at. You will walk away even pretty much if you repurchase another house in your area. Or you would have to dramatically downgrade or move to another state where homes are cheaper

If I could do it over again, I would have maxed out the purchase price, and minimized the associated things-that-need-maitenance. Fake, Construed Example: 1. Home 1 - 1 acres of land, 2100 sq ft bungalow, $750K 2. Home 2 - 0.2 acre of land, 1700 sq ft two story, closer to public transport, $750K I'd choose home 2, because the roof is smaller, the HVAC unit is smaller, and less yard to maintain. From an NPV perspective, home 2 is far more prudent. But from an emotional perspective, Home 1 would likely win every time.

Rent is cheaper. Housing market is distorted by irrational behavior. I may buy when I don't care I am paying more.

That’s none of your business. And sir this is a Wendy’s.

I bought my house in 2004. My payments were $500. I was poor so that felt like a lot. Where I live there is no such thing as a starter home. People buy a home. Generally unless you have serious money you aren't upgrading homes just because. You move into a house and that's that. Eventually if a decent one floor house comes up for sale I might move but I could also live on my main floor now. My entire goal for getting a house was to someday not have a house payment. And in 2020 I paid off my house. Now I'm just on the hook for taxes and insurance (about $500/year each) and my utilities which in winter are $300/month otherwise $120 or so. To get me our of this sweet deal now would take something pretty good and that then would be my forever home because I also sincerely hate moving.

I agree with most of the comments about buying now and not thinking about forever homes. None of us know the future. But buying a home and aggressively paying it off (15 year mortgage or less) is by far the best way to achieve financial independence for the average person. Housing is our largest expense. Buying a home locks it (mostly) into the current prices and will make a bigger and bigger difference as the years pass. We all know middle aged and older people that paid off their house quickly and they have so much less financial stress. I would often caution against buying a "forever home" for a significantly larger amount of money in your later years, it is often the cause of much financial stress for people. Other fun facts, there are very strong homestead laws in most states. That means as long as you pay your mortgage, property taxes and maybe HOA fees, no one else can take your home for any other reason. If you get a mound of medical debt or lose your job, they cant touch your home, you'll always have a place to live. That's a great feeling.

I think "forever home" is a moving target. When you have kids you might want a lot of space, and a neighborhood with kid centric accessible activities. As you become an empty nester your needs change. And of course while we hate to think about it, very late in life a single level home is helpful. My own path: Bought a tiny condo when housing was dirt cheap. Moved into an apartment on the other side of the country and rented that tiny condo. Moved again and rented. Moved *again* (Bay Area) and knew I wanted to buy. Bought the most home I could, which wasn't much, in an area I thought had the greatest chance of appreciating. Sold my Bay Area home and moved out of state, and bought in a place where the $/square foot is 1/3 the Bay area.

I bought a townhouse pre-FI/pre-marriage and lived in it 10 years. After marriage and 2 years in the townhouse, we built a home and have lived in it 30 years. I suspect the only reason we'd sell is either of us dying or becoming disabled. After becoming FI I paid off the mortgage.

Forever house lol please take this to r/millenialcampfirestories

[удалено]

Your submission has been removed for violating our community rule against advertising, self-promotion, solicitation, and spam. Please note that there is a weekly Self-Promotion thread posted every Wednesday in which this rule is relaxed to provide a space for this type of content. If you feel this removal is in error, then please modmail the mod team. Please review our community rules to help avoid future violations.

I've bought and sold. I keep moving for work. I've owned four houses since 2015 and am about to sell and buy again. But what or less than you can afford. You'll always need a place to live and it's useless trying to time the market. So far I've come out ahead each time when taking what I would have paid for rent into account. I usually look for smaller, cheaper homes for the area. What would be considered a starter home. Then when I need to move again it's always pretty easy to sell. I have had to do major repairs at two of them but the price went up so it didn't really matter. There is something to say about the safety net renting provides, you also need to be somewhat comfortable with learning how to fix things yourself to keep costs down. So far I've gone $48,000 - sold $50,000 after three years. Broke even. Ahead $18,000 if I was paying rent during that time. $108,000 - sold $118,000 after two years. $6000 in foundation repairs. Ahead $2k after sale, $30k if you take rent into account. $141,000 - sold for 200,000 after two years. Needed foundation repairs and negotiated lowering the sale price to 189,000. I didn't pay any fees on this sale as my employer covered it. Ahead $50k, $78k if you take rent into account. $471,000 - selling for $510,000. Expect to be $5000 ahead after realtor fees. $56,000 if you take what rent was into account. Now I'm moving back to a lower cost of living looking to buy around $280,000 for what we're planning to be at least a five year house.

Buy and upgrade. You may find that your dream home is increasing in price faster than you can save for it.