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Location: Finally the house is done and we are in Port St. Lucie!
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In this day and age, I notice people talking about resale value. More people buying houses and looking at them as investments instead of as a place to live out the rest of their lives.
The home has become a 'temporary' place. I do understand that job situations change which require a move and military families that change locations frequently.
I guess the title of the the thread is my question: Does anyone buy their house to be their forever home?
A lot of our parents bought their house and lived in them for life. Raised their families and welcomed grandchildren's visits in them. Is that something that only happens in small towns anymore?
Edit: made the thread in the wrong forum. I've reported and asked to be moved to the House forum. Oops!
Yes.
I routinely have clients who talk about their forever home.
It's a hope, more than a reality, though. "Life is what happens while you are making other plans."
And, very few people can afford to disregard resale value.
For most people there is just too much money at play to blithely ignore resale possiblity related to unexpected life changes, etc.
I bought a home this year expecting it to be my forever home. Things may change in the future if prices double in 10 years and I can pay this home off and buy a better one in a different area.
This shouldn't be moved to House, it should be moved to Real Estate.
For what it's worth, just because a home is going to be your "forever" home doesn't mean you shouldn't be concerned with resale value. There's another word for resale value.. it is called value. Having a large amount of equity in a home can be very valuable if you don't plan to resell.
Perhaps you want to borrow against it to invest in other business ventures.
Perhaps you want to leave your children a nice nest egg.
Does anyone buy a house, expecting it to be their forever home, anymore?
Yes, I did. I was born and raised in Sacramento, and have no plans to leave, although at one point I thought I was moving to San Diego, but it didn't happen.
Yes.
I routinely have clients who talk about their forever home.
It's a hope, more than a reality, though. "Life is what happens while you are making other plans."
And, very few people can afford to disregard resale value.
For most people there is just too much money at play to blithely ignore resale possiblity related to unexpected life changes, etc.
This, all of it.
We bought this place with the notion it would be, if not our forever home, one that we'd live in for a long time. Otherwise, we would not have gone through the turmoil, expense, and difficulties of the move. It has turned out to be a big mistake, albeit one with some positive aspects also.
We are definitely concerned with resale value, for obvious reasons. However, we never viewed the house or the new location as an "investment" in the true sense. Houses--and towns-- get wear and tear, and they need maintenance, unlike investments. At this point, it is just an attempt to get back our initial cost.
Unexpected life changes include realizing that your heart remains in a very different area despite what your head may have told you. It is all good to make neat columns of pros and cons about different places, but some of the items on those lists (both pro and con) can turn out to be so heavily weighted you can no longer ignore them. And the "life happens" part can be things that you have no say in, yet significantly degrade what you found appealing about the "forever home."
I bet longtime realtors can intuit a LOT of the motivations for selling houses that has nothing to do with the blatant stuff such as job changes, divorce, retirement, or climate preferences. There may well be more than one or two reasons involved, and then the straw-on-camel's-back effect occurs.
I bought a house last year with the idea that it would be my "forever home". I am 68, so forever isn't as long for me as it might be for a 30 year old. I plan to at least *try* aging in place and see how that goes.
Resale is less of a concern for me than it used to be, but it is still a concern; after all, what if the neighborhood gets really bad to the point that it becomes dangerous for me to live here? I don't expect that, but I could envision that as a remote possibility. In that case I might have to move, whether I want to or not.
I have spent about $35K on upgrades and repairs since I bought this forever home last year, so right now it is perfect for me and well suited to an elderly occupant (me, hopefully). If I sell, I might as well have tossed that money out the window since a different owner might have different preferences.
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