Forever House, or For Now House?

One of the phrases I frequently hear is this is our “Forever House”, but how realistic is this?

We have been married for 38 years. . . and the longest we have lived in any house is 10 years. (and I was working away from home for the last two years)

During the 1950’s and 60’s it was expected that once you started work you would probably work for the same company for all your working life, so there was no need to move.

In the 24 years that we have been in Australia I have had 9 jobs, with a change of job meaning some new work locations were over 150km from the previous job.

This means I firmly believe that its worth considering the “For Now House”:

Starting Off

Something small will help you get a start in property ownership.

When you are a couple, or even with toddlers, you don’t need lots of bedrooms and lounges, retreats etc.

It can be better to have a smaller mortgage and the smaller heating and cooling bills that a smaller house brings.

The lower financial burden means you will be able to spend more time with the pre-school children, rather than both working long hours.

The Middle Years

As children get older a larger house can have benefits with space to separate noisy areas from quiet areas.

It can be a mistake to go too big with the house though as you don’t want to be isolated from them.

I would be very careful about making the bedrooms too big as I would rather know what the children are doing, than have them shut away in their room.

Another issue with going to big is that the home becomes too comfortable for your grown up kids.

Empty Nesters

For 6 years we lived with just the dogs in a 200sq m home.

We were living in less than half the area and travelling for almost an hour to get to work!

Downsizing to a 80sq m place closer to work has been great for us. . . so we wouldn’t want to go back to a big house again.