in your adult life? I have moved all my life, first with my parents then during college. Now my fiance and I are building our first home. I have moved 11 times in the last 7 years alone!
I don't want to move anymore!!
However, everyone, including our builder, family, mortgage guy, tax guy and whoever else knows about the house seems to have the opinion we will no be satisfied with our new house and will be wanting to build another one soon enough.
I want to stay in this house until I am old and then will downsize. I want to raise my children and have my memories there, since I didn't have much of that as a child (military)
So after my ramble, my question is this: How long have you been in your homes? Have you moved a lot over the years? Are you satisfied with your home? Thanks for your replies!
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everyone for all of your great, thoughful answers. I know there may be circumstances beyond my control which make me move but if I love this house as much as I think I am going to, I think I will stay there for as long as I can.
I want those memories that some of you spoke of, to look at a certain corner and remember a great time.
Thanks again all!
Sad to say but my adult life, even though I wasn't legally an adult, started when I moved out of the house at 16. In my adult life I've lived in about 12 different places from cockroach infested dives to the trendiest of digs... and always in the heart of a city. My last 2 homes have been in the burbs...city life drained me out. My current home is my dream home and I can't imagine living anywhere else right now... in about 20 years my knees might tell you differently!
.....we moved 6 times throughout my lifetime. I love my home now. I will never ever move. Every corner has special memories, special spots, comfy chairs, et. etc. I will haunt this house forever, before or after I die. I will be the eternal spook at the foot of the bed, pulling the covers off, playing with the light switches, hiding underwear, moving spiders around......well...maybe not spiders!! I'll still be terrified of them even when I'm mist!!!!
that making a profit for us has quite a bit to do with moving...we have always made a profit on a house and we like to use that profit to go bigger and better...the last time we moved we made a substantial profit but cuz we moved further north it also cost less to get a bigger and better house...being mortgage free at 35(he is now 36 and i'm 28) was always my DH's plan...and moving up here has given us the ability to achieve that..
upwards of 30-some times, not including university years, thanks to being a military brat.
I don't plan to move more than maybe once or twice more...when I was younger it was always an adventure but I have come to hate it.
Your dream home is what you want it to be... only you will know what is important to you. Some like to put down roots and make their house what they want it to be; others keep moving regularly because of work, financial reasons, changing family situations; others will move only a few times because of major milestones (marriage, children, empty nest, retirement...)
When given the choice, my preference has come to be to try and make the house work for me, rather than moving...
in the past 10 years i have moved a lot, but since this includes my university years when i was living in dorms, sectioned off dining rooms, you name it! that would explain why. once i got married we also moved a couple of times while we decided to build a home.
we have owned 2 homes ourselves. we would probably still be in our first house but dh was relocated to another city. i can't see us living in this house for longer than 5 years as it is quite small. we only had one week to find a house in a very competitive market and are happy with what we found considering the circumstances, but i'm not feeling permanent vibes from this house.
i know a few people who keep building homes and turning them over every few years to make a profit from their home. i guess the money they make is worth the inconvenience of moving. i also know some who love their property and would rather renovate or rebuild. i think a lot of this depends on your financial situation too. few of us have the ability to find our dream home in the early earning years and need to slowly work our way up.
i lived and grew up in the same house...my parents still live there...i got married at 18...moved from home to my husband house(with his parents)...then just before we got married we bought a small one bedroom house...lived there till the house he had rented out was vacant...then gutted that house and lived there for about 4 years...then we moved again and lived at the 3rd house for almost 5 years...then moved 15 months ago to this house...our reason for moving was mostly space...this time we finally found a house with acreage like we always wanted...although we have 3 acres sometimes DH thinks it's not enuff land...and would like atleast 10 acres....the problem is i absolutely love this house...this is my dream house...and i really like living in a small town (i'm not right in the town, so that probably why i like it..lol)...i think we will probably be here for awhile...my kids are still young (7 & 4)...but when they get older we will probably move again...3200 square feet is going to be alot for just 2 of us...provided they leave....and don't try to come back with their wives...lol...but i think i have finally found my dream home...i hope...although i did always wanna live in an estate house...the kind with like 1 acre and you are surrounded with lots of big houses...DH wants a bigger house than 3200 square feet...that's cuz he doesn't have to clean it...lol
Don't remember how many times I moved but I remember that it is my 14th house. Every two year at the most I get the fever of moving, change of house, renovating and decorating. My husband is always for it. This time we've been here for 6 years (This was our first house together, sold it and bought it back 6 years ago). Now it's almost time to go on to another one, thinking of building something smaller. As I go up in age...I realize that there is more to life than a house!
I was looking in Mambogirl's dictionary and in the cover she had her name and address sratched out like 7 times...then I think she gave up! Hah!
We have lived in 6 different towns in 32 years but 25 were in the same place. We moved 3 times in that same town and spent 20 years in our home. We wanted to stay put while the boys were in school. We just moved to a new town for retirement and a new house. My eldest son has lived with 15 different billet families while he was away playing hockey. He claims home is where ever his suitcase is.
I have moved as an adult 5 times, all after getting married. 4 of them in the past 2 years.
We now have a fixer-upper house, and I do not feel like it is home. There is too much of the previous owners stuck on the walls, in the carpet, in the bad DIY that they did.
We are hoping to get our dream house with the next move...yeh, still dreaming...
Well, as an adult, this is my 5th home - I'm 34 yrs old.
We decided to stop moving once our oldest child started public school.
I love our house. It's a bit more open concept than I thought it would be (we bought off a plan) but it's spacious and cool.
I moved a few twice as a chiled - I won't count apartments when I was a baby/toddler. I found both moves difficult, though my parents orchestrated both moves to give us a better life, which in the end it did.
I had an apt. as a single girl, DH and I had one before we bought our first home. We were there 9 years when we moved to our present home. Barring transfers/the unexpected, this is where we will stay. I want DD & baby to have stability and hopefully the luxury of growing up here, in one place. Because I found the moves tough, I wish not to put her in the same position. One day, far off down the road, I expect we will downsize.
on what people's attitudes towards houses are and what circumstances they come up against.
I've moved a lot in my life and until I was 30 the longest place I ever lived was 5 years and that was really the exception as the rest were more like 2 years or less. I would put the total times I moved in my life easily in the double digits.
When I bought my first house I loved it and had no intention of ever leaving it. Most of my neighbours had lived in their homes for decades and didn't want to move either. I had to move because of a development on the lot next to mine and it still irks me to no end as that was MY house, MY home and I was very attached to it and still loved it after living there 13 years (a record for me). I would never have moved had I not been forced.
I then bought a new house in a new development and realized the day I moved in that I wasn't staying there longer than I had to. The people who bought there didn't seem to have any intention of staying either. All seemed to view it as a first step only, a place to be developed a bit and then sold when they could afford to move to something bigger.
Where I live now I would never have considered. The only reason I am here is it got me out of that new development. It's my parents old house and I bought it so my mom would be easier to convince to move into an apt which was more appropriate to her health. I will sell this place the instant I can move back to the neighbourhood my old house is in probably.
From my experience, if other things like transfers etc. don't come into play, I think it depends a lot on the attitude you move in with. Everyone I know who bought thinking it was the perfect place to stay forever, have stayed whether it was their first house or their fourth. They aren't swayed when friends try and tell them they should move up. Some people are happy staying settled, others are happy moving for whatever reason.
Meanwhile, things happen, but don't let what other people tell you worry you. As long as you are happy with your house and are able, you can stay there. If you change your mind in the future, it will come naturally probably and you won't be bothered. As you move in and start fixing your new house, do it with a mind to staying there until such time as you feel differently. It's your house for as long as you want.
My first house after I was married was a cozy house in Idaho. It was far too far to commute to Vancouver, so we ended up selling it and moving back here. I was pregnant with our first son, that was in Novermber of l973. We have been here ever since. Raised both of our boys, there are too many memories here to move. I hope to be here for the rest of my life, even though it is an older house, it is home.....
I like to see everyone's differing opinions. I am hoping I won't get that itch to move again. I have gotten it many times because I do enjoy change but the places I have moved from have never really been home. I am hoping to stay in this place for as long as I can help it and just hope I don't get sick of it.
We can always renovate, however, if I do become itchy! That might scratch it!
Thanks again everyone!
I have had 3 homes.
The first was fun: an empty rented apartment to furnish. The second was a purchased townhouse that we did little to, and we stayed there a little longer than we perhaps should have.
I now live in my 3rd, a house. I do not have plans to move again.
The kids is the biggest reason we waffle on moving at the end of the mortgage term. We figure by that time our oldest will be in Highschool, so no moving. By the end of the next term the younger 2 will be off to highschool. So by the time they're all done school, we'll be so "at home" here we won't want to, and we definately won't need to downsize!lol Although if something in our area came up with a few acres, well that would be a different story!
there is much more to lifethan a house....a home is different. Once you settle in and enjoy the new area & friends and activities you settle in. Children will make you stay awhile as they get settled and it is hard on them to be uprooted to often if not necessary. By then you have made the house and home.
our 1st home for 11 months. We are already back and forth on the issue of moving. DH has only ever moved 4 or 5 time in his 30 years, and most of his childhood was spent in hte same home. So he's reluctant to change thins, he likes "stability". I on the other hand, have moved about 40 times in my life. 16 of them have been in the past 10 years, since leaving home.
So I like change, I get bored easily too. Once I've changed all that I can I get the itch to move. Hopefully that won't happen for a VERY long time here! I think I have enough work to do and things to change, to keep me busy for at least the next 10 years!lol
Considering the fact that you HAVE moved a lot, you probably know more than others what you want in your home. That would be an experience I would trust if I were you... But not my own, because clearly I have a split personality disorder.
I have never owned a brand new home, always resales, we preferred that. Different circumstances was the reason for moving around. :)
In the last 30 years I've moved into 6 homes. Every few years I'd get that itch to move into a bigger/different house. Now I want to and have gone back to a smaller house. Over time I find desires and tastes change.
Some people are capable of settling in to the first home they choose to call their own. Unfortunately I am not one of them. Apparently once I've decorated and accessorized and wasted money on new furniture, I'm bored and want to move - usually I end up moving across the Atlantic, back and forth, back and forth. I rarely know where I am half the time now.
So to answer your question, I've come to the conclusion that it is the city and the people that will determine whether or not I choose to call it home, and not my four spider infected walls.
During college we lived in apartments (3 different ones), but never considered any of them "home".
Shortly after we got married we bought a house, lived there for 6 years...I still think of it as home sometimes.
We moved into this house almost 5 months ago and we love it - we're never moving again.
Heather :)
I am not sure why people think this but everyone I have spoken with has said that they never truly are satisfied with what they have. Especially first time homeowners.
How come you moved so much, if you don't mind me asking? Was it work or just because you wanted a new home? :) Thanks for your response.
I have moved 12 times during my lifetime so far. In the last 14 yrs. 5 times. Yes were I am now is where I want to be. Why do so many think you will be disatified in a new home?