Do you love your home?

[1-31-18]

We love our home. Georgian-style building on the most-storied street in the Midwest. 90-year old hardwood floors, high ceilings and chandeliers, rehabbed recently with all the modern amenities. Finished and furnished by a woman with exquisite taste (DW). Looks out on a marina and Lincoln Park, “our front yard” (which we share with the public, most of whom pay taxes to help pay the maintenance). Tennis and golf and bike paths and a beach and bird sanctuary. Three miles from the center city with all its business and cultural venues. Express bus stops at our front door. No need to drive anywhere. (Need to get rid of our car, or downsize it at least.) We share an elevator with one couple on our floor. Hope to live here until we both pass, several decades hence.

We realize this would not work for people who don’t value big city features and use them daily, as we do.

 

[mountainsoft]

We love our little 1456 sq/ft home on a little less than 2 acres. We built it ourselves in 2003 with a little savings and cash each month, so we never had a mortgage. I drew the construction plans myself and my wife and I did all the building ourselves.

We designed it to be our forever home, all one level, 36" doorways throughout in case we ever need walkers or wheelchairs, a large curbless shower in our master bath, etc.

We live at about 1500 feet on a mountain. We moved out here to be close to nature and get away from the city. Unfortunately, over the last decade our mountain has been taken over by million dollar mansions, increasing traffic and raising our property taxes. But we're still surrounded by trees and have daily visits by the deer and raccoons. We also have the occasional rabbits, bobcat, coyote, and bear.

I have a time lapse video and photos of our house on my web site 2003 - Building Our Own House

We've been in our house about 14 years now and still haven't found anything we would want different. It suits our needs and wishes perfectly.

 

[45th Birthday]

We both love both our homes. Both are new to us post-FIRE, as we re-arranged our living locations several years ago.

Our primary home for tax purposes is a 3,500 sf oceanfront condo with 1,200 sf of outdoor living areas. Completely quiet building in a small development with many amenities and great neighbors. It was a dream of mine to be on the ocean, so this is a dream home. It lives like a house, not a condo.

Our second home, which is really now the large family home, is a 5,500 sf house and guest cottage on 3 1/2 acres with a pool and great landscaping. Not oceanfront, but you can see the ocean from the roof deck. It is our second home in this location, and is in a sense a dream home because it is a significant upgrade in size and amenities from the first one. Also very quiet, with two barely visible neighboring houses, and 330 acres of conservation land abutting our back yard.

One good thing about both is that our kids love them both as much as we do and visit often.

 

[happy2bretired]

I’m somewhere between. My husband and I had our house built in 1999. It’s a small (1300+ sq ft) moderate house but it was an upgrade from our previous houses. It was the first brand new house that either of us had ever lived in. We were proud of it and I still am.

Our mortgage had been paid off several years before my husband’s death so that’s really a plus. I get less than $100 per month from my husband’s pension and I get nothing from SS. So, having a paid off mortgage is a big plus.

I love my home and I’ve spent quite a lot over the last few years trying to keep it moderately updated. However, most of my spending has been on basic utility functions of a house...roof, furnace/AC, landscaping, etc. I did update the kitchen because it was getting shabby and depressing plus I was thinking of resale value.

I’ve always lived in my state so overall I’m happy with my state and my town. But, I’m getting older and scooping snow is not fun. Ice on sidewalks in the winter,for retrieving my mail, is dangerous and that brings me to my neighbor. My neighbor bought more house than she can afford. So, her house is getting very shabby...no upkeep. Plus, a junky car in the driveway.

So, I don’t want to make any more updates to my house with my current neighbor letting her house deteriorate. So, for the last couple of years I’ve been just updating my furniture. I’ve selected quality furniture that will last many years and that I can take with me when it’s time to move.

 

[Rustic23]

We love it. Picked the place and designed the home and for us affordable.

 

[Nemo2]

Ours beats sleeping out in the rain.......almost.

 

[Crewer]

Yes, more or less. We downsized from a true mansion 7 years ago and took almost 2 years looking before we found our present place. The mansion was a fixer upper when we bought it for a song and we did most of the work but ran out of steam before finishing but did make some money on it.

We bought almost new construction in what turns out to be a great location for the area. We travel a lot and can go without worries. I’m also extremely happy with the lower cost, much lower taxes, and tremendously lower utility bills. I miss the trees and nicer walking areas of the established neighborhood but this place will get better as it ages after all the building is completed. I don’t miss the large yard and large flowerbed area and all the work that went with it.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Love it - No, Like it - Yes, Love the neighborhood and area - Yes. Hard to replace though in the current Area.

We WOULD Love it if it had not guest room above the Garage and No Pool. We do own it, so upkeep is reasonable for our area. We use all of the 2,800sqft on the main floor and None of the second floor, except to check and flush the toilet and vacuum up the dead bugs once in a while.

 

[unclemick]

I love the DW - who came with a 1922 Craftsman Bungalow and a Farm. My 'Leave to Beaver' tract home got sold after the wedding. Prior to that for 30 years home was where you parked your stuff when not at 'Home' inside the rocket plant.

heh heh heh - developing a city boy's love for metal pole barns. Which may pass.

 

[RunningBum]

Love my house. Custom designed and built on a lot I picked out for a view that I love too. I certainly could do with a lot smaller, and if I had reason to do it over I would, but I'd retain a lot of the key concepts.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Just wondering. Is your home an affordable abode or the space of your dreams, which one are you?

both - still owe a bit on it but we are on an acre in a 5200 sq ft house in a golf course community overlooking the city

hopefully we will never move

 

[Big_Hitter]

Love it - No, Like it - Yes, Love the neighborhood and area - Yes. Hard to replace though in the current Area.

nice pad!

 

[Big_Hitter]

We love it. Picked the place and designed the home and for us affordable.

we looked at houses on lake livingston when we lived in htown - gorgeous!

 

[VanWinkle]

We love our house, the location not so much. Built new in 2011 by my sister(a general new construction contractor). The market had been down in her new development for 5 years. I felt compelled to have her build me a new one to give her work and sell one of her 3/4 acre lots. It is a rural area and we find ourselves driving to the metro area 4-5 time a week. The house is 1750 square ft ranch with a 728 sq ft over sized 2 car garage.
Geo-thermal heat/cool is the best part- total heat/cool usually under 85.00 per month with all electric. up to 125-130 in the hottest/coldest months.

 

[l8_apex]

It's hard for me to say I'd "love" any home, but I'm certainly happy with where I'm at now. Bought a lot for $115k, then spent just over $300k to design + build. That was about 5 years ago. That's a 0.5 acre lot, 2300 square foot home + a 1300 square foot unfinished basement, + a 1600 square foot garage. My favorite part is that monster garage!

I made a conscious decision not to go with some of my "dream" list, with the primary item being a property on a river, as the price premium for that was more than I'd want to pay both up front as well as in yearly property taxes. So I'm firmly in the good/great but not "love" camp...

 

[pacergal]

I enjoy our house. Less expensive 1960 single level ranch, in a more expensive neighborhood--get the benefits without the price! Very quiet area, safe, walking distance to schools and shops. We've remodeled pretty much the entire house. Plan is to stay here until we can't, or decide we no longer want this much room. My Dad built the house and our kids were also raised here.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

We hate our house and have been looking for another for three years. We are on the street that feeds the entire neighborhood and we get a lot of traffic. Since it's on a steep hill that traffic tends to be loud, especially the pickups with aftermarket exhaust. Behind us is a grandfathered property that predates the suburban sprawl, and they have essentially a junkyard (although they never exceed the legal limit of five or six cars, they constantly change). We hear banging around their junkyard late at night, so I'm not sure what the heck they're doing dumping metal scrap from the back of a truck in the dark. The house itself is OK, I guess, but the finished basement was apparently done by a previous owner who wasn't as handy as they fancied themselves to be.

Finding a different house hasn't been easy, to say the least. We want single-level living, which is hard to find. Our biggest issue, though, is that when we find a house with the level of nice finishes, etc., we like, it's waaayyy too big. When we look at smaller houses, they really aren't all that nice.

So, the search continues...

 

[travelover]

We've only been in our new home for four months, but we love it. It is a 2400 square foot ranch on a nicely landscaped acre and a quarter on the very end of a quarter mile private drive. Cows next door and Costco four miles away. It is so quiet and calming compared to a "real" neighborhood, yet we don't feel isolated.

 

[Souschef]

I understand your problem behind you. Our condo backed up to a do it yourself car wash. The vacuums were up against the block wall, and these idiots would be vacuuming or drying their cars with the doors open and stereos and sub woofers blasting at all hours

 

[swakyaby]

I do like our house we bought in 2006. It's a single story with wide walkways, a modern gourmet kitchen, nice views of a greenbelt with biking trail, and close to all the conveniences of city life. Neighbors are nice too, quiet, and maintain their property. It's a sanctuary for me, in the middle of a mid-size city.

 

[aja8888]

I'm neutral on our 2000 square foot home in a 55+ development. DW is too, I believe. It's just a place to live and is quite affordable, built fairly well, in a nice setting and good neighbors around us.

But it's just a house and the 7th one I have owned (DW came on board at house No. 6).

I don't believe we will ever buy another unless it's a condo when one of us passes.

Houses are money pits, although one has to live somewhere out of the weather.

 

[W2R]

Just wondering. Is your home an affordable abode or the space of your dreams, which one are you? Some find enjoyment from a nice home they really enjoy while others couldn't really care less

Being a rather frugal type of site (natural for early retirees of course) I would expect most people's homes to be rather affordable. Just wondering really

Cheers

I love this thread topic!!!

My home is a dream come true for me, and I usually refer to it as my "Dream House" here on the forum. Most people would say, "meh, it's just another 1965 brick home, 1500 sf on a slab" but to me it might as well be the Taj Mahal.

Some people want to travel the world, some want to climb a mountain, some want a plane or a boat, but my ultimate dream has always been to have a house like this one.

My home is everything I had always dreamed of in a house. It has the large shower, giant two car garage, and laundry room that I never had before. It is on the best block of the most perfect neighborhood for me in the area, near everything and yet quiet, stable, peaceful, and hidden away. It is half a block from a major Mardi Gras parade route, and close to shopping, restaurants, and hospitals. Plus, it is right next door to my sweetie's house, and we made a gateway through the fence in the back yard so we can go back and forth easily and visit one another.

As for the frugality aspects - - I bought it in cash three years ago and sold my prior home in cash. I had the yard completely re-landscaped and graded. All in all, the purchase, closing costs, move, re-landscaping, and so on, cost me $92,603 (including the higher price of my Dream Home compared with my prior home). Meanwhile I have not been spending much during the past three years and have saved considerably more than $100K compared with what I could have been safely spending.

The reason I have not been spending much is that I don't want to - - I feel so content these days.

 

[ransil]

We love our home. Very affordable. Smack dab in the middle of 10 acre, mostly wooded area. No neighbors we can see.

I will say, living on that much space with a large yard...there is constant maintenance. Not an ideal place as one gets much older. We're currently 34/35 so not something we have to worry about for another 30 years or so...hopefully.

Ditto..
But add a little to the ages..

 

[trirod]

Our current house is OK - some things we love about it, like the location, the private wooded lot and the living room with the wood burning fireplace, and some things we aren't too excited about like the general layout and constant maintenance that is required.

We recently bought our "dream" retirement home and I think we're going to love that. It's a much better quality house than our existing one, with high ceilings and big windows overlooking Lake Michigan. I am giving up a lot of garage and shop space, though, compared with my existing house and I am a little concerned about that. Oh well, we can always move again if that proves to be a deal breaker.

 

[trirod]

I have a time lapse video and photos of our house on my web site 2003 - Building Our Own House

Loved the video - thanks for posting. Looks like a fantastic house and location.