Do you love your home?

[bclover]

I like my home but no it is not the home of my dreams. Nor is it the last house I will have simply because it is not a house to age into.
4 floors lots of steps and big. I do love the location, right in the middle of town, walk score of 98 and lovely neighborhood.
I will probably sell in a year or two.

 

[jmp470]

Love ours, 4bed/3 bath, 3k square feet. Heated In ground pool w/ spa and a swim lane. Full electricity, but, produce all our own electricity. Next I’m doing a well, to reduce lawn costs.

 

[Janet from FIRE Planet]

To 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.

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I enjoyed visiting your site. Everything you do amazes me. Maybe someday I'll order the software for recipes you developed! Thank you for your most interesting post!

 

[Rambler]

It's very expensive in Switzerland and this area in particular. The rental income of 6231 CHF monthly covers all expenses and funds improvements and expenses while we are here. My FIL gave us this property. He gave a home to each of his three daughters which was very generous of him. He bought the home in 1992 for 1.44M CHF and put about 400K CHF into improvements. It would sell for about 4.8M-5.2M CHF today ($4.9M-5.3M USD). When the hot hazy weather clears, I'll post pictures of the amazing views of Lake Geneva and the Alps.

I love Switzerland and particularly Lausanne. I have many fond memories and friends there from my working days. For the last 13 or 14 years of my career, I visited Lausanne at least once a year and often more than that. Megacorp treated me really well, and had us stay at the Beau-Rivage most of the time...ah, beautiful place. But yes, it is tremendously expensive to live there.

 

[mtheulen]

I love my home so much...............
I sold it! Built my own ICF home in 2004 after work.Got an offer i could not refuse and let it go in June.Now i live in a 700 sq ft casita.House was 3000+

Ive never been happier! Rent and utilities are the same as what i paid in property tax! I think i have it in me to build 1 more small home.(shop will be bigger than the house) but until iam ready, iam going to enjoy this cheap, no headache way of living

 

[Jamie1101]

My Happy Home

I have been in my old home located in a designated historic district for 20 years now. I enjoy doing projects so there is always something going on to keep me busy. I bought this home in 1996 and had it paid off in full in four years. I moved here at a time of peak overtime at my factory so for a few years I lived very frugally and put that extra overtime money to good use.

Averaging out my fixed expenses of house insurance, taxes, & utilites they work out to be about $500.00 a month.

Property values have skyrocketed in the historic district where I live. I'm in a very walkable area. There are 3 and 4 day stretches I don't use my truck at all. I am always getting cards in the mail from real estate agents wanting to know if I'm interested in selling my home.

I could easily do an instant quick sale for 4Xs my original purchase price but then where could I go to live as cheaply or happily as I do now?

Once I post this it will be time to get to my book. I'll be reading it on the front porch in the swing under the fan which gives a wonderful breeze and keeps the mosquitoes away. My cat will join me and I will most likely interact with neighbors passing by. I'm enjoying a good life no amount of money could buy...

 

[StuckinCT]

We have a beautiful home on 6 acres in Connecticut, 5 BRs 6 baths 5,890 sf. We paid $1.7mm put $80k in and worth $1.5mm due to our state's budget mess and large companies like GE leaving. That and the $33,400 in property taxes caused me a lot of stress for a while, but my kids love it and it has become our home. We can afford to retire here with a second home in Vermont, but if it weren't for the schools/friends/family we would definitely leave. I am scared to even put it on the market.

But we do like it here and kids love it so its hard to complain too much..

]

 

[RockDoctor]

While we like our home, neither of us is in love with it. When we FIREd and moved back to the US, we went for a 5700 sq ft 5BR 6BA Queen Anne Victorian (no rennovations needed), but bailed before having to plow any major money into it. Enjoyed it, but heating it in the winter time in MN was not cheap. It's now a B&B. Current abode was new when we bought in 2007, 2900 sq ft (including the finished walk-out basement) on about 0.3 acres in a subdivision that could be almost anywhere in the US but happens to be 2 mi from my 93-year old in-laws. MIL's father lived to 100, her aunt lived to 113, so we may be here for a while.

 

[socca]

Things I like:
(1) low acquisition cost
(2) low carrying cost
(3) reasonably quiet neighborhood
(4) plenty of room for one person
(5) fabulous water and sunset views
(6) convenient to everything

If I were forced out of this house for some reason, I could probably find another in SW Florida that satisfies #3 - #6 (although #3 is getting more difficult with rampant regional overdevelopment). However, finding a house that satisfies #1 - #6 would be extremely difficult.

I was lucky that so many potential buyers were discouraged by the numerous cosmetic problems with the house a few years ago. I looked at the house at the very start of my house search and then bought it five months later.

Of course, if a Cat 5 hurricane comes ashore during the next two months I might consider myself less fortunate ...

 

[Sanstar]

We love our home. In 2013 we made a list of what we’d want in a retirement house. Things included were single story, wide hallways, no or tolerable HOA, at least an acre, fenced property, wrap-around porch, patio, decent sized entryway, ability to keep the Airstream on the property with electrical hookup.

We found what we wanted for $220K but had to add the fence, pad for RV and electrical hookup. Have since replaced/upgraded master bath to include Toto bidet and jetted soaker tub. Have done lots of planting of pecan and fruit trees, raised beds, blackberries and grapes. Only item on the list we didn’t get and won’t be adding is the wrap around porch. DH was not happy about the acre (too much work) but a sprinkler system and John Deere took care of that. I think he spends more time on the Deere then he needs and even drives it across the street on occasion to cut the neighbor’s grass! I believe this home will do us fine for many years to come.

 

[indiajust]

Renovated, loved, sold, and now love my REIT's and income, while I rent an 800 sf apt. Personal housing is an expense, a luxury, an income statement, and with an 80/20 mortgage, the equivalent of a 3x leveraged bet on stocks. Too much risk.

 

[brett]

We love our current home. But at the end of the day it is just a place to live. We are not emotionally attached to it. Could be because we have owned several homes, rented, and traveled for extended periods.

Since retiring and downsizing we both feel less attached to real estate and possessions than we were in the past.

 

[Hermit]

I don't mind where I currently live. In fact I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. It is very quiet. Well, I would like to move into the house I am building just up the hill. But in the mean time, this 1985 motor home is quite cozy and it does not take a lot of upkeep.

 

[jollystomper]

We like where we live. For us it was a good purchase. Megacorp moved us to an area where the market was slow. When we first saw it we thought "this is perfect, we cannot afford it at this price." However, the market was slow in the area, the house had been on the market for 6 months without an offer, and the sellers were going through a divorce and needed to sell, so they accepted our offer which was 2/3 of what they were asking but within our affordable range.

No complaints about the house or neighbors. It was great to raise kids in and as a (somewhat) empty nest. What keeps it from being a perfect environment is no sidewalks in the area, which can make walking through the neighborhood a challenge, and walking to a shopping area less than 2 miles away impossible.

It is a great house for the healthy, but it might become a challenge to manage and navigate as we get older. So downsizing and moving is an option we are planning for.

 

[blueb]

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

While we love our home.. it's really all about location. Honestly... location is everything.

Here in Cuernavaca, MX the weather is about 80 to 82 degrees year-round, so cost of heating or air conditioning is zero.

Because of this, the size of house is not an issue. What difference does it make if it's 1,000 sq ft or 5,000 sq ft? The cost is the same.

Our happens to be close to 5,000 sq ft., but we mostly live outside on the covered patio deck. We eat, watch TV, and entertain outdoors, and we love it.

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[Mulligan]

House is ok, but we love the backyard. I can even get a hole or two in for free at dusk:

Outstanding! I can appreciate how great your pool looks without being jealous since I would have to dynamite my backyard and pay for all my neighbors foundation repairs to put a pool in my backyard.

 

[iloveyoga]

Both here too. Modest, well built home in a quiet neighborhood that we have lived in for 26 years. We have it set up exactly like we want it. And we just did a major backyard reno, so we are set now. We do have stairs, so we have to keep fit enough to do those.

 

[YoungSaver]

Yep

 

[Lienlord]

We built our house 25 years ago and raised 2 boys in it. We built a music studio/office duplex behind it where my wife has taught music to children for 22 years. As I prepare to RE, my wife wants to keep teaching. As long as she does, we'll continue to live here, then sell the house and office building and downsize to something smaller with less maintenance.
It feels strange to say that...that idea of someday moving out. Like when you're kids grow up and move out...it feels like we'll be doing the same thing to this great house that helped us raise them.

 

[freetodream]

We just moved from our home of 27 years located on 40 acres up north to a small town in SE Mn. It was hard moving from a place where we started by clearing the home site, put in the road, added several buildings, well/septic, planted several thousand trees as well as raising our children there. We'll miss the quiet private solitude there. Even so we are excited to move into a new to us home in a couple of weeks.

 

[Scuba]

I have been in my old home located in a designated historic district for 20 years now. I enjoy doing projects so there is always something going on to keep me busy. I bought this home in 1996 and had it paid off in full in four years. I moved here at a time of peak overtime at my factory so for a few years I lived very frugally and put that extra overtime money to good use.



Averaging out my fixed expenses of house insurance, taxes, & utilites they work out to be about $500.00 a month.



Property values have skyrocketed in the historic district where I live. I'm in a very walkable area. There are 3 and 4 day stretches I don't use my truck at all. I am always getting cards in the mail from real estate agents wanting to know if I'm interested in selling my home.



I could easily do an instant quick sale for 4Xs my original purchase price but then where could I go to live as cheaply or happily as I do now?



Once I post this it will be time to get to my book. I'll be reading it on the front porch in the swing under the fan which gives a wonderful breeze and keeps the mosquitoes away. My cat will join me and I will most likely interact with neighbors passing by. I'm enjoying a good life no amount of money could buy...

Beautiful! Looks very homey and welcoming.

 

[SoReadyToRetire]

We live in the FHA home my husband could afford after his divorce way back in his 20's. Definitely not my dream home, but like others have said, its cost is part of the reason we're where we are today financially. I moved in when I married him 21 yrs ago.

It's a 3BR ranch built in the 80's. We've taken out all the nasty avocado-green shag carpets and appliances that were the rage back then, ha ha, and we've added on to it twice--pushed the living room out 8 feet in front and added a sunroom on the back. My flower gardens are nice, and we have 1.75 acres. The backyard we fenced in is nice for fostering dogs for the rescue I volunteer with.

Still needs work (like we still have a turquoise bathtub and toilet!! ), but it's packed to the gills, paid for, and we'll probably stay in it until we retire.

 

[Walt34]

Still needs work (like we still have a turquoise bathtub and toilet!! ), but it's packed to the gills, paid for, and we'll probably stay in it until we retire.

Don't feel bad - the tub & toilet in the upstairs on our old house was pink! And the wallpaper in there was also basically pink. I tore that off and painted the walls grey.

 

[Quiddit]

Also have a pink sink, toilet and tub, although we took the green tiles off the bathroom walls when we moved in. In 1984, as newlyweds, we bought our starter house, built in 1954. It was within our price range as it was considered to be an out-dated style with lots of weird windows and odd rooflines. We loved it for the half acre wooded lot in an inner suburb. It seems it has somehow morphed into a highly desirable mid-century modern home with original fixtures and we have millenniums knocking on our door asking if we’d be interested in selling. No thanks, we love it here in our forever home.

 

[dumpster56]

Love the house like the area Triangle NC just south of Raleigh . Awful bad neighbor's they rent the place past two years . The owner does little to maintain the house . New HOA management Co . So maybe this miserable circus pulls out of town in October when the lease ends .