How to decide what your forever home looks like

Are you living in your “forever home?” Many homeowners are satisfied with their current home but dream about eventually moving into their forever home, one that will have everything they want in a home, and in which they plan to spend the rest of their lives. 

Some homeowners are fortunate enough to move from their first starter home into their dream home. Yet many other homeowners progress through a few different houses before they arrive in the comfort and reassurance of finding their forever home.

You may have thought about your forever home, but may not have had a clear picture of it. Here are some ideas for how to decide what your forever home looks like.

Reasons you may want to move

A 2020 report from the National Association of Realtors stated that there were three main reasons why a buyer would be convinced to move to a new home:

1. Career 

1. Health

1. Space 

This may be a good time to think about your own reasons for wanting to move. Do they fall into one or more of the above categories?

In what ways has your life changed since you first moved into your starter home? Do you now have a spouse? Children? Pets? Has your job changed significantly over time? Would you like to have amenities and features that would not be feasible in your current home?

Think for a bit about what you’ve learned about your housing priorities since you bought your first home. For most people, this changes over time as they gain experience as homeowners. Has your commute become increasingly frustrating? Do you long to live in a neighborhood with good sidewalks, and access to hiking or bike trails? Would you like to be closer to public transit? Does someone in your home have a serious health condition that can’t be easily managed in your current home?

It’s a good idea to what factors like these are affecting you because they will influence the search for your forever home.

Upgrading from a starter home

If you are living in a starter home, or one that isn’t your first home but doesn’t quite fit your idea of your forever home, you are not alone. Many people begin with a starter home. 

There can be many reasons why you might find it challenging to buy your dream home as your first home. Maybe you didn’t have enough saved up for the down payment on your dream home. Or perhaps, like many homeowners, you were hoping that as you progress in your career, your income would rise in the coming years, but you wanted to keep your mortgage payments down for a while.

Your starter home may not be the biggest, fanciest home on your street, but no matter why you settled on it, it is yours and you are proud to have it as your own.

If you now find yourself thinking more and more about testing the waters in the housing market in the hopes of finding you are forever home, you may want to start by asking yourself, Why do I want to pursue my forever home right now?

Skipping the starter home

Some people take the strategy that it’s preferable to skip the starter home step altogether. They may consider it unnecessary to constrain yourself to pay a mortgage on a home you don’t actually want to keep for the long haul. 

Other people find themselves needing to save their funds longer. They want to have the ability to make their first down payment while also paying off student debt, car loans, and other obligations. They want to be prepared for the next phase of their lives as soon as they unpack the boxes in their forever home. 

And some people live in real estate markets where smaller, more affordable homes are difficult to find.

Should you skip the starter home?

You may want to skip the starter home step yourself, especially if you’re living in a market that makes you concerned about what it will take to sell your starter home.

In spring 2019, Trulia found that, while there were more starter homes over the previous quarter, most of that inventory expansion was concentrated in abnormally expensive areas. Apparently, the true reason behind higher inventory was likely that trade-up homes were staying on the market longer.

If you plan to skip the starter home and go directly to your forever home, it’s good to consider how your lifestyle in the coming few years with compare to what it’s been like up to now. Also consider a house or condo that provides the features, amenities, and space you are after, but that requires less maintenance and upkeep.