Did anyone skip buying a starter home, and bought, or planning to buy what you think would be your final house?
We are looking at houses now that we would stay in.
Anyone else?
Kriss2c
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Re: starter home?
They say that when you house hunting you should buy with the next 5 to 10 years in mind. If you plan on moving to something else in 5 years... start small, etc.
A lot of people today will buy a starter home and add-on to it as their needs change. It all depends on your future plans and current finances.
Good luck.
Niecey
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Re: starter home?
I did. DH and I are not handy and knew a starter home was not for us. We had enough money saved and skipped the starter home and went right to a house we hope to live our rest of our lives in.
I can tell you that many realtors looked at us weird and kept trying to push us to lower priced homes which we never understood - I think we both look young and they figured we should be looking for starter homes...but we aren't as young as we look and we both work and saved hard and knew we wanted the home for the rest of our lives.
swags1016
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Re: starter home?
We did, we fell into this house and with 4 bedrooms a bath and a half and the rough plumbing already in for another, I don't think that we can out grow this house! Right now it is way too big for just us. DH didn't want a start house, if we could help it. He hates moving with a passion and since we will be moving 2xs in less than 6 months he said he was done!!
sept20yay
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Re: starter home?
We are buying our townhome and honestly, we could live there for the rest of our lives. While it is 2100 square feet, it will have four bedrooms, 3 and a half baths (includes the finished basement) and has all the amenities our children could grow up with. I am in love with the school district and the house of worship in easy ealking distance as well as the town and train (one mile away). This has no expiration date. It is perfect for us for our lives.
Snowboardgirl
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Re: starter home?
Our only concern is not having enough savings after all the monthly expenses. I just don't want to go into a house and then leave. I want to fix up a home the way we like it and stay.
Then I think of the future, like having a family within 3-4 years. I hope we can afford it!
I am getting alot of different reactions like we are crazy, the mortgage is too high for someone just starting out, etc.
mlp924
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Re: starter home?
I guess my current home is a starter home. We seem to be following the starter, trade up and then hopefully luxury home sequence! We were able to trade up because of equity our home acquired after home improvements. I hope to do the same thing in five years and move up to a luxury home that actaully has enough yard to put in a pool!
LIPrincess00
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Re: starter home?
I am buying a starter home but with almost 1/4 acre of property so if we decide to stay we have plenty of room to expand. My house only has 2bdrms and 1 bath, but once we do work to it it will be perfect for us for now.
SeptemberBride03
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Re: starter home?
We're still moving around and unsure where we'll end up, so we are looking at starters. We're currently in Chicago and don't think we'll settle here forever.
But, even if we come back in a year and buy I think it will be a starter. One reason is b/c I hope that we both continue to be promoted and end up with higher salaries where we can afford a home we could never even dream of now!
The Original 2nd-time-around
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Re: starter home?
Posted by sept20yay
We are buying our townhome and honestly, we could live there for the rest of our lives. While it is 2100 square feet, it will have four bedrooms, 3 and a half baths (includes the finished basement) and has all the amenities our children could grow up with. I am in love with the school district and the house of worship in easy ealking distance as well as the town and train (one mile away). This has no expiration date. It is perfect for us for our lives.
Where is this? We are possibly looking for a townhome...
Bride2B93
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Re: starter home?
I think that the most important thing you can do is buy a house in a good neighborhood with a good school district! The house will always keep its value and you can always expand on the house if you need to.
My parents bought a 'starter home' when they got married and they are still living there now, 30 years later. Just make sure you like the layout of the house and the location.
Good Luck!
Boop2704
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Re: starter home?
The house we are buying is a very small starter, it is a two bedroom, one bath, 1 floor house, with some perks. It has a full finished basement with a bar and a deck in the back yard that goes from one end of the house to the other which is exactly what we wanted. DH is handy and since we have no children now it is perfect and there is enough room for us to even have 1. When it comes time to have a second child that is when we will expand. We plan to dormer and add three bedrooms upstairs and change the downstairs by making the living room bigger and adding a nicer kitchen and dining room. So I guess you can see we are mapping out the future. I would love to buy a home already set for the future but we are taking what we can afford now and will build it up because it is such a great area and a wonderful school district, and we'd be crazy to pass it up!!!!!
MrsTC
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Re: starter home?
We skipped the starter home and went with a house we could settle into. We did not want to move in 10 years or so....and who knows what the future will bring. So we found one we lived and are looking forward to many many years there!
Snowboardgirl
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Thanks for everyone's replys. I love to hear everyone else's plans!
We are ptting an offer in right now, wish us luck!!!
Scoop
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We decided to buy a multi-family house rather than our dream house. We plan to stay here for a while and then move on to a single home and keep this as an investment.
If you are ready to buy your dream home....I say go for it.
butterfly20
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we are looking for a starter house..but we are looking for 3 bedrooms and 2 baths... which we need to find soon
091804bride
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We bought a 'starter home', but it's an area that I could see us in for a long time so that if we are in this house forever that would be ok although w/ at least a small extension someday.
philby
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Re: starter home?
We purchased an 1800 sq. ft. colonial with 2.5 baths and 3 bedrooms. It is not a starter home but I do not think we will live there forever. Between the school district and my total customization of the house it has gone up about 150k in the last two years and will continue to increase in value.
