Have your house preferences changed with age?
Discussion
Same as a lot of responses really
Currently have a 3 bed 60s semi in suburbia. Purchased as a stop gap really, but been here 19 years now. Priorities when we bought it were garden for kids and double garage for me.
It’s just me and two adult sons now, and once they are established in their own places then I will move
Not in the slightest bothered about gardens or garages any more, it would be nice to be somewhere that has a reasonable walk to decent shops and cafes though as everything is a drive away now.
Trouble is that the closest ideal location with the above for me is Bath and that’s a challenge to my likely budget
As an addition, my very sprightly 81 mum can still drive to my house and it's easy to park. Moving further away with no dedicated parking would be a blow to her independence, which I wouldn't want for her and it would have an impact on me as well
Currently have a 3 bed 60s semi in suburbia. Purchased as a stop gap really, but been here 19 years now. Priorities when we bought it were garden for kids and double garage for me.
It’s just me and two adult sons now, and once they are established in their own places then I will move
Not in the slightest bothered about gardens or garages any more, it would be nice to be somewhere that has a reasonable walk to decent shops and cafes though as everything is a drive away now.
Trouble is that the closest ideal location with the above for me is Bath and that’s a challenge to my likely budget
As an addition, my very sprightly 81 mum can still drive to my house and it's easy to park. Moving further away with no dedicated parking would be a blow to her independence, which I wouldn't want for her and it would have an impact on me as well
Edited by LastPoster on Wednesday 8th May 16:51
Nope, it might change when we get (properly) old but I can see us being here forever - late 30s in a slightly rambling 200yo stone cottage in a forest on a hillside in Aberdeenshire.
Those complaining about maintaining land - you just need to get better tools! I keep about an acre of lawn mown and my GF maintains a small area of semi formal planting around the house but the rest is semi natural with just the odd path mown through it. I have a 52 inch commercial mulching mower that blasts around everything in about 20 minutes once every 10 days or so. If you're spending ages mowing grass, your mower is too small!
My parents maintain a similar sized but much more labour intensive garden - I think it actually does them a lot of good. My pension aged mother is perfectly happy using a big Stihl petrol powered brushcutter or chopping firewood - her suburb living friends seem really quite frail in comparison.
Those complaining about maintaining land - you just need to get better tools! I keep about an acre of lawn mown and my GF maintains a small area of semi formal planting around the house but the rest is semi natural with just the odd path mown through it. I have a 52 inch commercial mulching mower that blasts around everything in about 20 minutes once every 10 days or so. If you're spending ages mowing grass, your mower is too small!
My parents maintain a similar sized but much more labour intensive garden - I think it actually does them a lot of good. My pension aged mother is perfectly happy using a big Stihl petrol powered brushcutter or chopping firewood - her suburb living friends seem really quite frail in comparison.
Puzzles said:
Yes changed a fair amount.
I used to dream of a large house with acres but now I see that as a burden.
And I never understood the suburbs, why would you live there? It's not in the centre, it's not rural, seemed the worst of all worlds. Now I'm a little older I can see why people do.
We moved from city in 20s, to rural in 30s, back to city in 40s, and now finally to suburbs. The trick is to pick the right location. Just like you can have a crappy rural location, you can have great suburban locations with peace, nice views and privacy. The next road over from ours has none of theseI used to dream of a large house with acres but now I see that as a burden.
And I never understood the suburbs, why would you live there? It's not in the centre, it's not rural, seemed the worst of all worlds. Now I'm a little older I can see why people do.
mcelliott said:
a timber framed house of our own design down a 200m track set in 2 acres of land that we will use to become as self sufficient as possible, when we sell our current house I'm seriously considering selling my cars and other toys, the prospect of de cluttering and living a far simpler life becomes ever more appealing
I'm not sure about the self sufficient bit, but sounds amazing.As I'm getting older cars other toys hold less and less interest. Living in a house/home built to the design/spec we want is now nearly a dream fufiled. I'm already planning our retirement project, a 2 bed bungalow with a kitchen housed in a canterlivered outcrop is the next dream.
Edited by gangzoom on Wednesday 8th May 22:30
Yes.
I wanted a countryside place as big as I could possibly find with an acre or two of land.
Now I realise I grew up in cities so I don't actually like the total silence and darkness in the sticks, extra rooms is unnecessary furniture and heating bills, and land needs maintenance.
I'd love to find a 3/4 bedroom place with some outbuildings and a decent garden but they're rare around these parts. All the aspiring property developers have long since turned them into McMansions and barn conversions.
I wanted a countryside place as big as I could possibly find with an acre or two of land.
Now I realise I grew up in cities so I don't actually like the total silence and darkness in the sticks, extra rooms is unnecessary furniture and heating bills, and land needs maintenance.
I'd love to find a 3/4 bedroom place with some outbuildings and a decent garden but they're rare around these parts. All the aspiring property developers have long since turned them into McMansions and barn conversions.
gangzoom said:
Bonefish Blues said:
I think i've just about abandoned my ambition to build our final house tbh.
Why?First house when 25 was a tiny 2 bed new build terrace in a town Then 18 months later moved to another new build in a village , 4 beds. Moved again after 7 years to a bigger 4 bed in another village again new build but this time double garage and much bigger garden. Then moved after another 7 years to our current 400 year old listed house about 20 years ago.
Think we would still have another “ big “ move in us ( despite all the children moving out ) but not listed.
Must have garaging and stables but maybe a bit less land say 5 acres.
Think we would still have another “ big “ move in us ( despite all the children moving out ) but not listed.
Must have garaging and stables but maybe a bit less land say 5 acres.
gangzoom said:
mcelliott said:
a timber framed house of our own design down a 200m track set in 2 acres of land that we will use to become as self sufficient as possible, when we sell our current house I'm seriously considering selling my cars and other toys, the prospect of de cluttering and living a far simpler life becomes ever more appealing
I'm not sure about the self sufficient bit, but sounds amazing.As I'm getting older cars other toys hold less and less interest. Living in a house/home built to the design/spec we want is now nearly a dream fufiled. I'm already planning our retirement project, a 2 bed bungalow with a kitchen housed in a canterlivered outcrop is the next dream.
Edited by gangzoom on Wednesday 8th May 22:30
Yes, definitely changing with age. Been in our edge of town 'urban rural' half and half house for 10 years now. Perfect for us but wasn't out forever home 10 years ago and still isn't now.
In this period, kids are a primary consideration when picking the ideal house but won't be long until they're gone and at that point, the ideal house has a different description.
We're currently 4 bedroom 4 reception rooms but we could easily cut a whole section off that and go 2 and 2. That's enough.
Some lovely rural houses around but a lot of them are just too big for 2 people to knock about in.
I could see a next step being a fresh build, and 1300 to 1400 sqft house would be a sweet spot im terms of cleaning, upkeep and general running costs.
If I had too large a plot, I would spend a bit of time making a wildflower type garden with just a small patch of actual lawn. Driveway would be tarmac and house facia would be 100% brick or a rough render. A nice brick ideally though. A modest patio outside and overall, a fairly low maintenance set up.
May as well go full solar, heat pumps and maybe a windmill too, plus batteries to store it all. The technology is there so may as well use it.
As long as it's got a nice view without being too remote, that's what I would be looking for I think.
In this period, kids are a primary consideration when picking the ideal house but won't be long until they're gone and at that point, the ideal house has a different description.
We're currently 4 bedroom 4 reception rooms but we could easily cut a whole section off that and go 2 and 2. That's enough.
Some lovely rural houses around but a lot of them are just too big for 2 people to knock about in.
I could see a next step being a fresh build, and 1300 to 1400 sqft house would be a sweet spot im terms of cleaning, upkeep and general running costs.
If I had too large a plot, I would spend a bit of time making a wildflower type garden with just a small patch of actual lawn. Driveway would be tarmac and house facia would be 100% brick or a rough render. A nice brick ideally though. A modest patio outside and overall, a fairly low maintenance set up.
May as well go full solar, heat pumps and maybe a windmill too, plus batteries to store it all. The technology is there so may as well use it.
As long as it's got a nice view without being too remote, that's what I would be looking for I think.
modern city apartment in my 20’s
4 bedroom traditional house in my 30’s - large garden in country .
2 bedroom old house in country with 2 large social rooms & socialising garden in my 40’s.
I don’t see a change on the horizon, mortgage free & comfortable living now.
New builds don’t have big enough rooms these days to see me wanting one of them & larger old houses all seem to need mega money thrown at them.
4 bedroom traditional house in my 30’s - large garden in country .
2 bedroom old house in country with 2 large social rooms & socialising garden in my 40’s.
I don’t see a change on the horizon, mortgage free & comfortable living now.
New builds don’t have big enough rooms these days to see me wanting one of them & larger old houses all seem to need mega money thrown at them.
We used to want a new build requiring no work and we had a couple, but now we’re in a 400 year old listed house which always seems to require some maintenance doing. It’s perfect for our needs, house isn’t too big and garden is pretty large despite building a garage in it and I get to feed the ducks on the pond every day, 30 year old me would shake his head in dismay.
t just had some new noisy neighbours move in ... about 100 Sheep and Lambs ...Isn't life a b
Not really….but then, we’ve been here for over 25 years.
I can see the theory of country life being idyllic, but as we’ve dealt with older relatives through their final 5-10 years, we can see the great value of a decent local surgery and indeed hospital.
Not to mention an easy bus or walk into the City for a wide range of decent food and entertainment options. Or an hours drive to be in more remote places in Derbyshire to go walking if we want.
A couple of extensions made our place work well for us. Focus now is on reducing the junk…whilst enjoying life…
We do have a wide group of friends locally, as well as very good neighbours, so no issues staying here for the foreseeable.
I can see the theory of country life being idyllic, but as we’ve dealt with older relatives through their final 5-10 years, we can see the great value of a decent local surgery and indeed hospital.
Not to mention an easy bus or walk into the City for a wide range of decent food and entertainment options. Or an hours drive to be in more remote places in Derbyshire to go walking if we want.
A couple of extensions made our place work well for us. Focus now is on reducing the junk…whilst enjoying life…
We do have a wide group of friends locally, as well as very good neighbours, so no issues staying here for the foreseeable.
Our only consistent was never wanting a traditional house, with all of their inevitable flaws, damp, rewires, parking etc,
Our first house was a modern semi at the great cost of £4,125 in 1972. We could not wait to get out.
Next in 1975 was a 4-bed linked detached, which we immediately converted to 3-bed, as we never wanted kids. A modern estate where we had to tolerate neighbour’s kids
In 1984, I designed and built a 4-bed detached house in 1/4 acre orchard. We had one eye on resale and sold to the first couple to see it in 2003.
I then designed and had built the house below surrounded by vineyards in France, we were retiring at 53
This was intended to be our forever home, it was effectively a large 2-bed bungalow without doors. There also was a guest house in the grounds should we get to need live-in carers etc. Then Covid came along. While our neighbours were all very nice, the reality was that I had never driven a tractor and most of them had never even visited Angers, our big city 30 miles away. We had very little in common. Our nearest town was Saumur, which has fabulous restaurants and most amenities, but was 9-miles away and so every journey had to be in the car. We were approaching 70 and it was clearly not sustainable in the very long term. Even the Honda ride-on had become a bore every weekend. Forever looks different when you are 70.
So in 2002, we sold it to the 2nd Frenchman who saw it. The first really wanted it to retire there from their Parisian banking jobs. His wife just could not paint herself into it.
3 months later, we had already bought in the south of Spain. We now have 2 lock-up-and-leave penthouse apartments in southern Spain, where we spend the winters and NW England, where we endure the summer rain. Both are very close to the town centres, even with a zimmer frame
. Inevitably, there will eventually be only one of us, but where we are now it will be sustainable until McCarthy Stone, or a care home comes knocking.
The irony is that either of our current apartments would have appealed to us in our 20s. Convention just tends to make you strive for something different. Of course, we would not have been able to afford them at that time either.
Our first house was a modern semi at the great cost of £4,125 in 1972. We could not wait to get out.
Next in 1975 was a 4-bed linked detached, which we immediately converted to 3-bed, as we never wanted kids. A modern estate where we had to tolerate neighbour’s kids
In 1984, I designed and built a 4-bed detached house in 1/4 acre orchard. We had one eye on resale and sold to the first couple to see it in 2003.
I then designed and had built the house below surrounded by vineyards in France, we were retiring at 53
This was intended to be our forever home, it was effectively a large 2-bed bungalow without doors. There also was a guest house in the grounds should we get to need live-in carers etc. Then Covid came along. While our neighbours were all very nice, the reality was that I had never driven a tractor and most of them had never even visited Angers, our big city 30 miles away. We had very little in common. Our nearest town was Saumur, which has fabulous restaurants and most amenities, but was 9-miles away and so every journey had to be in the car. We were approaching 70 and it was clearly not sustainable in the very long term. Even the Honda ride-on had become a bore every weekend. Forever looks different when you are 70.
So in 2002, we sold it to the 2nd Frenchman who saw it. The first really wanted it to retire there from their Parisian banking jobs. His wife just could not paint herself into it.
3 months later, we had already bought in the south of Spain. We now have 2 lock-up-and-leave penthouse apartments in southern Spain, where we spend the winters and NW England, where we endure the summer rain. Both are very close to the town centres, even with a zimmer frame
. Inevitably, there will eventually be only one of us, but where we are now it will be sustainable until McCarthy Stone, or a care home comes knocking.The irony is that either of our current apartments would have appealed to us in our 20s. Convention just tends to make you strive for something different. Of course, we would not have been able to afford them at that time either.
rdjohn said:
Inevitably, there will eventually be only one of us, but where we are now it will be sustainable until McCarthy Stone, or a care home comes knocking.
The inevitable comes to us all, but your sound like you have enjoyed life to the full.How hard was it to build in Europe? The language barrier cannot be easy to manage when it comes to builders and planning etc.
All us really are just visiting our homes before they pass onto some else, I'm starting to view them like cars, there is no such thing ad perfect, just lots of reasons to try something different when the time is right.
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