OK, I was getting into a hairpulling with someone on another thread about whether most homeowners buy with intent to keep on selling/moving or not. While I’m sure there are cultural differences, my experience in several countries has been that most homeowners either have stopped or expect to stop at some point short of the retirement home (barring tragedy). While the Dope is not a representative world sample by any statiscians’ definitions, I’d like to know what’s our collective experience about this.
The poll is a bit too complex for our system, so I’ll just write it the old-fashioned way.
Nationality, country of residence and age, please.
Do you currently own a home?
If not, do you expect to buy?
If you do own, do you expect your current home to be where you stay until they drag you out? (Where “drag you out” includes death, serious illness, old age and having to move for work reasons when you’d much rather not).
If you think of your current owned home as temporary, do you expect to get a permanent home at some point?
Thank you!
My own answers:
Spanish, Spain, 42.
Yes. I use it as a second residence, renting wherever I happen to work at the time. It is my primary residence for legal and tax purposes (among other things, it’s where my single-person company is registered, and it determines where I pay my taxes).
N/a.
Yes, although it probably won’t be my full-time residence until I retire.
Nationality, country of residence and age, please.
New Zealander living in England, 37.
Do you currently own a home?
No, we rent.
If not, do you expect to buy?
If we came into a large enough sum of money to put a deposit down on a house, yes we would. This may potentially happen as my husband is an aspiring writer who is getting close to a book deal which would provide an advance. He would then be able to write and continue his day job (freelance medical writer) which would mean we could use that money as a deposit.
We were both bad with money in our 20s and got ourselves into a lot of debt. We finally cleared this debt two months ago, whcih is why we haven’t previously built up savings for a deposit.
If you do own, do you expect your current home to be where you stay until they drag you out? (Where “drag you out” includes death, serious illness, old age and having to move for work reasons when you’d much rather not).
N/A
If you think of your current owned home as temporary, do you expect to get a permanent home at some point?
Maybe. We plan on more travel, going to the US in about five years time and who knows where after that. That doesn’t preclude us from buying, but renting seems to suit us just fine for now. We don’t have (and don’t plan to have) children, so there’s a lot less need to have ‘bricks and mortar’.
Nationality, country of residence and age, please.
American, US, 37
Do you currently own a home?
I do.
If not, do you expect to buy?
N/A
If you do own, do you expect your current home to be where you stay until they drag you out? (Where “drag you out” includes death, serious illness, old age and having to move for work reasons when you’d much rather not).
At this particular home no I do not expect to stay here.
If you think of your current owned home as temporary, do you expect to get a permanent home at some point?
My plan was to buy a new house to stay for 20+ years after this house. This has changed since my wife left me and took the kids.
I don’t know what my plans are now. I would think I want to live in one house until I’m ready to retire and the kids are out of the house. Then move into a smaller house and live there until I can no longer. Now I’m not so sure, if I meet someone else with children, or actually decide to have another child then things will change.
I am tired of moving though and am slowly going through things to get rid of.
Technically my long-term female lifepartner owns the condo, but for all intents and purposes “yes”
Our next place we will probably buy together or rent a place in Manhattan
The place is too small for a family and really it’s too small for two people and all their stuff.
WRT your “hairpulling”. In the USA, people typically buy a house in their 20s or 30s when they are looking to “settle down” and raise a family. Usually the intent is to stay there at least 5 years or longer. But if you are young, and depending on what type of work you do, people may expect to move several times.
Nationality, country of residence and age, please.
Canadian. Living in the US, 30.
Do you currently own a home?
Yes. Bought it this year
If not, do you expect to buy?
n/a
If you do own, do you expect your current home to be where you stay until they drag you out?
We’re staying here till we have kids, get them through school, and retire. We love this spot as a place to live and raise a family, so I see no reason why we’d leave, barring something huge. Maybe when we retire we’ll head someplace else, but for now we’re settled.
If you think of your current owned home as temporary, do you expect to get a permanent home at some point?
n/a
My husband (American, 34) owned a townhouse before we bought this bigger place. He knew when he bought it that it wasn’t going to be his “forever” house, but he bought it as a good investment and somewhere to live for several years without having to throw rent money out the window. Or such was his rationale at the time. He stayed there 8 years. We would have stayed longer and started our family there and waited longer to move, but a great opportunity came up and we jumped on it.
Yes, been living in the current one for roughly 30 years now.
N/A
This house is a split-level, and while we think of it as our permanent home we expect to move to a place without stairs when stairs become a problem for us - maybe in another ten years or so.
1) Nationality, country of residence and age, please. American, USA, 43. 2) Do you currently own a home? Yes- my 2nd. The first was purchased as a “starter home”, or one that I intended to only be in for a few years. We moved after 9 years into our current home. 3) If not, do you expect to buy? N/A 4) If you do own, do you expect your current home to be where you stay until they drag you out? (Where “drag you out” includes death, serious illness, old age and having to move for work reasons when you’d much rather not). Yes. I’m never moving again, unless my state property taxes get so high that it makes no sense to stay, but my goal is to live here until they carry me out the front door. 5) If you think of your current owned home as temporary, do you expect to get a permanent home at some point? N/A.
We expect to stay in it indefinitely. We would consider it our permanent home until we had the opportunity to go somewhere else we like better. Resale is not a major consideration to us, though we know at some point we might have, or want to move.
Nationality, country of residence and age, please.
Australian, U.S., 65
Do you currently own a home?
Yes – two homes, one in Australia, one in the U.S. Two of my sons currently live in the home in Australia.
If not, do you expect to buy?
N.A.
If you do own, do you expect your current home to be where you stay until they drag you out?
I expect to retire to Australia some time next year, after selling the home in the U.S. I expect to live in the home in Australia indefinitely (i.e., until death or nursing home).
If you think of your current owned home as temporary, do you expect to get a permanent home at some point?
N.A.
Yes. This is the first home we bought, about 7 years ago.
N/A
Yes, and we bought it with that intent–for example, I think we got about the only fixed rate mortgage in 2003. It’s not huge house, but people raised 4 kids in these houses 30 years ago, I think we can fit one or two in.
Yes. This is the second home we have bought together (I also owned a townhouse before).
N.A.
We plan to stay here a good long time. Our first house was the starter home where we learned what we did and didn’t want in a house. This house was bought as the culmination of those ideas. The only thing I can see getting us out of this house sooner would be moving right out of Calgary.
Nationality, country of residence and age, please.
American, United States, 50 yrs.
Do you currently own a home?
Yes
If not, do you expect to buy?
n/a
If you do own, do you expect your current home to be where you stay until they drag you out? (Where “drag you out” includes death, serious illness, old age and having to move for work reasons when you’d much rather not).
Maybe. We are hoping to move one more time but if we can’t swing it, no big deal.
If you think of your current owned home as temporary, do you expect to get a permanent home at some point?
n/a
Nationality, country of residence and age, please.
American, 31
Do you currently own a home?
Yes
If not, do you expect to buy?
n/a
If you do own, do you expect your current home to be where you stay until they drag you out? (Where “drag you out” includes death, serious illness, old age and having to move for work reasons when you’d much rather not).
At present, yes. The future seems to be that I will be single for the rest of my life. If that’s the case, I would like to stay here and just keep renovating my house. If I get married and dude would like to stay here, I would do just that. But, if Prince Charming comes along and says “baby let’s get out of this house” I would do that in a minute.
5) If you think of your current owned home as temporary, do you expect to get a permanent home at some point?
n/a
I really like our house, but I don’t think it’s our “forever home.” We don’t have children and aren’t planning to, and frankly it’s a lot more house than we need. Our tastes have changed some since we bought it, and I see us moving to a condo or something directly downtown as we’d like that sort of environment better. However, housing being what it is currently, and the house in its current shape (we’ve some ongoing remodeling projects), I don’t see that happening for some time. At least not in the next 5 years, anyway.
I love my home, and it’s as permanent as it gets. but it’s not our forever house, I don’t think.
We expect to stay here until retirement, at which time we’d like to move somewhere warmer
Since retirement is 25-30 years off, I consider this house pretty permanent. I’ve never lived anywhere more than 7 years, I’m looking forward to staying here for a good long time.
No, I do expect it to be a long term residence but I have every expectation of moving somewhere warm and sunny when I retire.
Oddly I expect what you would call my permanent residence to be a shorter duration than my current home.
My inlaws who have been retired for the last 10 years have bought and sold 2 houses, 2 condos and 2 motorhomes in the same 10 year period. These are the people who should rent, but they have a weird phobia about other peoples wear and tear. They always buy new, spend a ton on upgrades, landscaping etc and then move just when things are getting comfortable. This is one extreme on your scale
Yes, we own two: one that we have lived in for the past 15 years, and another that we recently purchased as a vacation home.
N/A
No. The first home was great for settling down and raising the kids, but we’d like to move south when we retire. The vacation home is in a spot that might not be ideal for permanent residence.
Yes. Right now we are planning to sell both homes when we retire and buy our final home at that time.
1. Nationality, country of residence and age, please. American, USA, 39.
2. Do you currently own a home? No, I have always been a renter.
3. If not, do you expect to buy? Someday, sure. But probably not while I’m single, unless I find a location that I just love.
4. If you do own, do you expect your current home to be where you stay until they drag you out? (Where “drag you out” includes death, serious illness, old age and having to move for work reasons when you’d much rather not). N/A
5. If you think of your current owned home as temporary, do you expect to get a permanent home at some point? N/A
