"Starter Homes" ??

[fairestoneofall]

we are still in our "starter" home. when we bought it, we had only been married for a year. neither one of us had a terribly high-paying job. so, we bought what we could afford. it's right at 1200 square feet, 3 br/2 ba. we are getting ready to put it on the market so we can move into something bigger.

it's a great time if we can find something we love and sell ours. of course, we do have an advantage that, even though our home has lost some of its value versus two years ago, it is still worth more than what we paid for it 12 years ago. we'll still come out ahead.

we definitely like to stay put. and i'd love to find the house where i want to live as i grow old.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

We're still in our Levitt cape cod with no basement or garage. since 1987. We did add on to make it bigger 5 years ago. It was too expensive to move anywhere else on Long Island so we stayed put and renovated the house.

My mother is still in her starter house since 1959. She was only going to live there 5 years.

We're not a family of movers and shakers.

 

[Tinkermommy]

We are in our second house. We moved from our "starter" home because of the school district.

And while I love my house, it's not my forever home. I have no idea where the future may take us (career wise). And when we retire, hubby and I would love a golf/beach type home.

As a pp said, I am not attached to my house. My home is my family and as long as we are together life is wonderful.

In fact, when we are on vacation I refer to the hotel as home.

 

[Arielle22]

DH and I built our home which was 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths 18 years ago. About 10 years ago DH tore down a wall between 2 bedrooms so we have a very large master bedroom.

We have a gorgeous view of the ocean out our bedroom windows (2 6 ft long windows). I can lay in bed and see the water.

My mom sold us the property cheap since the cottage that was on it needed to be torn down. Otherwise we couldn't have afforded to buy in the town.

We plan to be here until we are old. Once we give up driving we will sell since there is no public transportation.

We do wish we had more land. Our front yard is non existent and our back yard is small.

 

[minkydog]

Very similar story here, we've been in our "starter home" for 19 years and although at one point we thought we would move up, the real estate market didn't cooperate. And I'm perfectly fine with that, it eventually DID cooperate, we have plenty of equity, we love to travel, our payment is NOTHING compared to those buying in the market now, we have college expenses coming too, and will be empty nesters in the next year or so...I can live with my "starter home" just fine.

I agree. We've been in our starter home for 19 years now, seen our home value double even after the housing crisis. We have a payment we can afford with one hand tied behind our back and we'll own it free & clear in about 3 years. Good thing, because we have our last one going to college next fall. And I want to retire in a couple of years. The last thing I want now is a big huge McMansion to take care of.

 

[lovin diz]

Our "starter home" is for sale right now...We have lived in it for 7 yrs. It is 1440 sq foot. It is an ok size for us, but we are building our "last house" on the river right now...we will live there the rest of our lives...

 

[DawnCt1]

We bought our starter home when DH finished his first year internship. We had one child at that time and we bought what we could afford. A 1950's 3 bedroom ranch, one small bathroom, a kitchen too small that we couldn't give up a cabinet for a dishwasher and a one car garage. We stayed there for about 6 years, saved money and bought our current home. I never expected to be in this house this long, but we have liked it here, liked the neighborhood so here we are.

 

[BELLE1109]

We are in our second home, our first was an 1000 square foot condo that was just too small for 2 people and a dog. We are now in an 1900 square foot town home that I would like to be in for the next 5 years at least. We bought recently because our mortgage remained the same for almost double the space and we are on the ocean now- it was too good a deal to pass up. We could also stay here until the kids need to go to school if need be.

Our next purchase will be a single family in a good school district.
I guess we had 2 "starters" LOL

 

[BabyTigger99]

We just sold our starter home last month. Bought in 2002. 4 bedroom, one bathroom 2000 foot raised ranch, no basement, detached 2 stall garage. Bought it for $120000. We put A LOT of work into it in the time we were there. The people that lived there before us tried to do things to it that we ended up having to fix because of VERY shoddy work. We loved the elementary school 2 blocks from our house, and loved our immedate neighbors, but the neighborhood was really starting to go downhill (in fact, 4 days after we moved out, there was a rash of car break ins up and down the entire street!). We had an accepted offer within 20 days of putting it on the market, and we were able to sell it for $137500. We are now in our "forever" house. Four bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, finished basement, attached 2 stall extra deep garage, 2800 square feet. No need for us to move again!

 

[marcyinPA]

We've started over a couple of times...due to job changes/lay-offs. We rented in between.

We've been in our second "starter" home for almost 12 years! We hoped to have moved up, but job lay-offs and loss of income changed our plans. We live in a twin, with on-street parking, one bathroom, and no central a/c. Those are the only things I'd change. Otherwise, I love our house, our neighborhood, and we'll probably stay here forever.

 

[java]

I suppose we are in our third home. Our first was a co-op that dh owned pre-me.
We moved after we got married into what I consider our "starter" home.
We loved it.- great neighborhood, great schools. DH got a job transfer to NJ. He was commuting back and forth 4 hours a day.
So we moved into a bigger house- had 2 more kids now this house is a little tight. But we are staying put.

 

[Colleen27]

We've owned three homes.

The first one was what I'd call a starter - a small home on a small lot that we knew wouldn't be a good fit as our family grew, but our mortgage payment was less than we'd been paying in rent so it made saving for a larger home easier. And it took us from a bad school district to an excellent one just as our oldest (and at the time, only) was getting ready to start preschool. We were only there three years but made just enough on the sale to replace the outdated appliances and broken hot water tank at the next house we bought.

We bought our second home when our second child was an infant with every intention of staying there until the kids left the nest. It was perfect for us at the time, 3 bed/2bath ranch with a decent sized yard and an attached, semi-finished garage, in the same school district as our first house. It was a foreclosure and needed some work which made it very affordable (for the time), and I thought we'd stay there long term.

But then the housing market crashed right around the time we had our third child, and suddenly I was seeing houses that had always been out of reach up for sale for a song. So we bought the house we live in, and it is exactly the house I've dreamed of since I was a kid - a late 1800s small-town Victorian farmhouse, 4 bed, 2 bath with lots of "bonus" spaces (walk-in pantry, full basement, semi-finished attic room) on a nice sized corner lot, in need of cosmetic restoration but very comfortable as-is. Even as a kid/teen I didn't want the already finished old house, I wanted to do the restoration myself, and now DH & I are doing just that. We will stay here at least until the kids are grown and probably longer. I love the house and our little Mayberry-esque community too much to leave, though we will probably look towards a vacation home and being snowbirds in retirement.

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

We are on our third home ... but every home we have been in was supposed to be our "forever" home. We've had to move for work. I'd say we've made lateral moves every time ... no upgrading or moving to bigger/better homes.

 

[shamrock30]

We bought a starter home because the price of real estate in MA was so high that we couldn't afford the style house we wanted. We ended up "stuck" in it for about 10 years because right after we bought, the real estate market tanked. We owed more than the house was worth for a long time.

 

[daughtersrus]

We lived in our first house for just about 2 years. We bought it when interest rates were high (10.5% was a good rate). When they dropped, we decided that we either needed to refi or move. We opted to move.

We've been in this house for about 19 years. It's not huge, about 2400 sq ft plus a basement, but enough for us. We always though that this was our "forever" house but recently reality has set in. Our youngest DD is disabled and the house is a 2-story. She is getting heavier and we're getting older so the time is going to come where we need to sell and get into a ranch house. I can no longer carry her safely up and down the stairs so it's really hard when DH is out of town. Right now, our oldest DD is living at home and our middle DD is away at college. Since DD#1 has a teaching job that is about an hour away, I anticipate her moving out within the next year or so. By that time, DD#2 will be back home doing her student teaching. She'll probably be home a year or so to help but after that, we'll be on our own.

I don't mind that packing so much. It's the trying to sell a house (especially in this market) and buy one at the same time that I hated dealing with.

 

[Planogirl]

Our house is considered a starter home but I doubt that we'll leave. It's about 1700 square feet which is fine for us but people in this area think that this is very small. I don't need more space- it's just more to clean and fill up with stuff.

One thing we do need to do is redo the kitchen and bathrooms. Someday...

 

[Kathi OD]

We lived in our 950 sq. ft. "starter home" for 25 years and raised 3 kids (and several dogs) there. No family room, no formal dining room, one bath (we eventually put in a 1/2 bath), no basement (washer & dryer in the garage), bedroom sizes 12X12, 10X12, and 9X10. The living room and kitchen were pretty big rooms.

I don't understand the idea that a house is "too small" once you have kids. If you want to, you can make it work.

We moved once the kids had all graduated from high school to be closer to my parents.

FWIW, our old starter home is now our son's starter home. They also have 3 children and have no plans on moving any time soon.

 

[Bethenny]

I don't understand the idea that a house is "too small" once you have kids. If you want to, you can make it work.

Some people want more space. There's no way 950sf would have worked for my family of 4. Even when it was just the two of us, our apartment was bigger than that.

 

[omghidanielle]

We are still in our 'starter home', but, seeing has we've only been here 3 years, we are still in our 'starter' phase.

Can't wait to get out of here, though. We bought the house because a relative was selling it and it is close to most of my family. I'm really 'over' this neighborhood lately. The people are starting to get on my nerves and since the Phillies have been doing well, most nights sound like we live in a warzone with the screaming and the helicopters. I've lived here over 15 years, my husband is new to it, but he's sick of it as well. Unfortunately (or fortunately, however you see it) I am super duper OCD when it comes to bills, and am refusing to move until we have a substantial down-payment (as can be seen in my signature).

We can't wait to peace out of this 'hood!

 

[java]

I don't understand the idea that a house is "too small" once you have kids. If you want to, you can make it work.

Our house was a 3 bedroom- and it didn't seem too small in the bedroom sense- but the one bathroom- eh not loving that. And we decided we wanted to build what we thought would be our forever home. Now we are thinking about where we want to go when dh retires and the kids are gone. Since one of them just started Kindergarten- we have plenty of time to decide.