Author Topic: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home  (Read 11382 times)

dinkhelpneeded

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What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« on: February 18, 2016, 11:36:30 PM »
Context:
  • Working professional couple, baby on the way
  • Bought first home in 2014
  • Don't consider current home as "forever home" - have 25% down on the home, and some equity.
  • Want to buy another home (correct some of the mistakes made in purchasing old home - busy street, home with less maintenance etc), and sell this one.
  • I like small homes, with low maintenance and some character architecturally.
  • Location will be the same as current home, but on a quieter street.
  • I am doing my research to make sure I don't want to repeat home buying/selling again. A paid off house is our LAST and FINAL goal before FIRE.


What are some of things "YOU" looked for in your forever home. I want to make sure, this time is infact "forever", and that I've covered most of what I need/want.


Goldielocks

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2016, 11:50:39 PM »
Windows of my main living space that don't open directly onto the neighbor's windows.  I hate living in a fishbowl.
Mature tree outside.
Space for DH's shop.

No HOA...  and I am not against HOA's but "forever" means that I will want to remodel and change things after a while. An HOA may start to feel like too tight underwear.

En-suite W.c. near master bedroom -- in particular,  not down a flight of stairs.

Oh!  and no loud noisy thing out the backyard -- industrial site, highway, commuter train, etc..

GrowingTheGreen

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #2 on: February 19, 2016, 06:01:30 AM »
It's gotta be quiet.

chemistk

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #3 on: February 19, 2016, 06:04:52 AM »
Some of the things the wife and I have discussed over the past couple years...

-At least an acre of land, maybe more. Exceptions would be made for a house in a small town neighborhood.
-The ability to grow at least part of our fruit and vegetable supply
-Character, not necessarily a historic 1940's craftsman restored to its original state level of character, just something that stands apart from the houses around it.
-Enough space for our family without feeling like we're living in a banquet hall or a soapbox.
-A workshop/work area where we can work on projects

The one thing I've learned is that the only thing you can never change about your house is the location. Our vision of our forever home is fluid and we anticipate changing aspects of it as we grow and our needs shift.

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #4 on: February 19, 2016, 06:39:51 AM »
No HOA.
Flat driveway, not north facing (snow/ice issues)
Not a corner lot (don't want to be responsible for shoveling, or inevitably replacing, that much sidewalk.
Windows on all 4 sides of house for airflow
Ensuite bathroom to master bedroom with large shower and NO jetted tub; one or two other bathrooms, at least one with a tub of some sort.
Extra bedrooms on other side of house from master bedroom.
Easy access to backyard from main floor
Large kitchen with lots of storage.
Large garage with room for 2 cars and woodshop


Things I really really wanted but didn't get:
Large porch in front
Screen porch in back
Utility sink (or at least plumbing for it) in basement or laundry room
Garage heater (or at least gas line for it)

Quote
The one thing I've learned is that the only thing you can never change about your house is the location.

Nope, but your location CAN change on you.  I bought a semi-rural house in a neighborhood on a little traveled gravel road.  That they are now going to reconfigure to hook up to a highway exit (about 2 miles away from us, so I never even considered the highway) and make 4 lanes.  The airport (15 miles away) also changed its routes and we now have planes overhead, although right now it's only about 4 times a day that happens.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2016, 09:47:15 AM by iowajes »

MsPeacock

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #5 on: February 19, 2016, 06:51:53 AM »
Main living area and bedroom on one floor, small manageable yard, walkable to shops. I pretty much have all this in my current home. My plan is to stay here until I can no longer live independently. If stairs from the basement garage entrance become too much for me I can put in one of those chair/seat things or run the driveway across the front yard to the front door. I have a rentable space in the basement for extra rental income.

smalllife

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #6 on: February 19, 2016, 07:11:26 AM »
We've been thinking of these things a bit lately.  I bought our current house before DH was in the picture and while we like it, it would take more money to fix to "forever" than it's worth being on a main road.

Different from current house:
-Off of a main road
-Within walking distance of a park/greenery for humans
-Bigger yard by city standards, or enough to grow some food but have a segregated doggy/human area as well
-porch or sunroom looking at something other than busy road/neighbors
-deep Japanese soaking tub in bathroom
-some kind of dedicated/hideable space for both working out and craft storage

Same as current house
-master on first floor
-character
-good sun and air movement
-holds temperature well without too much artificial heat and cooling
-kitchen with good layout: compact yet open and plentiful
-easy bike access to downtown
-ability to turn an extra room into live-in help for old age
- no HOA

We have a neighborhood in mind, with a second neighborhood in view should a few variables change by the time we get to said forever home purchase (not really in a rush, but I do want to enjoy mature fruit trees before I'm too old).  We've thought through our current life needs, likely future needs, and live-in aging contingencies to prepare for during renovation (wheelchair accessible navigation and bathroom - or at least with the addition of handrails, ability to live all on first floor, etc.).  Do you anticipate anything changing in your life cycle that might not make sense now but you at least need to be prepared for?

dinkhelpneeded

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #7 on: February 19, 2016, 08:04:48 AM »
Thank you so much! I like the idea of splitting the list into "what I want in new home" vs. "what I like in current home"

I am pretty sure many of these will go on must-have and some on nice to have lists. I agree with the poster that said location is the one thing that cant change. I also have a ton of appreciation for the person who said the situation around you can change.

I am noticing a lot of people buying homes around us, since they tend to be older/smaller, and building one level up. This means losing privacy that we previously had. There is no real way to avoid that, as far as I know.

muckety_muck

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #8 on: February 19, 2016, 08:13:28 AM »
1. No HOA
2. No neighbors that are within close earshot of my house (I don't want to hear them, don't want them to hear me)
3. Master bedroom on the back of the house
4. Two car garage (for car & storage)
5. Bathroom/utility room inside, right off of the garage (mudroom style)
6. Lots of large windows. Love the natural light
7. Fireplace
8. Mature trees
9. Within a mile of a park
10. Within 5 miles of grocery store
11. Brick exterior, less upkeep
12. A wood deck or concrete patio off the back of the house for grilling, relaxing & entertaining
13. Open large kitchen/dining room concept
14. Space for kids, kids friends and eventually grandkids
15. Easy landscape maintenance with native plants/trees
16. Mother-in-law style suite connected to house, but with privacy (can use this for Air BnB, on weeks/days that parents/in-laws aren't staying with us)

Parizade

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #9 on: February 19, 2016, 08:18:09 AM »
  • small town, LCOL and low taxes
  • walking distance to grocery store/farmer's market
  • walking distance to library
  • walking distance to theatre (movie or live)
  • quality healthcare close by
  • local outdoor recreational opportunities (biking, hiking, camping, kayaking, etc)

dinkhelpneeded

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #10 on: February 19, 2016, 08:22:24 AM »
Thanks to everyone that chimed in!

My consolidated list
1. Not on busy street, i.e. quiet (for now)
2. No HOA
3. One level home ideal, no more than 3 bed, 2.5 ba.
4. Well insulated (low utilities)
5. Good air circulation and lots of natural light
6. Small managable yard, that still offers space to put planters to grow veggies.
7. No water bodies (i.e no pool)
8. Mostly private backyard (no neighbors windows opening into backyard, or sufficiently far away)
9. Reasonably good public schools

The location we are set on already has
1. Parks at walking distance
2. Access to downtown and library
3. Good quality healthcare nearby and reasonably good public services

An in law unit with private entrance would be great, but its going to be tough to find. If the zoning and size of the land allows for it, I might consider paying someone to do it.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2016, 08:26:37 AM by dinkhelpneeded »

Fishindude

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #11 on: February 19, 2016, 08:40:25 AM »
In the boonies.
Sheltered from the wind plus some shade trees.
Out of view and decent distance from neighbors, privacy.
Big heated shop for projects.
Garage to park autos in.
Supplemental wood heat.
Big enough acreage to stomp around on, shoot guns, mess around w/ ATV's & tractor, let dogs run, etc.
Garden area.
Hot tub.
Nice kitchen.
Minimal maintenance exterior, ideally masonry walls with metal roof.
A good view of the countryside and wall of windows in at least one direction.
Well insulated & good windows.
Modern mechanical and electrical systems.
Deck, patio or outdoor entertainment area.
Paved driveway, no gravel.


munchabunch

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #12 on: February 19, 2016, 09:00:20 AM »
So many of these "must-haves" are changeable - like the style of tub or fixtures.  If it's a must-have, then it's a dealbreaker.

My husband and I boiled it down to exactly two deal-breakers:
- Large south facing windows
- open and spacious kitchen (our kitchen has a large island with breakfast bar, two large walls with cabinets and appliances, and the "work triangle" is small and convenient)

Everything else is just amazing gravy.  I love that our house has a perfect crafting/computer room (with some of those south facing windows!), lots of closets and shelving, a utility sink, open floor plan, pre-fenced back yard and room for a garden, heat lamps in the bathroom, and a giant master bathroom mirror.  If I picked my "perfect" house, there'd be a double door walk-in entrance to the basement to allow huge woodworking projects and supplies to hustle in and out, no stairs or corners needed.  Oh, and the living room would have one of those south facing windows, instead of the dining room.  I just love laying on carpet in the sunshine and reading a book.

smalllife

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #13 on: February 19, 2016, 09:02:34 AM »
So many of these "must-haves" are changeable - like the style of tub or fixtures.  If it's a must-have, then it's a dealbreaker.

In the neighborhood we are looking, there will likely be some extensive renovations to get to what we want - hence the changeable features on the must have list.  If the house is changing, better to have thought through these things than not!

GuitarStv

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #14 on: February 19, 2016, 09:09:24 AM »
Wow, not sure exactly how people are coming up with answers to that.  I'm a very different person now than I was ten years ago.  Ten years before that, I was a very different person.  Ten years from now, I'll probably be a very different person.  No place is perfect, and no place will be ideal forever.  You can get used to living just about anywhere and may change your mind over time.  Because of that, the idea of a 'forever' house is a bit silly to me.

- The location I'd prefer to live has changed.  I used to really want to live in a small town like where I grew up.  The benefits of living in a large city though have really changed my mind on this.  I'm very close to some really awesome road cycling routes, but that wasn't something that was interesting to me when we bought the house.
- Now that we have a kid, I place more value on the types of schools in the area and crime rates than I would have a while ago.  20 years from now, that concern will likely change again.
- We really wanted enough space to set up a garden when we bought our house, and we did garden for a couple years.  Time is much tighter now though, so this has kinda been pushed back into the 'some day we'll do it again' category.
- We're not currently within walking distance of much, but are within easy cycling distance of the library, grocery store, post office, and several restaurants/assorted stores.  In the future I might end up preferring to walk places though.
- I like not having a home owners association or anybody else to answer to.  If I want to do something to my house, I just do it.  That said, as I get older it will become harder and harder for me to maintain my home, and my view on that may change.
- I don't currently live particularly close to any of my family.  As my parents age and need someone to care for them, that may have to change.

The only things that have been constants in my life and are unlikely to change:
- Having a place to work out at home was something that I've been able to set up regardless of where I live (basements, garage, keeping workout stuff in the living room, etc.).  That said, the home gym in our basement that I renovated is pretty damned sweet.
- Having a reasonably quiet space set up where I can play and write music has been very important to me for a long time.

I'm a red panda

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #15 on: February 19, 2016, 09:43:11 AM »
So many of these "must-haves" are changeable - like the style of tub or fixtures.  If it's a must-have, then it's a dealbreaker.


I listed a tub style. This was extremely important to me because removing a jetted tub is an expensive renovation. 

This particular house we bought with NO PROJECTS as one of the criteria. Our previous home required constant projects.  A jetted tub was a deal breaker for us.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2016, 09:46:12 AM by iowajes »

acroy

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #16 on: February 19, 2016, 09:46:07 AM »
uhhmmm...
remember nothing is 'forever'. Job, possessions, life is a temp gig.

that said, for me the neighborhood is important. Quiet, with decent neighbors.
I'd take a 'flawed' house in a great neighborhood over the 'perfect' house in a crowded/crummy/noisy neighborhood.
In fact, that's what we did.
Best of luck!

Gone Fishing

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #17 on: February 19, 2016, 09:50:21 AM »
Good land and good neighbors.  I can change just about everything else.

mtn

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #18 on: February 19, 2016, 09:52:51 AM »
  • Master on the first floor. Preferably a ranch. LARGE walk in closet that will hold the dressers and all the hanging clothes. Bedroom itself is easily big enough for a king bed. Private master bath has 2 sinks
  • 3 car garage. Preferably 4 or a shed. Ideally 2 or 3 car attached and a 2-6 car "shop" in the back/side.   
  • Good layout that makes efficient use of space. This can be open or closed, just needs to be designed well. 
  • Big, unfinished basement. 
  • Separate living, dining, family rooms, and an eat in kitchen. Family room is where you watch tv. Living room is where you sit and read, as well as my guitar room. Dining room is where you eat the "nice" meals, but it also becomes an office, a retreat, and extra short term storage

I think those are the only ones that I have. And these are all if I were building a home. Buying a forever home, I'll obviously have to make some concessions--particularly on the master closet.

EDIT: Ignored the location, since my "requirements" for the house itself wouldn't really change no matter where I was.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2016, 09:54:45 AM by mtn »

Rural

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #19 on: February 19, 2016, 10:36:20 AM »

 Eventually, "forever" gets a lot closer than it used to be. I think we have what we want, and I think we'll want it for the rest of our evers.  Currently we're having a little bit of a struggle over whether this is the right location (distance to an R1 university is the trouble), but there's absolutely no struggle over the house or the land. I think we'll come through it, perhaps with some time away, but we'll come back here even if we go For a while.

House not visible from any road and not visible to any neighbors

View without human structures.

 No yard whatsoever, no mowing.

Everything on one level and doorways, hallways etc. wide enough for handicapped accessibility, bathing facility suitable for an older or disabled person.

Passive solar heat  and passive cooling.

Multiple acres with a fenced area large enough for giant breed dogs to have a couple of acres to run

Dog door sized for those giant breed dogs, and a bedroom of their own

Library

 
(Edited out spacing issues)
« Last Edit: February 19, 2016, 12:35:15 PM by Rural »

mak1277

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #20 on: February 19, 2016, 11:48:05 AM »
5 acres minimum, prefer 10+
No visible neighbors
Excellent view (complete with big porch to enjoy it from)

Nothing else is a "must".

Cassie

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #21 on: February 19, 2016, 11:50:43 AM »
Your perfect house changes over time. When I had kids at home we had the bedrooms upstairs which I loved because it kept the noise of playing, having friends over etc out of the main living area. Now that we are older we bought a 1 story smaller home.

BlueHouse

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #22 on: February 19, 2016, 12:52:33 PM »

Dog door sized for those giant breed dogs, and a bedroom of their own

HAHA.  That's amazing if you can get it to work.  They'll still want to sleep in YOUR spot, in YOUR bed. 

little_brown_dog

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #23 on: February 19, 2016, 01:25:59 PM »
My dream home is a 4 bed, 2.5 bath classic farmhouse (ideally completely renovated/updated) and 3 stall barn set atop a windswept hill looking over a quilt of pasture and sparse copses.

Odd must have: mudroom/foyer area...I'm weirdly attached to having a separate mud area given that our current house doesn't have one and we are always tracking mud/water/dirt directly into our kitchen. It's annoying as heck.

Completely ridiculous but I want it anyway: stand alone, old school soaker tub. Love em.

« Last Edit: February 19, 2016, 01:29:34 PM by little_brown_dog »

BDWW

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #24 on: February 19, 2016, 01:50:34 PM »
A ~2500sqft heated, insulated,plumbed shop

...

Oh, and I suppose a house would be nice, but I could always just put a cot in the corner.

JLee

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #25 on: February 19, 2016, 01:58:59 PM »
The ability to pack it up and leave it unattended for months at a time while I go other places.

Reynold

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #26 on: February 19, 2016, 02:25:48 PM »
A good amount of wall space without windows, space heaters, etc. for bookcases (we currently have 10)

On the HOA front, we didn't have one where we lived, and the house next to us got really run down after a divorce.  Like saplings growing in the yard because of no mowing for years, gutters falling off, trash in the yard.  Town wouldn't do anything about it because the property taxes were paid, and when we moved to another state, we had at least one buyer who drove by, saw the neighbor's house, and decided not to make an offer.  We only had 2 other offers, one of which was "foreclosure priced", so that was significant. So we are not as anti-HOA as we used to be, we are now in a townhouse with one, and we picked a neighborhood and HOA that wasn't super strict so there is some flexibility.  The risk is that that could change, of course, but so can neighbors anywhere. 

A kitchen that has a window with some kind of view, if either of you likes to cook, is nice. 

Good infrastructure; HVAC, insulation, wiring, are all a lot more expensive to change than kitchen countertops, for example. 

I'm a red panda

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #27 on: February 19, 2016, 02:29:48 PM »


On the HOA front, we didn't have one where we lived, and the house next to us got really run down after a divorce.  Like saplings growing in the yard because of no mowing for years, gutters falling off, trash in the yard.  Town wouldn't do anything about it because the property taxes were paid, and when we moved to another state, we had at least one buyer who drove by, saw the neighbor's house, and decided not to make an offer.  We only had 2 other offers, one of which was "foreclosure priced", so that was significant. So we are not as anti-HOA as we used to be, we are now in a townhouse with one, and we picked a neighborhood and HOA that wasn't super strict so there is some flexibility.  The risk is that that could change, of course, but so can neighbors anywhere. 


Our city has laws about this.  The owners are given notice, if they don't take care of it, the town does and bills.

Squirrel away

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #28 on: February 20, 2016, 04:00:45 AM »
I've been thinking about this for a while now. I used to want a house by the coast but now I'm thinking of having a flat nearer to the centre of London. When we are retired we might want to enjoy the often low cost or free entertainment you can get from a big city. Hmm, they are very different options and there is a lot of things to consider. My favourite thing, doing research and making plans.:D

Rural

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #29 on: February 20, 2016, 04:06:54 AM »

Dog door sized for those giant breed dogs, and a bedroom of their own

HAHA.  That's amazing if you can get it to work.  They'll still want to sleep in YOUR spot, in YOUR bed.


It does work. Baby gate and firm but kind consistency. We have extra motivation to be firm - two Great Danes and two humans will not physically fit into a queen size bed, so it's either them or us.


It helps that they have their own bed: our old full-size mattress on the floor, covered by a large carpet remnant to keep doggy toenails from poking through (plus cleanable). I suppose this is the point at which I confess they have their own blankets, too. Happiness all around.
« Last Edit: February 20, 2016, 04:08:25 AM by Rural »

MrsPete

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #30 on: February 20, 2016, 09:39:46 AM »
Wow, not sure exactly how people are coming up with answers to that.  I'm a very different person now than I was ten years ago.  Ten years before that, I was a very different person.  Ten years from now, I'll probably be a very different person.  No place is perfect, and no place will be ideal forever.  You can get used to living just about anywhere and may change your mind over time.  Because of that, the idea of a 'forever' house is a bit silly to me.
I'll take the other side of that coin:  If you're building a house that's going to be just right for you, it should include flexibility so that it will continue to work with you as your life changes:  The front room can be a playroom while your children are small, then it can become a formal dining room later, or if you start a business, you can add a set of French doors and make it an office.  It's designed so that you could add another bedroom in the attic, or you could add a family room to the back.  A good house can change with you. 


MrsPete

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #31 on: February 20, 2016, 10:03:15 AM »
We're preparing to build a house in which we plan to spend the rest of our lives.  Why'd we decide to build, when buying is cheaper?  Two reasons:  We want a small house, but we want it to have a few luxury features, and that isn't something that's typically found on the market.  If we find a house that has the large pantry we want, it comes connected to an oversized kitchen.  If we find the kitchen we want, it's in a house with tiny bathrooms.  In short, we want an unusual combination of features.  Second, we want to build with aging in place in mind; having watched my grandmother struggle with certain parts of daily living, we see clearly that we can avoid some of these struggles through good planning. 

Specifics we plan to build:

- All brick with welcoming front porch
- Upgraded, true divided light windows -- good windows make a HUGE difference in a house's character -- and tall windows; this is worth a splurge
- Widows on two sides in as many rooms as possible -- windows on two sides make every room so much nicer
- Nice crown molding -- again, makes a big difference in one's perception of a house's quality
- Luxury Vinyl Tile flooring -- softer on the joints than hardwood, easy to keep clean, cheaper than hardwood
- Foyer will double as a library /built-in bookcases running the length of the foyer
- Everything from appliances to windows will be standard-sized and, thus, less expensive
- Large great room with built-in for TV, storage for movies and games, gas fireplace, sliding glass doors out to large patio /covered porch
- Small U-shaped kitchen with nice finishes and just enough space for our everyday stuff -- adjacent large pantry to hold other items; this is cheaper than storing everything in expensive cabinetry, and I have LOADS of kitchen stuff
- Pocket office off the kitchen -- if we were not so near retirement, we'd go with a full-sized office -- with more and more people working from home, it just seems wise
- Three modest bedrooms, walk-in closet in the master -- we don't hang out in the bedrooms, so need to splurge here
- Master bath designed for aging in place -- no-barrier walk-in shower with space for a stool or hospital chair /hand-held shower nearby -- grab bars installed now before we need them -- linen closet for good storage
- Laundry close to the master bedroom; I do remember my grandmother struggling to carry laundry baskets in her old age

We are NOT including a number of things that many people consider "must haves":
- No double sinks -- in fact, few double anythings
- No toilets crammed into closets that're hard to clean and impossible for elderly people to use
- No French doors
- No oversized garage
- No dramatic, soaring ceilings
- No security system that tells us someone is breaking in; rather, we'll put the money into materials that keep the burglars out
- No one-use rooms -- media room, man cave, sewing room, etc.; rather, we'll have one nicely designed great room for the two of us to share, and then we'll have the bedroom and the pocket office


Al1961

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QA1
« Reply #32 on: February 20, 2016, 10:14:16 AM »
We're in the process of moving to Vancouver Island. The process won't be complete until ~mid 2017, so we're still thinking about things. In the mean time, we have a small vacation home in the Comox valley that we're currently using to escape a prairie winter.

We want a small acreage:
1. 2 to 5 acres.
2. Mixture of trees and cleared
3. Ocean/mountain views desired, but not mandatory for the right place.
4. Below the snow line/close to the coast
5. Greenhouse - four season space to enjoy tropical plants, citrus trees even in the depths of the rainy season.
6. Shop space sufficient for wood and metalworking projects (cabinet and furniture making, forging, machining and welding....)
7. Garden and small personal orchard space.
8. Smallish house - probably no more than 1200-1500 sq.ft. but also a casita/carriage house for when the kids come visit.

Getting all that set up will consume a few years....

Al

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #33 on: February 22, 2016, 08:23:07 AM »
12. A wood deck or concrete patio off the back of the house for grilling, relaxing & entertaining
This is a biggie to me.  It's also why I don't think I could ever live in an apartment or condo.  Gotta have a place to grill.

nereo

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #34 on: February 22, 2016, 10:27:58 AM »
Quote
I am doing my research to make sure I don't want to repeat home buying/selling again. A paid off house is our LAST and FINAL goal before FIRE.

To paraphrase guitarstv here - I don't think that the things we want in our home now will be the same as what we want when we are in our 50s or our 80s.  A paid off house is all fine and good, but I think it's sensible to consider moving every couple of decades (using the sale of our home to pay for our new one) to make sure that our home fits our lifestyle. 

zolotiyeruki

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Re: What are your must-haves in your "Forever" home
« Reply #35 on: February 23, 2016, 08:24:07 AM »
DW and I have a google doc to track what we want in our FIRE home.  We occasionally visit both sets of parents, and that's a good way to get some insight into their actual needs in retirement.  For instance, having all the "used daily" rooms on the main floor, with the guest rooms and extra storage in the basement.