First Home

I'm wondering how old you were when you were able to purchase your first home? Did you start off with something small that was a fixer upper or did you wait and purchase your dream home first?

With a low salary, we couldn't afford even rent when we got married, so in addition to my job, we worked the first 3.5 years of our marriage as assistant managers of a 104 unit apartment complex. No salary; just a 2-bedroom furnished apartment and utilities. Then when I was 28 and got a promotion and pay raise on my regular job, and just before our second daughter was born, we bought a little 3-bedroom, one bath, one car garage, 18 year old wood frame house. In 1968, that house cost us $12,250. After another promotion and pay raise, 4 years later, we moved up to a new 4-bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage home, but was still a small one, and after the next promotion, and 5 years later, we bought another new and much larger 4-bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage home where we stayed until I retired and we became full time RVers for 6 years.

We rented for the first 7 years. First a small, 2 bedroom house with a detached 3 car garage. I miss that little house. Then we moved across the country and lived a 2 bed/1 bath apartment on the 3rd floor. We thought we'd become somewhat rich because our rent jumped $150. We then went to another apartment, 2 bed/2 bath, that was on the 1st floor (our baby was having orthopedic surgery and steps were a killer with the equipment). After about 3 years we rented a 1200 sq ft home, 3 bed/1.5 bath. And, then, after about 3 years, we bought our first home and it was definitely something we settled on. It is not our dream home. It's all brick, has a basement, a garage (a luxury here) and is 62 years old. It has stairs and with our son being an above-knee amputee, we want a one level home. However, we're going on 5 years here this week. We hope to find a better place for us soon.

I owned my first home at 22, but that was only because my then husband (now ex) was older than me and he had owned it for a couple years before I came along. I didn't own another house again until I was 28. Then I sold that one, moved and rented for a while. I didn't buy again until I was 34 and that is the house I am currently in. Now I'm hoping within the next one to two years to be moving again. Hopefully the next time will be the last time and I will finally have my dream house/property.

We started off with this home. I know a lot of people go for their first home (starter home) and then move but I didn't want to do that. I wanted to invest in something that I knew I would keep my lifetime.

We rented the first ten years of our marriage and then a deal came along on a home that wasn't finished that we just couldn't pass up. So we purchased the home and finished it out. We lived in it for approximately 6 years and then we purchased an old, run down home in the country for almost nothing and remodeled it. We are currently living in it.

I bought my first (and only so far) home when I was 35. It is a nice 2 bedroom 2 bath with a 2 car garage. Just big enough for my family and I.

I was 30 when I purchased my first home. It was a small 2 bedroom, 1 bath house but it was mine. I am more comfortable 7 years later with a 4 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage and barn. We will be living here for the next 40 years so I am happy with our choice.

We rented an apartment for the first year we were together then bought my mother-in-law's house. We lived there for 5 years then moved around for about 10 years, mostly renting. We bought our present house 13 years ago. It's for sale so we can move south to a place with enough cleared land for a big garden, some chickens and probably some rescue dogs. We've had a few rescue dogs but only one at a time so far.