Are you living in your "forever home"?

We love Darwin, however we did live here for 3 years in the late 80s when I was in the military.
If you get used to the weather It's the best place to live without secondary school aged children.
The secondary and tertiary education is lacking a little up here.
The cost of living is not much more in Darwin and the lifestyle benefits are too long to list.
We are fortunate to have secure jobs and at the moment we have no Covid restrictions at all.
Our adult children still live in Melbourne and we visit regularly, as we still hold property there.
It used to be that we may come back one day to Melbourne, but now its just too cold and too busy, I doubt we will ever live there again.
It's not for everyone but it is for us.
Cheers
PP

 

I have my eyes on it, maybe in 20 years I can make an offer on it.

 

We get itchy feet about every 7 years and have just moved into our sixth house. None of our houses have been our forever home because we always knew we would move on eventually. I suspect our latest purchase might be our last, not only because we are in our early 70s, but also because moving house (and states in this case) is horrendous.

 

This has to be for shortest stay, I presume.

 

I think the attitude will change for the better as it depends what one feeds the brain. It think our philosophy of what we think is determined by what we feed our brain, the things we listen to, what we read, whom we spend time with, what we allow to enter, and so on....
As human beings we have that choice wouldn't you agree, free will, to be wise what we think about?
I like what my mentor JR said..."to stand guard at the door of our own minds".
In these times of uncertainty, we need to think critically for ourselves. If we don’t, we’re letting someone else dictate our focus.
Whatever information you’re feeding your mind on a daily basis and you focus upon consistently, you’re going to experience as being what life is really about – and if we don’t discipline our fears and control our focus, the world will gladly do it for us. It’s your choice what to focus on.

 

....that's what I meant sorry for my poor English or misspelling, but you get it!

 

We have been in our current home more than 30 years, it was awesome with young children. When they moved into their sharehome, I spent the first six months walking around the living room and my new office, awestruck by "the space". Today I have no desire to leave it. Too much blood, sweat and tears went into this property, it is in a lovely location that we know deep down is home.

I have seriously desired to move to Tasmania or a small town up the Qld coast. In hindsight, that was because at the time I was running away from some pretty awful life experiences that have either resolved themselves or that dont bother me any more.

 

Yes, I've lived in my PPOR for 30 years now and no plans to move.

 

When I was growing up I really wanted to move area’s and explore. We finally convinced our parents to move to a bigger home. We moved up the hill, about seven streets away. I was so disappointed!! I’ve done my fair share of moving around now! Bris-Perth-Bris-Perth. I’ll always stay in Perth now but we can’t see us ever having a forever home. My mum is still in the same big house with 12m pool on her own approaching 80 and says she doesn’t like small houses and different areas. I couldn’t think of anything worse!

 

You've got 1000M2 of land. That's literally triple the size of most lots in new subdivisions, or double the size of the absolutely premier corner lots in those same subdivisions. I understand it's not acreage in Kenthurst or Annangrove, but unless you have 3 Million + for one of those, surely you can fit the bigger shed and a pool on 1000M2??? Landscape the pool with a sandpit area and install a salt chlorinator and you have yourself a beach That will cost you less than the stamp duty on an upgrade. Also, the best secondary school in the state ( year after year after year) is in Carlingford - James Ruse. Kings is down the street. Eastwood Marist is down the street. Parramatta Marist isnt far either. Cheltenham Girls is up the street if you have a girl, next . Tara is down the street next to Kings . Mount St Benedict. Loretto. ... all within easy commute

 

All true!
But, if my engagement at school is any indication, none of my children will ever get into a selective school! I don't want to teach my son (only one child right now and one under planning consideration) that academic success is the most important thing and to push him hard.
As for the private schools, they're all out too. My wife is a private school teacher and disagrees with them and I also object to private schools on the basis that I strongly believe that top notch education should be available to any child, not just children of wealthy parents.
If we put in a pool (which would be a little difficult due to the slope of the block, but doable) and a shed, we'd either not have any room left for lawn to play on, or no room for my fruits and veggies. So not a compromise that we'd be happy with.

I'm not really talking about a $3m+ home either. I'm talking about something similar to maybe this and then putting a hundred thousand in to bring it up to be exactly what we want it to be. Still worth more than our current place (this sold three years ago), but not multiple times the price.
We just need to hit the trifactor:

• Lots of land
• Close to beaches and closish to family
• Reasonable secondary public school

 

Good schools for the average kids in too for residents of Carlingford. Carlingford High, Epping Boys (not sure Carlingford suburb is in catchment but it near enough by)....

 

Our local school is unfortunately Muirfield, which my wife hates, because she went there and did not enjoy it. I just had a look at their NAPLAN results, and while they're not terrible, they're not great either.
So, while it might change, I think we will have to move in 8 years' time.

 

Can you get your kids go to another local high? There's always a single sex school option too if push comes to shove.

Edit: I couldn't figure out how to find a Boys high school for residents of the western side of Carlingford. Maybe i'm wrong.

 

Have plans for the forever home, but not there yet. Sometime this decade.

 

I think so. We moved in in January and I love this house. It has so much room and has some little X factor things. It’s way too big to stay in once the kids leave though.

 

My home has 4 bedrooms, 3 living rooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 balconies, a verandah/porch, underhouse storage, a 3 car garage on a quarter acre and there's only 2 of us.

Is it excessive for 2 people? Maybe yes. But I wouldn't trade it in.

 

I'm with @spludgey
This house on the coast is lovely. Why on earth would any of you self-employed folks expect his young family to stay in the big city with all its dramas when they can relocate to the coast, and get his dream home and some change left over.

I too hated my life at Brisbane State High. What is this enamour with exclusive public and private schools? The school i work at is just a regular suburban state high school 17 klms from the cbd in a suburb where the median house price is maybe $550k. We have received a glowing report from the reviewers two weeks ago. Get your priorities right!

 

I've just bought a house that I think will be ours for a long time. Bigger than we need, but enough space to create an office to meet clients. And it has a pool and a big outdoor entertainment area. While it's not in the location I'd like to be when I'm older, it's a great place for my kids to grow and for them to bring their friends home in their teens.