The Forever Home

My husband is just a few short years away from retiring, and we're living in the only home we've ever owned. I don't think this is the norm these days, to only ever own one home for the duration of one's working years. Many folks are prompted to move when their family grows in size or when employment is offered in another city. Of course, my little family rented for the first 8 years of our marriage. So it's not like we've only ever lived in this house. Still, we've owned this one for almost 30 years. Consumer data indicates that the average length of homeownership is just under 12 years. So, yes, we've been in our one and only owned home for way longer than average.

I was thinking about this just this morning. My husband and I had been looking at properties in another area the last six months. One particular property had many of the features that we hoped to find. In fact, I'd been checking on this home several times per week, seeing if they'd lowered their price or if the home had been sold. Well, yesterday they accepted an offer and this house is now a pending sale. While I had a moment or two of sadness that this would not be our next home, I also began to think that God had put us in a good home that would meet the needs we reasonably expect for the rest of our lives.

Our house is a two-story, but it also has a full bath and two bedrooms on the ground floor. All needs are on this main living floor, including access to a deck and laundry. There is a single step up to the front door where a ramp could be placed, if need be. An aging couple could live easily in this house. 

Back in 2016 we had some work done on our house, and in talking to the contractor, he said that his own house was his forever home. He had retrofitted everything needed for aging in place for himself and his wife. Then he joked that the only way he'd ever leave that house was feet-first (meaning carried out of the house to his final resting place).

So here we are, still in the only house we've ever owned, and I'm contemplating all of the positives of staying here. For one thing, making a move is expensive. The actual moving costs, the taxes and fees when buying and selling properties, and the needed improvements for the next property all add up. 

The cost to move across the country average about $5000. Between capital gains taxes (after the exclusion) and real estate transfer taxes, we'd be on the hook for another $15,000 to $20,000. (Property transfer taxes are significantly higher than average in the Seattle area.) Even in a near-perfect new house, there would be several thousand dollars in upgrades that we'd want to make right away, from new carpeting to new interior paint. This could be $10,000 or more. 

By not buying the other house, we've likely saved ourselves $30,000 to $35,000, and I feel like I've been extremely conservative in these estimates. That's a substantial chunk of change. 

In addition to the savings in dollars, if we stay in this home, we avoid the hassle of moving everything and the pain of leaving behind friends and community. 

This was never in our plans, but I'm now thinking this could very well be our forever home.

When buying the smaller, more expensive per unit, version of a product is the better deal

One of the rules I try to remember when bargain shopping mania overtakes me -- don't buy more of a perishable food than I really need, even if the larger size is less expensive per unit. 

At Walmart this morning, I was buying whipping cream for making pumpkin eggnog and for topping pie later this month. I was going back and forth on whether to buy the larger quart size or the smaller pint size. 

The quart was less expensive per ounce than the pint. I remembered my rule. I ended up buying the pint. And here's why. When I buy something perishable in a larger size than I really need, I end up trying to find ways to use the excess before it goes bad. That sounds like a good thing, right, that I'm using every last bit up? The truth is, if I was only planning on using 8-10 ounces of whipping cream for a batch of eggnog and another 4-6 ounces to top Thanksgiving pie slices, then the foods I'd make with the excess would be more rich foods than we really needed. All because I wanted to use it all up while saving money on unit cost.

So while my family would have been happy to eat the extra goodies I would make with leftover whipping cream, and while I would be happy to not waste anything, we really wouldn't need that many special foods. And excess rich food seems a bit of a waste to me. 

So in this sense, paying more per ounce, but buying less (which is actually the amount I needed), is actually a better deal for my household.