Does anyone not care about/have a dream house?

[sue78]

Does anyone not care/have a dream house?
(thought I better post this in a new thread)

I can appreciate beautiful houses but there's no emotionally feeling. I don't envy it, I don't want it etc

It maybe a combinations of things that has made me feel this way. Being an investor, I think I have just become emotionally detached from properties altogether, I build houses and not one is ever perfect so I know that no house is perfect (even looking at a beautiful architecturally designed, I'm sure there's must be quite a few problems only the owner and builders know of), or that I could do such more more with $1mil than to just buy a PPOR

If I had $300k, I would buy a PPOR or maybe a small 3 bedroom, 1 garage for $250k and use the extra $50k as 10% for 2 IP's. I won't go and borrow another $300k for a $600k house.

I guess it might be true the more money you have the more tight you are. Like I always hear that rich people are tightass.

I can't help it...maybe I am over knowledgeable now...you know, howto build wealth, passive income, properties etc I mean even if I had $60k cash tos pend on a car, I don't think I would buy my dream car BMW coz I have this mentality that any spare cash I can save should go towards another IP.

So maybe even when I do have a lazy million dollars, I won't want to live in 'dream house'. I am just happy in a basic 21 square house with a small garden. Less cleaning and less garden maintenance and best of all...affordable.

If I want the balinese type resort house, gold coast beach front apartment, sydney harbour views etc I can always just go on a holiday. It's so much cheaper and you can save the money for other things like......seeing the world....my dream places like Dubrovnik, Montserrat, Toledo, Grenada, Prague, Slovakia, Marrakesh etc We paid $120 a night for a 1br GC beach front apt in the heart of Surfers. That same apt would cost over $400k.

 

[Bantam Roosta]

I think a lot like you Sue. I keep telling my wife, you can buy whatever car/house you want, after we've done the hard yards. When we get to that stage I know I will be thinking, 'Sure we could buy that house, but how many IPs could we buy instead?'

Luckily (or unluckily) for me, why wife will definitely keep me check and force me to buy a house that fulfils the pain she will have had to endure from me.

So, personally, no, not interested, but as a family goal, a 'dream' house is quite high up the list of desires, but low on priority.

BR

 

[Jase H]

Hi sue,

I think everyones idea of a 'dream home' is very different. my wife and i are currently just focusing on our IPs and share investments to acheive our financial goals ASAP. Therefore our current PPOR (which we own outright) is a bit of a 'dog box' in suburban canberra not a 'dream home' but we are happy to stay living in it for the next 5-8 years (no kids just a dog to take car of) at which time we would like to buy another established house in the Inner North of canberra. For us it is more about the 'dream lifestyle' rather than the 'dream home' (ie. modest sized home of say 17-20 squares in leafy inner north area appeals to us, rather than a 30+ square mcmansion in the 'newer' outer suburbs.)

To put this in perspective our current 'dog box' is 12 squares! But its ours!


jase

 

[sue78]

Hi sue,

I think everyones idea of a 'dream home' is very different. my wife and i are currently just focusing on our IPs and share investments to acheive our financial goals ASAP. Therefore our current PPOR (which we own outright) is a bit of a 'dog box' in suburban canberra not a 'dream home' but we are happy to stay living in it for the next 5-8 years (no kids just a dog to take car of) at which time we would like to buy another established house in the Inner North of canberra. For us it is more about the 'dream lifestyle' rather than the 'dream home' (ie. modest sized home of say 17-20 squares in leafy inner north area appeals to us, rather than a 30+ square mcmansion in the 'newer' outer suburbs.)

To put this in perspective our current 'dog box' is 12 squares! But its ours!


jase

Woah that's small! but when I think about it...really that's all the living space you need. At least you own it outright, we still live at home. This house is quite big, but we probably stick to less than 12 squares. The lounge, our bedroom, baby's room, bathroom and kitchen. We never step foot in the other rooms, the second living room, the second dining room as we don't want to have to clean it.

The main thing is about being comfortable. A PPOR, I believe, is better than renting even if it is a 'dog box' because at least you can make it comfortable by painting, putting picture frames up, have a dog etc all the things you can't do in a rental.

 

[lizzie]

i'm like jase - it's the lifestyle the house can provide that makes it my dream.

although - it must have a wood fireplace, bath, garden and swimming pool. i guess those are lifestyle things

 

[Patosan]

I could choose one based on restricted criteria ... if we had to live in a certain area within a determined budget, etc, etc ... but then it wouldn't be a dream home.

Almost every time I visit a real estate site I find homes that are lovely or grand or cosy or clever or wonderful in some way or other. I like them all ... could live in them all. How could I choose just one as my dream home. That would be somewhat closed-minded. Does that mean that I can never have a dream home ... perhaps.

What is a dream home ... a home of your dreams ... something that you've been conditioned to like/want for some time ... for some reason. If you are happy or contented now, you may not even "want" for a dream home or whatever.

This could be it, as we only recently moved form our terribly old and poor condition over 100 yr old trad. Jp house into a western style 13 yr old double storey. Our new home is great and so much better than our old one ... yet I had been relatively content in the old one. Now I wouldn't want to move back but I hadn't dreamed of moving out.

Anyway I'd be interested to hear from those that DO have dream homes, whether they intend to buy or not, if they know why they have a dream home.

 

[ems]

I suppose were doing everything the wrong way around! Were currently building a lovely house, that in my wildest dreams never thought we would ever own. Its a 2 storey house, 4 beds, 2 bathrooms. Some people may think thats tiny but coming from London where were used to sharing a house its huge. Funny thing is were going back to London next year so have to turn our dream house into an IP! Now that's going to be difficult.

I have a dream that by the time were 50 we will have a house on the beach (again coming from England, never thought it would ever happen) We have 25 years to make this happen so I guess its achievable!

Ems

 

[topcropper]

At nearly 40 years of age, I do not want to live in a million dollar house at this stage. It would put so much of a dampener on ones wealth generating abilities having that money tied up.

But I would imagine at a later date, say 60, if I have amassed a fortune, I would want to live in such a house.

See ya's.

 

[The Y-man]

although - it must have a wood fireplace, bath, garden and swimming pool. i guess those are lifestyle things

I have a wood fireplace, 2 x spa, a decent garden but no swimming pool
Believe me, I don't miss a pool, and neither of our spa's have been used since we moved in!!

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[natmarie73]

I have never had a "dream house". I would be happy with an ordinary typical QLDer that dosn't need renovating. Dosn't even have to be near the beach/city or wherever, although I would like to be on an acreage or in a rural setting so I could have horses again and not have to worry about noisy neighbours/traffic etc - but thats the surroundings, not the house itself.

I used to live near the beach in Sydney and found that after a while it's just like living anywhere else.

Look at Warren B - he lives in the first house he ever baught and has only done minor renovations to it over the years.

 

[Dazz]

I keep telling my wife, you can buy whatever car/house you want, after we've done the hard yards. When we get to that stage I know I will be thinking, 'Sure we could buy that house, but how many IPs could we buy instead?'

Luckily (or unluckily) for me, why wife will definitely keep me check and force me to buy a house that fulfils the pain she will have had to endure from me.

BR, you and I must be twin brothers or something.

This is the exact conversation I had with my wife back in '94 pleading with her to come on this IP journey and live frugally for a good few years until we got established and did some mighty long hard yards down this investment track.

The Harvey Norman's and Rick Hart's of the world are sometimes very alluring, especially when they bombard everyone, all the time with their little plastic whizz bang trinkets.

Anyway, the wife agreed, with one proviso, that at some stage we would be able to live in a nice area, in a nice house, fully paid off as a reward for all of the hard yards endured during our early marriage.

Well, after a decade or so, the hard yards have been done, and I'm pleased to say the wife held me to the proviso, and we now live in what we promised ourselves.

Has it retarded our IP acquisitions - to some extent yes - but we knew that it was just that time of our life with 3 kids in primary school where we will extract the most benefit out of the house and facilities it provides over the next dozen years or so.

Flogging yourself stupid with delayed gratification, like all investors have a want to do, is OK up to a point, but at some point down the track, and you and your wife will just instinctively know when it is time, to open up the purse strings and buy a decent lifestyle.

All work and no rewards is a trap for investors as they strive to eke out every last dollar. We have been guilty of that a couple of times, but are slowly re-learning to have fun and partake in some long overdue holidays. It's actually quite difficult to do once you have conditioned your brain to disregard all of the "Sale sale sale" type rubbish messages you get inundated with all the time. Of course, at this end of the investment tunnel, going on a holiday or buying some trinkets doesn't even register on the scale, whereas at the start it was the entire investment seed money we had......huge difference.

It's not exactly the worst thing in the world to spend some of your investment funds on, a nice house in a nice suburb to provide that stability of lifestyle and sense of pride of ownership. It was still the worst house in the street.....couldn't change all of our philosophies, and needed some serious renovations, but in a decent spot on a decent chunk of dirt. The dirt underneath usually grows at an OK clip, so all is not lost.

Of couse, once paid off you use it to it's maximum advantage to underpin your further investment acquisitions......so perhaps this is one scenario where, as an investor, you can have your cake and eat it too.

 

[keithj]

This is the exact conversation I had with my wife back in '94 pleading with her to come on this IP journey and live frugally for a good few years until we got established and did some mighty long hard yards down this investment track

....

Has it retarded our IP acquisitions - to some extent yes - but we knew that it was just that time of our life with 3 kids in primary school where we will extract the most benefit out of the house and facilities it provides over the next dozen years or so.

Flogging yourself stupid with delayed gratification, like all investors have a want to do, is OK up to a point, but at some point down the track, and you and your wife will just instinctively know when it is time, to open up the purse strings and buy a decent lifestyle.

All work and no rewards is a trap for investors as they strive to eke out every last dollar.

...

Of couse, once paid off you use it to it's maximum advantage to underpin your further investment acquisitions......so perhaps this is one scenario where, as an investor, you can have your cake and eat it too.

Exactly. Our dream home was paid off early, it slowed our investment journey down a bit, but the lifestyle was adequate recompense. Now the kids are growing up & we're fully retired, we're building our next dream home. We had stunning views but not much space to extend. We've recently acquired 20 level acres also with views & are building 4/5 bed 600sqm house with additional 120sqm guest cottage, big workshop, indoor pool etc. It should last as the next dream home until the kids go to uni in 10 years.

 

[Brenda Irwin]

I'm realistic about dreaming about a house.
I have abolutely fallen in love with some houses and I have very expensive tastes when in 'dream mode'.

I am realistic in that, even if I could ever afford to buy such a house, I could not afford the full staff required to run and maintain such a house. I would end up having to do all the work.

Work is NOT a word I like to associate with my dream goals.

 

[Firsthomelooker]

Our dream home is a few acres within 30 mins drive of a city centre the 'best of both' lifestyles. No neighbours, room for horses and motorbike riding, a house big enough to accomodate all relatives for a big family christmas or all friends for weekend get-togethers. Pool room, spa... big dreams I know

Being in our early 20s we have plenty of time to realise them though! I'm happy enough to be living in our dream 'first home' it's more than we could have ever asked for both as a base for a future property portfolio and it suits our current lifestyle. We are already seeing great capital gains and I am throughly enjoying the renovation process!

 

[Norwester]

Dazzling,

Please dont ever tell my wife that it's taken you about ten years................She''ll bloodywell kill me..........

I've only just managed to convince her that we should be getting a little smarter with the money..........

We did the hard yards and ownerbuilt our *dreamhouse* in Melbourne and then left before we had a chance to completely finish it.Although I will admit that it's just about there now after nine years off going back and finishing things off...........

For the last nine years we have been living in a *lovely*rolleyes: ) company house along with the cockroaches, geckos and other northwest critters............including the odd tribe or two that move in and out from down the road.

If anyone knows how to relocate a 26 sq house across the Nullabor please advise..............the 100m^2 of concrete in the slab will probably prove to be the first obstacle.

It's pretty sad actually as every time Mrs Nor goes back East and into that house she starts crying..............for both the bad and good times.

My three children have *instructed* me that it's never to be sold..............


ciao

Nor

 

[Nards]

I hear ya Norwester! Just moved out of a *lovely* company house in Tom Price, soon to move into a no doubt worse company house in NT...the best thing about these houses is a) they give you more income to spend on IPs, as no PPOR worries, b) are so small that you have no room to fit too many expensive doodads, and c) make even average homes look like the "dream home" .

So, most people in town are complaining about the housing, but not me!! A means to an end Just have to convince the husband that boats, motorbikes and their associated equipment are doodads....not going to win that one i dont think..

So Sue78, I'm with you...dont really aspire to the the proverbial Mansion, but a happy lifestyle, with free time and energy to spare...and I dont like the idea of cleaning the mansion, so would have to be rich enough to have a bevvy of cleaners etc

Nards

 

[Francesco]

When its time for a dream house

I will share an occasion when the dream house has its day.

My friend was highly paid in the IT profession. He did some great things in IPs with the money earned. However, a few years ago he suddenly sold a few IPs and built his million dollar McMansion and bought a Merc E240. It later transpired that he was having prostate cancer. Now that the cancer is held at bay, he wondered how he is going to maintain his lifestyle as the value of his annuity will be eroded by CPI.

F

 

[GoAnna!]

More than happy to spend money on a dream home. I had a few goals when I started out and that was one of them.

I think it way too easy to live frugally and never enjoy the money you have accumulated. We are definitely at the stage where we want to access some of our portfolio to improve our lifestyle and fulfill other long held dreams. Otherwise what is the point exactly?

I think you need to aim as if you could live to 100 or that today could be your last. Life is too short to be postponed.

 

[bundy1964]

I am not all that fussed where I live as long as the yard is big enough, she on the other hand has an acceptable standard that must be met.

 

[sue78]

Luxury houses with all the trimmings, fair enough but even the average house is getting a bit out of hand now. Ave now is 4 brs, 2 living, dbl garage and a massive master bathroom with with spa. Wouldn't surprise me if the ave desirable house is a 6br next...people seem to think the bigger the better.

I just feel that the bigger it is the more mess we will make.

I noticed a lot of the new houses are so big that when you walk through their house, it just feel so bare. Not enough furniture.