And it’s so annoying, yet it’s equally super fun. For the last two months or so, I’ve started to really think about where I’m gonna and wanna live next. That’s actually been a thing since the day I moved into my current apartment. That’s because this is a rental and it’s supposed to be a temporary home until I find my dream home.
The next place is my idea of my “forever” home. It’s the home where I shall spend the rest of my life in. If I would have had kids, it would be the family home, but since I won’t have any of those, it will just be my home.
The basic idea is to have an apartment or town house with a yard, preferably newly built and where the cost is as low as possible, both for the home itself aka the size, and also for the mortgage and other expenses for that home. I’ve lived in newly built places before and loved it. I live in a newly built place now, where I’m the first tenant. It’s lovely, but it’s oh so tiny. It’s a studio apartment, 322 square feet, or 30 square meters in size. It was all I could afford. Basically all that could fit in here is me and a bed, but luckily I can also fit a TV and my desk. I also have a fully fledged kitchen, a washing machine and a dish washer. I also have a microwave! The bathroom is pretty big for such a small studio apartment as well. I love it here, but I honestly can’t wait until I have a bigger place.
Me and a cat in this place is a bit tiny though. I wish I’d known how hard it would be living in such a small space with a kitten. I do not regret her, but I do regret this, even though I love this apartment. It’s big enough for me, but I really want a bigger place that I can afford, but I refuse to move into another temporary place. No, I shall stay here until I can move into my dream home. Aka, I shall stay here for a few years. Or perhaps forever, since nothing goes my way in life. My experience tells me so.
I guess it’s one of the many reasons why I think so much about my future home, because I’m longing for a good night’s sleep. And I’m so tired of moving. Not that I’ve moved a lot in my life, but a whole lot more than I’d like to have moved, that’s for sure. And I’d really like to have a proper bedroom, living room and kitchen to say the least, but since this will be my forever home – I’m desperately planning for something bigger than that.
The good thing is that I actually found my dream home. It’s from a company called BoKlok. It’s a company made from IKEA and Skanska, another builder here in Sweden. The company name BoKlok basically translates as “Live Wise” or “Live Smart”. They build quality homes for normal people with normal wallets. Most newly built homes cost a fortune. They check all the boxes regarding how I have wished to live for many years now. No wonder I’m so obsessed with them.
In the close vicinity to my old apartment in Malmö where my ex still lives, there’s a new district being built. A normal sized two bedroom apartment there, costs about 1 million Swedish crowns ($100 000) more than where he lives. Just on the other side of the road, you can save a million and live almost as good as you would in the more expensive and new apartments. That’s crazy!
I’m hoping for a 2 bedroom apartment at 72 square meters (775 square foot) with a yard, so it has to be on the ground floor. It’s because I’m getting a Great Dane that this is so important. Otherwise I could live on any floor. I might consider living a bit higher up if I’m desperate enough, but I do want that yard… If I do not get a chance at a ground floor apartment, I might try to get a town house by them, but it’s a bit too expensive for me unless I have a huge down payment.
It will take me a few years to save that kind of cash. The good thing about that is that it also increases my chances of having a low mortgage or affording a town house. No matter what it will take me at least 2, 3 year before I’m able to move out of this place. My plan is to leave at the earliest in the fall or winter of 2022 – if I can hold out that long. I’m just being realistic here, and not relying on anybody to help me out with a loan. Unless I become a millionaire because I won the lottery, or I’m lucky enough to get a part time job where I’ll later work full time as a developer, I most likely have to wait that long until I can move into my dream home.
That’s mostly due to me being a student today and I won’t be able to start saving until I’ve gotten my first real job as a developer full-time. I am counting on that to be the case in June of next year, aka 2021. Right now I’m forced to live on my savings unless I get a part time job soon 😭!
Still, I can’t wait to get out of here, even though I love this place. The location is awesome, and I have everything I need here and I’d like to continue living like this forever if I could. What I’m referring to is that I want to keep living close to a mall, a supermarket (think Walmart), a train station and have buses as well nearby. I also have a few restaurants available here and I can get food deliveries easily to. This “luxury” is very important to me, so I’d like to have that no matter where my next place will be. The location of where I live is a real happiness for me, even though the apartment is so tiny. I really am thankful that it’s a newly built place and I have all the luxuries of appliances and location that I do have. Otherwise, I’d probably be more desperate to move away.
I’ve also figured out that I could probably live very well in a smaller apartment. BoKlok has 1 bedroom apartments at 55 square meters (592 square foot), which is almost double the size of my current place. If I won’t be able to get my first choice, a one bedroom apartment might suffice. I’ve sort of looked down on that kind of apartment before, because somehow in my tiny, stupid little brain I could not imagine I would fit all my stuff, but after some long hard thoughts I found out that it would not be a problem at all. The only downside to having a 1 bedroom apartment is that I lose one room, that would be used as my office. Therefore I desperately hope that I’ll be able to get my hands on a 2 bedroom apartment with a yard on the ground floor when it’s my turn to move. Considering I won’t be moving from this dream home until I move into a retirement home for the elders, it’s also important to have a little bigger place if I can afford it. According to my budget – I can easily afford to live a little bit bigger. Hey, like I mentioned before – I can afford a town house, as long as I have that huge down payment and my salary is high enough.
When I say “my turn” it’s because BoKlok does many thing differently compared to other companies that builds houses and homes for humans. The whole buying process is different. Normally, if you’d buy a place here in Sweden, you’d have to fight it with money in a bidding war or something. Usually the guy who can pay the most for the house or apartment wins. With BoKlok you instead take part in a lottery. The first person mentioned gets first pick and so on. It’s a lot fairer than a huge bidding war. I really do hope I get a good number when it’s time for me to move away from here. Hopefully there aren’t so many people so desperate as me that have to live on the ground floor in a 2 bedroom apartment. Even if I get a bad number, I could technically choose my dream home anyway.
I recently spoke to a person who has the exact same apartment on the ground floor as I’d like to have. She had number 36 in line, and only wanted to live on the ground floor. When it was her turn – she could choose a 2 bedroom apartment on the ground floor, so that was pretty cool! It all depends on who’s getting first in line and where they wanna live. Usually the sale process takes years as well. There are current projects where the apartments are ready to move in, either now or in a few weeks where there’s still a few apartments or houses left to buy.
In order to try and let this go, I do have to prioritize what’s more important. Of course number one is a 2 bedroom apartment on the ground floor with a yard, but then? How important is that yard? Is it more important to live on the ground floor and have a yard than to just live on the ground floor, but maybe live a bit smaller? Or is it to live as cheap as possible, probably be mortgage free in a few years after purchase? I have no idea. As time goes by so slowly, I’m going crazy right now regarding this, because it feels like I’m getting more desperate by the hour for my dream home.
However, after thinking about this hard, I’ve figured out that having one extra room is more important than just living on the ground floor with a yard. That’s because I really want to have the biggest place possible I can afford. According to my budget that I have made, my finances would be awesome no matter what kind of apartment I will choose to get by BoKlok. The only difference is that with a smaller apartment, I’d get to live as cheap as possible a little bit faster than with a somewhat bigger place. Therefore I prioritize one more room, at least for my future home.
I mean, I had no idea I’d be able to find my dream home so quickly, because I thought that it did not exist. At least not in this price range. I can always by an apartment that’s newly build and if I have the salary for it I can afford it. It’s just – I really do like to live cheaply, save a bunch of money and just feel safe, knowing I have money in the bank and no worries. I’ve never really had that, and if I did it’s only been temporary. I’ve never had my dream home, even though I’ve lived very well many times. I’ve never had that yard, with a Great Dane to scoop up the poop from 🤪.
And I really like to have it all, and the sooner the better. I’m done waiting. Really. But I know I have to wait at least 2,5 years probably before I can move to my dream home, counting from today.
