More baby boomers stay in their homes as they reach retirement, skipping downsizing

[Patri]

To me downsizing is as much sorting through your stuff, as getting a smaller house. A friend just said she is not going to go through and discard any of her things. It is payback to her kids to do it all. (They have a great relationship).
I loved our previous house, but bc of DH's disability, we had to move. The main impetus was the driveway was too steep to safely get a wheelchair up and down if necessary, and ice not melting fast enough in the winter. Otherwise, I could have happily stayed there myself. In my one level home now, I quickly converted a screen porch into a four-season room. It has been a lifesaver. DH ended up in assisted living six months after we moved here, but this is such a friendly neighborhood I am glad circumstances forced the move.

 

[bbodb1]

Young people nowadays do not want “tableaux” stuff, they aren’t interested in boomer stuff, we have become our grandparents, nobody wants our stuff. Just donate if you truly want to declutter and downsize.

Four years ago we held garage sales every month for a year, whatever didn’t sell was picked up on Monday for donation. We cleared out 25 years of stuff that nobody wanted. I wont allow it in the house any more, we have very few wall pictures and no display cabinets full of nicknacks.

Put in your zip code and Schedule a pickup.

https://satruck.org/


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

That is a low blow.

It hurts.

And it's true.....

That hurts even more!

 

[bbodb1]

We are a bit earlier in this process than some, but we are already facing the question of what to do with our current house as well.
As was mentioned by Sir Ralph earlier, the economics of all this are...well...depressing.

The reality we face is even if our house was in top shape and we received top dollar for it, moving anywhere outside Arkansas means the COL will increase. Almost everywhere we would likely consider has a (much) high cost of living in terms of housing. The reality is IF WE MOVE and DOWNSIZE, we may still have to pay more to live in a smaller home than we currently pay now.

The housing economies are not our friends......

We are currently in the process of considering a mid level amount of improvement in our kitchen, laundry room and two bathrooms (mainly repaint, repair cabinets and wood work, change guest bath room to a double vanity, etc..) and I am wondering if it will be worth it (have just started the process of getting bids / quotes on this so I do not know a price - yet).

The bottom line is our current house worked great for a family of five but now with just two, it seems wasteful.
Not to mention that Arkansas is not exactly high on the list of pleasant weather locations.....

In a unexpected way, this might be the most difficult situation we have dealt with in all our years.

 

[VacationForever]

My husband and I decided the past couple of days that we want to move back to a single level family home in the community. We went from a 4600 sq ft unbelievable home in California to a lovely 2800 sq ft single level condo with to-die-for views 3 years ago. Now we are looking at single family homes in the 3000 sq ft range. If we don't find something over the next 2 years within our price range we will stay put.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

My husband and I decided the past couple of days that we want to move back to a single level family home in the community. We went from a 4600 sq ft unbelievable home in California to a lovely 2800 sq ft single level condo with to-die-for views 3 years ago. Now we are looking at single family homes in the 3000 sq ft range. If we don't find something over the next 2 years within our price range we will stay put.

That must have been a difficult decision especially since you have spoken highly about your current home and community. Can you share what made you decide to move back to a single family home?

 

[CalGalTraveler]

We are in our late 50s and still working so not ready to downsize yet. College kids may boomerang after graduation. Property taxes are high and we've toyed with the idea of establishing residence in Nevada. The prospect of selling and pocketing money for retirement is enticing but we love our current home, climate and neighborhood.

 

[Ralph Sir Edward]

De-cluttering does not have to require a move. I am in the middle of a de-cluttering wave; as I am currently between jobs (contracts, I'm a contract computer programmer).

I have been shredding old tax papers, getting rid of old knick-knacks, ect.

This is my third big wave in the last 10 years. . .

The hard part is to face that the money you spent on something 20 years ago, is GONE, and keeping that thing is only costing you space and clutter, if you aren't going to use it. . .

 

[WinniWoman]

As you may or may not know we are in the process now of doing this big time in getting ready for our house to sell and to move (twice- ugh). This is so outside of my comfort zone I cannot even tell you.

I am a very organized neat and clean person and that is even an understatement. I always hated clutter. That said- even with that being the case- you cannot believe how much stuff we have to get rid of moving from a 2600 square foot home to an 1100 square foot home.

Things you sell you get nothing for- even if they are new. It is disheartening when I think of how much I put into selecting things for this home and the money and now have to give them away. Things I really still love. Especially my books! And the artwork I have no one wants- even though I am selling the pieces for nothing!

Then I think about how the small house will cost more than we net after everything with selling our current home and will not have anything in it like our current home has. No where close! I will miss our beautiful kitchen that we redid 5 years ago, our spa like bathroom with the steam shower, our beautiful living room and fireplace and our wood stove which is only 5 years old. I will miss the privacy of our land and the views out of our curtain less windows, our stream and bridge, but not the total isolation 24/7. Not the 700 foot steep driveway. Our huge skylights and barn doors upstairs. Our beautifully tiled downstairs bathroom. The comfort of having a whole house generator. Having our own well. And for me- being on a slab instead of a basement (basements, which I hate). Oh- and the 2 car garage.

New house will have none of this. I have been second guessing this all week. Are we crazy?!

Then just the expense of moving twice and renting until the new home is done will be so expensive, even taking into considering our high taxes here and everything.

We put so much of our lives into this house. It really is hard. Doing this in your 60's is not like doing it in your 50's. Good thing we didn't wait any longer. It is stressful and exhausting.

But we know it has to be done and we are shooting now for the lifestyle. Hoping it will all be worth it. Have to try to keep my eye on the prize.

 

[Luanne]

Thanks for that SA link, I did not know they picked up! They did thousands of dollars worth of business with us when we sold window treatments so I'd much rather donate to them than the "pink card guys" anyway!

Another place that picks us, at least in our area, is Habitat for Humanity. We had a couch we needed to get rid of. Salvation Army does pick up, just not where we live. They were the ones who suggested Habitat. They came out, took the couch and were SO very nice. If we have anything they can use, it goes to them.

 

[CPNY]

I know a well off baby boomer who purchased deeded weeks in a resort in the Caribbean weeks 1-52. Collected them resale cheap it took a few years before retirement. They now live in resort where they get housekeeping, free parking, and all the amenities of living in a resort. Their maint fees total 3,800 per month. They have no electric bill, no cable bill, no gas bill. When something breaks it gets replaced. Their house is paid off and keep it when they need to come back to the US for any reason. The 3,800 per month is cheaper than what their monthly payment was when they had a mortgage. Nice life.

 

[simpsontruckdriver]

When talking about the Villages, it is 55+, not exactly a city but an enclave spanning two counties. Sales taxes are between 6.5-7.0%, no state income tax. Yeah it gets hot between May and November (mid-90s F and 95% or higher humidity), but November - May is mid-70s to low-80s. Cold snaps usually last a couple days, with temps in the 60s during the day. As a former driver for Lyft, one time I attended a Humana Medicare seminar in Ocala FL, and when I was done, I did some drives up there. One of them was in the Villages, where practically everyone drives a golf cart since either you're close to a golf course or close to shopping.

Of course, there are "retirement" Mobile Home communities all around central Florida, where a previously-occupied one can be bought for less than $40000, new ones around $90000. South of Orlando (near Davenport FL), they're building regular homes with $0 down and mortgages of $200000+.

TS

 

[CPNY]

When talking about the Villages, it is 55+, not exactly a city but an enclave spanning two counties. Sales taxes are between 6.5-7.0%, no state income tax. Yeah it gets hot between May and November (mid-90s F and 95% or higher humidity), but November - May is mid-70s to low-80s. Cold snaps usually last a couple days, with temps in the 60s during the day. As a former driver for Lyft, one time I attended a Humana Medicare seminar in Ocala FL, and when I was done, I did some drives up there. One of them was in the Villages, where practically everyone drives a golf cart since either you're close to a golf course or close to shopping.

Of course, there are "retirement" Mobile Home communities all around central Florida, where a previously-occupied one can be bought for less than $40000, new ones around $90000. South of Orlando (near Davenport FL), they're building regular homes with $0 down and mortgages of $200000+.

TS

Oh the stories about the villages. Lol. It’s a partyyy lol

 

[Ralph Sir Edward]

As you may or may not know we are in the process now of doing this big time in getting ready for our house to sell and to move (twice- ugh). This is so outside of my comfort zone I cannot even tell you.

I am a very organized neat and clean person and that is even an understatement. I always hated clutter. That said- even with that being the case- you cannot believe how much stuff we have to get rid of moving from a 2600 square foot home to an 1100 square foot home.

Things you sell you get nothing for- even if they are new. It is disheartening when I think of how much I put into selecting things for this home and the money and now have to give them away. Things I really still love. Especially my books! And the artwork I have no one wants- even though I am selling the pieces for nothing!

Then I think about how the small house will cost more than we net after everything with selling our current home and will not have anything in it like our current home has. No where close! I will miss our beautiful kitchen that we redid 5 years ago, our spa like bathroom with the steam shower, our beautiful living room and fireplace and our wood stove which is only 5 years old. I will miss the privacy of our land and the views out of our curtain less windows, our stream and bridge, but not the total isolation 24/7. Not the 700 foot steep driveway. Our huge skylights and barn doors upstairs. Our beautifully tiled downstairs bathroom. The comfort of having a whole house generator. Having our own well. And for me- being on a slab instead of a basement (basements, which I hate). Oh- and the 2 car garage.

New house will have none of this. I have been second guessing this all week. Are we crazy?!

Then just the expense of moving twice and renting until the new home is done will be so expensive, even taking into considering our high taxes here and everything.

We put so much of our lives into this house. It really is hard. Doing this in your 60's is not like doing it in your 50's. Good thing we didn't wait any longer. It is stressful and exhausting.

But we know it has to be done and we are shooting now for the lifestyle. Hoping it will all be worth it. Have to try to keep my eye on the prize.

A suggestion for your consideration. Did you ever consider a small storage room for the artwork?

That way, you could rotate your artwork on a regular basis. (I got this from a bank I worked for in the 1980's. They had a set of artworks for the lobby, that they rotated on a regular basis). Maybe you could do it on a seasonal basis. (Artwork doesn't take that much room.)

 

[Cornell]

A suggestion for your consideration. Did you ever consider a small storage room for the artwork?

That way, you could rotate your artwork on a regular basis. (I got this from a bank I worked for in the 1980's. They had a set of artworks for the lobby, that they rotated on a regular basis). Maybe you could do it on a seasonal basis. (Artwork doesn't take that much room.)

We moved my mother into an assisted living home over the holidays. She has some lovely Lladro , Royal Copenhagen figurines, but too many display. We store quite a few in her high kitchen cabinets and rotate them out into her display shelves every few months. It's like "surprise!" for her. Also, rather than hanging family photos on the walls, we installed display ledges in her apartment and it's so much easier to swap out/ rotate pictures. She loves it.

 

[rapmarks]

As you may or may not know we are in the process now of doing this big time in getting ready for our house to sell and to move (twice- ugh). This is so outside of my comfort zone I cannot even tell you.

I am a very organized neat and clean person and that is even an understatement. I always hated clutter. That said- even with that being the case- you cannot believe how much stuff we have to get rid of moving from a 2600 square foot home to an 1100 square foot home.

Things you sell you get nothing for- even if they are new. It is disheartening when I think of how much I put into selecting things for this home and the money and now have to give them away. Things I really still love. Especially my books! And the artwork I have no one wants- even though I am selling the pieces for nothing!

Then I think about how the small house will cost more than we net after everything with selling our current home and will not have anything in it like our current home has. No where close! I will miss our beautiful kitchen that we redid 5 years ago, our spa like bathroom with the steam shower, our beautiful living room and fireplace and our wood stove which is only 5 years old. I will miss the privacy of our land and the views out of our curtain less windows, our stream and bridge, but not the total isolation 24/7. Not the 700 foot steep driveway. Our huge skylights and barn doors upstairs. Our beautifully tiled downstairs bathroom. The comfort of having a whole house generator. Having our own well. And for me- being on a slab instead of a basement (basements, which I hate). Oh- and the 2 car garage.

New house will have none of this. I have been second guessing this all week. Are we crazy?!

Then just the expense of moving twice and renting until the new home is done will be so expensive, even taking into considering our high taxes here and everything.

We put so much of our lives into this house. It really is hard. Doing this in your 60's is not like doing it in your 50's. Good thing we didn't wait any longer. It is stressful and exhausting.

But we know it has to be done and we are shooting now for the lifestyle. Hoping it will all be worth it. Have to try to keep my eye on the prize.

I thought you bought the house with a walk out basement!

 

[stmartinfan]

We're in the middle of remodeling 3 bathrooms in our 20 year old house. We knew we would need to do some work on them before selling our 2 story plus finished basement house to downsize, so decided to do it now so we can enjoy them for a few years. We can still handle the stairs and lawn work despite nearing 70 and love our location because our house looks out on a wetlands with lots of privacy.

But I’ve also got my eye on a 55+ neighborhood nearby where I know several current residents. It's got nice amenities and lots of activities. My goal would be to find a nice option there within 5 years. But it will be hard to have neighbors as close as they do because of small lots. So downsizing stuff is also becoming a priority. Anyone want to buy a pool table?

 

[WinniWoman]

A suggestion for your consideration. Did you ever consider a small storage room for the artwork?

That way, you could rotate your artwork on a regular basis. (I got this from a bank I worked for in the 1980's. They had a set of artworks for the lobby, that they rotated on a regular basis). Maybe you could do it on a seasonal basis. (Artwork doesn't take that much room.)

Thanks- nice idea. But believe me- this home is so small (only 4 rooms) and there is hardly any wall space. I am taking what I can to place where I know each can fit. The others just won't work. Thankfully- my HUGE colorful Bessy will fit on the only big wall we have right over our couch- just like she does here! That's a positive!

 

[WinniWoman]

I thought you bought the house with a walk out basement!

Yes! We did! Hubby loves it! Me- no! I hate basements! But glad for him! It will be his man cave.

But if it gets water in it- I want nothing to do with it.

Then there is the issue of the insulation being exposed in the basement ceiling and the fact that we will need to get the place tested for radon. (NH- the granite state!). Not good for the lungs. So we know already the insulation will have to be covered up. I hope there is no radon...then that would have to be taken care of as well. Not to mention my husband's whole family died of lung cancer.

See why I love living on a slab?

 

[VacationForever]

That must have been a difficult decision especially since you have spoken highly about your current home and community. Can you share what made you decide to move back to a single family home?

It is certainly a very difficult decision and nothing is set in stone. We have a wonderful unit and one of the best views in the whole community and our building is in top shape with 5 days a week of janitorial service washing and cleaning the entire building. We enjoy the simplicity of having no yard or roof to worry about.

We are finding out little annoyances of "communal" living. An example is that we have horrible internet/cable service with Century Link. Cox does not service our building. One of our HOA Board members drove to lay a fiber optic to the building and with it, DirectTV will be an option. The HOA Board approved spending $1K for the fiber optic connection. Our building "management" said this week that we need majority of the building owners to approve this plan. All along we have found that this management company love innertia, i.e. do nothing. 2 of the board members want the management service switched/terminated and to either go with a different company or self manage with help of software service. 2 of the board members hate changes and just want to keep the same management company. The 5th member would go with whatever everyone else decides. There was a recent burglary in a unit which we highly suspect is connected to a renter in another unit. We have no proof but it does not give us a comfortable feeling that we have to watch over our shoulders because of someone in the same building Police had been called on this renter a couple of times for domestic issues reported by his "room mates/friends" over unrelated issues. The renter also had several violations and the landlord paid the fines to the HOA but continued to keep the renter in the home. The management company said there is nothing that can be done.

 

[WinniWoman]

We're in the middle of remodeling 3 bathrooms in our 20 year old house. We knew we would need to do some work on them before selling our 2 story plus finished basement house to downsize, so decided to do it now so we can enjoy them for a few years. We can still handle the stairs and lawn work despite nearing 70 and love our location because our house looks out on a wetlands with lots of privacy.

But I’ve also got my eye on a 55+ neighborhood nearby where I know several current residents. It's got nice amenities and lots of activities. My goal would be to find a nice option there within 5 years. But it will be hard to have neighbors as close as they do because of small lots. So downsizing stuff is also becoming a priority. Anyone want to buy a pool table?

OMG. This was us starting 6 years ago. We remodeled our three bathrooms, kitchen/den, had the whole house painted, refinished the floors, bought some new furniture for the living room and dining room, replaced the wood stove with a new model. We did a few sections each year. The house never looked so good as it does now- even when we first bought it new, as everything was just crappy builder grade.

My husband, "why are we doing this if we will be selling the house eventually?" I said "Because we are living in it and each year everything in it gets older, including us!" Might as well do it now and it will help sell the house hopefully when the time comes- even though we will not get our money back- and we can enjoy using everything in the meantime. Also- if for some reason we could not sell the house and/or move for whatever reason, at least we would be comfortable in our home.

Finally today someone said they would come on Saturday for our dining room hutch ($50). And- after being posted a few weeks, two people were interested in my husband's night table ($15)- but tonight he decided he does not want to give it up yet so I had tell the buyers we changed our minds and delete the post. He has his alarm clock on it! LOL! SMH......

 

[CalGalTraveler]

It is certainly a very difficult decision and nothing is set in stone. We have a wonderful unit and one of the best views in the whole community and our building is in top shape with 5 days a week of janitorial service washing and cleaning the entire building. We enjoy the simplicity of having no yard or roof to worry about.

We are finding out little annoyances of "communal" living. An example is that we have horrible internet/cable service with Century Link. Cox does not service our building. One of our HOA Board members drove to lay a fiber optic to the building and with it, DirectTV will be an option. The HOA Board approved spending $1K for the fiber optic connection. Our building "management" said this week that we need majority of the building owners to approve this plan. All along we have found that this management company love innertia, i.e. do nothing. 2 of the board members want the management service switched/terminated and to either go with a different company or self manage with help of software service. 2 of the board members hate changes and just want to keep the same management company. The 5th member would go with whatever everyone else decides. There was a recent burglary in a unit which we high suspect is connected to a renter in another unit. We have no proof but it does not give us a comfortable feeling that we have to watch over our shoulders because of someone in the same building Police had been called on this renter a couple of times for domestic issues reported by his "room mates/friends" over unrelated issues. The renter also had several violations and the landlord paid up fines to the HOA but continued to keep the renter in the home. The management company said there is nothing that can be done.

Makes total sense. This is why we like where we live in a single family home with lots of privacy. One of our newest neighbors had downsized to a smaller attached home community and moved back into our community for the reasons you stated above. Our neighborhood always had kids (including ours) but now the kids have grown and everyone has remained in the large homes. Good luck with your move.

 

[TravelTime]

We are Gen X, the forgotten generation. We are looking to downsize further in about 5 years. We will sell our big house in the Sierra Foothills and split our time between our flat on the SF Bay and our flat in Costa Rica. The decision to look internationally while keeping a foot in California has been tax driven. The property taxes in Costa Rica are several thousand per year vs $20,000 to $40,000 in California. Not sure what the tax savings will be but our internationally generated income, social security and investment income will be taxed at Costa Rican tax rates. Our US earned income will continue to be taxed at California rates, which means mean we are poor in California and rich in Costa Rica. We have generated this plan this week as we are spending 10 days right now in Costa Rica and enjoying the Tico lifestyle. We will also become Costa Rica residents so we can come and go as we please. Health care is free here BTW, enabling early retirement for us.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

We have some good friends (former UK citizens) who moved from Calif. to Costa Rica. They were always F500 corporate ex-pats who lived internationally throughout their careers. Their accountant told them that if they lived in the US any longer that the US would continue to tax them after they left the states. So they went country shopping and chose Costa Rica for the same tax reasons you gave. They love it there.

 

[TravelTime]

It is certainly a very difficult decision and nothing is set in stone. We have a wonderful unit and one of the best views in the whole community and our building is in top shape with 5 days a week of janitorial service washing and cleaning the entire building. We enjoy the simplicity of having no yard or roof to worry about.

We are finding out little annoyances of "communal" living. An example is that we have horrible internet/cable service with Century Link. Cox does not service our building. One of our HOA Board members drove to lay a fiber optic to the building and with it, DirectTV will be an option. The HOA Board approved spending $1K for the fiber optic connection. Our building "management" said this week that we need majority of the building owners to approve this plan. All along we have found that this management company love innertia, i.e. do nothing. 2 of the board members want the management service switched/terminated and to either go with a different company or self manage with help of software service. 2 of the board members hate changes and just want to keep the same management company. The 5th member would go with whatever everyone else decides. There was a recent burglary in a unit which we high suspect is connected to a renter in another unit. We have no proof but it does not give us a comfortable feeling that we have to watch over our shoulders because of someone in the same building Police had been called on this renter a couple of times for domestic issues reported by his "room mates/friends" over unrelated issues. The renter also had several violations and the landlord paid up fines to the HOA but continued to keep the renter in the home. The management company said there is nothing that can be done.

I am not sure if these are communal living problems since we encounter them all over even in single family homes. I would say perhaps move to a community that restricts rentals, no AirBNB, high security, neighbors watching over each other, 24/7 gates and/or security patrols. The internet options are limited more by the cable companies that the HOA, from what we see. We have different services in every community we live in. We work around it with installing our own micro cell or various alternatives where we are not dependent on the HOA. Most of the places we have owned have had terrible WiFi/internet connection since we tend to buy rural or up and coming destinations. Even Los Gatos which is not part of communal living, had terrible internet providers.

 

[TravelTime]

We have some good friends (former UK citizens) who moved from Calif. to Costa Rica. They were always F500 corporate ex-pats who lived internationally throughout their careers. Their accountant told them that if they lived in the US any longer that the US would continue to tax them after they left the states. So they went country shopping and chose Costa Rica for the same tax reasons you gave. They love it there.

Did they change their residence status to Costa Rica vs the US to avoid being taxed in US? We may not want dual residence but to maintain our US citizenship. We would have US citizenship and Costa Rica residence by living in Costa Rica more than half the year. We do not want Costa Rican passport because then we need to give up our US passport. I guess we would become ex-pats but keep a property we own and use in the US as a vacation residence. I need to investigate these options.