Are most people still downsizing?

[HeatherC]

For all of us who are getting ready to be or already are empty nesters, do you plan to downsize?

We are not “empty” yet, but getting close. We live in Massachusetts in a 4 bedroom New England colonial with a large yard we built in 2000. We have been talking about whether or not to downsize but in looking at what is available and for what prices things are, we have pretty much to decided to stay put for at least several more years. We just can’t see the value in buying something a lot smaller for more money to stay in the same area. We also don’t want to relocate far because we have lots of family here.

We ran into an old friend yesterday who was telling us they are done with the big house and want to downsize and have been actively searching, but there is nothing to downsize to. Most of the properties are in need of renovations and cost more than to stay where they already are.

I am guessing we are not alone and that this also plays into the real estate market. With people deciding to stay put, there are less houses for others to move up to.

So others in a similar position, are you planning to downsize?

 

[Colleen27]

I don't know that we will. It was always the plan to downsize and move closer to the city, but as your friend observed, the finances of doing so in the current market don't make sense, though we still have 3 years before our planned downsizing moment so there's time for things to change again before we're making any firm decisions.

Based on what I've seen with selling my mother's house, we may very well be better off to stay put in our too-big but mortgage-free house. The flood of investor cash into the real estate market has had the most impact on what I think of as the "starter home" market segment - small mid-century 3/2 ranches in inner ring suburbs - and those prices have gone up much more rapidly than the market as a whole. It doesn't help that we're at the very outermost fringe of what could generously be thought of as the Detroit metro area, so the attractiveness of our town to buyers has a lot to do with gas prices because living here means long commutes. Time will tell if anything changes in our favor over DD's last few years of school, but right now, I can't make the math work on downsizing. I can't see spending more money, or taking on a mortgage at 50ish, to live in a smaller house with fewer amenities and less land.

 

[Disneylover99]

No plans to ever downsize, unless or until our health becomes an issue and we can no longer live comfortably in our home.

 

[georgina]

I would not have moved out of the 4 BR house on a half acre of land that we lived in for 35 years just to downsize, at least not in our 60's. However, with no family left in the area we moved to be closer to a grandchild. We are now in a townhouse so no yard work or snow removing required, it's not really much smaller but less suburban and more walkable to many stores and restaurants. Spring 2021 was a good time to sell our house

My parents moved out of their family home into a condo sometime in their mid-70's, which was a very good move for them before my dad died.

 

[Darcy03231]

We downsized, but did it 9 years ago when the market wasn't so crazy. If it were today, I would continue to stay in my home, but start with purging things we no longer needed/used in anticipation of downsizing at a later date.

 

[AndreaDM]

Well we were going to, youngest graduated high school in 2021 and left for college. We had been looking at condos on a nearby lake, and THEN saw a beautiful BIG old home in our county's historic district and said, what the heck. So, we upsized lol, everyone thought we were crazy but we love it. We love the neighborhood and our neighbors and since we are both remote at least 50% of the time, we now have space for us to both have our own offices. We also have plenty of space for friends or family visiting from out of town.

 

[bakerworld]

Have a friend who is interested in downsizing but every home she looks at is similar to what she owns. I told her to admit she just wants to move off of a main thoroughfare. IMO, her current home would be hard to sell with the way it is furnished/decorated. She'd have to repaint, put her humongous furniture into storage and hire a service to show her house to it's best advantage. She redid her kitchen a few years back and OMG what a bad layout. She has a soaker tub on her 3rd floor. She's a bit eccentric, which makes her a fun friend, and her house reflects her eccentricity. LOL

We moved in 1990, focused on never moving again, into a house that was tight for us back then but now is plenty roomy. When we retired most of our neighbors expected us to move to Florida but I don't see a big advantage to moving. The weather in Florida is changing to colder and our PA weather seems to be getting warmer. The snow isn't much of an issue when we don't need to drive anywhere.

The only problem with not downsizing is somebody will return. Our son developed a seizure disorder and returned 10 years ago. He's always had anxiety issues and the seizures just make it worse. Anyway I don't see him moving out so that is another reason to stay in place.

 

[ronandannette]

We already did that, years ago. The reasons were financial, not retirement-related. We moved from the big house in the ‘burbs to a mid-town condo. It was a hard pill to swallow at the time, under those circumstances, but now almost 10 years later, it’s a blessing to have it behind us. Our next move (should it come to that) will be into a seniors care home.

 

[jo-jo]

At one time we had thought to move to our DD area. But then we got older and being closer to medical stuff became more important. Her area, doctors are always leaving, traveling 30-40 min to get to appointments, the one localish hospital is a basic hospital. Usually have to go to hershey for bigger stuff.

 

[snappy]

We are in the process of downsizing. Started donating stuff and boxing stuff to keep to a storage unit in May 2022. Now we are prepping the house for sale. Building a smaller house in a 55 plus community near where we have been vacationing for years. I am seriously thinking about just moving stuff and not furniture. The more I get rid of, the easier it becomes.

 

[CdnCarrie]

We plan on being snowbirds in the winter and at our cottage in the summer.
Thinking we will downsize in 10 -12 years in early to mid 60s to condo to have home base in city. Can’t see just moving to a smaller house but undecided.

 

[kanerf]

I have a giant old house in Western PA. It has four bedrooms and an extra two rooms that could be used as such. The extra rooms were used as a doctor's waiting and examination rooms years ago when he owned the house. One weird little ruminate is a spigot with handle for a Bunsen burner. It is a huge old place that dates from the 30's or earlier. It would be hard to sell given the area that it is in, so I am stuck with it. It is a nice escape from the craziness of D.C. where I work.

 

[kymom99]

We are building a new house. We already had the land. Our old house that we live in now is not suitable for us to age in. And it needs things done to it that we don’t want to put the money and sweat into. Hopefully someone else will want to so we can sell it. We took a gamble but you can’t wait for the perfect time. For reference, I am 57 and husband is 62.

ETA: our new house will be larger than our current house, but our old house is all chopped up.

 

[Magical2017]

Maybe. We have an older home. It has a large yard and we are a bit tired of the yard work. it has many old trees surrounding the property. Our boys are 17 and 14, so maybe when they move out, we'll move out. We will have to see what the market looks like at that time.

 

[Meriweather]

We don't plan to move but never know what will happen.
Not sure if one of us would want to live here alone.
We have no mortgage, so that is a great incentive to stay.
Our kids are close by

 

[barb969]

We have lived in our house for 50 years. 4br. 1.5 baths, kitchen, living room, family room and basement. We have accumulated a lot of stuff. I‘ve always said I plan to die in this house and let my daughter clean it out.

 

[Southernmiss]

Our youngest is 21. No plans to downsize. The kids are still floating in and out of the house as they find their paths. Our 24-year-old next week has been with us for the last year and a half waiting to get into medical school. He should start in August. Hooray!

We are also the "party house" for holiday gatherings with my mom and brothers and sister and their families.

Two of our sons live far enough away that they need a place to sleep when they come home for family events.

If anything, we'd like MORE space for the gatherings as the family grows.

 

[soccerdad72]

Thinking about it. With our youngest off to college this fall, we'd ideally like to buy something down south to snowbird and find something in our current area near the lake for the summer. Something smaller than we have now - 2 or 3 bedrooms, even a condo possibly.

 

[5kidsmommy]

The only reason we would move would be if we decide to move south. Right now we live in an urban area in a century home. It's old and always need some sort of maintenance but we do okay for now because we are still young-ish. All our kids are college aged or done with college. Our home is 6 bedroom, 2 bath but not as large as it sounds. Two of the bedrooms are in the attic, we converted them ourselves adding insulation, outlets, walls and all that stuff. We even added moulding so it looks like the rest of the house. But the best part of our house is we have a first floor bedroom with a full bathroom. That is so rare in our community. In fact many of our friends have already moved to the suburbs to find a first floor master. So right now the house is decent sized. Some of the kids still live here while in college. Our youngest will probably always live with us, he's autistic and says he doesn't think he wants to live alone. That may change but for now he's always welcome here.

 

[tvguy]

Didn't seem to make any economic sense to us to downsize. Just the $30,000 we'd pay in Real Estate commission was mind boggling, that's nearly one-third of what we paid for our house when we bought it. Then moving expenses, nope, not moving even across the street.
My mom was in the same boat. She lived in her house 53 years 30 of them by herself in a 1750 square foot house on a half acre lot. She loved the yard and was able to fully enjoy it and work in it until the last year of her life. She loved the neighborhood and neighbors.