Have you ever sold your home and moved into an apartment ?

[pooh2001]

We are considering selling our home and moving to an apartment.
We have a 1700 sq foot home with 1 acre of land.
Mowing the grass, upkeep of the home, and taxes are eating out of our income.
We are in our early 60's.

A rental apartment within 10 miles of our home is less expensive than for us to own a home.
Plus per the Social Security government website - just for one of us the rent would be half of our monthly SS payment.
If we both live into our 80's, we would have more money in our pockets, if we rented.

Not sure if you can still work at a job and get SS payments.
Where I currently work they do not retire you at age 65.

Thanks for your advice.
Should we stay in out home (still have a mortgage) or rent an apartment ?

 

[lorimay]

We have, but we sold our home within 3 days of putting it on the market and had we had our new home being built. So that was our reason.
We lived in the apt. for 7 months.
I can tell you this, be aware apartment living is very different from your own home.
Of course it was much smaller, but its the neighbors living so close you, being connected to people and hearing their TV's and music through the walls.
People letting their dogs poop anywhere and some do not clean up after them.
We had a nice grass area out the back door of the apt. we had to put stepping stones in the grass so our grandkids wouldn't step in a "pile' and come into the apt.
Parking was unassigned and a mess if you came home late, almost impossible to find a spot.
I missed our garage terribly.

I guess you need to weigh what works for you and your husband.
I know my daughter is only 30 and says all the time "Homeownership is not all its cracked up to be".

Good Luck!

 

[Faithsmom]

Yes I did, 5 years ago. One of the best decisions I’ve ever made. My husband died and I had absolutely no reason to stay in a 4 bedroom with 2 barns, garage and an acre of land to take care of. ALL I did was take care of home. Now I have all kinds of free time. It’s also great when something goes wrong to make that phone call “ Your...............just broke”. The worry level is so much less. It’s absolutely only a decision you can make. But it was a wonderful one for me.

 

[LeslieLou]

We also sold to build. We lived in an apartment for 18 months. Granted, we had 2 tweens living there with us.

Apartments are for some people but we hated it. We lived on thefirst floor. The impact our neighbors had on us was tremendous. The apartments were called “luxury”; they were of very poor quality, but the best we could find in our restricted area for schools.

There were many downsides. In the upside, we saved money.

In our area, there are house like condos where HOA does lawn care and house maintenance. If I wanted to downsize, I’d look that direction.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We haven't but DS and family did. Matter of fact, I'm sitting in his new home now. But when he moved up here, he lived in 2 different apartments for 2 years, before he had a house built. The DGDs especially, 7 and 6, are so glad to have a house again. I think DS and DDIL are too.

 

[Disneybuckeye]

Doing it now. Our 120 year old 6700 sq foot 3 story victorian that we lived in for 26 years sold in 4 days. We had a trip to Europe planned two weeks later and not enough time to find a new home to purchase. I rented the biggest apartment I could find (1900 sq feet) and two garages to hold all our stuff and have indoor parking.

It was also our test drive to see if we could do a townhouse or condo. Even though we are on the top floor corner with a secluded balcony I hate sharing common areas. We are now customizing a home to build in a maintenance free older adult community a few miles from our old home. Single story floor plan and only 300 sq feet. We are very excited. Having the apartment is a great way to give us time to decide what we really want.

 

[amberpi]

Yes, a couple of times in fact. I'm living in a lifestyle community right now after selling a home and the amenities are wonderful! Being right there with everything I need, having all the maintenance done, and taken care of during this stage of my life is quite perfect.

 

[ronandannette]

We are considering selling our home and moving to an apartment.
We have a 1700 sq foot home with 1 acre of land.
Mowing the grass, upkeep of the home, and taxes are eating out of our income.
We are in our early 60's.

A rental apartment within 10 miles of our home is less expensive than for us to own a home.
Plus per the Social Security government website - just for one of us the rent would be half of our monthly SS payment.
If we both live into our 80's, we would have more money in our pockets, if we rented.

Not sure if you can still work at a job and get SS payments.
Where I currently work they do not retire you at age 65.

Thanks for your advice.
Should we stay in out home (still have a mortgage) or rent an apartment ?

We have not done so yet, but it is absolutely what we plan to do. We are currently scrambling to pay off our mortgage, which will take between 12 -17 years, depending on our on-going work situations. Once we do we will immediately sell it and live off the proceeds in rental accommodations. We imagine going into a regular apartment first, then eventually one of those age-in-place seniors' facilities. By that time I'll be almost 70 and DH will be in his early 80's.

We have no doubt the plan will work, and FTR, we sold our "big house" 8 years ago and practiced downsizing by renting a townhome for 4 years while we decided that: a) we could happily tolerate multi-family living; and b) waited to find just the right place in the perfect neighbourhood. It's a lovely home and a good investment. We haven't missed the house, or having a yard for a single second.

We haven't but DS and family did. Matter of fact, I'm sitting in his new home now. But when he moved up here, he lived in 2 different apartments for 2 years, before he had a house built. The DGDs especially, 7 and 6, are so glad to have a house again. I think DS and DDIL are too.

Sure, but they are in such a different season of life than the OP. I can't imagine apartment living with children; a house and yard in a neighbourhood with other houses and yards is certainly much better in that situation. It's kind of apples-and-oranges though.

 

[NYCgrrl]

We are considering selling our home and moving to an apartment.
We have a 1700 sq foot home with 1 acre of land.
Mowing the grass, upkeep of the home, and taxes are eating out of our income.
We are in our early 60's.

A rental apartment within 10 miles of our home is less expensive than for us to own a home.
Plus per the Social Security government website - just for one of us the rent would be half of our monthly SS payment.
If we both live into our 80's, we would have more money in our pockets, if we rented.

Not sure if you can still work at a job and get SS payments.
Where I currently work they do not retire you at age 65.

Thanks for your advice.
Should we stay in out home (still have a mortgage) or rent an apartment ?

Currently, living in an apartment but it's in a real estate product almost exclusivly sold in the NYC area. A condominium is the closest term everyone else in the country knows so that's what I'll call it for purposes of clarity. It was owned by my mother and when the estate is settled I'll buy it and thus continue to get the state tax deduction I need. Our former apartment which no longer had a mortgage (also a coop/condo) sold fast, was 1850 sq ft and was just too big for the 2-3 of us. Mom's apt is an 825 sq ft studio and perfect for our current needs. Oh and Mom bought her apartment for cash as will I.

You can work and receive SS payments BUT it depends on when you opt to retire as to how much if any of the income is taxable. Generally, the later retirement date you pick the better the tax consequences. There are very few people who will make out ahead by retiring at 62 y/o.

@ronandannette: Literally millions of children have grown up in apartments sucessfully.
Our 3rd person is DGD and as I told her parents I'm not buying a bigger apartment to accommodate a sweet one who will probably live here for less than a decade (she's going on 13 y/o). Unless they wanted to pay something on it at which point it got awfully quiet.
This building has a playroom, health club, and 24 hr doorman as did my last apartment; she'll just have to suffer through her deprived existence in a separate bedroom we are carving out of the existing living room space. The apartment I weally wanted to buy in also had a swimming pool but what with paying for college for a second generation something had to give so there went the pool. It's OK she's worth a lil more mommy martyrdom.

 

[jerseygal]

We sold our home on a relocation for DH job. We had always owned our own townhome and single family homes ever since we married, but rented a lovely condo privately. Missed our home and community, but best way to get to know an area before sinking money into a home, purchasing then being committed. Renting a condo is also another option versus renting from a property management company. Home ownership is difficult once you hit 60 and don’t want to do all the upkeep on a home. Tired of shoveling snow that’s for sure! Nice though when you rent, if you absolutely hate it, lease is usually only for a year!

 

[gillep]

We have, but we sold our home within 3 days of putting it on the market and had we had our new home being built. So that was our reason.
We lived in the apt. for 7 months.
I can tell you this, be aware apartment living is very different from your own home.
Of course it was much smaller, but its the neighbors living so close you, being connected to people and hearing their TV's and music through the walls.
People letting their dogs poop anywhere and some do not clean up after them.
We had a nice grass area out the back door of the apt. we had to put stepping stones in the grass so our grandkids wouldn't step in a "pile' and come into the apt.
Parking was unassigned and a mess if you came home late, almost impossible to find a spot.
I missed our garage terribly.

I guess you need to weigh what works for you and your husband.
I know my daughter is only 30 and says all the time "Homeownership is not all its cracked up to be".

Good Luck!

This was our experience as well. We were in an apartment while we were between houses because we didn't know where we wanted to live when my husband's company moved us to CA. Let's just say that my husband hated every minute of it and I found it only slightly more tolerable. We ended up breaking our lease which cost us a ton of money because we just needed to be out of there. It had nothing to do with the apartment itself, which was really nice, as was the complex, we just aren't apartment people anymore, we got too used to having our own home. I am sure that it is an amazing option for some, but it just doesn't work for us anymore.

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

We are planning on selling our home and buying a condo in about 4 years when both kids are finished their schooling. Dh is taking early retirement and with the plans we have in place the last thing we want is a large house to maintain and pay for. The condo will be big enough so that each kid has their own bedroom for as long as they wish to live with us. The sale of the house will allow us to buy the condo cash and leave us a nice balance in the bank for our retirement and with helping each child with their own purchase down the road.

 

[DLgal]

We lived in an apartment for 10 years (7 of those with 2 kids...gasp!) I would do it again if we had to. We are perpetual renters but have lived in a huge 3500 square foot home for a few years which we HATED. It was just too big, too much cleaning, too much yard work, too much shoveling in the winter, etc. Even in that huge house with 5 bedrooms, my boys wanted to share a room. We now live in a 1820 square foot "single family condo" (we don't share any walls and have our own, fenced lot, but we share a motorcourt 5 other houses so it's technically a condo). All the landscaping is included, we have 4 huge Jr. Olympic sized community pools, several gorgeous parks nearby, adjacent to a walking/bike trail, walking and biking distance to the elementary and middle school. It is perfect for us, and we would be happy living here forever. Our kids are 12 and 14 and still share a room with bunk beds and they love it.

OP, one thing to keep in mind with an apartment is annual rent increases. Depending on your local housing market, these increases may make the apartment unaffordable within several years. Ask any complex you are considering for historical rent increases going back 10 years. It can be quite shocking when your rent goes up several hundred dollars a month.

Also, you may consider finding a private rental condo. Often you can negotiate lease terms for longer periods of time to lock in a rental rate. We are renting this home from a woman who has several rental properties and we have been doing 3 year leases. We are on our second and she only raised our rent $50/month in a VERY HOT rental market. I was also able to negotiate the rental price down $250 by offering to sign a 3 year lease. You have a lot more pull with a private owner rental. Consider this option.

 

[tvguy]

Everyone's situation is different. That is something I have learned on these boards.
My mom lived in the same house 1,700 square foot house on 1/2 acre for 53 years, the last 30 by herself. A few times she did look at either buying a condo, or moving into an apartment. The HOA fees at the condos always seemed to be a bit more than what it cost her each month for her house. And the apartment rent was much more. It made no economic sense.
But she and my dad paid cash for the house, and both were very frugal.
After she passed I went through her check book. Her expenses for everything, house, food, all insurance, auto upkeep, were $650 a month. Her $1,260 Social Security check easily covered that. Her $400 month pension and $200 a month annuity income were going right into savings.

 

[Colleen27]

We rented very briefly because of delays on closing on our current home and needing to be out of the old one. I can't see myself doing it long term. We absolutely plan to downsize significantly from our 4-bedroom Victorian as the nest empties, but as much as not having home maintenance responsibilities appeals to me, I can't see us being happy with sharing walls/floors with neighbors. Plus we have pets that will likely be around long after the kids have moved out, and finding an apartment that would allow them would be virtually impossible in my area.

 

[lifesavacation]

We’ve lived in an apartment due to a corporate relo. You move and then get temp housing until the corporation sells your home and then you rebuy. Anyways, the kids loved it. The apartment had a pool, and huge theater room, and other amenities. I liked having a smaller space to keep clean. The only downside was the dog. We couldn’t just let her out in the backyard. She needed to always be on a leash.

 

[bigbabyblues]

No, and I don't see us ever doing it. There are very few apartment complexes here, and most of them are low income and not exactly nice. We rented a townhouse for the first year we were married and it was horrible. We hated having neighbors that close, where you could hear their tv, kids crying, etc. We hated it so much, we moved into our house three months before our lease was up; our house wasn't quite ready (some rooms needed painted, we were putting in new flooring, etc) but we dealt with it and paid the rest of the lease out.

 

[indimom]

It's not in our plans until we are at least 70-80, then we might consider it if health issues make living independently a burden.
We are looking to downsize into a home we hope we can manage/maintain into our golden years... single story, attached garage, larger living space (for family gatherings) with fewer/smaller bedrooms. We actually want to upsize our yard a little, but nothing too cumbersome and with limited landscaping to maintain.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Everyone's situation is different. That is something I have learned on these boards.
My mom lived in the same house 1,700 square foot house on 1/2 acre for 53 years, the last 30 by herself. A few times she did look at either buying a condo, or moving into an apartment. The HOA fees at the condos always seemed to be a bit more than what it cost her each month for her house. And the apartment rent was much more. It made no economic sense.
But she and my dad paid cash for the house, and both were very frugal.
After she passed I went through her check book. Her expenses for everything, house, food, all insurance, auto upkeep, were $650 a month. Her $1,260 Social Security check easily covered that. Her $400 month pension and $200 a month annuity income were going right into savings.

You also need to factor in the cost of maintaining a purchased property which is generally included in a well run HOA or condo and can be forgotten when owning in a single family home. Did you look through her savings account to see how much it cost to maintain the mechanical plant, property taxes and water costs as well as the roof of the house?
My mother's monthly checks were a little less than 2K and her monthly HOA/condo cost was a bit over $800.00 including insurance and regular maintenance of the actual space. I guess when you factor in any tax deductions they are pretty much the same whether HOA/condo or single house but not for renting.
When I buy her condo the monthly maintainance cost will be approx 2/3s less than my prior NYC apt and I can pay that out in interest as opposed to principal (I still haven't filed for SS); a portion of the cost of painting, appliance replacement and such will come from the interest but mostly from principal in the current economic climate.

 

[tvguy]

You also need to factor in the cost of maintaining a purchased property which is generally included in a well run HOA or condo and can be forgotten when owning in a single family home. Did you look through her savings account to see how much it cost to maintain the mechanical plant, property taxes and water costs as well as the roof of the house?

Yes, she kept a ledger of everything and that is averaged into that cost per month I mentioned. And she kept a running total. As I recall over 53 years she spent about $50,000 on roof replacements/water heater replacement/painting/new well pumps. Averages out to about $80 a month over 53 years. My dad was a bookkeeper and kept records of every penny they spent and she kept that up. When she passed away in 2013 I found all those ledgers, every payment from 1950 to 2012 when she got ill written in. The $1,850 they paid for their brand new 1957 Chevy 150. The 25 cent fine my dad paid for a parking ticket in 1953. The hospital bill for when I was born. My mom finally decided in 2000 that she no longer needed to keep EVERY canceled check back to 1950.. Took her months to shred them all.

DD has been house/condo hunting for nearly a year now. HOA fees here are way out of line with the services they provide. A realtor told her for a lot of property managers, HOA fees they collect for associations are a profit cash cow for them.