Keeping a house that's too big?

[Pakey]

We downsized 2 years after the youngest moved out; went to a house about half the size. This was 12 years ago and there have been no regrets in having a smaller home. There was no debt involved and it had nothing to do with finances. However, I'm much happier having less to deal with, less stuff, less cleaning.

 

[LindaBabe]

My TA's mom wouldn't move out of her too big house - so they shut off the upstairs. At some point the mom noticed water running down the walls. A radiator or something had cracked upstairs dumping water for weeks if not months. Can you say new floors, wall board, insulation . . .

 

[Pesky]

I think this depends on your goals and future life as you envision it.

1. The money - if you are going to have this house paid off soon versus taking out a mortgage on a new place, I think it would make sense to stay for at least another 5-10 years and then re-evaluate. If you can buy your new place outright with your equity windfall, might be a different story.

2. The family -- great that almost everyone is out of the house but a few things to think about. Did you want to have a place for any boomerang kids? What about grandkid sleepovers? Big family Christmas? How do you see that working?

That's really where the personal element comes into play. With that said, I will say my ILs downsized, selling a large home in CT and moving to CA into a home of about 2400 sq ft. It has one guest room, an office with a sleeper sofa, den and living room in addition to a roomy master. It's been fine. I will say when we are all there (there are 3 kids), it is tight and someone is on an very uncomfortable air mattress in the living room or den unless staying in a nearby hotel. But it works.

 

[eliza61]

We are empty nesters and know too many people who have downsized only to regret it. At first, it seems wonderful but then the kids start getting married and having kids. Before you know it, you don't have room for everyone to come visit. So many of our friends are now looking to buy a larger home to accomodate everyone.

You guys decide house size based on family coming to visit once or twice a year?

I'm downsizing and not looking back. My dad downsized and the free time and money it freed up, heck he could have booked our entire family at wdw for the one week we were all at home. LOL

I tease my youngest that the nanosecond he finishes college there will be a for sale sign in the front yard.

So here are my reason.

1) property taxes on my 3500 square foot home is about 12K a year and will only be going up.
2) Yard work. I just paid a guy 200 bucks a pop to rake the fall leaves and clear brush from my backyard. I'm not talking the ponderosa gang, I live in a development. 1/4 acre. summer time involves cutting grass etc etc.
3) maintance. I'm seeing those issues now especially since my house is approaching the 20 year old mark. garage door has to be replace, air conditioner unit needed to be replace, painted 2 story foryer (3K). replacing the rugs going up the stairs and in the upstair hallway another 3K. next my stove and kitchen appliances will need replacing.
4) Cleaning. I just spent 267 dollars on an A frame ladder that extended high enough to clean the chandelier in the front foryer. I figure it was cheaper in the long run than hiring some one to clean it every year. Not to mention cleaning the entire house, I can't tell you how I hate cleaning the windows every year. Personally I'm sick of spending every weekend trying to keep up with the cleaning and yes my son who's home does a great job of pitching in when he's not working or at school. between the endless dusting, throwing away papers, sweeping vacuuming etc etc. I can't wait to off load a couple of rooms.
5) Heating/electricity. heating a 4 bedroom house plus all those other rooms for 2 people?
6) Stairs LOL I've got bad knees now, I imagine they are only going to get worse. already had surgery on both of them. right now a one floor condo is sounding real good to my knees.
Only 4 more years....hopefully I've got my eye on a 2 bedroom condo in Center city.

My house is paid off so that combine with maybe a little extra from my investment should get me a really nice place in Philly mortgage free

 

[manning]

Whatever you do make an objective, not a subjective decision. More times than not the subjective will be wrong. One thing you want to Do is put pen to paper and do some figuring .

 

[disfan07]

My parents downsized and regret it right now.

We had lived in a 3400 sq ft house. 4bd/3 1/2 bath. We moved to CA for my dads new job and homes are more expensive than where we previously lived. We also had to sell our house during the height of the market slump so we got $100,000 less than what the house was worth. My parents still made money because we had lived there so long but we could afford as much because homes where we moved to had not taken as big of a hit at that time.

So my parents bought a 1700sq ft home. 3bd/3bath on zero lot basically.

The problem is....right now there are basically 4 adults and 2 dogs living there. My brother moved home a few months ago because he could not find a job that paid enough to support himself so he moved across the country to work and save money. He will probably be here for another year...at least.

I am 80 miles away at school but I go home most weekends (because of doctors appts near our house) and I will be living home next year when I take a year off before grad school.

So....all this is to say, the house my parents bought with the expectation to essentially be empty nesters with me just home for summer vacation...did not work.

Now, your situation might not be the same as ours with your kids, etc. but just make sure that all of your kids are REALLY going to be out of the house before you downsize too much!

My parents now wish they had bought the other house they had considered. It was 2200 sq ft with 4bds/3bath.....but it is what it is.

Oh....and you also have to consider entertaining family if you do that.

All of our family lives near here and we would love to entertain but our house is just not suited for that.

We are using a relatives house for my grad party in June because we just don't have the space.

So just make sure that if you downsize, that it really fits your lifestyle

 

[estherhead]

You have to be really careful about renting out an "apartment" in your home. There are zoning restrictions on multi-family dwellings in most communities as well as occupancy permits and inspections for rental property. Your insurance company may not be too keen on this little secret, either.

Your mother's idea might be "genius" if you do it the right way. Doing it on the sly can create more problems than you want to deal with.

We live outside of city limits and in an area with very little zoning. If you tell your insurance (we did and got an umbrella policy that added nominal costs), you can do anything you want here and no one says a word. I run an HVAC business and deal with permits and licensing day in and day out. But where I am, squat. We wouldn't even have to pull a permit to build an entire 2nd story. And our only deed restriction (which always cracks me up) is we can't have goats.

And my sister's area you can't have chickens. But her neighbors have chickens and there isn't anyone in charge to tattle on them even if my sister wanted to *******

But you are right, many people would have a harder time.

 

[pigletto]

I would not keep a home that was too large for us to accommodate the family that might visit. However, I would certainly get a smaller home making sure there were convertible spaces.. a den with a pull out sofa, a rec room with sleeper sofas and/or a spare bedroom. I'd also want a large living room for all of us to sit together and visit and a kitchen or dining room that would hold a large table.
I guess what I am saying is I would downsize but I would have very particular wants for the new house so that the kids could conceivably be comfortable for long visits or a temporary move home.

Right now we are at 3500 square feet. I think we could go down to 2200 or so. Once the kids were gone we could easily lose a bedroom or two, and we have a giant playroom that will be completely unnecessary.

 

[nunzia]

You have to be really careful about renting out an "apartment" in your home. There are zoning restrictions on multi-family dwellings in most communities as well as occupancy permits and inspections for rental property. Your insurance company may not be too keen on this little secret, either.

Your mother's idea might be "genius" if you do it the right way. Doing it on the sly can create more problems than you want to deal with.

Very true..I have a neice who had a house that would have been easy to convert an added on room into a small apartment for her elderly grandparents..get some income as well as have a nurse on property and they ran into nightmares related to zoning and were unable to work it out.

 

[nunzia]

We live outside of city limits and in an area with very little zoning. If you tell your insurance (we did and got an umbrella policy that added nominal costs), you can do anything you want here and no one says a word. I run an HVAC business and deal with permits and licensing day in and day out. But where I am, squat. We wouldn't even have to pull a permit to build an entire 2nd story. And our only deed restriction (which always cracks me up) is we can't have goats.

And my sister's area you can't have chickens. But her neighbors have chickens and there isn't anyone in charge to tattle on them even if my sister wanted to *******

But you are right, many people would have a harder time.

LOL..in our town my DD had 2 pygmy goats and 8 chickens..all legal in city limits (the same town that wouldn't let neice build that little apartment)..she had to move temporarily (I hope) for her DH to go to college and they had to live outside city limits there for the goats. My son has 6 chickens and recently moved one street away from us..we never hear the chickens (no roosters allowed) but their annoying chihauha we can hear

 

[BadgerGirl84]

My DH and I currently own a home that is similar in size to your's but 2 fewer bedrooms. We bought it for starting a family (baby will be here in July! woohoo!)

However, I don't see us keeping it once the kids have moved out. If it were just the two of us and we had no plans to have a family, I would purchase a ranch that's about 2000 sq feet and focus on having an awesome master suite and a big living room/entertaining area for holidays. I would not be all that concerned about the comfort of house guests or future kids moving home. Maybe if it's cramped they will be more tempted to get out on their own!!

 

[michelleh1]

However, I would certainly get a smaller home making sure there were convertible spaces.. a den with a pull out sofa, a rec room with sleeper sofas and/or a spare bedroom. I'd also want a large living room for all of us to sit together and visit and a kitchen or dining room that would hold a large table.
I guess what I am saying is I would downsize but I would have very particular wants for the new house so that the kids could conceivably be comfortable for long visits or a temporary move home.

This is how I visualize our empty-nest home too. Large gathering areas, but not necessarily accommodating long stays.

 

[zippingalong]

Thanks all for the opinions.

With one exception, all of the kids live close...I'm hoping none of them have to move back in with me.

Would you believe it somehow never crossed my mind that I could buy a house 5 years from now. I've been so focused on paying off before retirement, I was blinded to the idea.

Well...I'm starting a new job soon that I'm super excited about (same field, new hospital, same (good) money)...It's further from my house than my current job in an area that I've considered moving to in the past. My DH has resisted a bit but it's only 30 minutes from where we live now. It's significantly less expensive- (it's west so further from the beach, cheaper houses, MUCH cheaper homeowners insurance)...I may have to go back to the drawing board, because I could easily sell my house in a few years and either pay cash or at max do a very short mortgage and live near all of my friends. I'd love it, and if it made it easier for my DH to retire earlier...he'd learn to live with it.

 

[FoodLover]

There was a very pertinent article in the Wall Street Journal last month about this exact topic:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204005004578080561639348492.html

Raises some interesting issues.

 

[rewok]

If you can afford the taxes I might suggest staying there. My parents were going to downsize, though their house isn't nearly as big as yours, but then my dad questioned why he would take on another mortgage when having that one paid off (about 3 years now) felt so good?!

Can't understand why they'd have to take a new mortgage? If they're downsizing, I'd presume the new house will be cheaper than their current one, which means they won't have to take a mortgage. One doesn't have to take a mortgage when buying a house, it's just "the norm" when you're trading up (more $$$), or your current home is not paid off.

 

[sk!mom]

Can't understand why they'd have to take a new mortgage? If they're downsizing, I'd presume the new house will be cheaper than their current one, which means they won't have to take a mortgage. One doesn't have to take a mortgage when buying a house, it's just "the norm" when you're trading up (more $$$), or your current home is not paid off.

This is what I wonder about with the OP and others on the thread. If selling a large home to downsize, why a new mortgage?

If we decide to do this in a few years, the sale of our current home would cover the cost of a "downsized" home.

 

[eliza61]

This is what I wonder about with the OP and others on the thread. If selling a large home to downsize, why a new mortgage?

If we decide to do this in a few years, the sale of our current home would cover the cost of a "downsized" home.

Depends on where you are moving to. I live in South Jersey and would love to move back to the city. born and raised in NYC. cities for the most part are more expensive (initially) than suburbs.
A 2 bedroom condo in Old city Philly or Rittenhouse square could easily set you back 700K, so if I sold my house for 300K there you go.

Yes I've technically downsized by it doesn't make it cheaper. Now hopefully other things will go down (property taxes, cost of upkeep)

 

[ilovemk76]

Depends on where you are moving to. I live in South Jersey and would love to move back to the city. born and raised in NYC. cities for the most part are more expensive (initially) than suburbs.
A 2 bedroom condo in Old city Philly or Rittenhouse square could easily set you back 700K, so if I sold my house for 300K there you go.

Yes I've technically downsized by it doesn't make it cheaper. Now hopefully other things will go down (property taxes, cost of upkeep)

Condo have high fees. Cities have high taxes After you add in the mortgage of $400k or the loss of that investment you atelier not going to see a Hugh increase in your monthly expenses.

Just because you have a two story house does not mean you have to leave. Pu in a chair lift. How often do you go upstairs each day? If I am not doing laundry I usually get up, shower and go down stairs. I go up to go to bed.

Cleaning a house is good exercise. If you both are retired and not bed ridden, how could you not find the time to clean? What are you doing all day?

We are staying until we need help that we cannot get at home. Our propert taxes, heating and electric cost less than $600/ month.

 

[eliza61]

Condo have high fees. Cities have high taxes After you add in the mortgage of $400k or the loss of that investment you atelier not going to see a Hugh increase in your monthly expenses.

Just because you have a two story house does not mean you have to leave. Pu in a chair lift. How often do you go upstairs each day? If I am not doing laundry I usually get up, shower and go down stairs. I go up to go to bed.

Cleaning a house is good exercise. If you both are retired and not bed ridden, how could you not find the time to clean? What are you doing all day?
We are staying until we need help that we cannot get at home. Our propert taxes, heating and electric cost less than $600/ month.

I would kill for that. My property taxes alone are ~800 bucks a month.

It is area dependant. the sections of Philly dh and I were looking into the property taxes were about 1/2 of what we pay now. Now you have to recognize I live in Jersey which is number 2 on the hit parade of property taxes. almost any place else is going to have lower taxes
Also some areas of Philly if you move in are giving 5 year propert taxe abatement. that's 50K over what I am paying now.

Now as to what would I be doing all day. remember now I'm projecting the best case scenerio. I'm doing what I do now on my weekends. I'm out, either with friends or most often with family I go to museums, I go to visit people, I do my volunteer work, I visit family, I run chores. February I'm starting a French class so I'll have classes tuesday and thursday evenings. Now of course hopefully when I retire I'll free up tons of time during the weekend but hopefully I won't be spending it sitting in the house.

I totally admit to adding to the problem with having tons of clutter I'm trying to get rid of. but probably the underlaying factor is I hate cleaning. even when I have the time I hate doing it. definitely personality warp on my end but once again can't see that changing just because I'm retired.

Lastly my stairs. Let's look at just last night.
Came home: immediately go upstairs to take off work shoes
back down stairs.
Go downstairs to basement: put food in freezer from grocery store.
back upstairs.
Cook dinner, read mail, listen to answering machine, walk the dog clean kitchen.
Back upstairs to get a load of laundry to wash, downstairs to washer.
Take clothes in dryer upstairs to fold hang etc.
Back downstairs to putt putt around (take allergy medicine that I forgot to take, get a drink of water)
Back upstairs for some thing, can't remember what, oh yeah went into powder bathroom realize no spare toilet paper roll.
back downstairs because door bell rang.

So within the 3 hours from 5 pm to maybe 8 pm I'm up and down the stairs 7-10 times. Now I guess I could start making a concious effort to combine trips etc etc but that's a bit too micromanaging for me.

So for me, I can't wait to downsize.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

What we did . .

1) We downsized to 1800 sqft from 3600 sqft.
2) Can all the kids and grandkids stay overnight, no.
3) So, we had a plan.
4) We took $xxxx from the sales proceeds and put into a savings account.
5) The account is ONLY used to buy hotel rooms for holidays/vacations. *
6) When kids come, we draw money from the account and pay for their rooms.
7) They know this is a dedicated account, so they have no guilt.
8) Plus, the kids and grandkids fell like a double vacation.
. . . visiting grandparents
. . . stating in a 2-bedroom rented condo (it's a timeshare that rents)
. . . 5-pools, golf course, mini-golf, crafts, activities
. . . eating some meals at gramp's and some in restaurants

NOTE1: We pre-arrange for the rooms to be charged to our credit card. When
the bill comes in, we pay the credit card by electronic withdraw from the
account.

NOTE2: Without the kids living at home, that is a lot of space, utilities, taxes for
use of 1-3 times per year. Hotels for the same length of time are a lot cheaper.