Moving to a House or Apartment after Retirement

[jodifla]

Having owned a condo in Florida, I'd be much more likely to buy a house. Too many rules in condos!

 

[GeorgeG]

That would be exactly what I want. Hopefully, they are common in central Florida, too.

The villas here in The Villages are one story on slabs in close proximity, but not attached. They are designed with privacy in mind and each has an attached garage and a small, fenced in, easy to maintain yard. They come in a variety of designs and price ranges ($-$$$). Next up would be ranches ($-$$), then designer ($$-$$$), and then premier ($$$-$$$$). There are rules, but nothing unreasonable and less than similar communities.

 

[tvguy]

I think my only advice is to take your time and really study your options, your wants, and your needs.
I just know so many people who regret having sold their homes, buying something else, and moving.
I guess there are also regional differences, but I don't think I would every buy a Condo or Townhome. Around here they are very very difficult to resell, and don't don't gain value.
DW and I rented a brand new Townhome in 1982. We could have purchased it for $76,000. We opted to buy a house for $100,000. I just checked, that Townhome is worth $85,000 today, our house, $300,000.

 

[bicker]

Some home prices have done worse.

just for fun I thought I'd look up some 4 bed/3 bath homes on realtor.com. I was shocked to see house after house for around $65k. Property history shows they sold for around $200 k in 2005 and 2006!

It is all a matter of location, and how well the condo is maintained. I made sure I was on the condo board for the first three years, structuring the budget to allow for a healthy reserve fund and an adequate long-term maintenance plan. That's the critical difference. And indeed, the same with single family homes: If you don't maintain it, it won't be worth as much. If most everyone in the neighborhood fails to maintain it, that'll trash your home value as well, even though you do.

Even after the housing crash, we can still sell this condo, which we bought about ten years ago, for double what we paid for it.

 

[Wall-E1]

My dream is to sell the home, then travel around the country in a winnebago for a year or two, before settling back down in a townhouse or condo.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

My parents retired last year and they sold their house and moved into an apartment. It was a great decision for them and I'm glad they did it.

First they invested their equity from the sale of the house and are paying less a month between the rent and utilities (heat, hot water and trash are included in their rent) versus what they were paying in taxes, utilities and maintenance in their home.

They do anticipate that the rent will go up, but so did their taxes and utilities costs annually, so it really was not all that different to them, plus they have the equity they invested to offset the costs when it increases above what they are comfortable with (it would take quite a while to deplete their equity). Even increases in the rent can only happen during lease renewal, so it's not "any time the landlord feels like it."

They live in a mostly older population apartment, but there are a few younger tenants, but the building is well built and you do not hear anything between the apartments outside some minimal noise in the hallways.

 

[minkydog]

My dream is to sell the home, then travel around the country in a winnebago for a year or two, before settling back down in a townhouse or condo.

We're kinda right there with you. Only, we're going to hold onto the house for at least a year while we try something else on for size. DH & I are avid RVers and we've been wanting to hit the road for the past 3 years. We will likely have to wait a few more years until Christian can be placed in a group home. In the meantime, we like to take some shorter trips to places that we might consider retiring too.

Have you looked into workkamping? I think that would appeal to me. I mean, I've gotta do *something*, can't just sit around and knit. My goal is to work at Yellowstone NP for the summer and spend some summers in the PNW. My sister lives in western WA and we could hook up on her property.

Once we get a feel for just how much RVing we really want to do, THEN we'll decide what to do with the house. I think it is very possible that we *won't * want to do it full-time, but rather take 2-3 month long trips. When we get Christian settled into his new home, which could be anywhere int he state of GA, I'm sure we will want to move our home base to whereever he is.

 

[stinkerbelle's mom]

I've already told my dh that we will eventually be moving into a condo. Not totally sure where, but I want to own something without having to worry about outside maintainence. Also prefer it all on 1 level.

Never thought about a retirement community, but that might actually be a great idea...especially when we're too old to drive.