Why or why not would you consider downsizing?

[1GoldenSun]

The "how many rooms in your home" got me thinking about this.

We still have one kid at home who will just be starting high school next year, but we are older parents and have already started discussing our future retirement so it's something to consider before too long.

Why do you think downsizing may be a good idea for you and why not?

For us, we will most likely not need the space we have now. It's hard to know for sure, though. If my daughter and son marry and have families I would expect that the family holidays in our home would not continue since they'd probably want to celebrate in their own homes, spend some holidays with the in-laws, etc., but I may still want the space for visits. And what if they don't marry and/or have children? I want to have the space for them for as long as they may want to utilize it.

My other hesitation is yard size. I do not want to be right smack up against the house next to me, and I definitely don't want to share a common wall with another home. I like the large lot size we have now, and I know that smaller homes are generally built on smaller lots.

What I would like to change would be the ability to shut off (or at least reduce) the need to heat/cool a large section of the house. The way our current home is constructed that would be impossible. We have two air-handlers but the house is too open to shut any of it off. Ideally, I'd like to have a couple bedrooms and bathrooms and maybe a playroom (maybe with built-in bunks for grandchildren) in a part of the home with not only its own air-handler, but with doors that can be shut so that we're not constantly heating/cooling that space.

Has anyone else been thinking about this?

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

At this point, downsizing is not an option. The only thing that would cause us to have to move eventually might be the fact this house has stairs. Right now, that is not a problem. If we live to be really old, getting up and down the stairs for everything could potentially be a problem.

The thing I worry about is the if our parents pass... neither side has downsized and I honestly have no idea what we would do. Given their ages, this is something I spend time worrying about regularly.

 

[Christine]

I probably will downsize when I retire to about 2500 square feet and all on one level. I learned a lot last year when I had surgery and was non-weight bearing for 8 weeks what it might be like to possibly not have great mobility. I also want to get a home where the bathrooms have wider doors, grab bars and other safety features I don't have today. Even if you're active, you can shaky with balance.

My parents have a 1 level home in Florida that has a bit of front and back yard but there are tall concrete walls between all the homes and it's incredibly quiet and private even with a small lot.

 

[Southernmiss]

We have a 2100 square foot 4 bed 2 bath home and our kids are in their 20s. We are the gathering space for extended family-my siblings, their families and my mom. I've wanted a bigger space for parking.

If anything, I'd like to have more space as the kids marry and hopefully have children.

In today's market, though, we're making our home work and added a big deck last year for gathering.

 

[kymom99]

Our house isn’t big but it’s older with lots of wasted space. Think formal living room and separate dining room. We have a nice size family room that was added on where we spend most of our time. Upkeep is getting expensive and the house is not energy efficient, especially in winter. While I like the character of our house, the neighborhood, and the fact I grew up here, we are ready to move on. We will have a 2100 square foot ranch with an open floor plan. There will be 3 bedrooms and 3 baths. The 3rd bedroom will be more if a tv room/study. Our adult son will have a room since he is not in a position to have his own place right now. Makes more sense for him to stay with us and save. He’s helpful to have around.

 

[Boopuff]

We have a 4bed, 3.5 bath house. Stupidly too much. We’d love to downsize to a ranch style home, but the Colorado real estate market is bonkers. Sure we could sell in a heartbeat, but we’d never get another place without a crazy bidding war. We’re staying put.

 

[kdonnel]

I would certainly consider downsizing now, one kid is graduating college, one is finishing his first year. But a few years ago my wife’s parents moved in with us.

We are here until they pass.

Maybe at that point both kids will be somewhat settled and we can make a better choice as to where will be the best place to downsize and retire.

 

[Boopuff]

..

 

[Colleen27]

I very much want to downsize when our youngest graduates high school, both to have a smaller and more manageable house and to be in a better (less rural) location. Our current home isn't huge, but it has a lot of spaces that two people just don't need - formal dining room, walk-in pantry, massive kitchen, full basement - and while there are things I like about our small town, there are also some things I don't. The drive to go anywhere, the lack of services like Uber and DoorDash, the very limited choices in nearby retail and dining, etc. I'd like to downsize to the kind of generic 3/2 ranch I grew up in, preferably in the city or at worst an inner ring suburb. But DH is more about the dollars and cents and would like to stay put, mostly because the money we'd get from selling this house wouldn't go as far in the places I'd want to look and because the oddity of Michigan property tax laws means we'll pay a pittance in taxes for as long as we stay in our home. We have four more years before the only child still at home is done with high school, so we're not rushing to hash it out just yet. Time will tell which way we end up going.

 

[Micca]

Our DGDs still spend quite a bit of time here, so right now we need the space. At such time that the sitch with them changes, we shall remain here.

Although it's just me & DW we have a two storey house with a basement and it's pretty much stuffed to the gills. I'm guessing at some point there will be too many flights of stairs to deal with, and at that point we'll probably get to a smaller place and downsizing will be a part of the plan.

 

[Skywalker3]

We dont' have enough space now for everything here, so no intention to downsize if we stay here after retirement. would love to have one more room that I could dedicate just for SW stuff. However, if we move after retiring, and no kids living at home, would probably look for something a little smaller, 3 bedrooms, etc. and really purge a lot of stuff.

 

[Kitty 34]

We "downsized" by getting the kids out of the nest. House was a bit tight raising three sons but now it's a perfect size.

 

[SteveH]

We looked at downsizing a few times, for now we've stayed in our house. Thankfully our master bedroom and most of our needs are on the first floor. As we looked for new housing I was disgusted by how small the yard were and how close the neighbors were, plus all the freaking grey. The real problem is that while we can do great financially selling our house, going out to buy anything is just crazy expensive. So we did our update, this year we're replacing the deck and figure we'll stay here another 5 years.

 

[luvnwdwgal]

We only have 2 bedrooms and 1 bath now so we wouldn’t downsize. It would be nice to have a ranch style home though since our bedrooms are upstairs but our bathroom is downstairs.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

My aunt wants to keep the house- but right now she has three other people contributing to the taxes, upkeep, and bills. My cousins are actively looking for an apartment, so if and when they move it will just be the two of us rattling around in too much house.

Also, none of us think she'll be able to afford to keep the place. She's retiring in six weeks, so it'll just be her SS check, some of my late uncle's pension, her own tiny pension, and what I contribute from my SSI check every month. On paper and me typing it out, it sounds like plenty, but in reality it isn't. Her best friend lives in a nice apartment complex that would be perfect for the two of us to rent. I think it's unavoidable that we'll end up there, and honestly it's my preference.

 

[RamblingMad]

Downsizing isn't practical all of the time. I once lived in a neighborhood, where the zipcode had rules about the minimum size home that could be built. And it was still big. I couldn't buy a small house in that area because legally they couldn't be built. Now, I have to live in a bigger home than I want because the lot sizes are tiny for the smaller homes. I want a big enough back yard to play fetch with my dog. It really comes down to builders and laws making downsizing impossible.

 

[MICKIMINI]

Eight years ago I convinced DH to sell our nearly 2000 sf home on 5+ acres as it was just too much maintenance of the home and woods. Our son had an advanced degree, great job and a great apartment so he was all set.

We went through the house with a notebook and decided what needed to be repaired or replaced in each room. Each room was painted including closets and ceilings. We neatened the landscaping and power washed the house, patio, deck and driveway. We rented a storage unit so we could stage the house with our own furniture (just less of it). The house was listed and closed in six weeks for our target price.

We bought a one story 1500 sf house with a garage and nice yard in excellent shape. A coat of interior paint, all new light fixtures in and out, flooring, updated baths, custom closets and a few other details brought it up to our tastes. We paid cash and have no mortgage. It was a lot of work, but 100% worth it.

 

[lifesavacation]

We downsized when our youngest was midway through senior year. I’m so glad we did. Smaller house and all on one level. Main bedroom has its own side of the house near the laundry. It’s easier to keep clean. We focused on aging in place design.

We do get quite a few overnight visitors. The only downside is that we only have one extra bedroom if dd is home.

 

[HopperFan]

Sounds good on paper but I don't see it working out for us. I don't want to leave this area and with it fairly built out, I either have to downgrade my standards or to spend more money. We have no reason to leave our home, it is paid for and we've already adjusted it in some ways to reduce the maintenance as we age.

 

[MIGrandma]

We have a huge farmhouse. Living, dining, kitchen, family room, bedroom, laundry room, two bathrooms on the main floor. Upstairs is a third bathroom, three bedrooms and a storage room. Also has a basement which we don’t use as it’s wet (there is a sump pump). Definitely plan to downsize within the next 5 years. We have a tentative plan to buy the house our daughter and her significant other live in right now. They have plans to build their dream home on acreage in the next 5 years. The house is in town and they have been making lots of major improvements. I lived in town while growing up and while I have enjoyed farm living the last 46 years I will be happy to get back into town. I their house. All on one floor, small front living room, nice eat-in kitchen, family room in the back of the house, two bedrooms and two bathrooms (one larger one with washer/dryer). They have completely redone the basement and it’s beautiful. Two bedrooms so DH can have his office and a man-cave down there. Nice front yard with porch, and huge fenced backyard with a deck. Also a heated garage, Now, if for some reason the plans don’t work out we will just find another smaller house in town, or a nearby town.