last house before retiring .. or condo?

[albireo13]

We have a steep driveway also .... nasty in the winter. Our house is perched above the driveway so many steps to get in from the front or back ... or from the garage. A pain when carrying groceries.

Most/all ranches in our area tend to be older homes ... 1960s era.
We love our area ... 20min to the ocean in southern NH. However, real estate is expensive.

[Montecfo]

We are still in the 4300 sf two-story with finished basement SFH that we have lived in 20 years. We would love to downsize but it appears we would have to go a lot smaller to spend much less and would have a hard time matching our wooded lot.

Perhaps we will stay in it until we decide to leave the area (northern Va) in the next 3-5 years.

If our area is selected for Amazon's HQ2, then that could be the trigger to leave.

[Dawg52]

I've got the perfect retirement home. A 3/2 1700 sq ft patio home on a small lot. All one level. The only thing some may not like is how close the houses are to each other. But its a very quite neighborhood.

[kaudrey]

My parents live in NH, and what they did 20 years ago when they built their house was put the master bedroom/bath on the first floor, along with the kitchen, living, dining room and den. Therefore, although it is a 2 story house, they can live on the first floor. The second floor is a study and 2 guest bedrooms, and another bathroom. Fast forward to today, my mother, at 80, can no longer do stairs easily, and she doesn't have to - everything they need to live is on the main floor.


Don't limit yourself to a ranch - just look for a layout that can accommodate you living mostly on the main floor.

[Bamaman]

We left Atlanta when my wife's spinal stenosis caused her legs to buckle--falling down steps twice of our three story home. We moved to a house with 2350 square feet on one floor and a full basement that I finished as nice as the main floor. I had a plan to downsize as I knew our company was "consolidating" and closing offices/facilities.

After 11 years, my wife ran up on a large foreclosure home, and we sold the house we were in at a top price. The "new" house is a 2700 square foot ranch with 3 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms upstairs, but it has an incredible finished 2 bedroom, two full bathroom basement and two double car garages. Neighbor houses go 7000 to 10,500 square feet, so this house was a great investment at less than $300K.

We would never consider retiring to such a large home, however all living can be done on one floor if our health deteriorates. And we're in it for less money that we could move to the Villages or into a Del Webb type of community. And living in an extremely low COL place has its benefits. We still have the family lake house across town that's been in our family 5 generations since 1945.

[pacergal]

have not moved and don't really plan too, unless something happens. House is a single level family ranch about 1700 sf, only one step up from garage or front door.

[Perryinva]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ncbill Town home here for over 20 years. Our development is filled with older couples who sold their big house after the kids left & didn't want to have to do outside maintenance anymore.

Starting that next month. All new, 3 story, 2 car garage, high efficiency and high end appliances and HVAC. All units built with stacked closets and ground floor pit that can be purchased with an elevator up front rather than wait until needed. We went for the elevator, knowing that it would be seldom used (slower than taking the stairs), but is there if we need it or for loads. All units designed with handicap access. Resale on the few units that have gone for sale was high and fast. Elevators are a big plus in resale in communities with more aged residents.

[Teacher Terry]

One reason I wanted to downsize is I didn’t want a big space to clean .

[Fedup]

I’m in the camp, what dirt, I don’t see any dirt, haha. My husband occasionally vacuums the areas where we frequent, especially when I’m in my art class. It’s a big house, 2-3 rooms we rarely use. Except when the kids come back, he vacuums their rooms.

[jimandthom]

We sold our 2400 sg ft brick/stone ranch(mostly all redone) in 5/2016 on a whim and moved to to 3 story 120 yr old Vic needing lots of work. We also went from very modest snow fall area to 12ft or so each year.That was my official retirement-spouse had been retired since 2011.

The stairs have provided me calf and thigh muscles, breathing stamina and 1+ size smaller waist--almost back to a 32. And, BP generally in the 100's over low 70s.

We do have a room on the 1st floor that could become a bedroom and a gameplan to expand the 1st floor bath as needed. Most old houses up here were built 3-4 ft off the ground to accommodate snow/wind totals so while we could make the interior workable, getting in and out of the house could require a rather long ramp.

We will adjust accordingly as time goes.

[braumeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimandthom We sold our 2400 sg ft brick/stone ranch(mostly all redone) in 5/2016 on a whim and moved to to 3 story 120 yr old Vic needing lots of work. We also went from very modest snow fall area to 12ft or so each year.

I have to admit the UP is beautiful, but …

Wow! More power to you!

[Cut-Throat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister I have to admit the UP is beautiful, but … Wow! More power to you!

Yes, I'm with you on that one! .... We live in a perfect retirement house.. 3600 sq feet finished. 2 Bedrooms, 3 Baths, a couple of Dens, a couple Living rooms...Big rooms with fewer walls.....Townhome with no outside Maint.

The only problem is that it is just outside of Minneapolis, which is too cold for me... So, we spend the winter in the Bahamas, Florida, Australia, this year Hawaii....
When we want to settle down in the future, it might be Florida or Hawaii... Moving would be a Big Pain in the Ass.

[SomedaySoon]

My 2cents. I loved the full college experience with fraternities, sports, social activities, etc. Then I graduated and married and had kids. I bought a house @ 25 and lived there for 30 yrs. During that time I was your basic workaholic, with no social life. Worked, mowed the lawn, cleaned the pool, shoveled the driveway, fixed what need to be fixed in an old house, repeat. @55 I was laid off and decided to retire. We bought a SFH in a brand new 55+ condo community 5 years ago. One floor energy efficient living with all outside care done by professionals. Since then it has been like being back in college. DW and I go out to eat a couple of nights a week with new friends. I bowl, play golf, pickleball, etc., just about every day. I volunteer @ the local soup kitchen with 5 other guys in the community and it is more fun than you can imagine. There are restrictions on what we can do outside our house, but it is something we can definitely live with. I vote for condo living !

[bingybear]

We have been thinking about the same topic and really put it on hold. DMIL just moved from independent to assisted care and she wants us close for both stages and future ones. This limits our choices so we are just staying put. We live in a 70's 2 story, 4 bedroom 2000 sqft home on half an acre. We have upgraded the mechanical components with high efficiency low maintenance ones. We have thought about staying and putting in an elevator, but I don't expect that to be needed for 20+ years. We will want to move to a smaller yard as our 1/2 acre can be a lot of work as we age. Again, not much of an issue for years.

We have thought our son's house would be a good retirement home. A 2 story with the master on the first floor. In fact everything you need on the first floor. The partial second floor has 2 bedrooms and a bath. This would be perfect for guests/kids.

If I were you I might try buying one of those ranches if I liked the area and base floor plan. Then rehab it to suit your needs. Make sure the base structure is solid. From past posts I recall you are an engineer. I would assume you could handle this.

One of our other thoughts is to wait a while as they are building condo retirement homes that seem to be already for the aging. I'm thinking that we will have a slow down in housing and could pick up a condo a bit cheaper as residents pass or more to higher levels of care.

IIRC you are about 5 years older than me.

As I note, I've put the move on hold until we can open up our geographic options.

[jimandthom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister I have to admit the UP is beautiful, but … Wow! More power to you!

We are in the somewhat more tropical end --extreme eastern UP in the Soo. Would have preferred Marquette or the Keweenaw peninsula for the more wilderness and harder winters. But, we lived in the Soo in our more youthful days and felt comfy there.

[street]

I built my home myself 35 years ago. We had in mind that we could most likely be here in our golden years and built it accordingly. We have a 1900sf one level home. It is a 2 step (16 inches from ground) to get into home.

I personally like one level homes I grew up in a two story and a down stairs with a flight of stairs.

[friar1610]

We've lived for 5 years in a 2400 sq ft duplex in a small (14 unit) over-55 condo community in coastal MA. As with others who have posted, it's 2 stories but we can easily live on the main floor if it ever comes to that. We don't really need all the room but it's nice to have.

At this stage (73) I'm still capable of doing yard work but it is sure nice, after 35 or so years of home ownership, to have someone else do it. Although it's not always done as carefully as I might like, I don't sweat the small stuff any more. There are a few things that are mildly irritating about the condo form of ownership but not so bad that I'd consider moving. (I was on the condo board for 2 years and I know from personal experience that not everone is happy all the time. I wasn't happy with everything about my single family houses all the time, either.)

The couple in the other half of the duplex is pleasant, quiet and we've become good friends. Nobody in the community seems to generate a lot of noise.

For us, both the physical attributes of the house and the condo form of ownership have worked out well.

[albireo13]

We were thinking maybe buying property first and build a home but that could be a lot more expensive. Real estate is not cheap in these parts.

We've been considering 55+ communities but, am wondering if they are financially good long term. I wonder if they'll end up like time shares ... popular now but, 20 yrs form now hard to sell if/when we need to move to a CRC.

Another thought is to wait another 5 years until we are both retired. At that point, our location options are greater ... no longer have to factor in commuting requirements. The challenge might be getting a mortgage when our income level is low.

[Scuba]

We enjoy condo living. We bought our So CA oceanfront condo in 2003 when we were in our early to mid 40’s. We liked the view & location but it has the added benefits of no required stairs (we take stairs now because we can, but there are elevators), very walkable neighborhood, and public transportation literally right outside our building’s front door. While there are some trade-offs, generally we prefer the “lock & leave” feature of condo living as we typically travel a few months per year. We envision staying in our condo until the end.

YMMV

[Floridatennisplayer]

Nice thread! I like hearing and visualizing how everyone lives. Our main residence is in Central Ohio. In a golf course community. Daughter and husband and our two grandkids live in the cul de sac right behind us! It’s wonderful. Just a block away is a beautiful passive park with a great playground. We all walk there pretty much every night.



I grew up in a ranch home. When we got married at age 23 we built a large ranch home with an inground pool. Lived there for 22 years until we built our current home. 3,400 sq ft. Two story. Master bedroom on the first floor with a 2 story ceiling from our first floor living room and kitchen looking upstairs to a large loft on one side and a great room and 2 bedrooms. I have an office also on the first floor.



My wife pretty much hangs around in the living room downstairs watching lifetime or Hallmark or HGTV while I am upstairs in the bonus room which is over top of our garage and master bedroom and watching the tennis Channel.



We also have a condo in Southwest Florida and third-floor and he got it it’s 1344 ft.² and we love it. With our entire family living in Ohio I doubt we would ever move to Florida full-time my sister and her husband and my mom also have condos about five minutes from us in Florida . I like the simplicity of the condo never anything to worry about lock the door and head back to Ohio.

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