Optimum house size for early retirees in the USA

[Corporateburnout]

We currently live in a 2000 square foot home with an additional 500 in a finished basement with a 2 car garage and one acre of landscaped lot with an inground pool. Too much work and we are thinking of downsizing in a couple of years to a 1500 to 1800 condo or a townhouse in the same area. We are 30 minutes to Boston and Providence, 45 minutes to cape cod and we also like to stay close to family and friends.

 

[AltaRed]

1400 sq ft villa all on one floor works well for DW and I. Only the MBR on the main floor along with a home office. We also have a partially finished basement of about 800 sq ft (rec room, guest bedroom, bath) for occasional guests and lots of storage in the unfinished area. Would not really use any more space than that.

 

[Caroline]

We live in 1700 sq ft more or less. Far more than enough for two of us.

I wanted a house of my own for the longest time -- when I finally had the job security and savings to buy one in No. Ca. I was very happy... but... now that FI is closer and long-term travel is more possible, I'm chafing at having to clean and maintain this place. I've been thinking "houseboat" for a while but DP isn't quite there yet. He's moving in my direction though, bwahhhh hahhhhh hahhhhhhhhh!

 

[lets-retire]

My guess would be about 1500 sq/ft. That is very dependent on the layout of the house though. After my last deal blew up (still fighting with the contractor to get most of my money back) me and the DW started looking at other preexisting houses and a well designed 1500 sq/ft house is about the smallest I'd be able to comfortably live in.

 

[Zoocat]

I live in a 1200 sq ft townhome with 2 bds, 2 full baths. I have no yard only a front porch. It's new, so there's virtually no upkeep, except housecleaning and ocassional decorating.

 

[heyyou]

Small, super-insulated house with one bedroom and his and hers baths, open living room and kitchen. 24' square, covered patio between house and garage. The garage has 2 offices, spare bedroom w/bath and one car space w/workshop. The patio with its hammock is our favorite room. The offices separated from the living area is a good lay-out for ER couples who are adjusting to being together every day instead of just nights and weekends. We had a similar set-up in town, but there it was vertical on separate floors. We moved to the country for single-story living.

 

[shiny]

Your house sounds great, heyyou!

 

[lifeisgood]

Hey, would y'all keep it down? I've got 4500+ sf and I'm counting on at least one person out there not reading all this and still wanting to buy a big place. (Then we can move out to our 420 sf cabing in the woods!)

 

[HobbyDave]

Well, at the moment my wife and I are planning on retiring to hike the appalachian trail for 6 months (so a tent has like .. 15 sqft?), and then onto a boat and sail around the world a few times. I believe that this boat would have much less than 1500 sqft (because I'm not working until I can afford a large one), so I'm going to mark that category.

Not really sure what we'll do after that, but we're pretty young and have some time to think up something else suitably different

 

[shiny]

Hey LifeisGood, I like your shirts.

Well, at the moment my wife and I are planning on retiring to hike the appalachian trail for 6 months (so a tent has like .. 15 sqft?),

I'm trying to get myself psyched up for a 2 week Pacific Crest Trail hike - 6 months, yikes! What kind of bedding do you bring?

 

[Retire Soon]

Our house is 1630 square foot and sets on a half-acre lot in a cul-de-sac surrounded by Ponerosa Pines. We actually could have bought a new 2500 square foot house for about the same price, except we didn't think we'd have enough elbow room on a tenth of an acre (which most new home around here are built on). We also have a 24x24 shop on our property. I think my wife and I have more than enough room for the two of us.

 

[yakers]

I like this thread because it is more like a poll then offering advice. But I do wonder what the best approach is to optimizing a house for retirement. At 1,000 sq ft, I don't plan to downsize but it does seem like a good strategy for some folks but doesn't seem to have shown up on this thread.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

I like this thread because it is more like a poll then offering advice. But I do wonder what the best approach is to optimizing a house for retirement. At 1,000 sq ft, I don't plan to downsize but it does seem like a good strategy for some folks but doesn't seem to have shown up on this thread.

I did it and it seemed like a no-brainer to me. Of course, my downsizing was pretty draconian.

JG

 

[sailor]

Well, at the moment my wife and I are planning on retiring to hike the appalachian trail for 6 months (so a tent has like .. 15 sqft?), and then onto a boat and sail around the world a few times. I believe that this boat would have much less than 1500 sqft (because I'm not working until I can afford a large one), so I'm going to mark that category.

Ceberon,
If you need a lift from Atlanta to the Springer Mountain trailhead let me know.
Mrs. Sailor and myself might through-hike AT some day - so far we did Georgia part and some Carolinas pieces.
Sailor
PS: What kind of a boat?

 

[mickeyd]

DW and I live in a house about 2500sf. If I could figure out a way to saw off the top floor (about half of the sf) I think that we could comfortably live in what would be left, which is what is now the ground floor. Of course I assume that my property taxes ($4000) would be halved also.

Anyone want a free top floor? It's yours for the taking, but you will have to pay the cost of sawing and hauling. 8)

 

[Martha]

Greg says sure, if he gets the roof too.

 

[RockMiner]

In regard to downsizing, we used to have about 3000 sq ft but I think around 2000' would be just fine. After looking at a number of houses we're running into a different issue. It's proving hard to find a modern home in this size range that we actually like. Builders usually put bigger more expensive houses on the decent lots so we are seeing a lot of tiny yards or boxy 1970's vintage ranch homes that we don't care for. Also, the construction quality seems inferior on many of the smaller houses. The search continues...

 

[TargaDave]

I consider out-structure space and acreage as important as house space.

A barn or large shed reduces my required house space significantly.

SG, My sentiment exactly, although my out-structure/acreage requirements are of the liquid variety

 

[astromeria]

What a terrific view! Where is this, TargaDave?

 

[kcowan]

I did it and it seemed like a no-brainer to me. Of course, my downsizing was pretty draconian.
JG

Us too. From 5000sf to 2000sf. From 1.2 acres to 3300sf penthouse footprint in the sky. From oversized 3-car garage (900sf) to 2 cars in covered, controlled, shared garage. Storage room of 50sf.

Draconian, I'll say. But it is amazing what time it frees up. Just trimming the 180 trees and burning the clippings took many Saturdays. No more lawn cutting (ride-on tractor, gas mower, gas trimmer)!

 

[riskadverse]

We existed (DINK's) in an 1100 sq ft house for 15 years before moving to 2800 sq ft a couple of years before retirement. I can't figure out where we kept all that stuff in the former house, because it expaned to fit the new house immediately. I can't imagine living in a smaller house now. The move looked pretty smart from an investment perspective, and since we plan to stay here long term, the real estate bubble doesn't bother us. When the time comes that we can't take care of each other, the house should fund the final phase.

 

[TargaDave]

What a terrific view! Where is this, TargaDave?

OBX, Kill Devil Hills, Soundside boating community. Not everyones cup of tea but just right for us. Oh yeah, from 3800 sq ft on our way down to 1500 sq ft

 

[daystar]

I did retirement counseling for DOD civilians for 2 years. One guy was 65 and was very concerned about retirement. He felt he needed to work another two years (age 67) to retire. We estimated that he would be receiving over $4000 a month in steady cash flow between all his pensions.

Here's the problem: This idiot recently built his wife a 4800 square foot dream home to enjoy in retirement. Ugh! I can see why he's concered about having enough money to pay the mortgage.

 

[HFWR]

Currently at 1650sf...

 

[HobbyDave]

I'm trying to get myself psyched up for a 2 week Pacific Crest Trail hike - 6 months, yikes! What kind of bedding do you bring?

Well, in general most people start hiking in the spring in Georgia, following the warm weather, so theoretically you don't need incredibly heavy sleep wear. Depending on when you start, you can always switch to cooler bedding materials once the weather turns.

I can't give much more information than that, as all of my information is book (/ messageboards / personal advice / etc) based. I've never gone for more than a 1.5 week trip. It's just one of those things on my list that needs to be done