Poll: What's your retirement house size?

[pacergal]

Plan to stay in current house after retiring next year. 1700 sq ft single level, no stairs, in a great neighborhood, easy walking to nearest grocery and multiple parks.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We have kept the same house so far. It will be too big for the two of us but we like the location and it has been a good investment over the years.

 

[DEC-1982]

We are in the large (but not largest) home category. We had a plan to move to a @1500-1700 sq ft place next summer but complications have arisen and I think we will stay put for about 5 years.

 

[ABQ2015]

We are in the larger home category. We would be willing to come down a little, if builders would build quality smaller homes, on decent-sized lots, in decent neighborhoods. The way they did, oh, two generations ago.

Agree. I have not retired yet so didn't vote. But in looking at the MLS for my planned retirement locale, it is difficult to find a smaller single family home in the better neighborhoods. Unless you move to an older neighborhood but I want newer, more energy efficient, less maintenance. I'm single and my first home was a 2BR/1BA 1300 SF home which was too small. Now I'm in a 2600 SF home that is way too big. I'm estimating that 1700-2000 SF would be just right but plan to rent first to test it out.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Agree. I have not retired yet so didn't vote.

I haven't retired yet either but I'll tell you one thing - I'm never moving again!

 

[Tom52]

Currently live is a 1488 sq. ft. all brick ranch with 3 bedrooms and two baths, additionally there is a 4 season room of approx. 350 sq. ft. that we only use as a 3 season room. We also have a full basement with laundry room, a full third bathroom, large family room, and a huge storage room. There is a large 2 car attached garage plus we are in the process of building a separate 3 car garage for my toys and a workshop.
This all sits on 2 acres with 34 mature oak and maple trees with a fantastic view of a pond in the back. We see deer and wild turkeys almost every day this time of year.

 

[Willers]

My ideal retirement house is 1200-1500 sq ft with a 3000 sq ft garage. But for now I don't have a retirement house, I have a 2000 sq ft working house and 1200 sq ft garage

That sounds perfect to me. At one point I had a 7200 sq. ft. garage. I miss that property.

We're buying next year and expect it to be in the 2K range. Hopefully with some shop space.

 

[Cobra9777]

We're still living in the "big family house" but plan to downsize at some undefined point in the future... probably when the cleaning and maintenance become too physically demanding. For now, we like it here quite a bit, and we can handle it financially and physically.

Current living space is just over 4500 sqft. This includes a 530 sqft detached guest house with full bath and kitchenette. Main house is 4000 sqft... 2 story, 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths. There's also a 625 sqft "barn"/storage building, which is not included. This all sits on 2.2 heavily-wooded acres with a pool, deck, and a large pond that we share with a few neighboring properties. It's going to be hard to leave this place, but we will eventually, as it's completely impractical for the two of us.

We also have two rental houses, one of which might become our downsize house. One is 1100 sqft, 2 BR, 1 bath, 1 carport, with a large yard. The other is 1800 sqft, 3 BR, 2 bath, 2-car garage, with a very small yard.

Our dream house is ~2300 sqft, 2 BR, 2 bath, huge kitchen, great room, on 1 acre, atop a hill with a view in the Texas Hill Country, along with a 1000 sqft woodworking shop. Not sure that would count as "downsizing" though.

 

[WestLake]

Main house is about 2,200 sqft, but there is a two bedroom two bath guest house that is about 600 sqft.

Have you ever considered moving into the guest house and renting the main house? I have a similar situation and I think that's what I'm going to do. I will pay the gas bill and the main house will pay electric and water. I should clear at least $2,000 per month if I do it...

 

[W2R]

My house is 1500 square feet with a detached garage of perhaps 900 additional square feet.

Like Goldilocks might say, it's not too large; it's not too small; my dream house size is Just Right (for me). See below.

It helps to look beyond simply square footage, and consider layout. Also a house with a great deal of space devoted to storage, large closets, laundry room, halls, and/or entry, is going to have fewer square feet left for the rooms. So, a 1500 square foot house may seem smaller than another 1500 square foot house.

 

[Loving Life]

We are in a 5500+ home. We have been looking for a good quality smaller home, in a decent/great/safe neighborhood. The problem is great neighborhood / locations usually means large houses at least in Houston. We are not willing to move to non acceptable / unsafe area just for a smaller home.

 

[Big_Hitter]

We are in a 5500+ home. We have been looking for a good quality smaller home, in a decent/great/safe neighborhood. The problem is great neighborhood / locations usually means large houses at least in Houston. We are not willing to move to non acceptable / unsafe area just for a smaller home.

have you looked at houses in 77018? that's where I used to live

 

[Cat-tirement]

My ideal retirement house is 1200-1500 sq ft with a 3000 sq ft garage.

Now that's a good thought - a garage larger than the house. Not for extra cars, but rather recreational equipment, e.g. bikes, kayaks, ski gear, camping gear, .....

 

[Ally]

We've lived in a 2500 sq ft home for 25 years and don't plan to move. It's a little larger than we need, but we regularly have visits from my daughter's family. They have 5 of our grandchildren and so we need the room. Plus we like our neighborhood.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[foxfirev5]

Dream house 3000 sq ft, been there 20+ years. Lake house 1040 sq ft. One too big the other too small. Looks like we'll keep both. We should have bigger problems.

 

[irishgal]

I'm in a house that's 5860sq ft which is about 3000 too big. But I am on 5 wonderful acres.
Next move will be way smaller, on more land.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[NW-Bound]

2700 sq.ft. and 1800 sq.ft. The one at 7000-ft elevation keeps us happy in the summer, while the other keeps us happy in the winter. The former one is at 19F now. Brrrr...

About 2 months of the year, we are also happy in 200-sq.ft. ( 25'x8' motorhome).

I have a similar situation and was going to do a weighted average, but before going too far down that road I thankfully remembered my sig line...

It takes but a few seconds...

For me, the occupancy-weighted average is

(2700 sqft x 8 months + 1800 sqft x 2 months + 200 sqft x 2 months) / 12 months = 2133 sqft.

The above would be not too far off the middle of the bell curve.

 

[Souschef]

Downsized

We downsized from 2 1800 sq ft homes to one 1400 sq ft home in an over 55 community

 

[Danmar]

Boy, we really went the opposite of downsizing. After retirement at 56 we bought 2 more vacation type homes. This more than doubled our square footage. The rest of you are way more rational, no doubt. I can see us reversing some of this over the next 10 years.

 

[ejman]

Difficult question to answer. We (wife and Myself) live in a 1700 SqF house, but there is a 600 SqF guesthouse on the property where my son, a Disabled Veteran lives and then there are various buildings for farm equipment and horse barns and hay barns and such on the 7 acre property so I don't quite know how to calculate the answer...

 

[harley]

We've got two homes. The northern one is 4400 sf. It's way too big and we'd love to downsize, but we're on a pond and overlooking a bay, and the view is unbelievable. We've never found anything to match it. It's near a major beach resort, but out of the way and mostly rural and agricultural around us. We'll probably downsize there someday, maybe move closer to DD and her kids (and her husband, too, I guess). But it would be hard to walk away from the location. Also, the value is down significantly from when we built in 2008, so it's hard to sell and lock in the loss.

Other home (primary residence, for tax purposes) in FL is 1200 sf. Big difference, both in size and location. It's in a funky sort of neighborhood near a busy road, surrounded by businesses and trailer parks. But we've turned the back yard into an oasis (we're big on landscaping and gardening), and we really enjoy the simplicity of the house. We're a couple of miles from the beach, and about a quarter mile from a river. And it's warm all winter long.

 

[ohyes]

We have lived in this 2400 sq ft home about 17 years. Now that it is just the two of us, we are looking to downsize to about 1200 sq ft.

We are interested in buying a house in a "village neighborhood" and could purchase one of the smaller houses for about the same amount we think our current home would sell for. Very doubtful it would be the same quality.

At this stage of our lives, we might be willing to trade quality for that walk score thing. But, then there is the HOA fee which we do not have here.

We are not making any moves this month or next; i hope we reach a decision soon.

 

[rdy2go]

We plan on staying in our current house, about 2,100 sq. ft. but would like to make a change in the near future to a one story house no smaller than about 2,000 sq. st. I know that some day I will not feel like climbing the stairs. I can run upstairs now but who knows what I'll be like in twenty years.

 

[jfn111]

House is 1600 sq ft with a full basement. Been here 28 years and have no thought of moving.

 

[iac1003]

Downsized from 950 sq ft condo in Manhattan plus a 2000 sq ft weekend house in PA to 1596 sq ft house in Austin TX when DH retired.

Now that I am retiring we are moving to a 800 sq ft 1 BR condo in Puerto Vallarta and once our Austin house sells to a 900+ sq ft condo or coop in an over-55 community.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum