"Downsizing" house

[mtheulen]

I could more easily adjust to a down-sized house than give up a nice-sized shop. In truth, I've done somewhat the opposite - gone from a small house/large shop to a large house/tiny shop. I do miss the shop but not the too-small house.




I enjoy following the tiny house movement. Even though it's not for me, there was a short time when it might have been and I give kudos to those who can pull it off. Indeed I would guess it's a short term solution for most practitioners of the lifestyle. Yet living in someone else's backyard - commonplace among tiny house dwellers - would probably have been a non-starter for me, even back in my early 20s.

Guess i should have continued my rant
1250 sq ft house
2400 sq ft shop
A man must have priorities! LOL

 

[ShokWaveRider]

My assessment is base on the fact that in retirement I assume one's primary residence is fully paid for, as is ours. While this is not the case for all it does weigh into our equation significantly. Our home(s) have been paid off for the last 20 years so running costs other than taxes are fairly comparable to a smaller residence all things being equal.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

We're the same way. Considering that housing is the #1 cost in the US household budget and nearing 50%; it baffles me that there aren't 1400-1600 sqft houses that just do away with all the unnecessary space, make the bedrooms smaller (hello... most people only SLEEP in them), and focus on a larger open living area. Also, keep the lots the same size so there's actually a yard to do stuff in.

That would also cut down on utilities and the "need to fill my house with crap" factor.

I think we are seeing this. Most new homes around here (and the older one being renovated) have a very open floor plan. Kitchen, dining and living as one space. As far as bedroom size goes though...yeah, still lots of wasted space with that. When I was a kid, the ONLY think I did in my bedroom was SLEEP. Our house had a "rec room" in which we did all our family living stuff in. And the formal living room was used on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day...that was it.

I think the perfect house for me would be about 1,500 SF, but my DW requires a large WIC so I am thinking it will be closer to 2,000.

 

[doneat54]

Been considering this myself. We live in a 3300sf house in New England and I have a separate 1000 sf shop. Our mortgage is pretty comfortable and we love where we live, very small town, picturesque area. But taxes, insurance and utilities are averaging $1600+/mo and I think that that is going to be difficult to justify going forward. I am retiring at 54 at the end of the year. I have an antique auto hobby and 8 vehicles in total.

The discussions that my wife and I have been having revolve around given careful thought about what you enjoy/value and why you enjoy it. I am not a have just to have person. But I did enjoy driving a '69 Mercedes convertible to a 4th of July party yesterday for example. Enjoyed it VERY much in fact, as I usually do.

We think we will stay put for another 5-10 years probably but at some point have to make that list of the things we enjoy/value, prioritize that list and then figure out how to downsize and keep as much of our enjoyable as we can.

I would also add that regarding paying off a mortgage, I have always been warned that that is NOT a good idea when you are still working as Interest is one of the very few tax deductions that you still have and keeping a mortgage and investing money that you might otherwise use to pay it off puts you in a better overall position. Paying off after retiring does make sense however....

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We didn't pay off our mortgage and actually took money out thru a HELOC to keep our taxable income under the ACA cliff until we are Medicare age. If interest rates go up eventually we'll keep the mortgage and if they go down probably just refinance. There isn't a high degree of asset protection for personal residences in our state compared to housing costs, so we'll probably always keep a mortgage on the house for relatively simple asset protection.

We would like to downsize but Prop 13 has kind of a lock in effect. Plus there are few good value smaller homes in our area. Housing is crazy high here right now in the Bay Area, so smaller, more relatively affordable houses are in high demand. Downsizing only makes sense for us if we move out of the area, which we have thought about but so far haven't found any location we are sure we would like more than where we live now.

 

[Moemg]

I have been looking to downsize for awhile but I haven't found the house .Just like W2R has her dream house I want one I really really like . I want 1800 square feet with a gorgeous kitchen. a community pool and close to all my friends and shops with a small back yard and it must be unique . I hate cookie cutter houses. I currently live in 3800 square feet on Sarasota Bay . Three stories with an elevator to the first and second floor . It is very unique .

 

[W2R]

I have been looking to downsize for awhile but I haven't found the house .Just like W2R has her dream house I want one I really really like . I want 1800 square feet with a gorgeous kitchen. a community pool and close to all my friends and shops with a small back yard and it must be unique . I hate cookie cutter houses. I currently live in 3800 square feet on Sarasota Bay . Three stories with an elevator to the first and second floor . It is very unique .

Good luck and I hope you find just exactly the right house!

 

[MRG]

We have been looking for 10 years. One big issue is property taxes on our home. This is a low COL area but not for taxes.

Going to move for an adventure, lower taxes and better weather(heat index is 112 according to the weather folks). The plan to locate here for opportunities was a success, time to celebrate it. Single floor living with more opportunity to allow things to be done easier. Cut down from 3800 to 2200, lose the extra 1500 SF garage too.

Better climate with access to more hobbies.

 

[swguy]

2800 sq ft house
1800 sq ft shop
1200 sq ft lanai/pool area

We could live in a smaller home but this felt about right.

Sent from my VS986 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[FIREmenow]

"Downsized" from 1250sqft for 10 years with one child, to 1000sqft for the last 5(-ish) years.

LBYM. 2yrs away....

 

[ShokWaveRider]

"Dream House" is a sales pitch, much like "Dream Job" & "Dream Boat" (I personally will keep dreaming about the boat as it is cheaper), one is ALWAYS dreaming. I currently have my dream job, not having one at all. Once you get into your "Dream House" you will start dreaming about something else. .

 

[W2R]

"Dream House" is a sales pitch, much like "Dream Job" & "Dream Boat" (I personally will keep dreaming about the boat as it is cheaper), one is ALWAYS dreaming. I currently have my dream job, not having one at all. Once you get into your "Dream House" you will start dreaming about something else. .

I'm not! And it's been over a year by now.... I suspect that you need to keep looking.

 

[NW-Bound]

Aren't we all too old to have much time left to dream our life away?

 

[rodi]

OP - Sorry to be late to this thread, I've been travelling.

Some considerations. I think I remember that you are in coastal SoCal. Moving 30 miles inland is an entirely different climate. Your AC and Heat bills will be impacted. (I'm coastal San Diego and we don't have AC - and there are only a few weeks a year, recently, that I wish we did.)

Also - if I recall - you have young children at home... so a small house has to be laid out right to work for a family (vs. a couple). You'll want some room for kids play area.

As you mentioned - commute is also a factor. (You're on sabbatical now, right?). Check google maps to see what rush hour commutes are from your inland location to your job. My goal was to have a commute of less than 30 minutes. My commute was 6.5 miles - and towards the end of my working career - that was taking 45 minutes or more due to gridlocked freeways and surface streets.

This is not to discourage you - but, rather, these comments are to add thoughts to your plans.

We live in a 2k sf house about 2 miles from the beach (3 miles by car). So we get the coastal overcast in the mornings and evenings that keep our house cool/moderate year round. We have good friends just 15 miles inland from us and they regularly get temps in the 100's in the summer, and frost in the winter... their utility bills are orders of magnitude larger than ours.

IMO - for a family with kids - minimum size is about 1600sf. But I don't see a lot of value in going above 2500sf.

But - yeah... having no mortgage payment is VERY liberating. Our annual spend is significantly lower now that the house is paid off.

 

[RobLJ]

We thought of downsizing in the move to Reno, but since our oldest and his wife live 3 & 1/2 hours away and visit frequently (with perhaps a grandchild on the way), we rethought and bought a house about the same size as the one in Houston. But no pool and a small yard. (We did put in a spa).
It has one less bedroom (3) but a huge downstairs room we use a study, since DW currently works at home (and I work part-time). It has worked out fine--great view of the Carson Range. We're using the small dining room as a library, but it could go and the study cut in half and we would be fine.
We sold the 1000 sq ft cabin in Colorado (it sold in a week to my surprise), which was fine for DW and me, although crowded over Christmas when the 2 sons and the oldest's wife came.