Any Anti-Downsizers Out There?

[Maurice]

To be clear: This is a case of financial planners telling me this is a phenomenon they see often, but not feeling comfortable providing me with contact info for their clients. I have to find those myself!

Hi Angie. Why don't you ask the planners you know to reach out themselves to clients that fit the bill? They can tell them about you and your story and ask them if they'd like to speak to you. If its as common as they are suggesting, you will find a lot of takers. As you know most people like talking about themselves.


On this site you may find something similar to what you're looking for, but mostly pre-retirement. A number of folks here have enough to retire if they were to move away from expensive locations but are putting in those few extra years to build the bigger nest egg so they don't have to.

 

[Walt34]

We upsized the house at RE, but the price was about the same as the smaller one in a more expensive area. We're not "married" to it and are open to a smaller home if we ever find one that we'd like, the finances work, and is within an hour's drive of family that DW is close to. Right now it's an easy 35 minute drive even at 5:00 PM on a Friday afternoon. For the moment we're happy with the one we have, even though we didn't anticipate natural gas going up 100% or more over a few years.

The sole reason for moving was so we didn't have to plan our daily lives around the insane traffic in the Washington, DC area.

 

[unclemick]

Hmmm - 21k fish camp in 1979. Katrina. 85k house on a hill in Missouri - roughly same sq ft. 1100-1345 vs 1100 sq ft.

upsize, downsize or a wash

heh heh heh - agile, mobile and hostile. Tornados/wind to the south last night. Always some entertainment. Greater Kansas City.

 

[TromboneAl]

I think my ideal house would be a 800 square foot house with two small bedrooms, no formal dining room, two-car garage and a workshop. I'd have very thick walls with superinsulation, and could heat with a third of the amount of wood I currently use, and we'd spend half as much time cleaning. DW says I'd feel cramped, but I don't think so.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Our house is great, neighborhood is great, but the thing is much bigger and more expensive than we need. I think we can both be happy with something of medium size, like 2000 - 2200 SF, instead of our 3200 SF, much of which is only used when we entertain.

A big motivator is freeing up the cash spun off by a downsize. While not critical to the FIRE decision, it will raise our FIRE income enough to make a difference. But with both sets of kids/grandkids facing major career decisions in 2 or 3 years we figure we'll just hunker down for a while. Hopefully the market will have untwisted a bit by then.

 

[brewer12345]

Gonna be trying out about 120 sq. ft. this weekend with t wo small children and two 25# dogs. Now that's downsizing.

 

[Walt34]

Gonna be trying out about 120 sq. ft. this weekend with two small children and two 25# dogs. Now that's downsizing.

That has gotta be the X 160 Fun Finder travel trailer. Where are you going?

I'm still trying to talk DW into the X 210. Sigh.

Financially it doesn't make a bit of sense but I want to do it anyway. Guess I better listen to her.

 

[brewer12345]

Yup, its the X160. We are going to a campground 45 min away to test it out (first trip). Want to make sure everything works before we go away for 4 days on Memorial day weekend. If there are any issues, the dealer is between the campground and the house, so we can drop it off on the way home.

Already got a bluegrass festival lined up for July. June is pretty packed with Birthdays and whatnot, but I think we may try the last weekend in June at a county park an hour away. There is a small facility with 18 rv sites in a 3000 acre park there, and it is the only state or county facility in NJ that I have yet found that allows dogs.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

having lived in the same house for 14 years, i'm not anti-downsize but am downsize-disabled. before portability of florida's save our homes (soh) value, downsizing by half in state would have tripled my taxes. now that we finally have portability of soh, we also have a bubble pop so i'm trapped again.

while i'm still young enough i really want to be a perpetual traveler. but should portability stand, downsizing might be an attractive side option. my current thinking is to just get something very cheap, like a $100k 2/1 apartment in an inexpensive area which would bring my property taxes to almost zero by utilizing my 14 years of built-up soh value. the soh homestead would then prevent property appraisals from rising any more than 3% per year.

at that, by the time i'm aged 75 (am 51 now) my apartment would be valued by the state at only $200k so my taxes might rise to all of $2,500. sweet.

i could then travel perpetually and still maintain homestead, because i'd have the required intention to live there in my future. also, if desired, i could rent the property in its entirety for 1 year at a time but not two years consecutively or i could just rent out a room and keep a room available for my use and still maintain my soh homesteaded status.

downsizing: how to have your cake and eat it too.

 

[Milton]

Already got a bluegrass festival lined up for July.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Brewer, the bluegrass fest isn't Floydfest in July, by chance? We go there every year.

We're taking the old Airstream out to a local state park this weekend and doing a float trip down the Edisto River.

Have fun on the first voyage! Hope y'all have good weather!

 

[brewer12345]

Brewer, the bluegrass fest isn't Floydfest in July, by chance? We go there every year.

Nope, its Grey Fox in upstate NY.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Nice lineup, Brewer! Too far for the old Argosy, but sounds like fun.
We're thinking of adding one called Riverhawk, held near Tampa in November (maybe Rich should check it out). Going to festivals is one of those things that make me wish we were already FIRED.

 

[brewer12345]

Nice lineup, Brewer! Too far for the old Argosy, but sounds like fun.
We're thinking of adding one called Riverhawk, held near Tampa in November (maybe Rich should check it out). Going to festivals is one of those things that make me wish we were already FIRED.

We have never been, but really looking forward to it. Seems like a good thing to do with the kids, too.

 

[ERD50]

Nope, its Grey Fox in upstate NY.

For anyone that would like to get a taste of that Fest - there is a DVD documentary on it that was in my local library. Was very well done. Can't recall the title right now.


-ERD50

 

[mb]

I suppose by the OP's definition I might be an anti-downsizer. I live in expensive SoCal, and for now I'm not planning to move when FIREd. Family, activities, weather are all reasons why I'm staying. So I'll just have to plan for a portfolio to cover the higher expenses. If the excrement really landed on the propeller blade, though, I'd consider moving to a lower cost area as an emergency Plan B.

Ditto, except I'm a NorCal guy.

I have a modest 1700 sq ft house that is worth $900k according to Zillow so I could unluck a lot of money by moving to Colorado or Washington or Arizona or one of those other places that californians retire to all of which are great places by the way but the present plans are to stay put.

I just don't think that you can beat coastal California for my outdoor-centric lifestyle and the extra cost is worth it.

MB

 

[kcowan]

DW and I downsized from 5000sq.ft. acreage to a modest 3BR penthouse - 2000sq.ft. with a 1300sq.ft. patio. But alas we just bought a 1700sq.ft. place in the sun so we are creeping back up...

 

[chinaco]

We will be downsizing.

A big house translates to more expense and effort.

The housing market should be back when I ER... We will be looking for a house that is about 2/3 sq ft of our current house with a much smaller lot.

 

[Midpack]

We will be downsizing to 1500-1800 sqft. Just have to figure out where...

 

[Ronstar]

We are samesizing for the next 20 years or until I cant maintain this place. Then we'll downsize. I dont see downsizing in a down market where you'll lose more on the sale than you will benefit on the purchase.