Downsizing

[HFWR]

Not downsizing from my current residence, though it’s in the theoretical column at some point. What I am downsizing is all of the stuff accumulated over a lifetime. Salavating Army is making out!

 

[Aerides]

If you can afford to, I would suggest that you buy your townhome, move and then sell your current home. That's what we did as well as DD recently.

We were able to buy the new-to-us house using a pledged line of credit collateralized by my brokerage account and then paid off the LOC with the proceeds from the sale of our Florida condo a couple months later. It all worked out very well about 3 months soup-to-nuts.

In my experience, "less is more" but I just wish that I could convince DW of that.

This, or if you can, a purchase contingent on the sale of your existing home (tougher to do in a seller's market).

If I were in my 30's or 40's "rent for a year" sounds fine, but even now, renting would feel like putting my life on hold for a year, and I'd be spending that whole time feeling like I was wasting time in my new place.

Either way, have a darn good idea where the next home will be before you list yours. Have 2-3 neighborhoods scouted, so you can troll zillow and have a realtor ready to pounce when the right place pops up.

 

[COcheesehead]

This, or if you can, a purchase contingent on the sale of your existing home (tougher to do in a seller's market).

If I were in my 30's or 40's "rent for a year" sounds fine, but even now, renting would feel like putting my life on hold for a year, and I'd be spending that whole time feeling like I was wasting time in my new place.

Either way, have a darn good idea where the next home will be before you list yours. Have 2-3 neighborhoods scouted, so you can troll zillow and have a realtor ready to pounce when the right place pops up.

We rented for a year while in transition. It was god awful. Your neighbors are transient. Don’t like them? Great, you’ll get two new ones every month and they might be worse. We could clearly hear our neighbors’ conversations through the walls. Nobody parked where they were supposed too. I really felt like our life was on pause. It never really felt like home.

 

[UpQuark]

Anyway, I am just wondering how people that are downsizing are going about this process.

I downsized by selling my 10 acre property/house first and reducing all my belongings to what would fit in my car trunk plus two boxes at my daughter's house. If I had known when and where I would wind up, I would have put some stuff in storage, but my original plan was to travel for a year or two.

Then six months of travel later, I found a place I could afford (cost less than half of what I got from selling my house) that checked all the boxes for me (even boxes I didn't know I should have) -- condo in a high rise with an elevator in a 55+ gated community with walking paths, trees, wildlife, clubhouses (aka private senior centers), walk-able to grocery and doctors/dentists, lots of options for activities for seniors of all ages, and with good public transportation to a big city.

I've been here over two years now and I still really love it.

 

[brett]

After a lifetime of owning our own homes w/ a number of renos we really enjoyed renting for four years. No maintence work...a nice change.

Neighbours were great. Primarily an owner occupied building.

Fridge broke down one day. Called the owner. New fridge delivered the next day. Secure, designated, underground parking space where we could leave our car for two months each fall and winter while we travelled.

The bonus for us was investing our home equity. We came out well ahead since we were in a stagnent/declining real estate environment at the time yet our investments were doing well.

Our landlord was loosing money each month. On top of that she had a $35K condo assessment. And another $6K assessment just as we were moving out.

 

[tflannery]

Thanks for the responses. I also forgot to mention that we have a Lake House in Michigan. This is another reason we are looking to downsize our Illinois home. Living there year round is not an option though for a number of reasons, but the big one is my in-laws are 99 and 95 and my Mom is 90 and we can't be far from them.

Plan is to put our house on the Private market in early May. Thanks again and I will update in early May.

 

[Koolau]

Not sure how the Federal or state government can do much to solve the 'housing crisis' or they would have long ago.

Mentioned earlier 56% of the cost of a house in Honolulu is due to permitting and state/local gummint restrictions.

They can't force contractors to act against their business interests,

We do it all the time in Honolulu. The only way to build a new building is to promise "low income" set asides.

and I for one don't want to subsidize 'affordable housing' through taxes. There are always token affordable housing projects, but that's all they are - token.

Affordable housing is as "easy" as building a mix of houses (size, quality, etc.) and enough houses that there aren't 5 people wanting every house.

Hawaii is openly hostile to building.

 

[Golden sunsets]

Like Pb4uski, we bought our next home before selling our current home, in early 2022. We had no mortgage, so we took out a heloc to enable the purchase. We had identified the neighborhood we wanted to move to(within the same community) and had prepared our home for sale, so that when the right house came on the market, we were positioned to jump, offering full ask. We allowed the owners to lease back from us for 3 months while they prepared to move. Our home went under contract within 24 hours of the listing date( a day after we signed the P&S on our new home) at full ask and we leased back from the buyer for three months. The actual closings were 30 days apart, so our HELOC, at .75% interest was active for only 30 days. Interestingly, our buyer repeated this pattern, by listing his house, going under contract within a day and leasing back to us for 3 months.

Our local market continues to be very much a seller's market 3 years later. Our home (as well as our old home) have increased in value by 33% since our transaction. There are only 10 houses for sale in our town, when in a normal market there are 75 or more homes for sale.. We continue to be contacted regularly by realtors who tell us they have buyers for our home. Our move was not so much a downsizing, as a lifestyle change. First floor Owner's Suite, HOA contracts for lawn and landscape maintenance, snowplowing/salt and sanding, irrigation, etc., for one monthly fee, which is much less than the cost of those services that we had been paying at our former residence.

 

[Drifter]

Our SW Florida home has been listed for rent for 8 days now and no contacts. The rental market has softened in our area. We were getting interest everyday the last go around.

 

[Some_Other_Guy]

I seem to be a bit younger than most of the folks who've weighed in on this thread (mid-40s), but we're going through the downsizing process as well. We have one left at home in college with about two years to go which times well with our anticipated departure from the area we currently reside in. We live very small, but we're outdoors-oriented (to put it mildly, kayak fishing, hiking and photography are our primary hobbies) so we'd end up needing less house and more shop, so to speak.

We've donated a lot to our local charities over the past year, made extensive use of eBay and Facebook Marketplace to sell the more valuable items, and thrown away many garbage cans full of stuff from "a previous life". We still have a fair amount to go, but our 2,900 sq ft house definitely looks spacious now that the process has been started!

 

[HFWR]

DFW will soon extend northward into Okyville, but it hasn’t necessarily made housing less expensive. Maybe it has reduced the increases. Of course, in true form, they might eventually get around to expanding the capacity of the farm roads serving said expansion. For now, out where my son lives, the traffic at intersections is often backed up for a quarter mile in every direction.

Zero ways to get anywhere without a car.

 

[aja8888]

DFW will soon extend northward into Okyville, but it hasn’t necessarily made housing less expensive. Maybe it has reduced the increases. Of course, in true form, they might eventually get around to expanding the capacity of the farm roads serving said expansion. For now, out where my son lives, the traffic at intersections is often backed up for a quarter mile in every direction.

Zero ways to get anywhere without a car.

Okyville? Where's that? Oh, you mean Oklahoma!

My Brother-in-Law's (ex wife's brother) daughter and her husband moved to Frisco, TX for a new job. She thought they would be in the "country" like they were in mid-Michigan. What a surprise when they got there and couldn't find a blade of grass except between the cracks in the concrete.

 

[HFWR]

Okyville? Where's that?

Sorry, Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.

 

[aja8888]

Sorry, Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.

Where the Indians are and the Amish furniture outlet is just across the TX/OK line.

 

[pacergal]

We are staying in our current home, have been here since 1990. We have gone through the thinking process of selling/downsizing and rent or buy. I was convinced we were staying here, It has taken a year of back and forth with DH to finally get him to admit that was his hope--he thought I wanted to move, even though I had not expressed that--lol.
So, right now, our plan is to remain here for the time being. There are areas of the house that need refreshing, as last remodels we did were 20 years ago, so that may be in the works sometime. And the house was painted inside and out with in the last 5 years,
But right now, I don't worry if the grandkids play hard in the house on a rainy day!
1700 sq ft 1960 ranch home, single level, only one step from garage to house, with one of the largest lots in the neighborhood. The only problem is the doorways and hallways are not very conducive to wheelchair.

There may come a time in the future where we do decide to downsize, and we are both OK with that.
For now, we clean and purge closets, garage, etc every year. It is a job that we both dread but enjoy at the same time.

 

[aja8888]

We are staying in our current home, have been here since 1990. We have gone through the thinking process of selling/downsizing and rent or buy. I was convinced we were staying here, It has taken a year of back and forth with DH to finally get him to admit that was his hope--he thought I wanted to move, even though I had not expressed that--lol.
So, right now, our plan is to remain here for the time being. There are areas of the house that need refreshing, as last remodels we did were 20 years ago, so that may be in the works sometime. And the house was painted inside and out with in the last 5 years,
But right now, I don't worry if the grandkids play hard in the house on a rainy day!
1700 sq ft 1960 ranch home, single level, only one step from garage to house, with one of the largest lots in the neighborhood. The only problem is the doorways and hallways are not very conducive to wheelchair.

There may come a time in the future where we do decide to downsize, and we are both OK with that.
For now, we clean and purge closets, garage, etc every year. It is a job that we both dread but enjoy at the same time.

Sounds good. You can usually replace doors with wider ones if you decide to stay. Also, a friend who will be wheelchair bound soon just had their shower area refurbished for roll in use.

 

[brett]

What really helped us to downsize our possessions was the fact that we were limited to an 8X8X16 container. This made us think hard about what to keep and why.

When we went to dispose of some furniture we found out that the furniture market had changed. We had a large dining room set. No one wanted it, no furniture consignment store would accept it. Zero demand. At most we used it once or twice a year over the previous ten years.

Why...because homes were no longer being built for that and tastes had changed. Ditto for some other pieces that we had, that we knew we no longer wanted and knew that they would be far too large for any downsized home or condo. Hence...they never made it into our storage container.

 

[HFWR]

With some upgrades, like replacing the tub I rarely use with a roll-in shower, and “ramp” for the 2” thresholds into the house, I could manage in a wheelchair. Two problem areas are the main bath doorway and the doorway into the master closet. Could widen the closet doorway, but the main bath is constrained by a pantry and the bathroom cabinetry, so that would require some more complex remodeling.

Still hoping to remain fairly mobile and healthy, and just waking up dead. As if I can choose…

 

[RetiredHappy]

I don't consider that we have downsized, as we simply moved to different homes in different states. Before we retired, we had a 4,600 sq ft home with an indoor pool. That was our once in our lifetime of luxurious living. We moved to a 3000 sq penthouse single level with to-die-for views beautiful condo out of state, before realizing that I didn't like living in a condo. In 2021, we moved into our current 3000 sq ft 3 bed 3.5 bath single level single family home, with a separate casita, in a guard gated community. This is probably the last move for my husband but if I outlive him, my options include moving back to CA to be closer to my son or have him move in with me.

 

[aja8888]

Still hoping to remain fairly mobile and healthy, and just waking up dead. As if I can choose…

That's my plan too!

 

[Alex The Great]

I live alone in a single family home for quite a while. Paying a large property tax. I don't have answer why I'm still doing so. Most likely, because there is always some yard and in-house work which I enjoy so far. But it can be harder on me as I age. Although I can afford this home, downsize to condo in a low cost area with terrible weather probably does make sense taking into account all recent events and inflation risk going on. Still debating it to myself.

 

[2HOTinPHX]

I live alone in a single family home for quite a while. Paying a large property tax. I don't have answer why I'm still doing so. Most likely, because there is always some yard and in-house work which I enjoy so far. But it can be harder on me as I age. Although I can afford this home, downsize to condo in a low cost area with terrible weather probably does make sense taking into account all recent events and inflation risk going on. Still debating it to myself.

Why does it have to be in a low cost area with terrible weather? Pretty sure there would be better options you would be happier with. You get to make all the choices if you are single. If I was single a small one bedroom condo with a small deck would work for me.

 

[HFWR]

If my two spare bedrooms weren’t full of various musical items, I could do a 1BR.

 

[Koolau]

With some upgrades, like replacing the tub I rarely use with a roll-in shower, and “ramp” for the 2” thresholds into the house, I could manage in a wheelchair. Two problem areas are the main bath doorway and the doorway into the master closet. Could widen the closet doorway, but the main bath is constrained by a pantry and the bathroom cabinetry, so that would require some more complex remodeling.

Still hoping to remain fairly mobile and healthy, and just waking up dead. As if I can choose…

Heh, heh, you can choose, but it's not recommended.

But seriously, when we needed to widen the bathroom door for when DW tore a tendon in her foot, we had to move a closet, the washer/dryer and the fridge! It was worth it when we were done, but what an ordeal. Now I'd never move into a new living situation without first being certain EVERYTHING was wheel chair accessible. Once burned, twice shy, I guess.

 

[DJRR]

Why does it have to be in a low cost area with terrible weather? Pretty sure there would be better options you would be happier with. You get to make all the choices if you are single. If I was single a small one bedroom condo with a small deck would work for me.

They are in San Jose, so pretty much anywhere else is cheaper with worse weather