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Nothing wrong with downsizing if that is needed or wanted. For us, we are staying in our nice neighborhood and houses that range from 3000 to 4500 sq ft.
We could sell tomorrow for a good price, but why would I move out of town away from great medical, shopping, entertainment, and wonderful city amenity's.
There are no homes for sale in this subdivision, if one becomes available, it’s gone in days. Houses here seem to appreciate monthly. I’m lucky to have a single story house at 3200 sq ft.
Much like the person in this article we spend between $15 to $20K annually in lawn and pool maintenance, taxes, insurance and utilities alone. So what, I would have to pay this even if I downsized.
We are in our mid seventy's.
You are very fortunate to be able to afford those expenses, especially in retirement. Many working people cannot afford that expense even when working.
You are very fortunate to be able to afford those expenses, especially in retirement. Many working people cannot afford that expense even when working.
Isn't this thread about people who CAN afford a 3000-4000 sq ft house? Well, until people decided to lecture that "nobody NEEDS a 4000 sq ft house!".
Completely off the topic. But now it's fashionable to insist market segmentation is evil and everyone "needs "the same thing".
We sold almost ten years ago at about 90-95% of the recent market peak. We got out just in time and many others who didn't sell are still behind are just about where they were then and still not at peak. Part of the reason is their house is now thirty years old and not the new thang they once were. Folks who refinanced 11 years ago could well be in a bind now in their 60's plus.
BTW they could have gotten out. But they made poor decisions resulting in going upside down.
These neighborhoods are not EMPTY which is the counter-argument to you saying they're not the "new" thing.
People are buying. Just not at the price the upside down people want.
Which was my argument about those Connecticut homeowners.
Don't believe these media people; it's just their own version of "stimulus". hahaha
Interesting data for higher priced houses in the Boston area. Shows neighborhoods price increases/decreases year over year along with average listing price compared with average sale price and median sale price by neighborhood.
The issue isn't just selling your house but how much you get out of it to use for the next stage of life. Expectation and reality can be very different. In my old stomping grounds I was told about a guy who bought a house on the Outer Banks prior to selling his current home. Took out a bridge loan and boom the market crash. I sold my house for a lot but not as much as if I had listed 6 months earlier.
If you've paid down the mortgage sufficiently (which is not unusual if people buy at 40 and below) or completely, by default you'll have a good chunk of moolah when you sell at retirement.
You are very fortunate to be able to afford those expenses, especially in retirement. Many working people cannot afford that expense even when working.
We are very lucky, started out low income. Saved and invested, stayed on a tight budget in our youth and been married over 50 years. So yes we are fortunate, a great retirement was always been our goal.
Unfortunately, it is rare to find newer SFHs around that size. In my town, we basically have three categories of homes.
1) 1930s-1950s small homes (mostly in the city) with most <1200 sq. ft. Many of these homes have not been maintained and require significant updating. The city is not a desirable place to live. Many of these homes are very inexpensive, but the smell from the heavy industry, crime, and lack of updated inventory make these not desirable.
2) 60s-90s suburban style development. Many of these homes are well over 2,500 sq. ft. Again, many have not been updated well. These are often overpriced for what they are, and with the weakened local economy, they are unaffordable for many average workers.
3) Anything built since the 2000s and the high end. These homes are generally kept up well, but command a significant premium. Often large homes. There are relatively few of these due to the trend of newer construction being much more expensive.
What is needed are more homes like the below. Nothing fancy, but still tasteful, newer, and kept up well. I would much rather have a home like this than the one I linked to above that is more expensive, on a huge lot, and needs significant updating. Sadly, few homes like the below are being built.
Exactly. The home you posted is lovely, however, 10-15 years ago in my neck of the woods 118K would barely get you a decent 800 sq ft 1 bedroom condo. My ex wound up selling our last house as a loss.
BTW they could have gotten out. But they made poor decisions resulting in going upside down.
These neighborhoods are not EMPTY which is the counter-argument to you saying they're not the "new" thing.
People are buying. Just not at the price the upside down people want.
Which was my argument about those Connecticut homeowners.
Don't believe these media people; it's just their own version of "stimulus". hahaha
Ummm it isn't about their ability to sell but the price point they sell at and how that plays into the retirement phase of their life. If I have 500k equity in my house I can sell at what ever the market price point is even if lower than what I want. However most folks in that situation have planned out the steps to their retirement and plugged anticipated dollar amounts in the their calculator.
If you've paid down the mortgage sufficiently (which is not unusual if people buy at 40 and below) or completely, by default you'll have a good chunk of moolah when you sell at retirement.
Sure been there done that if market conditions haven't tightened and sellers don't exceed buyers in your price range. We went through that when we sold heading into retirement. There were about 7 houses in our zip code and price range on the market. Five of us sold at various points. I had a neighbor selling a comparable house at the same time. We got the current listing minus 5k and a buyer who put 260K down. My neighbor had a comparable house for the same price and got 15k less than us or 20K below asking. His buyer had all kinds of financing problems and it took for ever to settle.
The two houses on the market that didn't sell went into what we then found out was the full blown housing recession and a coupel we knew sold a year than us at a price of about 130K less. Forced them to completely redo their retirement plans as they were transplanting and didn't have the money they expected.
Just looking at the Atlanta house in the article - does not say how it's laid out, if say a lot of the basement was accessible by garage door so I could work on cars in there - maybe. But that's a really big house, probably on a small lot, probably with fairly high property taxes. Unless one planned a very large family, not sure what the appeal of all that space would be. I have been able to use up to about 2500 ft2 but I have a lot of hobbies. When that place needs a new roof, it's going to cost about 2X what a "normal" house would cost.
I didn't see the part about CT houses, but, yeah, an area that does not have a lot of really high paying jobs like say Seattle, with traditional northeastern "People's Republic" tax rates, who needs it? Retirees will flee the tax man, and working people would want to have a high-paying job nearby or what are they paying all that money for?
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