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We will be selling our large home when we retire. I don't really want to buy another home. I don't want the lawn care, the painting, the upkeep, etc. I would think about buying a condo but the place we are planning on retiring hasn't built any new condos since 1983.
Does anyone else rent rather than buy after retirement? No upkeep and if you want to travel you just lock the door and go.
About the only place you will find the 'no upkeep and simply lock the door and go' is a condo, which you can either choose to buy or rent ... or perhaps an Apartment. We move to a Condo (oceanfront) about 12-years ago, after selling our house, and have since lived in three. We enjoy condo living for the reasons you suggested, plus find them to offer privacy, appreciated value and limited noise.
About the only place you will find the 'no upkeep and simply lock the door and go' is a condo, which you can either choose to buy or rent ... or perhaps an Apartment.
That's not necessarily so. There are housing developments where the HOA takes care of all grounds-keeping, landscaping, and all exterior maintenance for single family houses as well as for condos and villas in the development. That's the way Spanish Trail operates in Las Vegas. The HOA even paints your house and repairs and/or replaces your roof when necessary. And when you travel, their roving security checks on your house at least once every shift round-the-clock.
If our health deteriorates to the point at which we cannot comfortably maintain our rural home we'll sell and rent or buy a condo back in "civilization" for precisely the reasons stated above.
Normally you can find garden homes as they are all here that very things is done like a condo. But you have a garage; with storage space and small front and back yard.They are more private than condo and normally single story since they are populrar with seniors down sizing.
I'm renting because I became disabled and can't afford to buy anything with my limited income. But, I've gotten used to it and I don't think I'd buy even if I had the opportunity now.
If I don't like the area I moved into, or my neighbors, I can just move. I'm not responsible for any maintenance inside or out. If the neighborhood was to go downhill, I just move.
I moved to Redding, CA, thinking I'd live there for life because it's affordable, there is a lot of recreation, and it's beautiful. I'm so glad I didn't buy property there (if I could have), because the weather is so severely hot there for half of the year, and it doesn't cool down at night. I felt trapped inside from Mid-May until Mid-October because it was either just under 100 degrees and up to 117 that entire time, with no evening cool down. I am not exaggerating.
So, if nothing else, I suggest you rent somewhere for a full year, before you commit to buying any real estate there.
I also really dislike HOAs. I owned a condo many years ago, and only kept it a few years. The board members were real control freaks about what you planted outside, or put in your windows, etc., etc. I had the plant nazi come and tell me the nice decorative bark I put around my shrubs in front (just a nice dark brown chipped bark material) was too thick around the shrubs, and she actually started filling buckets up with some of it! She was going to haul away my expensive bark! That's just one example. Plus, in just a few years the HOA fees went up significantly, because of some pet projects some of the board members had - like putting garage doors on carports that had been open carports for 20 years.
So, I'd personally, avoid condos. Plus, the board members are rarely people with real qualifications to handle the money they have to manage. It's frightening really. To get on the board, you just have to be a homeowner. No need to know how to manage thousands upon thousands of dollars.
One thing to keep in mind regarding renting is the annual lease renewal and more than likely rent increase.
And if you rent from an owner there is the possibility of them selling the unit you are renting and then you have to move.
That's not necessarily so. There are housing developments where the HOA takes care of all grounds-keeping, landscaping, and all exterior maintenance for single family houses as well as for condos and villas in the development. That's the way Spanish Trail operates in Las Vegas. The HOA even paints your house and repairs and/or replaces your roof when necessary. And when you travel, their roving security checks on your house at least once every shift round-the-clock.
The Del Webb development in Fredericksburg, Va, Celebration, also has HOA-maintained landscaping of individually owned single family homes. I don't know if they do all exterior maintenance but since it's a 55 plus community, they might very well do so.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I'm the opposite, looking for a place to retire with acreage to plant much larger vegetable gardens and fruit orchards, multiple outbuildings and some woods in a more rural area. We could still lock up and take off on a moment's notice, since we are not planning on having any more pets at that point. My parents are in their mid-80s and still doing fine on their 5 acres, with two tractors and a riding mower, they enjoy the work and it helps keep them in shape. Depending on where you will be going, rent can cost even more every month than a mortgage, and if yiou are like us and have a lot of equity in the large house, you might be able to pay cash for the new condo or small house and have to only pay the property taxes and insurance. For me, renting whether as a young adult or in retirement is lost money you will never get back.
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