I’ve made the decision to sell my home and just get a two bedroom apartment.
It doesn’t make sense for just little old me to be staying in a 3 bedroom home.
Also I’m just tired of all the responsibilities involved in owning a home.
Weekends to myself and not having to worry about all that stuff sounds absolutely amazing to me.
That said, I’m a little nervous.
I’m just asking for advice from people who have downsized. Any regrets? Any protips are appreciated too.
Two regrets: my wife loves to garden and there is little opportunity in an apartment.
I had to sell all of my power tools that I used for woodworking. It was a Zen hobby that I really miss.
We went from a 2200sq’ house to a 1600sq’ house but also dropped from 2 acres to under a quarter acre. I have no regrets. I am very happy to be out of that house at this point.
The yard work was too much. This place is much simpler and I’ve actually taken up gardening.
With a small battery powered mower I finish in less time than my 42" tractor use to take to do the old yard.
I had a lot of old pines that would come down in storms at the old place. I also had basement seepage. Now I am high and dry.
I went from a town we chose for schools to a walking town on the bay shore.
It is better in almost every way though Thanksgiving was tight, very tight with 21 people. That is probably my only regret.
I have been downsizing since early last spring and I look forward to finishing up this April. I had an estate sale last March, then the estate company sold certain items online through August. I’ve been selling other items through Facebook Marketplace as well. I still have too much stuff and plan to run my own moving out/estate sale this spring and then sell the house. Houses sell in less than a month for top dollar where I live.
That said, I don’t miss my stuff as much as I thought I would. There was lots more of it than I imagined at first, it’s nice to not think of it any longer. I’m keeping about 6 boxes of personal things I’ve collected over the years (arrowheads, artifacts, rocks, guns, silver items and ivory) and and a couple of suitcases of cloths. Leaving the boxes with my brother until I land in my new spot, most likley the Philippines. At 64 I don’t plan on ever coming back.
I will rent as well and look forward to not having to do yardwork or arranging getting things repaired.
We had a failed condo experiment and are now back in a house, albeit smaller than the previous one.
I like having neighbors but like some space from them. Yard for dogs is nice. Room to have our own space and a basement for my exercise crap. I like gardening. It was mostly the dealing with condo board and neighbors stuff though.
Long term downside will be stairs at some point over the next 20 or more years (lifespan permitting) with laundry in basement and steep stairs up to bedrooms. But currently investing in major kitchen and baths redo so we are committed now!
I’ve “downsized” once, but it was somewhat more about price than about size per se. My current place way out in the burbs is indeed smaller than the previous one, but it was more about cashing in the appreciation of the previous urban location and moving out to the country. And the place is relatively new, with great conveniences like a laundry room on the second-floor bedroom level.
Alas, at my current age even this smaller place, being a regular house, is now too big and needs outside services to maintain. So yet more downsizing is in the cards, this time a move to some sort of apartment or condominium townhouse. So I’m in the same boat as you, only I haven’t done it yet.
The major challenge for me is dealing with the enormous amount of old furniture and other crap in the basement. It’s not as easy as getting someone to just pick it all up and dump it. Maybe around 80% of it is crap, maybe even more. But there’s also valuable stuff mixed in with it that has to be sorted. There’s valuable silverware and chinaware and many other things that I can’t afford to lose. Much of the old stuff itself probably has value, too, but trying to sell it is more than I can bear to even think about.
You might get some quotes for an elevator or a stairlift. My parents aged in a one-story ranch house (though one with the laundry in the basement) so they were lucky.
Not enough space.
Long way from being there currently but 20 years we’ll each be approaching 87 …
Long story made short: I did in 2012, and while the incidents that led to this were not my decision, I’m glad I was able to do it.
I’ve downsized in 5 stages spread over 11 years from a 4K square foot McMansion with all the trimmings to now a 1-1/2 bedroom 1 bath 990SF apartment.
I am vastly happier with no house, no condo, zero maintenance, nil extra expenses, and very few personal possessions, almost none of which are older than 1-1/2 years. It is remarkably freeing.
Do it.
Well, we ‘up-sized’. Now that we are both retired, we will be home more and we both understand that we need our own space.
Make no mistake, we play chess togther. We play darts together. Cook and eat togther. Sleep in the same bed.
But, we knew we should have more space if we where going to be at home more.
A big part was we went from 2 acres in the mountains to 1/3 acre in suburbia. I was working from home and needed my own office. We simply could not have downsized. We upsized. More than doubled the size of the house.
We have room for friends, and a caretaker if it comes to that. That was a big part of this decision.
We live in a 3-bedroom home with two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and one of each on the main floor. Laundry is in the basement. We have a little over 5 acres, most of it wooded. We are in our mid-60s. I’m in great health, and my husband is in fair health. I’ve thought about downsizing, there are things that I’d really miss about our house and things I wouldn’t. I love having the outside space. I don’t think I could live in an apartment or condo where I didn’t have outdoor space. I love the woods behind our house. I have trails that I walk the dogs on daily. The yardwork and snow removal will be an issue in the coming years. We have a grandson that could maybe help us out, or we’d hire someone. I use the upstairs bedroom for sleeping and the upstairs bathroom is where I get ready for the day. If at some point, the stairs become too much for me, I could easily use the main level bedroom and bathroom, which has a walk-in shower. The washer and dryer being in the basement could also become an issue. I don’t have an easy fix for that.
That would be imposible for me and our dogs.
One of the reason we bought our new house is that at least it’s a third of an acre. Small for me, but works well. It also has a lot of trees, and backs up to common area/open space. Just walk out the back gate.
Lot’s of trails and lakes around too.
A couple of close dog parks as well.
You might be able to move the washer and dryer upstairs, or add a second set to the main level. One option is a combination washer/dryer. Some models use a heat pump to dry the clothes and only need a 120V outlet and don’t need a vent.
I’m right in the middle of downsizing. I’ve been looking at condos the last few years, and this past November, it all kind of came together to make an offer on a place.
The only complication is selling my current place. I’ve got a very short timeline, and although I’m getting lots of interest, I’m not getting much in the way of offers. I can take a bit of a hit on my asking price, though, so I’m not desperate yet.
I’m looking forward to the new place, it’s a much more walkable area, which I realized a few years back I really need. It’s a good unit with all my “needs” and most of my “wants”. Huge balcony with a decent view, huge underground parking spot, bike storage, pool, workout room, library, workshop, car wash bay, and three outdoor terraces on the grounds around the building, with BBQs and the like. The building is well-maintained, and is financially pretty well-off. I think I’m going to like it.
Neither of us wants to leave our house, and hopefully we won’t have to. It’s a three bedroom colonial with the laundry room in the basement. Right now the only reasons I can see for moving would be not being able to go up and down stairs or the property tax going through the roof. We don’t have a mortgage, but I can see the assessed value getting a lot higher once a light rail stop opens a couple of blocks away. The value has already at least tripled, and I can imagine it going a good bit higher.
Having plenty of space for privacy and storage in a home that’s “too big for us” has been good for peace of mind and relationship preservation.
The garden requires a fair amount of work but it’s mostly enjoyable. Somewhere down the road I’ll want to get someone else to mow the back 40 (actually more like the back 3 acres).
Separation from neighbors and relatively peaceful deep suburban/country living also makes it worthwhile not to downsize. No HOA, only occasional gunshots in the distance (target practice? a not so smooth relationship?), owls and coyotes. Good stuff.
We’ve started downsizing, sort of, getting rid of some things and not acquiring others. Unfortunately, my husband’s parents have both died within the last 3 or 4 years, and he’s really reluctant to let a lot of their stuff go. I understand his attachment, but I don’t have the strong emotional link, so I’d sell or donate a lot of it. My mom just turned 92 and honestly, there’s nothing in her house that I want at this stage of my life. Twenty years ago, I’d have laid claim to several things, but now I’m not at all interested.
Looking ahead and going on the assumption that I’ll outlive my husband, I can see myself moving into an apartment, much as I hate the idea of being in such close quarters with others. But we’ve got a house with a full basement sitting on 3 acres, and a 1320 sq ft workshop in the back yard. I don’t want to deal with any of that on my own.
I love having the privacy of a big yard and I know I can hire a yard crew to maintain it. But there’s no public transportation nearby and the closest grocery (not counting Dollar General) is 7 miles away. I’m OK driving for now, during clear daylight hours - who knows how long that will last?
What I need is a tiny house here, letting my daughter and her family move into the house so help is nearby but I have my own space. Something to consider…
Well said.
Lotta folks have broached the idea that their current house isn’t suitable for an e.g. infirm 85yo living alone. But since they (and spouse if applicable) aren’t in that condition, it’s fine to stay where they are.
I’ve told this story a few times, but I’ll trot it out again.
For almost 10 years I lived in a ~150 unit condo with mostly retirees. I intended that to become my retirement home too once I aged into retirement. Some folks were late 80s when I moved in, lots of vigorous late 60yos & early 70yos, plus a few like me in their mid 50s.
The facility was a midrise building with elevators. Each condo was 1-, 2-, or 3- bedrooms all on one level with included washer/dryer. Grocery stores, restaurants, parks, the beach, and recreation were all within walking or even power scootering distance. It really was the Big Easy Button as far as living arrangements. Which is why I/we picked it. During my time there I was active on the board of directors and was the president for about half that time. Which meant I knew pretty much everybody and everything that went on.
Now the punchline:
Over and over as president I got to deal with somebody who aged into enough mental or physical infirmity that they couldn’t live there successfully. Despite the ease, and surrounded by longtime friends and acquaintances. In some cases still with a similarly infirm spouse and in other cases as a surviving widow(er).
Beyond a certain age / degree of infirmity the logistics of downsizing even a 1500sf overstuffed 2BR apartment becomes overwhelming. Then the person is trapped there. Often descending into squalor, but always becoming isolated and unable to cope.
My takeaway was that to avoid the squalor trap we all need to reduce our life complexity before the need to do so is obvious. The folks who shrank their stuff and moved to a supportive elder community or in with kids or whatever did much better for longer than the folks who stayed in place, first voluntarily, then stubbornly, and finally because they had no choice. They were trapped whether they acknowledged that or not.
Those of us who have less local support via a strong extended family have more need, IMO, to do all that shrinkage and make all those moves extra-proactively. IME the nature of decline with age is slow and smooth, except for the sudden surprises of a stroke or severe fall or illness or accident. Then you’re stuck. Most folks also get lazier faster than they get incapable. But if you can’t summon the gumption to do it, then it doesn’t really matter whether you could still physically do it. You’re not going to.
IMO if right now the idea of moving seems impossibly daunting, you’re already trapped or nearly so. Note that “impossibly daunting” is not the same as “Eh, I like my space & stuff; I still use all of it. I could downsize / move if I had to, but I don’t want to now, and I don’t need to now.”
Take a darn hard look at your age, your health trajectory, examples of friends and family, etc. Do your best to avoid wishful thinking. We can hope for the best, but IMO it’s worthwhile to plan for something a lot closer to the worst.
But don’t wait, because Father Time is coming for each of us all too soon.
Last week we spent a couple days at my mom’s house, helping her get rid of excess possessions. It was mostly my grandma’s stuff. (She died a little over a year ago, and Mom lives in her house with my brother). We made a dent, but are planning to go back and try again. We got rid of two full sets of china, lots of knick-knacks, and books. But it was plowing through all the old cards and letters and photos that was bad. In the end, we put them in boxes set aside for mom to go through at her leisure (never gonna happen). After seeing that, I just wanted to go home and throw away everything I owned.