<p>H and I have long talked about downsizing once our only child is launched. She is currently a college junior, so those downsizing talks are getting a little more serious.</p>
<p>Our current house (where we have lived for 19 years) is not especially large - 2,500 square feet, 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. As I start to think that we really are going to move, I realize that the two things we most want to be rid of are the huge lawn and the huge property taxes (worth it when D was going through the public school system, but not so much anymore).</p>
<p>We do need a home office of sorts (I teach and do a lot of research/writing at home). Want to keep one extra bedroom as a guest room. So that’s three bedrooms. And want to keep the 2 bathrooms. So probably our house will not end up being all that much smaller. </p>
<p>Just curious - those of you who have downsized (or will), how much smaller is your new space?</p>
<p>Our home where we raised two kids, a lab & two cats, is 1000sq ft.( basement/attic isn’t included)
We are technically not moving yet but are thinking about maybe buying a condo in a college town &/or a teardrop trailer.
The condo could be smaller than our house now as long as the layout was right.
We probably would have to rent workshop/ garage space though as well.</p>
<p>Downsizing is still a long way off (our youngest is a HS freshman), but DW and I have fantasized about it. Assuming the real estate market comes back strong enough in the next 6-8 years that we actually have some equity in our house, our dream would be to downsize to a 2-bdrm, 2-bath condo, preferably on a golf course in the wine country. Small, quiet, and boring enough that our kids would never dream of moving back in with us.</p>
<p>A couple I know had what I thought was the perfect set-up. A condo on Russian Hill in SF and a condo in Napa Valley. The wife insisted they sell both condos and buy a bigger house in Napa so they would have room for the grandchildren to visit. They recently sold the SF condo and are living full time in the Napa condo until it sells. He’s not at all happy with the plan, but is going along with it. Poor sap.</p>
<p>Not going anywhere yet, but I imagine two guest rooms, so each girl feels she has a place, after they are independent. My 70 y.o. neighbor is downsizing to go live with her older boyfriend.</p>
<p>We figure we will be happy staying in our 3 bedroom, 2 bath place that is on only 7500 square feet of land. I believe we have 1200 square feet and a carport for 2 cars. It was fine for raising our two kids and fine for just two of us. Neither of us want to move and our kids hope we never will. It’s less than two miles from my folks and most of my sibs live within 7 miles. My folks rattle around in their 4 bedroom, 2 bath home with a storage room, with a huge swimming pool that no one uses. Dad loves puttering in his huge yard and they do have a yard service. </p>
<p>I am curious to see what my sibs decide. They all have homes many times the size if mine. My older sister has only one boomerang kid, the other is in grad school 2500 miles away. The other sibs have younger kids, but their babies are now in HS. I hate housekeeping and cleaning and would hate a larger place.</p>
<p>We have slowly started to purge our house in anticipation of selling in the next 4 yrs. or so. We have 1450sf and would like 2 bed 2 Br. We plan to rent for a while before we settle into a new house or condo. Not necessarily downsized but more efficient, one level living, and more economical in a different state/ college town. H is 59 and I’m 58 this yr. Semi-retirement is looming.</p>
<p>HImom,
Location is everything!! I have no doubt your house will remain in the family.</p>
<p>If I downsized, I’d like a condo on beach/intercoastal, but a 2 bed/bath would cost more than my house. Plus, I would lose my insurance. Still, I am now redoing kitchen, which was the last major project. I am of the school that if it isn’t broken, don’t fix. Every redo costs 2x as much as expected. Slowly I am trying to purge</p>
<p>We definitely plan to sell and move to a different state as soon as we retire. Our kids are both out of state now and (thank God) self-supporting. </p>
<p>However, I don’t want to downsize. Now that one child is engaged, I imagine a holiday when we have that couple, maybe grandchildren, then our other child with maybe one day an SO. All those folks require more bedrooms than we have now, not fewer. </p>
<p>H wants to downsize. But it seems to me our age requires more space, but for shorter periods of time. My husband is concerned about taking care of a big yard, while I’m concerned about kids and grand kids. Guess who will win that fight.</p>
<p>Downsizing is on the not too distant horizon. Youngest is only a sophomore in college, but we anticipate it will take a couple of years to prepare and to sell the house. We will likely start to prepare this fall/winter. </p>
<p>DH thinks he would be happy in a condo. Given his reaction to neighbors I think he would hate it. I’m not ready to give up my garden yet or the privacy of a single family home. That’s hurdle one. </p>
<p>Size–We currently live in a place that is large and on acreage. We could scale back to about 1800 square feet or so if it’s configured right and has a basement. We both need some office space, which could be shared, a work out room (yes, we are those rare people that do actually use our home exercise equipment), and a couple of bedrooms for visits from the kids. </p>
<p>Hurdle two is the location of our next place. It’s a bigger hurdle for us. We like our area for many reasons, but there are some negatives also. We both work from home so that is not a consideration for location. We go back and forth between landing some place relatively close to both kids once they are more settled or maintaining our home base here. All of that can/will change though. Plus my parents are located in this town as is one of my sibs. </p>
<p>I suspect our next move will not be our last. We’ve talked about renting for a year or so after this place sells so that the future of our kids is clearer. One never knows though. I would like to think our next house will be our last, but things change.</p>
<p>I think what we want to do is get a smaller second place in a warmer, more tax friendly area. I still like the idea of the holidays at this home, and the kids having a place to come home to with their families some day. </p>
<p>I think we really need to explore the next area, which we’ll have more time to do once the youngest gets into college. I’m also for the renting until we settle on a location and what kind of place makes sense. A two bed/two bath would be ideal. Either on a golf course or overlooking the water. </p>
<p>The second place would have to be really new and updated, and relatively maintenance free. </p>
<p>I do like where we live, I’m not sure it’s the ideal place to grow old.</p>
<p>We love our house and will never move. We didn’t upsize when we had the chance and won’t downsize either. A 1,659 sq foot 3-2-2 plus an office carved out of a quarter of the garage is perfect. With both boys now in college, we are making some changes to furnishings and such. Ds2 has a twin bed; we want to put a double in his room so it’s more of a guest room. And we’re selling off some of the “kid” stuff, like the ping-pong table, etc.</p>
<p>HIMom, I liked your description of your folks “rattling around” in their house. That’s what my parents do! Their house, built when I was in 5th grade, was already large, and they expanded it about 10 years after I got out of college! Now they have an even bigger bedroom and an upstairs office that looks out at the Austin skyline (including the UT tower). It’s not a financial burden, so they figure they’ll stay there as long as possible. My sister and I are selfishly happy about that! </p>
<p>We added onto our house about five years ago, because having our home office in the basement for nine years about put my husband over the edge. Now we can look out over the woods when we work. Our youngest is 15, so we may think about downsizing a few years down the road. But I love our house and location, so it will be a hard decision.</p>
<p>Amesie, we are sort of like you - have the 4 bed, 2 bath and really when I think about it, I don’t want to give up the living space! I still want to have 2 “living options” - living room and family room. I could do with 3 bedrooms instead of 4. I think the big difference we might be looking for is a reduction in outside space to take care of - we have a beautiful double, corner lot now - but we also are on the “go” to our cottage much of the summer months so I would much rather have a smaller yard with living space (deck/patio) but not so much “grass”. That alone would be a big time safer and a “downsize”!!!</p>
<p>I’ve been doing a lot of purging just this weekend. It feels great! I’ll be selling next spring and am also thinking of a condo in a college town + travel. After rattling around their large house, my parents spent 15 years in their 2-bedroom-with-large-balcony condo and it was perfect. The group of neighbors on their floor had a deal where they would use each others’ spare bedrooms when one had more guests than room.</p>
<p>Keep the ping pong table! We have that and a pool table. We plan on keeping both, which are in great shape. Your kids and their friends and girlfriend/boyfriends, grandchildren will use them!</p>
<p>We thought we’d be in this house forever, but we too have decided to relocate in a few years when S2 is finished with college. We want to move to another part of the country, surrounded by water and closer to city life. We have a lot to purge, and have begun the process, which will take awhile. We also don’t necessarily want to downsize…just to pick up and relocate and enjoy a new scenery.</p>
<p>Glad to hear many of you are in the same boat and are thinking along the same lines. It helps to cement our idea as “normal” at this stage!</p>
<p>We have talked about downsizing a lot over the years. For us, it will happen in two stages. When my current HS soph goes to college we will go from our 3,700 sq ft, 1+ acre home to a much smaller 3 br home on about a 1/3 of an acre. Then upon retiring from the office in about 12 years we will move to a two br two bath condo at the beach somewhere. Our top choice is HHI. Can’t wait…</p>
<p>We also never upsized so no need to downsize, plus we are already on one floor, even the laundry room, so no worries about going up and down stairs when we are feeble. We are planning a master bed and bathroom addition, but it won’t add another bedroom as we will take the smallest one now and that will be the new bathroom and walkin closet.</p>
<p>What is the tax like for retirees in HI? I love the idea of moving to Hawaii. I have a feeling not only living cost is high there, it may have disadvategeous tax codes. If we move it will be to a condo.</p>
We have that and a pool table. We plan on keeping both, which are in great shape. Your kids and their friends and girlfriend/boyfriends, grandchildren will use them!</p>