There is a lovely neighborhood in my city near the private schools my Ds attended that has almost exclusively rambling one story homes. They were built in the 60s (in fact, DH’s parents built one of the first homes in that neighborhood but separated shortly after moving in). They rarely come up for sale, but when they do, they are snatched up and people basically gut them on the inside. I drove the whole neighborhood yesterday. It would be a great solution. I’ll be keeping my eyes on that neighborhood for a good house.
Having dealt with elderly parents/relatives (as many of us here have) who had hip or knee surgeries, I am an advocate of 1 level living (or, the potential for it). If I fall or have a surgery, I want to be able to remain in my home if at all possible, which means bedroom on the main level with a bathroom. We have built our home accordingly. It was not a downsize, but actually has more square feet than I would have wanted, but it works well for having guests and keeping all the stuff we probably don’t need. We do have a lower level full basement with a TV room, large guest suite and our exercise room. Everything else is on the main level and we have no 2nd story. There is also a great deck on the main level so any incapacitated person could spend time outside as well without having to do steps.
H has intermittent pain from knee(s) and back, so we plan to always live in a one level home. It’s just easier that way. H has loved living in our one level home rather than the home he grew up in that is 66 steps from street to front door.
Something to think about vis-a-vis one level and steps versus no steps: My former parents-in-law reside in their house with my ex-husband. All entrances into the house have steps: garage to hallway; front door to front room; screen door from backyard and deck to family room. Both parents-in-law are in wheelchairs; MIL no longer can walk and FIL can walk, but barely. He is obese. If there is a fire in the house, it will be next to impossible for my ex (or anyone else) to get them out in time.
H and I have had a two bedroom, two bath second home for a long time so going smaller when we sold our primary residence was not an adjustment. The big purge was the hardest part and our daughter will thank us down the road that she will not have to do it. I had multiple generations of china and so many things from deceased family members that the young adults in the family did not want. I consigned some and gave away others. While there were moments of real sadness, now that it is all done I love the idea that all of these things are in new homes being used and loved…just not by the family of their original owners.
I have no interest in buying a 3000 square foot, $1,000,000-plus condominium, which is what seems to be the only thing being built around here at the moment. For now we are happily ensconced in a two bed, two bath rental about eight miles from our old house. The complex is on the main street of a little town walking distance to some cafes and shops. It is also walking distance to the train. We have a one year lease and if we like it we are going to stay for a while. It has outdoor space and communal grills (not being able to grill was a deal breaker).
My mother stayed in her house into her 90’s. We moved her to the downstairs bedroom at 88. I am sure it was good for her to go up and down stairs a number of times each day while she was still able. That being said, I am very arthritic already so if we buy another house having a first floor bedroom and bath will be imperative because there will be a point when I will have real difficulty with stairs.
Mom and Dad moved into a retirement community in NJ. At the time we, children, thought—really?
As it turned out, it was a gated community with beautiful grounds, a golf course and community building with a great swimming pool. The common grounds were kept beautifully and the services, mowing and plowing, were excellent. They lived in their own one story home with two bedrooms and.two bathrooms.
H and I cnsidered buying out my siblings to buy the house after Mom died. Dad died years before. But my Mom died in the house and I thought that might bother me. But more importantly, H to s not into doing anything that isn’t his idea. Takes me weeks or months to convince him of a trip. Concert he wants to see, done In a day.
We spent the week researching new townhomes as well as resales. Unfortunately, in our price range, area and wishes, we will not be able to get a one story or master on the main. We have found a new community we like that has the garage on the main level; the only stairs will be from the living area to the bedrooms. We are seriously considering a home here, although we both love the other community which has the drive under garage. The plus is, the front door is without stairs and there is a guest bedroom and full bath right there. We still need to see the resales we have selected to see; once that is done we will make our decision.
Wow–a decision! Wishing you the best.
Guessing H and I will be ancient still talking about making a decision 
DH and I still can’t decide where we want to downsize to - new city or same city new neighborhood … Been thinking about it for 6 years and still no closer. This big house will just be too much and we want to be able to travel without worrying about it. So we are way behind you in decision.
I’m afraid I’ll never get my husband away from our pool, but someplace smaller would really be nice.
Singersmom07, you’re not alone. DH and I haven’t decided where we want to downsize to either. We do know we won’t stay where we are, but where we’ll go to hasn’t been decided yet. We’ve been thinking about it for 4 years. I’m also not sure that DH and I are on the same page regarding what constitutes a downsize.
I think you have to not think of your downsize as being your new forever home. This way you give yourself freedom to experiment and move again if things don’t work out as planned or things change. Despite being in my current home for almost 30 years, I think if we downsize and declutter we should be “light” enough to feel that we could move again easily. Things were different when we were young and choosing where to start and raise a family - so many different factors to consider - schools, commute time, etc. and you wanted stability. With retirement and downsizing should come freedom instead. This should make the decision easier not harder.
I am totally for main floor bedrooms. Currently our master is on main and others up, but I would like at least one more down. My H has lung condition and sleeps with CPAP and oxygen recirculator and it is a pain to move all his stuff, but when my parents come, my Dad can not longer handle stairs to get to upstairs guest room. So I want a master and guest down. Would love to downsize to ranch and have all on one level. Or home with 2 down and 2 small up +bath for when girls (and future families) home. Problem is one that many of you seem to have which is that smaller houses, other than old ranches are being built with multiple floors to fit more homes on less acreage. If we want to stay in our gated neighborhood, our only options will be multi-story homes with zero setbacks (we call them Charleston style around here).And then we have a grand piano that I know my H won’t give up.
My parents have faced this since my Dad’s stroke. They had a main floor bedroom that they could use but had to take doors off for wheelchair temporarily. Now they have replaced tub in that bath with stand-up shower. I would urge anyone that is buying a home for older years to keep accessible options in mind. Even if you don’t want grab bars now, if you are doing any renovations, think about widening doors to at least one bed and bath. Lots of other things can be adapted later but that requires more construction. They also have awful stairs onto porch with no landing - we kids are trying to get them to fix that.
It is interesting to hear people talk about square footage. Very few basements around here, but if they are they are counted in total square feet. Watching HGTV it seems that some places don’t include it. Big difference to have a house that is 2000 sq. ft including basement and one where basement not counted that basically doubles potential living space. Is this state by state difference? Just curious.
In MA, it seems that properties are listed with main and second floor square footage and advertised with a “full finished basement” not included in that square footage.
Around here, whether or not the basement counts in square footage depends on to what extent it’s finished.
^^ Same here. Has to be finished square footage. Our exercise area is not “finished”. Our basement is walk-out, which is really nice. It is truly great guest quarters that could be used for a live-in caregiver. There aren’t that many basements here in middle Tennessee, but we got a sloped lot so that we could do this.
Well, right or wrong, we have decided on the townhome with the drive under garage and master up. If there is a time that one or the other can not handle the step long term, we will move again. After moving out of our home where we raise the children, we decluttered such that moving again would be easier like @kiddie mentioned above. We decided we wanted a home we could enjoy, but still downsize in price and size; this house and community has everything we like, other than being a three story home! That said, we do not dislike having stairs, today 
If we are right, this home will appreciate such that it will be a nice investment. It is at the earlier stages and we are selecting the cheapest plan with other homes going in that are double the price. As we are not able to find master on the main in the smaller home size we want, in the area we need to be in for work, townhomes are the only option we have other than an old condo complex. We do not want to be in a small condo community, so here we are!
Enjoy the new place!
So many different options based on locations. I definitely like having single story living.
We retired to Florida from Wisconsin (miss four seasons but not the snow). In order to get in a nice middle class area of our city we ended up with perhaps a larger house than we could have. Single story on a slab (no basement for storage) around 2600 SF. We saw many somewhat larger homes but they felt too big. Wanted fewer baths but ended up with more due to pool bath that never use/need to clean. Two of us- four bedrooms. Master, guest (was to be den) and we each get our own computer/den room with afternoon sunshine. Could have done without the open to foyer LR and DR but they came with the place, actually better than having those in our old house that were more separate from everything else. Large kitchen which wasn’t on my wish list but great for both of us doing food prep at the same time. Lanai, pool and some stuff we ignore (fireplace and, yes a sauna in FL! we use for storage). Here it is easy to get lawn care done so after my landscaping changes there is not much to do.
While our house has a lot of space there is little for storage- we use bedroom closets. It is also nice to be apart from each other and we each have some private space. Plus- room enough to migrate from different areas for variety in bad/hot weather. I grew up in a 1000+ SF ranch house (plus unfinished basement) and really appreciate having space. IF it were just me alone I would downsize further, as I expect to do when we pass from being old to elderly. But I still would want the master, guest and den. Do not want to do all of my living in the same space all of the time.
It is not only the square footage but the use of that. Consider storage. When you do downsize what happens to all of the kids’ possessions left behind that you are saving for when they have a house/storage? We forced our son to (finally) get rid of most stuff. I have seen stuff abandoned by friend’s kids that need to be given/thrown away when they move. We also have stuff we could part with if we had to- the next downsize.
You never know when joints prohibit stairs or make them tough. We are living in a house for us, not hosting many visitors. A queen size bed plus one queen, one twin air mattress (double high) when people come. There are hotels. We also have a community center if we ever host large gatherings (not us!).
OP- hopefully with so many diverse replies you can get a better sense of what works for you. Try climbing those stairs several times when you next look at townhouses. When you are retired and home so much more often you will find yourself needing to frequently get stuff from one room or another. Climbing stairs to the BR for a toiletry or change of clothes midday??? Going back down to the kitchen for something??? We’re all only going to get older and less physically adept.
I’m in the process of dealing with this. I survived the Great Purge of 2016 and my 4-bedroom house is now on the market. I live alone and am really looking forward to a detached condo where the condo fee includes landscaping and snow removal. While I like my current 2-story living, I’m opting for a single floor in the new place. I’ve seen a couple of places with floor plans I like and it looks like I want ~1600 sq. feet. I’m still amazed at how enormous the basement is when all the living space is on a single floor. I don’t really need a formal dining room, but I may use it for a music room if I get one. And I really like a 3 or 4-season porch, but realize that the more space I have, the more I’ll have to furnish.
It appears now that, though I’ll be downsizing, I may be moving into a more expensive property.