Our house is probably 20ish% of our net worth but since we have no current plans to sell or downsize it and it’s pretty illiquid, we just consider it a place to live and don’t have to calculate an amount for renting.
The cost of maintaining—all ins, property tax included is less than we’d likely have to pay to rent a similar space.
At some point if we contemplated selling and buying a smaller and less expensive place, we could get some of the equity after taxes.
Oh, I definitely factor the expenses of homeownership into our retirement plan. It all is a good chunk of our monthly budget. When I say I don’t factor it into our retirement plan, I mean I don’t consider that part of our net worth as an asset to be used in retirement. If we didn’t live here, we’d have to live somewhere which would incur costs.
Our RE taxes and insurance on House2 is about what a studio apartment rents for downtown… And our RE taxes are high! Many empty nesters here find themselves in the same situation - why sell when the rent of a comparable home is much more than what they are paying now.
DH and I disagree on whether or not to count the house value in our assets. I ascribe to what most here say- I don’t want to count the house value in our assets since we have to live somewhere. I don’t know what we may decide when DH retires in a few years. Our house is bigger than we need, but fortunately our property taxes are low due to a program we currently qualify for (if the unincorporated area gets incorporated this could change).
While our kids currently live relatively near each other and we get to see them all (kids, spouses, and grandkid) when we visit, its across country and a long trip. And its also a very high priced place to live. And the very small pension DH will eventually get would be eaten up with taxes there. And while one of our s’s is not going anywhere, I am not so convinced about the other.
We can comfortably live on our assets where we are. I am not convinced it would be as true where they are. We’d perhaps look at an active seniors community (though some of the ones in their relative area were affected by fires in recent years, IIRC). But no clue what the cost is. And in general, housing costs are probably double or maybe even triple what they are here (depending on location within a reasonable distance from the s’s.) So for now, we stay put. But our master is not on the main, and who knows what that may mean down the road. It was a learning experience for sure when I broke my ankle a few years back.
Our home is roughly 1/4 of our NW. I guess it is part of our “stuff hit the fan” retirement plan, but we hope to be taken out in a box. If we are otherwise broke, could sell it to fund a CCRC.
We are more than halfway through a renovation that will make it great for aging in place: geothermal, solar, battery, roll in showers, wide doorways, one floor living (our master suite upstairs could be used by caregivers). The theme of our renovation has been to lower ongoing maintenance (geothermal should last 25-50 years), accessibility, and comfort.
My mother lived in a state with very high property taxes. She stayed in the huge house (5 huge BRs, 5 batths, 3 stories on over an acre in a desirable suburb) that they built when I was a kid. Expensive to maintain. My father died when she was 78. For years, the house was eating up to much of her income. At age 93, we sold it. I suggested a smaller condo and found one. She only wanted to rent. Didn’t like the rental apartment we found and after 2 years, she moved this monthto live in a senior community. She doesn’t like it either. Ah well. She used a part of the proceeds of the sale to purchase her door in the senior community.
Net Worth vs Income, another look at being Rich
Planning for retirement, we view cash, investments, including projected roi, & social security as meeting expenses. Rather than buy LTC insurance, our current plan is to sell our home if we both need 24-hour care, or if whoever lives longer can no longer afford to live at home.
At this point in time, I wonder what will be available, i.e. what assisted living residences will be like in the future.
We’re very fortunate. We have no mortgage & our co-op apartment has appreciated considerably over ~25 years. Plus, we live in a leafy no drama neighborhood.
@ManhattanBoro - can only see the very beginning of this. It doesn’t put up the paywall thing, but I can’t scroll down and there is a “log-in” in the upper right corn. Bummer.
It worked for me without any issue. I am apparently not rich. 
I think our house equity is around 15% of our new worth. We don’t really think about it for retirement planning.
@Hoggirl - I believe there isn’t a paywall.
Try answering the questions. OR, go to the last paragraph, which is wrapped in brackets, & click on “click here.”
FYI all: As @notrichenough indicated, this is meant to be fun!
We’re in a very different position. Our house equity is slightly more than everything else we have saved combined. Granted, we live in California in an area that has appreciated insanely. We could never afford to move to our city today.
We bought our house nearly 30 years ago and have done extensive renovations. Our remaining equity balance is relatively low and our mortgage + other expenses are far below what we would pay elsewhere.
When we think about retirement, we don’t calculate the value of our home into the equation. We carry LTC insurance and renovated the master bath to be wheelchair accessible in our one-story house. So we might not need to move. But I do guess I view the house as an insurance policy. If we ever become too ill, or if we are strapped financially, we can sell the house, move into a facility, and it will carry us through.
When I read everyone’s comments, I hear traces of our own story. Our kids live in very expensive places, and we could not move to where they are. We are now living next door to my father, and have lots of family (all baby boomers, no one younger) here. I don’t think we will sell our home as we get older, so selling it would be our last resort. We use the ESPlanner tool, called Maxifi, to guide us on the spending level we can afford, assuming not selling the house. The valuation of our house is about 15% of our total net worth.
There is a whole thread about that NYT “quiz.” 
I’m having the same problem as @Hoggirl , even if I plug in a number for the first question it won’t let me scroll down to the second. I’m on a tablet and maybe it works better on a real computer. If someone can get it to work, can you summarize the results for people over 55?
@BunsenBurner I thought so, too, but this one’s about net worth as opposed to income.
I’m still Not Rich.
Wealth cutoffs by age
% AGES 18 TO 34 35 TO 44 45 TO 54 55 TO 64 65+
99th $998k $2.65M $12.0M $14.5M $12.0M
95th $278k $1.13M $2.18M $4.40M $3.51M
90th $164k $552k $1.13M $2.14M $2.05M
85th $104k $371k $762k $1.36M $1.25M
80th $82.0k $279k $550k $968k $942k
@doschicos - thanks! I am also on a tablet, so perhaps that is the issue.
That is one BIG differential between 95th and 99th percentiles starting at age 44!
And, when I tried to go back and try again, I did get the regular, pop-up paywall.
More readable table, with 75th, 50th, 25th, and 5th percentile added (amount of wealth in thousands of dollars):
% 18-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+<br>
99th 998 2650 12000 14500 12000
95th 278 1130 2180 4400 3510
90th 164 552 1130 2140 2050
85th 104 371 762 1360 1250
80th 82 279 550 968 942
75th 62 214 417 686 695
50th 11 60 127 184 241
25th 0 6 17 34 70
5th -48 -32 -11 -1 1
It is rather likely that a large percentage of Americans will be dependent on others (family, charity, government transfers) for retirement, based on the median wealth of $184k to $241k in near-retirement and retirement age. Note the negative numbers for the 5th percentile indicate that some people owe more than they own (20% of 18-34, 10% of 35-44, and 5% of 45-54 and 55-64 have negative wealth).
Richer get richer and…
Increasing disparities of. wealth on this country