First of all, you need to not compare the cost of a small house now to the cost of a large house in 1988. That's apples and oranges. Of course it'll be more. But you'll also sell your house for a lot more. You'll come out ahead cash-wise.

We downsized a year and a half ago. Used to have 4400 sf on 7 acres, now live in 940 sf on 1/3 acre. It was a bit of an accidental downsize: we were moving and bought the small house as a temporary crash pad until the big house sold. But the significantly lower taxes, insurance, and utilities made us decide to try a downsized life and see if it worked. We're empty nesters and don't have a lot of visitors, but figured we could easily pay to put them up in hotels with the savings from our housing costs.

We have decided to add on a couple hundred sf (laundry room/powder room/office), and we really need a garage. But aside from that, living in a smaller place, and the decluttering necessitated by such is liberating. Not that the decluttering is done yet....

It's a common misperception for down-sizers to believe that their next, smaller, one level home is going to cost a lot less than the value of their current, larger, two story home. Unless the buyer is moving to a much lower cost of living, it rarely happens that way. Depending on your market, it can be a shock to find out that the investment in the current house over the years isn't going to fund retirement living nearly as much as planned.

My friend is currently selling her two story for a one level. The price of her new home is about 70% of the price she's getting for her two story home even though it's 1000 square foot smaller and doesn't have the finishings she's accustomed to. So, she'll still have to do some pricey updates (flooring, trimwork, countertops/backsplash) to bring it up to par with the house she's selling. I'm actually surprised that she's not having to spend more on her retirement home given our market.

My husband and I anticipate spending more for our retirement home than the value of our current home. Part of it is that we're going to not be nearly as "sensible" with the last home we buy as we have been up to this point. There are amenities we've done without in order to fund kid's college tuition, stock our retirement funds, etc. Hopefully, we'll be in a position to create a really lovely nest for our last stop before we find ourselves needing assisted living.

I did renovate my new townhouse – I had hardwood floors installed on the main
floor and re-did the 30-year-old kitchen. After living through years of DYI in
our old house, I wanted this house to be done. So even though I came out of the
sale of my old house with over $100K, almost half went for a down payment and then
I spent about $30K on the renovations. But there’s still some left and I’m really
happy with the changes.

My parents downsized from a 2,400 sq ft single family home to a 1,100 sq ft apartment. It was quite an adjustment at first but they like the fact that they don't have to pay property taxes or for lawn service. Their Internet, phone and TV bills are the same but their water and power bills are much lower. There were rooms in the house that they weren't even using anymore and were just filling up with junk. The dining room was gathering dust since family holidays had moved to my house. They also like the fact that they don't have to haul trash to the curb anymore or deal with fixing anything or paying to have anything fixed.

It was tough to convince them to downsize but now they are glad that they did.

Here's what you're saying......

We are heading into retirement. We are having to pay more for tasks we
used to handle ourselves (mulching, deck staining, lawn mowing, some
landscaping...

And this is what I'm hearing.....

I'm not really up for the outside maintenance associated with a house.

These are expenses that will still be there, even if you move to a ranch home. I think it's a great idea to downsize, but make sure you know what you REALLY want to do and what you can do...when you move.

We've lived in our current home for 20 years, and are in the process of selling it and moving to a house about half the size. New house is in town, walking distance to shopping and lots of activities, rather than having to drive everywhere. New house is much closer to our families. Cost of living in new town is just a bit less expensive than current area. Taxes will be higher, but we will have less square footage to heat and cool. Comparing the cost of the new home with immediate renovations, to the expected selling price of our current house, leaves us maybe $40K to the good. We're not selling to get a financial windfall, but rather to get to a place where we can enjoy the early years of our retirement. Plus, it feels good to divest ourselves of so much stuff that somehow we've accumulated, but really don't want or need anymore.

We figure this is the first cut, and in another 10 or 15 years we will do another deep cut to fit into a retirement apartment. By then, the 5 bins of Christmas ornaments, 3 bins of beanie babies, 4 complete sets of family china, etc etc etc that migrated into new house's attic will be disposed of.

About eight ish years ago, we owned a 1700sq ft house with a small yard. It was kind of a fixer and the yard required more upkeep than you think because the previous owners had let terrible weeds get established that required constant struggle to clear. We didn't have kids, knew we never would. It got so we dreaded our place. Even though we were young enough to do the work, neither of us liked it. Fixing house and yard consumed our weekends.

We sold the house. The market was at a good place, so we made a nice profit. We bought a condo and never looked back. The condo was about 700ish sq ft but well laid out and in a much nicer community than the house. Also it was close to public transportation, something important to us. We paid quite a bit less than we sold the house for. Did end carrying a small mortgage but paid it off way early.

Our other costs went down too. Yes, you pay association fees with a condo, but ours included heat, gas, water (and hot water), trash pick up, snow removal, sewer. Different things are included in different associations, of course, but for us it meant all the 'bills' except cable/internet and electricity went away. Taxes stayed about the same, because with the nicer community came higher taxes. Still, overall, our overall housing costs dropped several hundred dollars a month and our weekends became our own again.

Recently, after some years of living mortgage free, we bit the bullet and moved again, to a slightly larger place in our dream location (South Loop, Chicago). We've taken on a mortgage again, but I'd say our costs are about equivalent to when we owned the house.

We love condo living and haven't regretted leaving the single family house behind for one second. I can't think of a single downside. Even clearing out most of a house's worth of stuff felt joyous, freeing, to us.

Maybe you could find a compromise- there are town homes and other large condo units that would have three bedrooms but with the association doing all common element (I.e. outside) maintenance. A standalone ranch house would still have a lot of the chores you're complaining about, like mulching, deck staining, etc. Maybe the lawn might be smaller, but it will still need to be mowed.

Do you need to stay in the same State? You can save money by moving to a State with lower property taxes and no State tax. We moved from NYC to Florida and went from $22,000 property taxes to $2,000 a year property tax.

Big savings. Plus there is no State tax, no oil bills and lower electricity bills. Most houses are on one level and the whole State is flat, no hills!

We don't regret moving here except we miss our daughter who lives in Ct. So we fly up occasionally and she flies down to visit. Its not the same, but it isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Life for us as retired, is very good.

Jane

You do not have to downgrade when downsizing. In fact, when I retire and downsize, I plan on upgrading quite a bit.

Jewelisfabulous

You sound like me and my husband. We bought a 2 story more than 40 years ago and have been renovating it for 40 years:). We sacrificed, did without to raise our 2 daughters and pay for college, weddings and socked a good chunk away for retirement. Now, it's our turn to build ( and we are almost done) our retirement, 1 level (as close to it as we want to spend) dream house. We will be downsizing and that's OK. I don't want to spend my retirement years dusting, cleaning grout or caulk( none of that in this house, except kitchen backspash). I want to PLAY!!!

We did not downsize, but moved two years ago from a ranch to a brand new patio home, of similar size. It is 1300 sf. Still living on one level, still a freestanding dwelling, but the houses are only 10' apart and on tiny lots. We like not sharing walls/noise with neighbors.

The price was more than the 60 year old house sold for... but everything is sparkling new, open floor plan, and up to date! Utilities are considerably less. Plus, lawn stuff is done by the HOA. We still are ultimately responsible for paint and roofs, but they are new, and will be for some time.

We are early 70's and really enjoy this. We can still have a tiny garden area of just a few feet front and back, so most favorite plants and flowers are still enjoyed... on a small scale.

Getting rid of stuff was not a problem since we are not collectors and the sf difference is negligible. That said, before downsizing you need to ask yourself... do you own your home and 'stuff', or does it own you? Decide what you really need, then get rid of the rest. It is so empowering.

Just my two cents...

With our latest move (which I hope is our last, it is a ranch home close to amenities), I kept retirement in mind, although we still have three kids in the house. Everything is on one level. Ease of access to public transportation was a factor.

We upgraded a lot on things from our last family home. We have solid doors, hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, two sinks in the master bath, etc... I like those upgrades (especially the solid doors) and wouldn't want to go backwards. So although this was an upgrade for my family, it was with retirement in mind with getting a house big enough, but not too big once the kids move out.

Looking forward to retirement Any Time Now, we moved from a 3600 sf house to a 2500 sf house, but went to a 5x larger lot (2 ac, bordering conservation land, so it feels much larger) with a lot more potential for gardens and orchard and added a 1910 barn that I've converted into my woodworking shop. The house is bigger than we need, but we can pretty much ignore the upstairs bedrooms. We did a remodel/addition to make it completely livable on the ground floor, planed for future accessibility, created space for my pianos, and did a deep energy retrofit on the whole space. I'm not planning on moving out except feet first. Not quite "downsizing" I guess, but preparing for what we want to do for the next 20+ years (I hope!). I plan on being at home rather than at work a lot more in the future, so actually feel like I need more and better space than I did before, when I only came home to sleep.

When our sons moved out, we downsized to an 1100 sq ft bungalow ("ranch house") from a much bigger 3-story home in the country. I was 50, retired at 55, and am now 60. Hubby and I love the smaller space, we even turned the 3rd bedroom into a huge master bath ensuite. I hope to stay here till I'm carried out ;) One advantage of a smaller home is the reduced running costs: gas, electricity, property taxes... we pay 1/2 the property taxes that our next-door neighbour, with a big house, pays. I would go crazy in a condo, I like puttering around the house and yard!

Im downsizing myself from a 3,300 sq ft single detached to a townhouse 2000 sq ft. the new place is vastly different from my older house. I will move into a modern style home. I purposely chose a freehold townhouse, not a condo. At a condo you have to pay those extra maintenance fees for common areas such as utilities elevators, hallway, pool, party rooms etc.. parking is extra. You have concierge services to control people coming in... maintenance fees never go down. It will just keep going up. You pay condo fees based on the sq. footage. so that is my pet peeve with condos. I will move there when I get very old. Right now I'm in early 50s and still very active. I still have a young child and I'm still working but I thought its a good time to sell now as the price is right for my house. I have a home in a high in demand area and I just sold my house over asking. The townhouse admittedly was expensive but Im fairly certain that when I sell it I can sell it at a profit. Its in a good location and will likely appreciate in value.

Keep in mind that there are all sorts of condos. I'm moving to one and there is no pool or party room, no exercise room, no concierge services. Parking is included in the cost of the home. All in all the monthly costs will be notably less than those of running my current single family home, and I'm not paying for any of the amenities I wouldn't use anyway. Mine is not a high rise building but a 4 story in a small city with less than 30 units. Perfect size for me.

I would love to downsize but DH is happy here, so we are remaining in a 5200 sq. ft. home on 12 acres with a pond, two streams and a bridge to go over one to get to the house. (My mother says we need grandchildren so somebody can sing "over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house, we go," lol.)

You wouldn't believe the utility expenses as well as the yard and garden maintenance costs if I told you. Ten of our acres are in conservation management, which lowers already low property taxes. We live in a very small town and will probably be here forever. I've started calling the house The Mausoleum.

We moved to a condo five years ago (for half the year). It's 1900 sq feet, 3 br, 2 bath and we thought we'd live here for a lot more years. We got a dog who hates downtown because of the noise. Additionally because it's a high rise, we can't barbecue and I can't garden. Plus, we discovered that while we think things need to be redone (such as making our outdated windows energy efficient as well as impact resistant (we live in FL), the majority of the condo owners don't think it's important. And our condo fees keep rising.

So we decided to look for a house. We found land walking distance to downtown in a quiet residential area. We will build a 2600 sq foot home on a 6100 sq foot lot. I will be able to barbecue, garden and we'll have our own pool, which means I don't have shlep everything downstairs just to go for a swim. I will also have an oversized art studio to work in. For us it is a lateral move in terms of what we sell this place for vs what we pay for our build, but we'll save a lot because we won't have the monthly condo fees which are high in our building.

Interesting when my parents were in their mid 50's back in the early 80's they decided to sell their colonial home in a desirable neighborhood and they bought a larger home on 2 acres in a more desirable neighborhood. They bought a ranch home. I asked my Mom back then why a ranch since she loved colonials. She said, "we're not getting any younger and we have to think of the future." They then redid the home adding a master suite and were happy in that house for many years. For them, a bigger home that was on one level, looking out on their gardens was what made my parents happy.

Decide what it is you want. Don't figure you'll be saving money so much as changing your lifestyle to suit the next phase of your life.

I'll be listing soon for the very same reason. At 2500+ sq ft, 4br/3ba I want something smaller and on one level, even though the master is on the first level, as well as an additional bedroom/ full bath. I'm ok with a smaller yard because I still want to 'plan in the dirt.' I would also consider a condo or townhouse, but also need the small yard for my dog.

I'll also be moving to a new location where i'll be closer to my daughter and her family.

I have also been posting questions about downsizing to a condo. I am trying to think of it as cpartist described--changing my lifestyle.