Anne, I'm looking forward to reading responses to your interesting question, as I've wondered about other's experiences given that I'm in a similar process right now, but moving from the city. Only time will tell, but my hope is that I will always feel this move is the right decision, despite costs that have FAR exceeded all expectations. I'm still in the 'old house', but bought a costlier home in a much better location though with significantly higher taxes and other expenses, last summer. This will be my retirement home. I will definitely get less money for the old house when I sell, but peace of mind and enjoyment count too. Good luck!

I don't know her personally, but a friend's mom moved from a suburb of Seattle (mid-sized house, nice yard) to a condo in downtown Seattle. Last I heard, she was loving it! So close to everything and far less maintenance :)

Thanks for sharing Jakabedy. It is nice to know that you have zero regrets. Was this a retirement move?

Anne, it was a pre-retirement move. DH and I both lived in the West as kids and wanted to find a way to retire out here. In 2013 we started crunching numbers and decided that we didn't really want to wait for me to work ten more years in Alabama. DH could retire fully in 2014, but I'm younger and still have tread on the tires. We decided that if I could find a job out here making $XX, that we would go ahead and make the move. DH was able to work out a deal with his employer to work from home and will officially retire at the end of this year.

Oddly enough I've had more success in my chosen field here than I did in Alabama --- it's been a sort of new start professionally rather than the "wind down" I expected it to be.

I am downsizing to a very expensive and only slightly larger home in the Chicago suburbs. Thing is it will all be on one floor and it will have the kind of floor plan and rooms we need.