Have it painted inside and out before you move in. Have wall tile and floor tile professionally cleaned and sealed before you move in. Also address any problems brought up in the inspection.

Set up a regular maintenance schedule with a budget so things don't get out of hand. There are many online schedules, probably some will fit your midwestern weather.

The less stuff you have, the less time you'll have to spend cleaning and caring for things. Give away things you no longer want. It's very common to declutter and sell things, move to a new place, then find you are ready to give away or sell even more stuff.

Some people use long life light bulbs in hard to reach spots. Nice bright lighting can show problems developing in dark garages and dark basements before things get expensive to fix. People who are no longer confident about climbing ladders to change burned out bulbs can have visiting adult children or handymen deal with them. A regularly scheduled cleaning service can do these things, too.

Local teenagers can be hired to vacuum the floors or mow lawns. In my area, there are few jobs for teens, so they are happy to get occasional odd jobs for a few hours at minimum wage.

Don't paint anything that doesn't need to be painted. Like brick, stone, etc. Slow growing foundation bushes that only need trimmed one or twice a summer. Keep trees to a minimum, less leaves to rake. If you must have flowers plant perennials and ground cover to block weeds . If you want shrubs in the yard pick ones that look good growing free form. Edge gardens for easy mowing. Remember potted plants need watered almost every day to two times a day. Get a snow blower and throw calcium chloride before an expected snow storm. My husband finds it easier for him to clear the snow when it is only a few inches at a time than wait until the storm is over and have to clear a foot. Put concrete pillars or large rocks at end of the driveway. Snow plows like to steer clear of them thus no snow plowed into your driveway. If you have a mailbox in your yard use a pop up flag to save useless trips to the box. Don't advertise you are older and possibly a easy target. We are retired, but have a baby swing hanging from the tree in the front yard for our granddaughters. It looks like a younger family lives in our house.

We just did the same thing last year, going from an acre of extensive gardens to 1/3 acre and a smaller house. First, edit, edit, edit. The less stuff you have, the better. I purged before we moved and still ended up with a basement full of boxes, so I’m purging again. Be ruthless.

Outside, I’m doing my best to limit plantings of perennials and annual containers to a small area around the patio where they are near the hose. Other new plantings are shrubs and trees. Beds that are not adding to my enjoyment, such as on the far side of the house, are being reduced or eliminated to reduce mulching and weeding chores. I’ll either eliminate the window boxes or add drip irrigation to avoid lugging watering cans.

We have irrigation for the lawn but I’m considering weaning it off the sprinklers and not using it going forward and letting the lawn go dormant in the summer. I’m not reconciled to the use of water for the lawn, not to mention the expense.

We just built a new garage, which necessitated replacing the outdated septic system, driveway, and patio. New gutters have leaf guards. Heating and AC systems are new and efficient.

Biggest maintenance worry for me is periodic exterior repainting which can be very expensive.

Check out Gardening for a Lifetime by Sydney Eddison. I got a review copy when it came out several years ago and there are some good strategies for making your forever home's landscape gorgeous, but not a burden to care for.

1/3 acre is still much too large for a retirement home without paid professional help. You are not realistically going to live in this home 100% Independently much beyond 5-15 years.Then you will be transitioning to full help on everything but some hobby raised beds directly to the rear of the home, and making your own eggs for breakfast.

Budget for that now, and for housekeeping help too. Or plan this to be the transition to assisted living and be realistic that when you can’t get out and mow that 1/3 acre, it’s time.

Or, you may want that walkable urban condo now, and skip all of that maintenance. And be in the heart of grocery stores and medical care just an Uber away.

My mother is 93, her house is tiny, 680 s.f. because that was all she could afford in our expensive town when she moved here to be near us. Her yard is 1/4 acre. She still mows her own lawn, has a small veggie garden, starts her plants from seed indoors or from cuttings taken the year before, and her front yard is a jam packed cottage garden. She stopped shoveling her own driveway about two years ago on the insistence of myself and her doctor. She still drives, whether or not that is a good idea depends on who you ask, but I would have to wrestle her for the keys and she’s pretty tough. At least she doesn’t go more than a mile from home in any direction. She refuses to let me hire someone to help her.

I’m 75 with some health issues. There’s a big difference between 65 and 80. The acreage has been too much for a while. I lease that to a bean farmer. The 1/2 acre around the house, I can still mow. But not weedeat. Or pull weeds. Or have the garden beds look like I want them to look. The raised beds with the easy care roses and a few under planting’s are all that I deal with.

I’m not ready for assisted living. Yet. But I can’t keep up a 2700 sf house either. 2 bedrooms don’t get used, so that helps.

But things would be SO much easier, living in town, rolling my little cart over to the grocery store a 1/2 mile away, and dollar store next to it, and the library was down the block. And I had no real yard. That was my grandmother in the 1970’s, and I very much appreciate her choices now that I’m that age.

You don’t have to downsize when it comes to retirement. I think you need to have more room and land for the kids family to visit to stay, it’s time to upsizing. It’s sad to see people downsizing. Retirement means you can play full time, you have the time to mow the lawn, to have a cup of tea, to go shopping without time limits, to travel, to touch down at anywhere that interests you.......it’s time to have fun, not the time to cut everything short and small.......

HU, you won’t like suburb living if you came from a farm. I won’t be surprised you move back to the country in a couple years.

Sophie, 75 is the new 65! Keep rocking!

I think the hardest thing for an older person to realize is that they can no longer can take care of their present home. Some can until death and some can't. Fine if they can afford to hire out work, but the average person can't afford to hire a gardener, lawn maintenance person, window cleaner, house cleaner, snow removal person, etc. Then at that point they become a burden on their family (if they have any local) and it is time to move.

One thing we really underestimated with our tiny lot.... lawn is way easier to maintain than "low maintenance shrubs" with mulch. So. Many. Weeds. At least lawn you can just mow. We've started replacing the mulch with microclover which never needs to be mowed but the first few years is still a lot of weeding until the clover takes hold.

I’m prepared to move to a condo or retirement community to cut expenses and maintenance chores. DH thinks we’ll stay in this house forever (2200 s.f.) but he doesn’t pay the bills or take care of the house/yard and has no idea what things cost.

Some good advice already in this thread, just wanted to reiterate a couple of the excellent points: Paint everything prior to move in and fix anything that comes up in the inspection now. Getting all of the major, not fun or glamorous projects out of the way now will save you lots in the long run! Congrats on your retirement home!

Good ideas, all. Many thanks. I'd best clarify that my husband is 71, and I am 56. The hobby farm we are prepping for sale after 40 years sits on 80 acres. All hills. (Pic is of backyard.) The new house, purchased in April, is the same size but on two rather than three floors. We can easily live on the main floor and use the basement for guests. Outside, there's a lot of pro landscaping on the 1/3 acre that needs attention and really isn't "us." In a week or so, the in-ground pool will be professionally demolished and backfilled. Next spring, we look to put in a patio and deck. Good idea to keep any new plantings near the tap! Right now, the corners of the yard are planted with perennials. Weeds love those spots, too. The walls are already repainted neutral colors, so I'd rather wait to customize the colors when I know what furniture lands where. Now that I've filled in some details, do you have more suggestions?

That’s a lovely farm land, what a pretty view! An inground pool can be beneficial for senior’s health though. It’s not really a lot of work. We have one at the country property, we go there on the weekends. It’s pretty easy to maintain. It sounds like you don’t want a pool. It could be a plus for many buyers when you sell your house.......

In some cases, living in your home and paying for lawn care, window washers, snow removal, etc. can be less than moving to a retirement community or assisted living. Our low mortgage payment, long time reliable lawn guy, our yearly vacation-time snow guy and window washing 2X a year is far less for us than $2000 per month rent and fees at nearby retirement complex. Plus, we get to have things that are dear to us, room for guests, and familiar neighbors.

Good point, ma in Michigan. We will have to balance hiring versus moving to assisted living later on. In-ground pool is a built-in pool, not an above-ground pool. We'd hoped to keep it until discovering the cost and time needed to maintain. Only able to use 3 months out of the year up here. Plus the worry about someone drowning. I will have to investigate microclover. Legumes grow well in our area. We're going to replace the aging brick facing and painted wood sides of the house with seamless steel siding. I will also look into the Gardening for a Lifetime book---sounds perfect for someone like me. We've been downsizing the old and buying some new things, too. Our goal is to enjoy a pretty home/yard without becoming a slave to it. We want to be able to leave to travel and visit our kids and grandson. So, it's not just about liking or not liking to maintain, but about setting up a place that can be left for a few days or a week at a time without hiring outside help.

Hello. Just finished washing tools and pots while putting the garden to bed for the season so after all that work I thought I'd share my thoughts. 1) Give up container gardens except a welcoming pot outside whichever door you use most. 2) Plant perennials that work hard and give lots of visual pleasure, which for me would be Yuccas, Sedum, Daylilies, Peonies and Honeysuckle vine for more shade Hosta's paired with perennial Ferns and Lady's Mantel. 3) Plant some soft needled evergreen trees and Smoke Bush -large shrub or small tree depending on original pruning- and Service Berry trees, not only low maintenance but the textures are wonderful looking together. 4) If possible have hardscape/ deck at both entrance doors and use built-in benches on at least two sides -old and young love sitting on them- (greatly reduces outdoor furniture cost, maintenance, storage) and join them with a wide walkway/ boardwalk. Using the walkway between the two doors is especially welcome in Spring and late Winter when the ground is muddy, you can still sit out and enjoy nature and it's safe moving between the two doors so you don't feel so house bound. As much as I love wood we had our windows wrapped in aluminum and had the house covered in rigid foam insulation and then covered in a historically styled Vinyl Siding and yes we too added the gutter guards. The original large vegetable gardens were plowed under and grassed over and I built four small pie shaped raised gardens very near the house, down from the small deck. I planned everything to allow myself and my husband to stay here for as long as we can, together or alone we can get along without help and enjoy ourselves and friends and family too.

Wishing you and your husband all the best on this new adventure,