Downsizing your home?

[Luanne]

We bought our current home 30 years ago. Say what you want about CA (and I am so sad that some feel so negatively about it) but our real estate values have quintupled in our area, while our property taxes have remained quite stable. We have a beautiful home with a panoramic view that is loaded with happy family memories.

I was born and raised in California (second generation in fact). I married and raised my daughters there. I still love California. But yes, we moved when we retired. The biggest reasons were housing prices and how crowded it's gotten. In order for us to downsize our house and stay in an area we liked, we would have had to pay the same, or more, for a smaller house.

 

[breezez]

I find myself in a perplexing situation I had a paid of second home I was considering renting. But, neighborhood slowly going downhill so decided to sell it instead. We did par down 50% of our aquired junk when we moved out of this house. But it is amazing how fast you acquire new junk

My current house I could pay completely off all but about 80K. But, my loan is 15yr at 2.85% fixed. In my mind I can do better investing than paying down mortgage. So I told my wife let me play a couple months and see if I can beat it. I primarily sell derivatives. So far I am earning slightly better than 2% a month so at this rate I can't bring myself to wanting to pay house down.

But am willing to listen to any insight you older wiser folks can provide.

 

[remowidget]

We actually downsized when we went from 1700ft to 3200ft. Since then we filled it up, but it was great to get rid of tons of stuff we hadn't used in a long time. Have been through that, I don't think we will have a problem with it when we decide to downsize.

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[bogey21]

Has anyone successfully downsized your home in the same town? By "successfully" I mean, have you actually disposed of excess possessions, and moved to a smaller place, without filling every corner of the smaller place with new or found items you feel you MUST have, until you're up to the rafters in "stuff" again - just with fewer square feet to store it? Were/are you HAPPY that you did that?

What I did when moving from a house to a much smaller condo was sell everything in the old house to a company for 10-15 cents on the dollar and buy all new stuff so I could furnish the new condo without cluttering it up with stuff just because I owned it. Except for the cost it worked out great.

George

 

[clifffaith]

In order for us to downsize our house and stay in an area we liked, we would have had to pay the same, or more, for a smaller house.

We just had that exact discussion at breakfast. Really hard to downsize the house but stay in our area of coastal Los Angeles without ending up paying about the same.

 

[Luanne]

We just had that exact discussion at breakfast. Really hard to downsize the house but stay in our area of coastal Los Angeles without ending up paying about the same.

We look back now and wonder what we would be doing if we'd stayed in the same area. I'm sure the opportunities for getting involved in the community are as numerous as they are here, but the ability to have all of the museums, music and such so close wouldn't have been. We are very happy with the move we made.

 

[VegasBella]

Yes. We moved from a 3 bedroom 2 story home to a 2 bedroom 1 story home a few neighborhoods over. Our intention was not so much to downsize as to get into a better neighborhood. But we did manage to do it without too much clutter. It helps that we have a housekeeper come once a week and a landscaper come twice a month


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[wilma]

We moved out of California because we cannot stand the craziness going in the state anymore. Not getting political here. We are watching as outsiders now as the CA legislators come up with something new each day. It is not just about taxes, but the whole package.

Actually you are getting political here....

 

[WinniWoman]

I find that selling a home fast is better than waiting. The recent 3 homes that my realtors sold for me... first sold within 1 week of listing with 3 similar offers, second sold within 1 day with 1 offer, third (most recent) was sold after 48 days. The third had 4 offers throughout the listing period, none of their offers were close to what I really wanted (their offers were 60K below asking), the first 3 offers wanted to resell their newly bought home to buy mine. My home was listed $600K below actual cost - it was a really special home, and really a steal but not in a prime location. The 4th offered cash and closed in 10 days. I took the 4th offer as it is better to have the money in my bank quickly and let it grow than to sit on a empty home which was bleeding money with each day. There are all kinds of stories about squatters breaking into empty homes.

Agree. That is what we did when we sold my parents' home. Listed it for a fast sale- got a cash offer the first day and took it, though we did have a couple of others as well. Why hold out for a higher price when you have property and school taxes looming (in hell hole NY) and operating expenses?

 

[rapmarks]

Agree. That is what we did when we sold my parents' home. Listed it for a fast sale- got a cash offer the first day and took it, though we did have a couple of others as well. Why hold out for a higher price when you have property and school taxes looming (in hell hole NY) and operating expenses?

I can't tell you how many people turned down perfectly good offers and waited months before taking a lower offer. Worst case was neighbor who decided to reap his profits and move in either 2006 or 2007. He turned down an offer cash $420,000 and sold two years later for $225,000


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[Ivy]

Yes. We moved from a 3 bedroom 2 story home to a 2 bedroom 1 story home a few neighborhoods over. Our intention was not so much to downsize as to get into a better neighborhood. But we did manage to do it without too much clutter. It helps that we have a housekeeper come once a week and a landscaper come twice a month


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Sounds like a good move. I have always wanted to be a minimalist..but tell that to my husband. A man who still wants to keep jackets that he owned when he was 17...ugh. Sometimes i just don't even have the words

 

[rapmarks]

We have two homes and my husband has seven golf bags in each home filled with clubs, and he complains that I have too much stuff.


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[vacationhopeful]

It is his "Y" gene ... verses our "X" gene ... his head keeps bobbling, slushing his grey matter around and causes some serious short circuits of his neutrons.

If you have to have too much stuff, make sure the stuff you have is almost the entire collection of "Green Backs" and other cash equivalent instruments. He can keep his seven golf bags .... as long as ONLY stuff BROUGHT from the golf store is inside those 7 golf.

 

[clifffaith]

Sounds like a good move. I have always wanted to be a minimalist..but tell that to my husband. A man who still wants to keep jackets that he owned when he was 17...ugh. Sometimes i just don't even have the words

LOL! Just last year I got Cliff to toss his 40-50 year old engineering books. We've dragged that box of books along on six moves!

 

[VegasBella]

I should add that we waited and timed the purchase of the new home so as to try to get the best deal. We were close and nearly got the best deal, certainly far less than they're selling for now. Right now would not be a good time to purchase a home IMO. I would wait 5-10 years to see if this current bubble drops. But the downsizing prep work can be done at any time For us it was helpful to hire a pro organizer to help discard unneeded stuff and help organize what was left into smaller areas. Been helpful after the move too to clear out the garage.

 

[Talent312]

I have always wanted to be a minimalist..but tell that to my husband. A man who still wants to keep jackets that he owned when he was 17...ugh.

So, what is he now... 18? No, I do understand. Our heirs may be stuck with the task.

I moved into DW's house a few years after our respective divorces. I thought it was good timing becuz her kids were grown and out of the house. But they weren't really gone. She had all their baby-stuff, and not just baby pictures. I'm talking high chairs, strollers and clothes. "They might need 'em for their kids." -- 17 years later, still no grandkids. She also had their school stuff, beach toys and board games. Thankfully, it was all in the attic.

There are 4BR's in the house... Her clothes fill 3.5 closets. I had to re-build the shelving in 2 of them after they broke from the weight of her stuff.

I talked her into our first and last garage sale 12 years ago, and to hear her tell it, I stripped the house bare.
Yeah, I'd like some cheese with this whine.

.

 

[isisdave]

We tried to downsize. We retired in early 2015, and went off to Mexico and Europe for six months. We liked it, and didn't kill each other, so we came home, got rid of darn near everything (21 years in that house then), did $30k rehabbing to kitchen and yard as assured by realtor this would make it sell instantly, and listed it in early 2016, heading off to Europe for a second summer. We thought we'd buy something much smaller, maybe a condo, in town, as DW's two sisters still live here.

Not a single offer, not even a lowball, in five months, with reductions from $490 to $460.

We wanted to downsize because (1) it's 3100 sf and the nest was empty; (2) it's on the corner of a busy street that's being extended at the far end, so we expect more noise and traffic; and (3) sometime The Big One will hit SoCal and we'd rather not own real estate here then.

The problem is that there are bad comps. There are even-bigger houses, like 4000 sf, just across the busy street, being offered at $499k and going for less. Those houses even have a HOA with monthly dues of $500, and we have none. Nearby houses at 2100 sf trade quickly, from $399 to $430 or so, but another 1000 sf, the biggest lot in the subdivision, ability to see your kid's elementary school and even hear its bells, along with solar that makes $1800 worth of electricity each year, won't support anything more than about $449k right now, although there are starting to be listings a little higher.

By the way, in another thread I had to caution about the idea that "having solar panels will raise your home's value." $1800 a year, or $150 a month, would pay for about $30,000 of mortgage at current rates.​

But we have a 30-year loan at 2.75%, so the monthly payment with taxes and insurance is less than the typical 1200-sf 2-bedroom apartment nearby. So we're staying until something changes. We're back in Europe for the third summer in a row; our son and his spouse and their two big dogs are in the house, as is our little dog.

I'm mostly worried about the possibility of earthquake. Not locally, as we're pretty far from a fault and on cut land, not fill. But if LA (60-90 miles away) gets hit and 10 million people come looking for a place to stay, they'll either have fistfuls of money, or guns. Don't want to find out which.

 

[sun starved Gayle]

I volunteer at a charity thrift store, and boy has that changed my thinking !

I have vowed to clear out my "stuff" while I am still able to do it myself. I don't want my kids to have to do it. I ask myself, if I were moving, would I want to pack and move this ? More often than not, the answer is no.

We get a lot of "leftovers" from estate sales at the thrift store, and it is still is a ton of stuff. People's collections of tea cups, romance novels, thimbles, owls, bells, figurines, Lennox items, Belleek items, Christmas ornaments etc. Lots and LOTS of Christmas stuff. Beautiful sets of expensive China and crystal sell for pennies on the dollar. Numerous souvenir type stuff too, paintings, pottery, glass etc. And a ton of those collector sets of stuff you buy one by one, through the mail. The people who re-purchase them at the thrift store usually say, I'm collecting these for my granddaughter, or for someone else. I want to say, your grandkids are not going to want this ! But I don't say. They are happy getting a bargain.

While I'm on my soap box, before donating, CHECK POCKETS AND COMPARTMENTS of donated items. We have no idea of who donated what bag of stuff. We have found valuable jewelry, and and cash in pockets of clothing, in purses and suitcases. We hold the item for several months, and then sell it, if no one has claimed it. I can only think of one or two times when item has been claimed. I am also kind of amazed at the number of unopened condoms we find in suit jackets as well. Seems Gramps had a randy side.........

 

[Passepartout]

I do understand. Our heirs may be stuck with the task.

I moved into DW's house a few years after our respective divorces. I thought it was good timing becuz her kids were grown and out of the house. But they weren't really gone. She had all their baby-stuff, and not just baby pictures. I'm talking high chairs, strollers and clothes. I talked her into our first and last garage sale 12 years ago, and to hear her tell it, I stripped the house bare.

I think we could write each other's posts on this. There is no talking about it here. "I like that (fill in the blank) and I'm keeping it." We have her boys' high chairs, Cub Scout uniforms, (they're in mid 40's) figure cake pans (race car, Santa, etc). Costumes for Halloween, plays, and on and on.

It's bad enough that when I sold my condo, all my furniture and the stuff from my Mom's house after she passed and we cleaned out and sold it, got incorporated into the house we bought together. We've had no problem furnishing the condo second home (she) bought a couple of years ago. In the end, her boys (well, only one's wife) will ultimately have the responsibility of loading the dumpster.

I strongly suspect my 'downsize' will be a box about 2 1/2 feet wide and about 6 feet long, so why should I worry about this?

Jim

 

[PigsDad]

So, what is he now... 18? No, I do understand. Our heirs may be stuck with the task.

I moved into DW's house a few years after our respective divorces. I thought it was good timing becuz her kids were grown and out of the house. But they weren't really gone. She had all their baby-stuff, and not just baby pictures. I'm talking high chairs, strollers and clothes. "They might need 'em for their kids." -- 17 years later, still no grandkids. She also had their school stuff, beach toys and board games. Thankfully, it was all in the attic.

There are 4BR's in the house... Her clothes fill 3.5 closets. I had to re-build the shelving in 2 of them after they broke from the weight of her stuff.

I talked her into our first and last garage sale 12 years ago, and to hear her tell it, I stripped the house bare.
Yeah, I'd like some cheese with this whine.

.

I feel for you, Talent. My wife might not be quite as bad, but close. Still have all of my daughter's baby clothes, high chair, crib, toys, etc. in totes. Can't throw out any scraps of leftover construction materials (tile, carpet pieces, laminate, etc.) because "we might need them some day". Have boxes and boxes of my wife's school papers from college AND high school! And of course we have every shred of paper, "art" projects, homework, etc. my daughter ever brought home from school. Several boxes of supplies from my wife's hobbies of stained glass construction and basket weaving -- which would be fine, but she hasn't touched either in over 25 years!

Then when my wife's mother died last year, we brought home a ton of their old stuff as well. Tell me this -- what in the hell do we need with four (yes, four!) sets of china?!?!? We barely ever use one set!

If it were up to me, we would get rid of 90% of the junk, but I know that will never happen. So frustrating! (Thanks for letting me vent -- I'll take my BP pills now...)

Kurt

 

[clifffaith]

Cliff also won't get rid of old paint. But each time we have a little pile of batteries, light bulbs and dead electronic equipment to take to hazmat I can usually find a can that has dried out and he'll agree to. Hit the jackpot this morning when someone posted on Nextdoor that they needed donated paint for scenery at the kid's summer Cat In The Hat play. I think only because we have started research on a retirement community and he knows how much stuff we have to get rid of that he said sure, give them some paint. I got rid of three cans from the house we moved out of seven years ago and a bunch of quarter cans from this house. We like color (Smurf office, tangerine guest bath, hot pink and teal stairwell, etc) so they were thrilled, and that got the stuff out of our garage. Only leaves us two dozen cans left, sigh.

 

[klpca]

OMG. We are having the downstairs floor tiled this week. So you know, we had to remove the carpet. That meant that we had to move the furniture. Turns out I had squirreled away quite a few things in the entertainment center, china cabinet, buffet and bakers rack. Everything is now out in the garage and a lot of it won't be making the trip back inside! I think that is what happens when you never move. My stepdad used to say that three moves was as good as a fire (in getting rid of things). I thought I was more on top of things that I was. More purging to do. It feels endless.

 

[bbodb1]

I think your Stepdad was an optimist!

And I feel your pain. We have to start our purge soon...

 

[salpalaz]

I think your Stepdad was an optimist!

And I feel your pain. We have to start our purge soon...

We just moved from Virginia in a 6000sq ft to a 775sq ft in Arizona so we really downsized

 

[Jan M.]

When we moved to Florida 6 years ago I purposely left a lot of stuff in boxes and put them in the garage. My reasoning was that after a certain period of time if I hadn't needed what was in those boxes enough to go out in the garage to dig through the boxes then I didn't need that stuff at all. My husband would just get rid of everything so he didn't have to think about it, sort stuff and reorganize. I've ended up hanging on to more stuff than I should have because of him. Yes we have had to go out a repurchase tools and stuff that he should have brought with us.

Our plan does an annual garage sale and we've gotten rid of a lot but there is still a lot in the garage that will be going. When my husband retires in a few months and the rainy season here in Florida is over the first thing we plan to do is a major garage clean out and reorganization. The men in the neighborhood will stop by to kibbitz when they see everything from the garage sitting out in the driveway. My husband will point to the mini fridge from our son's college days that we are keeping in case of a hurricane, the lawn chairs and tell the other men that I have threatened to bring out the air mattress and he will be taking up residence in the garage for the foreseeable future unless he keeps his mouth shut (hah, like that will ever happen) and just does what I tell him. Of course they will all laugh. I've been promising that when he retires and we have unlimited time they won't recognize our garage when we're done. When we moved to Florida six years ago it was for him to start a new job and that meant starting over with 13 days of vacation time. We became grandparents for the first time that year and our son and his family are in Ohio. Projects in the garage and house can wait; grandchildren are only little once and they are the only two grandchildren we will ever have. A lot of people have garages full of stuff they brought with them from up North so no one really believes it when I say I'm getting rid of most of it. When they see all the stuff we are getting rid of they will ask are you really getting rid of that? Yes, help yourself it's not coming back in. My husband will tell them if he's lucky I will keep him when I start purging. More laughter.

After 39 years of marriage you would think my husband would be suspicious and have asked by now exactly what I'm planning for us (read mostly him) to do in the garage. Maybe I should have that air mattress waiting by the front door when I get down to a few details I just happened not to have mentioned, like painting the the walls and garage floor and a few other little things. I am determined that when we are done with that garage it may not be quite the showpiece of my dreams but at least it will be one my father would approve of if he were still living!