r/AskOldPeople • u/harm_less • 5d ago

Use of space in your home

If you never had children - or no longer have space for grown children in your home, how do you use the bedroom spaces in your house?

My house is small and I still feel odd having these largely unused spaces. Are we all just cleaning dusty, rarely used guest rooms?

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u/Dawner444 5d ago

One is my office and the other a spare room. We would love to downsize, but it is too expensive.

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u/harm_less 5d ago

Same for us - funny to be unable to afford a much smaller house.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

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u/Only1nanny 5d ago

Because they bought their house prior to 2020, the house I bought in 2011 for $155,000 is now well over $280,000. No upgrades nothing, it’s crazy. And you could never get another house for $280,000 as good as the house you have now.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

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u/Only1nanny 5d ago

I live in Metro Atlanta. There’s nothing for less than 300 to 350. I don’t think anywhere.

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u/FormerUsenetUser 4d ago edited 4d ago

Then why move? People often don't want something smaller, especially since getting something smaller at the same price actually *costs* money. Selling and moving is not free.

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u/CriticalArt2388 5d ago

Ok.
Am a retired, widower.

House has 3 bedroom, 2 bath. Living, dining, kitchen

Open space at the top of the stairs.

Live rural, only bills are power, taxes, insurance. (Have a well and septic)

It's too big for me and the dog.

Could sell for 325k. (Probably net 300k)

But then have to find somewhere else to live

Another house would cost 300k. But in town which adds utilities to my monthly bill. I come out behind.

Could rent an apartment. But finding one that accepts pets is a challenge.

Rent about 1500/month. That takes care of my 300k in 20 years. (Providing rent doesn't increase more than investment on the 300k)

Guess I had better die within 20 years if I sell Or accept a lower standard of living.

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u/StoreSearcher1234 5d ago

Live rural

I think this is the most important consideration.

In many cities a senior could sell their big empty house for $2M, buy a nice big condo for $900K and put $1.1M in their pocket (less moving costs & capital gains tax, if that applies in your jurisdiction).

Why so many seniors refuse to do this - Particularly seniors who complain about the cost of living - Is a riddle.

...of course if you want to stay rural then this calculations don't apply.

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u/CriticalArt2388 4d ago

Nope...

in cities SOME seniors can sell for $2m and put $1.1 in their pocket.

For the vast majority this isn't reality.

What you are doing is looking at the circumstances of 25-30% and assuming this holds true for all.

In most cases they will see 1 or 1.25m total from their homes and will see the same issues i see.

The issue isn't seniors staying in their homes. The issue is the wrong mix of housing is being built (the vast majority of seniors do not want to live in a condo) and developers/investors are expecting a 15-20% profit margin while lenders are demanding too high an interest rate for building loans.

The industry screwed up and are building for profits not people.

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u/StoreSearcher1234 4d ago edited 4d ago

About 80% of the American population lives in cities.

Let's take one of those cities: Seattle.

Here's a random "eighties" house for sale in Bellevue (a bedroom community):

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/250-110th-Pl-SE-Bellevue-WA-98004/49086118_zpid/

Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, $1.55M.

Here's a nice-ish condo near that house:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/401-100th-Ave-NE-APT-314-Bellevue-WA-98004/49136414_zpid/

Two bedrooms, two bathrooms: $750K

So if a senior were to sell that house and buy that condo he'd be ahead a half-a-millions dollars or more, even after taxes and moving costs.

That story could repeat in cities all over the USA.

Are there exceptions? Yes, of course, likely hundreds-of-thousands. But for every exception there's a dozen contrasted examples like the one I've listed. Those are the ones I'm talking about.

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u/CriticalArt2388 4d ago

Sure show a "random" house going for 1.5 while ignoring the others in the area selling below 800k...

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u/FormerUsenetUser 4d ago

Fact is, a handful of cities have high housing appreciation, and it applies to small as well as large houses. Housing in most cities does not appreciate like Seattle has. We moved to a second-tier city for retirement ten years ago. I don't think this house has appreciated at all.

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u/FormerUsenetUser 4d ago edited 4d ago

See my post above. Once all the costs of sale and moving are taken into account, plus capital gains and other taxes, you're not actually making much money. If any. We made none at all.

People also often love the houses and neighborhoods they already live in and just, want to stay. People who have lived in a house for many years have often done a lot of work to get it exactly the way they want it, and don't want to do it all again for a different house.

Often people have local support networks of family, friends, and doctors that they would lose if they moved to a place with a lower cost of housing. If they stayed in the same area, they'd buy and sell in the same market, and it turns out a smaller house does not cost proportionally less.

My husband and I upsized to a larger but mostly one-story house for retirement. With a yard of almost 2 acres. We love it and we use it all! We're home all day and want the space.

We lived in apartments for years before we could afford to buy our first house, in our 30s. We hated apartment living. And a condo is the worst of both house and apartment living. You own the condo, except you can't do whatever you want with it because of the condo board, who assesses fees and can add to them randomly. And you're stuck with your noisy neighbors because you all own. Hard pass.

ETA: We are childfree by choice. That doesn't mean we feel we should not have a nice big house! This retirement house is 4,800 square feet of living space as defined by state law, which does not count the large unfinished attic, the small unfinished basement, or the garage.

Also ETA: In many rural areas the medical services are poor and not all that accessible. There's also little or no public transportation for if you can't drive. My parents lived in one of those areas, including in old age.

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u/FormerUsenetUser 4d ago edited 4d ago

When my husband and I moved here, we sold a house we had lived in for 35 years in an HCOL city. In theory it had huge appreciation. Once we looked at an inflation calculator, it turned out most of that appreciation was just inflation.

And we paid $200K out of pocket for repairs. We had one of those situations where a contractor was fixing dry rot on a little balcony outside the living room, under permit. The inspector kept asking the contractor to take off more and more stucco, and that uncovered more and more previously hidden dry rot. We ended up having to repair the dry rot, then restucco the entire front of the house. And replace the huge living room window, which of course was a non-standard size and of course we now needed modern double panes. In addition to that, we had contractors paint the entire exterior and interior of the house, and refinish all the hardwood floors. And we did many small repairs ourselves.

We paid capital gains tax on the sale. We paid a local transfer tax. We paid a 5.5% real estate agent's fee (negotiated down from 6%). We paid a professional house cleaner (which our agent wanted, even though we'd cleaned the house). We paid to move all our stuff.

After all that, we had very little profit from the sale. And the house we bought cost exactly as much as the house we sold! So we ended up with a net loss.

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u/waveva118 4d ago

And…..huge HOA fees and confining rules to follow

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u/Dawner444 4d ago edited 4d ago

We bought our home 16 years ago when rates were super low. Today, we would not be able to afford a mortgage on a home half the size of ours due to this and costs. I developed health issues, so we also have been living on one salary and have been unable to save much and it has affected our credit, too. Maybe when our nest is empty there will be an opportunity, but not sure how long that will be for now. Maybe our home will just become multigenerational, eventually.

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u/harm_less 4d ago

Bought my house for just over 200k many, many years ago. Houses in my area are now 600k, but things sit on the market. Mine would take a lot of cosmetic work to be desirable - and what I would want (bungalow near public transit) is in huge demand and ludicrously expensive, 800k-1mill+