A friend of mine has had great implants in Mexico. There is a whole area near the US border with apparently very well-trained dentists and the cost is a fraction of US costs.
@sryrstress, hope you find something sooner than later.
Are any of you feeling nostalgic about the house from which you downsized? I thought I would be crying my eyes out, and was especially worried about Mr. But moving into the new place and getting to like it before letting go of the beloved home really helped.
^Thatās a good point. I am considering a move. I decided that for a while I should live in both places and take time to downsize. After deciding that, I am far less reluctant about the move.
We have been talking about downsizing and really should since the house weāve lived in for 25 years is easily twice as large as what we need. Weāve done a lot of looking in the past several months and sadly weāre coming to the conclusion that a new smaller house would cost almost as much as we can sell our current house for. The maintenance and utilities would be less, but weād have a lot of up-front costs in landscaping, window treatments, etc. So I think weāre going to stay in the big house for the foreseeable future.
Similar situation in my area. Newer smaller houses or condos are only $100K or so less than what we would clear on our house. Cheaper stuff is either smaller than I am willing to go, or needs so much work that by the time we would be done it would be the same price as something newer! Plus we went through several major projects to get our house just the way we like it, and I donāt think I want to do that again for a place we will not be in for the long-term - probably 5-7 years max.
Iāve been thinking more about renting. Carrying costs on our house, aside from the mortgage, are probably $1500/month between taxes, insurance and utilities - maybe more. If I can rent a place for $2000/month or so, thatās not a whole lot more, and it frees up a ton of equity.
Hmm.
Maybe Iāll feel differently when the time comes, but I canāt wait. Between construction noise (every house sold here seems to be a teardown, 7 digit teardowns), potholes, entitled neighbors, high taxes for few/crappy services, broken public transportation, etc., I am so far past my sell-by date that Iām spitting bullets.
One example: my wife sent me a video of Japanās bullet train. Smooth. Fast. Quiet. Our sonās GPS clocked it at 170 mph, and he said you didnāt have to raise your voice to have a conversation. Contrast that to his Amtrak ride, even the Acela, if it turns out that heās in a LDR with his GF in DC. Unsafe. Loud. Late.
DW probably wonāt agree, but Iād rather rent than buy.
I had a very, very hard time making an offer on the house we live in now, but knew it was time and the new house met every one of our retirement criteria. However, in the weeks before we moved, I would wander around the old house dragging a hand along the walls and remembering all the exquisite moments we had raising our toddler, boy, and young man in that house. I tried very hard to hug the whole house, and I shed many, many tears.
The older couple who bought our house did so because they loved the decor and didnāt want to change a thing, especially our sonās room because they knew their grandkids would love it. (They had bought all of our decor and a lot of our furniture as we had bought a furnished model in our new community.) About a year after the sale, we were back in the old 'hood celebrating Halloween in the driveway of one of the old neighbors. The new owner stopped by and, after chatting a bit, invited us back into the house. We were stunned! They hadnāt changed a thing. I almost lost it when I saw that they hadnāt even erased the āpermanentā reminder list I had written on our sonās chalkboard walls many years ago:
- Pick up room
- Brush teeth
- Hug cat -Turn out lights
- Kiss mom
She also kindly offered to allow our son back into his childhood room anytime he wants to stop by. He isnāt sentimental and has moved on, but I love knowing that we sold the house to the right people.
There was an article in the Times that I canāt find that talked about the effects of lack of housing for empty nesters. The new construction here is either geared towards the really hip and young (tiny condos in urban areas) or wealthy families (large 4,000-plus sft houses with multiple bedrooms). What is not being built are single-level livable, detached homes under 2000 sft that the downsizes want. And there arenāt that many existing homes that fit that criteria either. So what happens as the result is the empty nesters stay put, sending the shockwave down the RE āfood chain,ā reducing the availability of houses perfect for raising a family, in good school districts.
Thatās interesting, BB.
The problem in my area is that land is so frigginā expensive that it is not worth it for a builder to build an 1800 sq ft house. Plus there is very little land available for new construction. And most towns have 1/4 acre zoning when really you could go much denser than that (although if you went denser you would be competing against young couples with kids because of affordability issues, and because of the stupid way we run schools in this state, towns are very reluctant to allow development that puts more kids in the school system). You could make them 55+ developments, but those have not been popular here for whatever reason.
So what you are left with that are good for down-sizers are tract homes built after WW2 through the late 60ās/early 70ās. These were not designed (obviously) with current desires in mind, so they are choppy, have really small kitchens and baths, etc. And in some towns they still sell for half a million plus, and then you have to pretty much gut them out because they are 50-60 years old and were cheaply built.
Around here we have tear-downs on big lots, with the new houses being large enough for 3 generations, plus some friends and servants. Or else small families whose members all need a lot of āmeā time.
I have friends who are downsizing. Building a new house that is 1/3 smaller than the one they have now for 25% more than they will sell their house. Huge premiums at this point in my area being charged for empty-nester housing. We are planning to stay in current house for at least a few years. Likely until retirement.
Many new 55 and up communities being built in the Charlotte area. I had to check a builderās website - These homes of course are one level, range from 1500 - 2900 sq ft. One nearby almost finished community lists prices $300 - $375k, but you can find plenty of homes on both sides of this range depending on where you want to live.
As for our old home that we sold 9 years ago - no nostalgia, more like a sigh of relief as Zillow says it is worth $200k less than what we sold it for (Zillow of course is notoriously unreliable) and taxes are now $31k.
We like our house. Itās very small by many standards but has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It is comfortable for us with just 2 of us or when our kids or even 1 or 2 houseguests. Itās all one l level. The house beside us was sold as a tear down and will be a 2000 sq ft 1story home that covers most of their lot. Our home is about 60 years old and likely will be torn down when it transfers hands to build something bigger and more modern, tho we love it as is.
Most of the 55+ developments around here are apartments, not standalone houses, because itās the only way the developer could get approval for that housing density.
Iām looking forward to downsizing. We have way too much house for 2 people, and weāve never really loved the house or the neighborhood. We bought the place 10 years ago only because we needed everything on one floor for my then-aging MIL with mobility issues, who was coming to live with us. That landed us in a āniceā neighborhood of large ranch-style homes on large lots. With a backyard pool, no less. The upkeep, utilities, and taxes are killers, and although the neighborhood is in the city it has a distinctly suburban feel. No shops or restaurants within walking distance. No public transportation. Heck, we donāt even have a sidewalk. But MIL is now departed and the kids are grown and gone, so we donāt need to stay shackled.
DW and I had always lived in more urban settings, which we much prefer and miss greatly. Weād be perfectly happy in a 2 BR apartment or condo in a dense urban neighborhood with easy access to public transportation and shops/restaurants within walking distance. And frankly I miss the days when we rented and could just call the super when the plumbing needed to be fixed. Iām not āhandy,ā and I donāt enjoy yard work. Homeownership is just one big PITA as far as Iām concerned.
The downsides to renting are that you lose some level of cost certainty, and you can often be forced to move with very little notice unless you are willing to try to drag it out in court.
Which may be fine at 50-60, but at 75+? The stress could kill you.
If you are on a fixed income you may find a higher and higher percentage of your income going to rent as you age. Rising property taxes are a problem as well for owners (and there have been people in my town more or less forced to sell because of the taxes), but around here rents have gone up much faster than taxes.
You end up paying property taxes one way or the other. Landlords are not going to pay it for their rentersā¦
Rents are not driven by the landlordās expenses, they are driven by supply and demand. A landlord cannot just blithely pass on increases in cost onto their tenants.
Well, they can try. But people will move over a $50.month rent increase.
Not in my neck of the woods! And moving when you are 75+ can be a pain.
Sure. But right now Iām paying taxes on a humungous lot and at least twice as much house as I needā¦
As for moving when youāre 75+, Iāve known plenty of homeowners who needed to move because they were no longer able to keep up their homes, or their houses no longer worked for them because of mobility or other health issues. Or they end up trapped in their homes because theyāre no longer able to drive and theyāre in a neighborhood like mine with no public transportation and nothing within walking distance. Homeownership is no prophylactic against old age.