Why keep increasing house size if you plan to retire in smaller one?

[GoodSteward]

Well since you pulled my comment I guess I should reply!

But maybe you were questioning my statement based on those who keep up with Jones's and move without thinking it through. That's not us. We've had to buy what was available that met our criteria, and it happens the homes did get a little larger.

I actually didn't use your name to avoid giving the impression I was calling you out on it. I only used it as a reference to triggering something I've noticed and thought about. I was actually going to reply on the other thread and mention I wasn't implying anything to your situation, but I figured it would hijack it so I just started a new one. I've watched some of those house buying shows and wondered why in the world people are wanting so much more space, especially those without kids or only one or two. I also was just wondering how others on here felt.

Didn't mean to imply anything.

[GoodSteward]

I love that!

Sorry off topic...I've actually talked two people into decluttering BEFORE deciding to move. One actually stayed in their home another five years. Originally, she thought she needed to move because they were about to have their third child. I suggested two older kids share a room. She said, we don't have enough room. Well, what if you got rid of some of the stuff. I happened to know her mother in law was constantly bringing stuff to their home. She took me up on the idea and was so thankful for the encouragement. They did eventually move when child number four came along.

I've shared a story before on here about a friend of mine who has a 1700sq ft home and made a rude comment to me about needing more room and saying "some of us don't have a nice office building to use" implying I am better off than he is. Well, he has a 4 bedroom and I have a 3. His house is 400sq ft bigger, so even with my building, I'm only at around 1560sq ft. He also admitted his 4th room is full of junk and won't let me in when I visit. People like that get on my nerves.

[creditcardfree]

Didn't mean to imply anything.

Understood. I didn't take as that.

[MonkeyMama]

We personally plan to downsize in retirement, but we never bought up and certainly have no plans to.

Downsizing is really rare. I think people who downsize are thinking things through. Plus, we bought our home in our early 20s and though I think it's the perfect home for raising our kids, it would be way too big for just 2 of us. No matter what we'd probably downsize post kids. But since we are from San Francisco and all we could afford was a condo to start, over time we have decided that (condo) was our preference. I think it would be impossible to know without trying both. & even then it took us a while to come to that conclusion. (We did technically trade a condo in SF for a house in a significantly cheaper city, but we never bought up financially - both properties cost the exact same amount. We might even be saving money without the very expensive SF condo fees. Our utilities are even cheaper because our current home is newer and energy efficient).

This could be a regional bias, but the norm seems to be to buy up, up and up. I know several empty nesters buying bigger and bigger homes as they age. (which never made any sense to me??). But even when I think to relatives in other states, this is true. I really don't know anyone who ever downsized unless like they had to as a widow or due to old age. Or forced to financially due to something like foreclosure. (I see downsizing discussed online, but have never seen with even my very frugal family and friends. Sure, they didn't buy up over the decades. But I couldn't tell you why my very frugal parents have no plans to ever downsize their 4-bedroom home. Maintaining that much house, for 2 people, would just stress me out).

[disneysteve]

I don't see us downsizing in retirement because we didn't upsize. We bought our one and only house in 1994. We could certainly utilize more space but never wanted to spend the money and go through the hassle of moving again.

In retirement, if we move to Florida as we're talking about, what we will do is change from a 2-story house with a basement to a single level house so that no stairs are involved. As a result, there will likely be less square footage but that won't be the driving reason for the change.

Also, as we continue to declutter the house and rid ourselves of unnecessary stuff, having less space won't really impact anything. Plus if our daughter is grown and on her own and takes her personal stuff with her, that also reduces the space we need for ourselves.

[FLA]

having gotten suddenly ill, I can't stress enough how great having a ranch is. I would've been toast in my 3 story townhouse, I truly don't know what I would've done.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I think housing is really based on where you live. Until you experience someone situation (military and moving often) or very HCOLA it's hard to imagine why someone would move to something bigger. Like us we've friends who had 1 kid in 1 bd then 2 bd then townhouse then house. Sometimes it's been buying, sometimes it's been renting but still moving up.

I feel weird right now knowing we aren't buying a "starter" home. But at the same time I feel like we've paid our dues and lived in smaller spaces so buying this first home though a bit more than most people's "starter" home is fair. We just never had the opportunity to live in a SFH before.