I bitch as much as anyone when the leaves won't let up or the snow won't quit but I honestly believe that 'outside maintenance is a good thing'. In my corner of the world I have 3 neighbors and 2 of them are older than me. Both near 80. We all do our own. It keeps us young. Oh, I should mention that two of us do the 4th person's yard as well…. a young single lazy worthless women who has no business owning a house!

 

Liz and I talked about moving to a smaller house but decided that in our area we'd probably end up paying as much for a smaller house as we could get for ours, and, the savings in terms of taxes, utilities, etc. wouldn't be that much. We like where we are, are comfortable in our home, and couldn't have the convenience that we have here in a smaller space. We know the area, we have friends in the area, we belong to the synagogue. It was very hard to move here from the city, but we've finally started to feel like we're a part of the community.

We do most of the chores here ourselves (snow blowing, raking the leaves) and farm out the nuisance work (weekly mowing). The house is in a position where it doesn't really require that much maintenance and it's all paid for.

I may slow down a little in the future, but I don't see myself retiring for quite a number of years. Liz started working part time in the library. Both of us plan on working for a while yet, we think it keeps us young.

I don't want to move to a retirement community, I like living where there are young families and young kids. I like coming home from work and seeing children playing, that too keeps me young. There has been a lot of turnover in the neighborhood.

We're going to stay put for as long as we can.

 

 

Jerry, "we" aren't all more than one, you know.

Like Deb, when I was divorced, I downsized. I went from a four bedroom house with huge workshop, on 2 1/2 acres of land, to a three bedroom house on a small lot. Living alone, I don't need more but I would not like a smaller house. I would love a larger piece of land and hope to move to a different house on more land someday. I want good soil to grow roses in, again. I love my house and my view, but I think of moving to northern California so I'm closer to Kyle, my son. He's accepted Google's job offer and will start there next July. Christa is about an hour and a half from him, but she'll most likely move to a better paying zookeeper's job, so I can't count on being close to her. I may keep this house and buy something else. I'm waiting to see how it all pans out in the next couple of years with my kids.

 

We hire out general lawn maintenance and since our community has so many retired people, prices are very competitive, so we aren't spending a great deal of money to keep things up. I still enjoy puttering out in the yard a bit as does +1. I like having my own lawn and as Patty said, enjoy living in a spacious home. I think we'd feel cramped if we had to move to a smaller place. For the time being, we're aging in place.

 

FIXED the last poll question for you, Patty Sorry for my faux pas

We are also holding to see if our now-adult kids settle somewhere....now in DC and north of Boston.

 

Keep in mind if you move where your kids settle, sometimes they unsettle or move on due to job issues, etc.

I do remember RC Ryder mentioning his choice of retirement area was based on where his kids/grandkids lived. If I recall, he wasn't thrilled with the weather and the kids grandkids had so much going on (as many do), they didn't spend the time with them that he thought they would. If I remember correctly he said they should have chosen where THEY wanted to live, then visited the kids/grandkids.

 

Yep, that's why I may keep this house.

 

So Dave, how does this young single woman repay you

 

I voted "We are investigating downsizing in 2-3 years", but in reality, it will be more like 5-7 years. We like our house, but have too much yard (~3 acres), and are tired of the long winters and NY taxes. Plan to head south. Originally considered a town house, but can't give up having some property and a decent size garage for the toys.