You need a financial plan, and not crowdsourced house advice. Find a certified financial planner - one with fiduciary responsibility - and map out your financial future based on your actual situation. Then you’ll be confident that whatever decision you make is consistent with your goals. You have to pay for this service and it’s worth it.

"Find a certified financial planner - one with fiduciary responsibility"

The context of your use of the term "fiduciary responsibility" suggests you don't understand what it means.

Susn L - you don't know the OP's finances or their financial acumen. The post appeared to me just throwing out a thought to see if many other people "upgrade" post retirement. Not every retiree needs a financial planner, we've never had one, been retired for 25 years and are doing fine.

Upon retirement we remodeled our house as our forever house, not too much later we decided we wanted to live on a walk street, we moved nearby to a three story house on a walk street. We knew we've never live there in our old, old age in a three story house with a reverse floor plan (I did believe the stairs kept us healthier), now we've left our beach life to a two story traditional floor plan, will we die here, who knows? As long as it works, we'll stay here, when it doesn't, we'll move.

Ok I take it back. Just sounded like there was some concern or disagreement about the financials, otherwise, why not just get what you want and be happy? I.e., sounds like FUD 😜

Truth is you won't know if it was financially safe to upscale until after the last of you two dies. Only then will someone assess if there was enough money. No one knows what tomorrow will bring to our health or our finances. It's all a big guessing game gamble when you come right down to it. The question to ponder is if you find yourself in a few years in a huge financial bind how will you handle it? If you are prepared to emotionally deal with the consequences then why not--it's your money after all.

We did build a custom home and moved into it just as I retired. DH was already retired. It is larger than our little 50s ranch, but it's a smaller house than most in our neighborhood. I think the most important part for us is that we were able to make it exactly what we wanted so it is extremely functional. It includes some features that will allow us to age in our home more gracefully, like main floor master suite, no narrow hallways, room to turn a wheelchair in front of the john, a ramp access to the back door, latches not knobs on doors, seat in shower stall with handheld shower head, etc. Like Nicole, we also made it energy efficient and we made it low maintenance which lowers our ongoing service costs. If you get the right house, you may be able to enjoy it for longer.

Also, bigger doesn't mean better if it's full of spaces that you don't know what to do with. Friend of mine who moves a lot moved into a home that she views as temporary but complains that it has 4 "living rooms" which she finds ridiculous. Rather even a same-sized house could be better if it functions better for your lifestyle.

I also agree that seeking the advice of a financial planner could give you confidence that you are making the right choice. They have programs where they look at your income, wealth, expenses, make assumptions about costs, inflation, etc. and predict what your financial status will be over the next couple of decades.

Following Annie's comment about designing for 'aging in place' - we put in zero threshold showers with extra wide doors that would allow for a transfer chair or small wheelchair. Our home is in an over 55 community and was designed with lower wall switches and higher electrical outlets that can be accessed from a wheelchair, wide doorways, pedestal sinks in the master bath.

As for the financial angle - that's highly individual. If you're unsure of the future expenses then meet with a planner. Have you looked at any homes that might meet your criteria? That might help you decide. In our case the proceeds from selling our previous home paid for our new place, plus the remodeling, landscaping and furnishings and since this place is better insulated and smaller we're also saving on utilities and utilities. The HOA handles mowing and snow removal and offers other amenities - a clubhouse, pool, tennis etc.

Up or down, build the home you need.

We bought "up". However we built a custom house to fit our needs. Meaning while we could call it a 4 bedroom house, it's not for us. We have the master. We have a guest bedroom with a Murphy bed that doubles as an exercise room. My studio which could also be a bedroom has a pull out sofa for the 1 x every other year, that we need both the guest bedroom and my studio. And we have my DH's office that could technically be called a bedroom although there is not a bed in it. And we placed the majority of square footage in the living room, dining area (notice I didn't say dining room and eat in kitchen) and kitchen so we could enjoy entertaining. Other than a mudroom/friends' entry and 2 1/2 baths, that is all the rooms we have in 2870 square feet.

I would not build up or down if the spaces do not fit your actual needs. And think of rooms doing double, or even triple duty like we did with the studio and the guest bedroom/exercise room.

A great book to read is The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka. I found it invaluable when designing our house.

I agree cpartist...when we were building we had all the Susanka books to follow the principles she laid out for home design, regardless of big or small.

Susan L must not have noticed that this group has been a sounding board for people to post about their concerns and get feed back from other posters. While her advice may be true for some it does not address the issue of did people who upgraded like or dislike what they did.

The things I mentioned in my earlier post are things anyone should talk about especially with their partner/spouse. It helps to prevent problems along with the guilt some feel as they move on with their lives.

We raised our DS in a Chicago suburb, in a fifties ranch that would have suited retirees. We didn't *need* to move. But...we wanted 'nicer', and quieter. Since we no longer needed to live a one hour commute from DH's work, we decided on a town twice as far from the city, but still north along Lake Michigan. We spent two years looking for an existing one-floor home there. ('Nicer' and 'one floor' was the hangup. We could replicate our existing ranch or find 'nicer' in too-big, two-story homes.) We eventually bought the first home we'd seen, another fifties ranch that we tore down to build all new -- rather than 'remodel' and end up with a mongrel not worth the investment. We can access the city, and high quality hospital/medical are a few minutes away. Our DS and family are 20 minutes south.

I was 60 when we built. We went from 2000 to 3000sq ft, all one floor, but with a full height attic and walk-up stairs, should a future owner want to add dormers and have the 6000 sq ft home more common to our one-acre lot here. We have nearly the same number of 'rooms', but they are larger, with none we'd end up shutting off or could only access via an elevator as our mobility declined. (I don't want to use an elevator in our *home*, and I know elderly friends who do not enjoy their homes that require them to use elevators on a daily basis.) Only our guest suite and DR are not used daily. Wide halls and doorways. Minimum 9-foot ceilings. All hardwood/tile flooring w/area rugs. Tons of windows and French doors. Large MBA plus 2.5 more. Mature trees and shrubs. A basement solely for mechanicals and protection from ground moisture.

I'm now 80. Our only regret was not doing this earlier. We are 'homebodies'. Why wouldn't we put our money into enjoying our home -- provided we can afford it, and that we've built something appropriate for the 'old folks' we've become?

Figure out what you can afford and what's important to you for the immediate future. Living AT your 'means' makes more sense than the other two extremes. You just need to know what your 'means' are!

We are facing this same question. Currently in an in-town 2200 sf townhome for the last 19 years, which has been great for commuting to work. Just took retirement (a bit early), and are looking for a quieter more country lifestyle. But we don't want to go too far, so we can be near family.

We have decided we are not up to the stresses and length of time needed for new construction. So for existing homes, here is what we have found in our area - if we look at homes in our preferred size of 2200-2600 sf, which is similar to what we have now, they are poorly made, low ceilings, dark, not updated in 30-40 years, and horrible layouts. For a nice layout, decent space, and not decrepit, we need to upsize to the 3000 sf size and up. We don't need 3000 sf or the number of bedrooms, but for some reason in our area, the square footage of a home correlates with the quality of its layout and finishes. It may be different in the OP's area, but it looks like we are forced to "buy up" in order to get a decent house. The decision not to buy up has been taken from us if we want to stay in this area.

Just a suggestion but look at the houses for ones that you could upgrade. Consider the price difference between them and the upsized ones. Each area this would be different along with what you would need to do with the lower sized ones to make them what you want.

In general, retirement is not the time to start doing things that you can't afford and so retiring and beginning to accumulate debt is the wrong answer for many people. However, all debt is not the same. Levering low interest debt to finance investment returns is not the same type of debt as pulling equity out of your home for a month long vacation in the French Riviera.

I second the advice about seeing a financial planner. The question isn't about the "need" to see a financial planner, it is about the value of seeing a financial planner. If the value of the advice, education, and information exceeds the cost, then a financial planner creates value. Regardless of how fine you were doing before seeing a financial planner.

I also second the fiduciary comment but warn that in the financial planning industry the fiduciary standards are laughably bad. Find someone who you pay a one time fee and who doesn't receive any commissions from any source other than client payments.

@jewelisfabulous - I would say the real answer to this question is specific to your financial situation and the impact this decision will have on it. Advice from others based on their financial situation is great so long as you are in their financial situation and worthless if your situation is different. Just do the math.

Calculate the effect this will have on your monthly income. Calculate the payment if you borrow money to upgrade and compare that to the return on the investment you will be cashing in. I prefer to operate in cash flows, break things down to their effect on the cash you have every month, compare that to whatever marginal happiness you get from an upgraded house. When you are looking at numbers right in front of you, you are probably going to know the right decision for you.

Good luck.

RoyHobbs -- What you describe is exactly what we discovered twenty years ago. We had a decent ranch home already. Replicating it, even in the more preferred location, didn't appeal. 'Nicer' (more expensive, on a large lot) was always old, too big, with too many bedrooms, odd additions, old mechanicals.

When we eventually gave up and bought the similar ranch it was entirely for its lot and location. We were going to grit our teeth and remodel extensively...until an appraiser friend pointed out the downside. A remodel would take longer, be a series of 'surprises', and the end result would be a mongrel of old and new. An all new house would be exactly what we wanted, and it would be worth more.

We watched this market truth illustrated in our new neighborhood after we did the first teardown here. No *builder* bought an old ranch on a nice lot to build anything but the biggest square footage he was allowed by the city. We even hedged our bet when we built 'small'. Our full height attic can add 2-3000 square feet for another owner, and our first floor 'public rooms' are large enough to support the additional bedrooms. Meanwhile, we have the one-floor living we want without paying taxes on space we don't want. We don't mind being the 'small potatoes' in the neighborhood. <smile>

I built (or had a GC do it, physically) my retirement home, and I upgraded in some regards.

I moved to property that cost a LOT less.... but....

I designed my dream kitchen, with help from the Kitchen forum here. Yes, this one is far more functional and useful than the one I moved from. I put in some other features personal to my preferences and for my plans here. Yes, you can "buy up", assuming you look at your financials and what you may get upon retirement. Figure out what is important to you, and save for that. For me, it was a functional kitchen, a FLAT driveway (finally, as I live through New England winters), and zoning that permits poultry and livestock. Anything else could take second seat. Nice, but priorities first.

Thanks, all. It seems that the responses here pretty much mirror both sides of our discussion. You who recommended a financial advisor will be pleased to know we've been working with one for years. The money is there to buy "up" -- the reallocation I mentioned would be about 5% of our net worth that would transition from stocks/other accounts to the real estate purchase. The idea of keeping those investments in place to offset a lower interest rate mortgage makes sense, though. We already pay for health insurance (until we're old enough for Medicare) through dividends and aren't touching principle for that expense. In any event, given the soaring housing prices, we both agree on waiting a couple of years to see what happens with prices then. It seems unsustainable, so we suspect a real estate bubble burst is coming.

When we decided to move up, a national investment company was advertising an introductory 'free year'. We used them to help us decide what to liquidate to add to what we thought we'd get for our home of nearly 30 years. They acted as construction escrow. When we sold our home, we put the proceeds into that portfolio. We stuck with the firm for one additional year, but it didn't make sense to continue to pay them a percentage to 'manage' our conservative portfolio. We found a local person to provide similar day to day (largely bookkeeping) services for half the cost.

Yes, this is a boom real estate market in many places, but unless you're selling and buying in two disparate markets, 'timing' doesn't matter. We have just 'sold high' on Maui and 'bought high' in Chicago, because that's where we needed to do those things. Waiting will postpone the start of enjoying your new home, and if you'll want a mortgage, rates are not likely to drop much from today. Don't forget the overdue correction in stocks.

chisue - wise words and a great perspective.

we're building / buying up - but it's an investment in our post retirement living. We're pretty much homebodies. The home will support our needs longer term, and with the exception of being able to walk places, we could have live in help, etc.

We're going to be able to keep ourselves busy with hobbies and side hustles and enjoyment of the land and animals, with minimal maintenance due to the material selections. We've also talked ourselves into overspending to get "low operating costs" (rolls my own eyes)

But - we're enjoying the process, and we'll enjoy the outcome. We've work hard and our financial planner reviews our plans about 2X per year. It's all good, and there's nothing wrong with enjoying the fruits of your labor during your retirement.

(I will say one thing that put us in a much better position was the buying in to long term care insurance when we were both in our 30's. We both have really good policies that allows our financial planner to not have to set aside about $1M each for future potential care. Policies aren't as easy to come by now - but if you have the chance when you are younger - it's made a big difference for us and it's minimal for the annual premium because we got in so early)

Just_janni you are going to enjoy the fruits of your labor, just as we are now! We very much ’built up‘ moving into retirement, going from a very nice 3500 square foot house in a low cola to now a 4200 half duplex in a high cola resort area (DD and family live in the other half with currently 2600 finished plus 1400 unfinished on their side). Total square footage of the duplex is a bit over 8,000, but it was designed so that with a little paperwork each side can be sold separately. Our side of the duplex has everything we need for daily living on the main floor with guest/extra spaces upstairs and walkout levels levels. I’ll come back and edit to add a link. Link to Duplex We finished the walkout on our side last year. Walkout

We were lucky in our timing because we bought our lot just on the rebound of the last housing bust. Our lot went on the market at when the small subdivision was developed in 2007 at 1.2 mil and was under contract at that price but fell out. The developer filed bankruptcy and the subdivision was subseqently foreclosed after all infrastructure was completed and we bought it from the lender for $380,000 in 2014. By 2016 the comparable lot next door sold for 675,000 and recently another comparable duplex lot down the street sold for 1.1 million. We also built before the current rise in building costs, building in 2016-2017. By the time we sold our old house, prices had rebounded substantially, but still sold for less than 20% of the value of just our side of the duplex. So, yes, we definitely built UP. We (including DD and DSIL) do have a relatively small and very manable mortgage, about 12% of the current value of the entire duplex because we didn’t want to liquidate certain income generating assets and post-retirretirement income can easily service the mortgage.

Janni -- I'm 'with you' right up to the point where you talk about a LTC policy. Unless your genetics or personal health predict that you'll need more care than the average person, I think LTC policies are very expensive 'peace of mind' coverage.

DH's company floated LTC policies with John Hancock many years ago. We each bought one. A year in, the premium was raised slightly, causing me to look at projected care needs *for our demographic*. It looked as though we'd most likely spend only three months in care at the end of our lives -- after paying increasingly large premiums for 40-50 years. When I inquired about canceling, Hancock said it would provide a very reduced stipend in the future if we continued payments for a total of 24 months. We complied and canceled, after getting the promised benefit in writing. (The stipend is miniscule balanced against today's inflated costs, but not every dollar of our premiums was wasted.)

Since then, I've often read about insurance companies ceasing to offer LTC coverage -- and announcing large increases in premiums. I guess the LTC biz hasn't turned out to be as lucrative for them as they predicted. IDK how satisfied policy holders have been with benefits received. We're all familiar with people having to fight for benefits from their health insurers. The frail elderly aren't in any condition *to* fight.

Now that DH and I have passed 80, it appears that we made the right decision to self-insure. "Remains" to be seen! (haha)

We sold our home about 4-1/2 years ago and downsized from our much bigger family home. We decided to build a home for the second time. Having owned three previous homes, we took the things we liked from each and incorporated them in our "aging in place" home---plus some new ideas we felt were improvements.

We also established a budget we both felt comfortable with that enabled us to end up with the house completely paid for and no mortgage. DH drafted the house plan, which he then submitted to an architect who often works closely with our builder for final blueprints--he pretty much kept everything as it was, except for moving one door, which was better.

I was the one who was worried about getting in over our head financially, but we were right on budget with careful managing. I'm really glad we decided to go ahead, as this house is more modest than our last home but it is truly designed for the way we live. Your mileage may vary, but my advice would be to keep a close eye on the budget and stick to it. We don't feel we had to "settle" for less in any way.

With the volatility in the real estate market, I might feel differently if we were contemplating a move now. Some friends of ours, who have retired, sold their home for more than they dreamed they would get. Sadly, they didn't consider the fact that, right now, all homes are selling at much higher cost, and they couldn't find a home that they liked that they thought they could afford. So they are moving out of state to live in an area where housing costs are much lower. They are sad to leave this area and to leave friends behind. So it's important to have a plan before committing to going ahead.

We’re doing it. Building “up” slightly to gain more of what we need/want in our retirement home. In our late 50’s now with our youngest (of six) in college. Once construction is completed, we plan to sell our current family home. With five bedrooms and two bonus rooms on two floors, this house was absolutely perfect for our “teenager” years. But now it’s just too many empty bedrooms and, with a second floor entry, way too many trips up and down the stairs.
Our new home will be on a quiet and secluded lot adjacent to our current home. Close to family and friends, excellent health care, and a 20-minute drive to a major city.
The new house will be all one level (no stairs!) with wider hallways, doorways, and curb-less showers. The main house will be 2450 sq ft with two bedrooms and three baths. An exercise room and office will sleep any larger groups and can be converted to bedrooms for resale.
There’s an attached ADU at 950 sq feet. One bedroom, one bath. This will be home to aging parents as they become less able to live independently. Eventually it could become us living in the ADU with one of our children moving into the main house.
Our approach has been to consider our needs for this next phase of our lives and reimagine our home to meet those needs.

I will comment about the LTC policy. Chisue is correct they are only peace of mind until you look at the actual coverage. While there are some that have lifetime care those have always been expensive. What most people purchase are for a limited time of care most normal is 3-5 years. Older ones also only covered nursing home care not assisted or in home care. Unless there is a genetic or other health reason to think a person will need nursing home care early the money paid for policies when placed in some type of investment account would grow to more than what the policy will pay out.

Do not plan your lives expecting your children to do what you want when building. Build for what you think you want and will need.

We're another couple who made a similar decision as yours. Once we became empty nesters (mostly), we sold our suburban house to move into the city. The lot is smaller, the house is only slightly smaller, better finishes and the size and type of rooms that we wanted, much more expensive house (primarily because we're in the city). I am so, so happy we did this. We did not take on additional debt to make this move, and we are just a bit pre-retirement.

We tried to plan for aging in place, but decided along the way that you cannot cover every eventuality. We do have wide doorways, curbless showers, a 3/4 bath on the ground floor and could convert my office into a bedroom if needed. We built the structure so we can add an elevator if needed.

On LTC - YYMV - my financial planner is pleased with our coverage. It covers nursing home, Home health / adult day care, respite care at a decent daily rate and a reasonable policy maximum / daily rate that increases annually if we so choose.

It was through my employer who had an excellent set of available coverages and were large enough to get plans not otherwise readily available. We've also had for over 25 years - much of that through painless payroll deduction.

As part of both our estate planning, and retirement planning, the attorneys and advisors have copies of the full policy.

I too worry about the Silver Tsunami headed our way and our overall unpreparedness of how we care for folks as they live longer lives. (I have a relationship with a certified elder care case manager who has advised me on my parents and inlaws for years - she often scares the crap out of me)

One of the things not discussed about stay at home care is loneliness. When there are physical or mental difficulties the caregivers may be the only people beyond what is seen looking out of a window. So if you are designing a new home plan an area where anyone that must stay at home can at least see an area of activity. Perhaps one that in good weather people who may not want to come into your house such as dog walkers can gather and talk to the person inside.

It's very interesting to me not one poster is speaking to what it means to the family unit to lose it's "family home". When DH's parents at 70 built up it changed DH's feelings about returning/visiting completely. When they both died 10 years later within 30 days of each other the funeral home director even spoke to the truth that usually this means three losses. The third being "the family home". My parents downsized and so gathering with them at their place is not an option. There is more to be considered in a move for a move's sake, even if it comes with much deserved amenities.

"It's very interesting to me not one poster is speaking to what it means to the family unit to lose it's "family home"."

To me, it means almost nothing.........I'm attached to people, but very rarely to things (including houses or furniture). I am just as happy gathering with extended family in a rented room from a hotel or restaurant as I am if I gather in their homes. Actually, a little more, because I know that no one is left with re-arranging furniture or cleaning the floors after we leave. I'm not saying I don't enjoy being invited to someone's home for a gathering celebration or meal, but I don't feel the loss if the decision is to meet somewhere else (for instance, if they've downsized and don't have the space or facilities). The gathering is tens of times more important to me than where it's held.

Toronto, i agree.

We still are in the hime we raused our two daughters. Primarily because financially it still makes sense. Twenty five years ago when we bought this home, inrember thinking, this house will work for just the two if us. .

i understand what Arcy is saying. I think most kids like to come home to the same house during the college years.

When I got engaged, my parents sold their 2 story house and moved to a 1 story house with more land. At the time I questioned my Mom about it. She reminded me she was getting older and they didn't need the bedrooms but would enjoy having more public space in the house.

They lived in that house for over 30 years and that then became the "new" family home where we all gathered for holidays, etc. A home is what you make it. It's not the physical structure but who you're with and the memories you make. I still cherish the memories from the house I grew up in and the house my children grew up visiting for Sunday dinners.

It is impossible to predict what the future will be. My husband and I recently downsized from about 4000 square feet of living space to a 2700 square foot townhome with an elevator as he is disabled. I custom designed the new home to be handicap accessible to support his needs, no threshold shower, grab bars etc. The new build was about 75K more than the home we sold. This is a large house for two people, but my husband needed a music studio so there is about 500 square feet dedicated to this. We moved into our new home in October and his condition worsened. He is now in an assisted living facility because it is no longer safe for him to live at home. Of course I am devastated . . . this isn't the retirement we hoped for. And now I'm living in this large home alone.

My advice is if you can afford it and are healthy, go for it! You don't know what tomorrow might bring.

Hugs to you Rachel.

Maybe it depends on the activities the home inspired. My in laws lived on a river and I know all the boys wanted to fish and canoe with their own children as they did with their father....Me, I was raised in many many homes hopping around in the military as we were but given the funeral home director brought it up it must be a thing.

Rachel -- I'm so sorry about your DH's sudden downturn. You're brave to use your experience to illustrate why one might be not want to postpone a dream home. Thank you.

@chisue and @eld6161, thank you for your kind words. It really is quite a story.

rachel, I'm very sorry about such an unwelcome and unexpected development in your lives. I wish you both the very best.

I was pretty surprised to hear the mention of a "family home" upthread. Given the mobility of modern society, moving for education and training, moving for job opportunities or transfers, and for so many other reasons, I think sentimentality like that is pretty uncommon these days.

Just to roll the clock back to my own experience as a baby boomer, my parents moved after I graduated from high school and moved several more times after that. All in the same city and general area but each time a change of neighborhood. It didn't matter to me or my siblings, why should it have? Their house was where they lived, it was their choice to make without obligations to anyone else.

Rachel I am sorry! I hope you can eventually create a rewarding life where you are. Tough to do but less hard on yourself. Hugs to you and your husband

Rachel, so sorry to hear about your husband's downturn. Thank you for sharing a good lesson that we need to live for today.

We are both 70ish and were wheeling and dealing to buy and sell. We both wanted a new life and thought that we had found a venue for that new life, but decided at the last minute that we were making a colassal mistake, for our lives. We backed out of the contract and it has cost us money.

But, the move was causing hubs so much pain and anxiety that I made the decision that it was not worth if, for any amount of money. I could have done it. But, it was killing him. He looked like a dead man walking. I cant do that to him. He looked as if a load of misery was lifted from him when I approaced him about the elephant in the room, that neither of us was really wanted to move to that place.

I still want changes, but not at the expense of him .

I felt that, if we moved we could start a new life in our later years. But, the effort needed to fix our current house up and to get all moved in to a place that we really did not just love was too much.

It was a wrenching decision.

One problem is that there are not many one story family homes being built where we need to be. Everything here that is one story is at least as old as I am and expensive, as well. Another old house that needs repair and a redo? No, just NO.

So, I am unpacking and moving back into our house. But there will be changes.

My father is in his 70’s and fit, still working full time. My step mother is late 60’s, also working full time (actually both work 60+ hour weeks). They have a gorgeous home with ocean views, but decided to build a new home on the mountain. They are in the process of designing it. They are doing it because they want to. I think my father could care less but my stepmo. loves the design aspect. He is happy seeing her happy, so they are moving forward. If it makes you happy, then do it.

@wednesday morning "One problem is that there are not many one story family homes being built where we need to be." Ditto! I'm 60 and have been widowed for 9 years. I sold my house in 2020 because my kids were grown and our big house was more money and space than I needed. Now I've been renting for 2 years and BF and I have just started to look for a place to buy. We'd love a single story, but with enough room for a big garage (he would love a workshop area, and he has multiple vehicles.)

We looked at one possibility... but it's already priced nearly as much as I sold my previous house for, and needs another $250-300k to make it what we want. Everything modest around here on a decent sized lot has been torn down and replaced with something huge and pricey. Exceptions are further away than we want to be, and on septic and well rather than sewer and city water (what I'm used to.) I was looking forward to downsizing a bit... but I'd feel a fool if I downsized to something more expensive than what I sold.

"but I'd feel a fool if I downsized to something more expensive than what I sold."

For what it's worth, we sold our previous house, a two story, 3 bedroom place in a beautiful semi rural area, and bought our retirement home in a larger town for considerably more than the one we sold.  This house is also 3 bedroom, but single story, is much closer to shops, restaurants and supermarkets, and has far better access to medical facilities. ( It isn't a 40 minute drive to the dentist, it's a five minute walk.)  The house is much easier to live in, more convenient to everything we need, and will meet our needs for the foreseeable future. I do not for one minute regret paying the higher price for it: it's been worth every penny.

We built last year and downsized by 1000 sq.ft, but it is still a large house. The differences is we have less rooms, but they are all larger. We went from having 5 living areas (living rm, family rm, play rm, media rm and basement game rm) to having 2 (family rm and media/bonus rm). Went from 6 bedrooms to 4 bedrooms. Larger rooms for entertaining. Have an east facing patio instead of our previous west facing one. We also went from 2 story + basement to a single story house.

No regrets.

Downsized retirees in a newer cookie-cutter subdivision with 300-500K stand-alone villas are perfect sink replacement customers in Florida. I get very little high-rise business. The sink is in the island across from the living room and the pond is visible out the sliding doors, time and again.

Unless it's grandma's house, toys on the porch are the kiss of death. Those potential customers have to save for college and/or are still paying off their loans. My customers are living in a smaller home, but it's gonna be really nice.

Wow...86! That's just AMAZING! 🎀

We lived in the Bay Area in CA, and in planning to retire, bought a home with a little land further east where the prices were better. We rented the new home and paid off the mortgage when we sold the original house. We are working on the yard, doing some repairs and painting. I hired a decorator. We are having fun with the home.