starting to think downsizing to a townhouse not worth it

[Anonymous]

My three bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2-car garage townhouse in a DC suburb has a walk score of 99, is a 5-minute walk from metro, and has tons of restaurants and four major grocery stores within a few blocks. I'll take that over a further out SFH anyday.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Our townhouse is the same price as homes in our area. So also doesn't make sense for us to upgrade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My three bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2-car garage townhouse in a DC suburb has a walk score of 99, is a 5-minute walk from metro, and has tons of restaurants and four major grocery stores within a few blocks. I'll take that over a further out SFH anyday.

Same and I'm in a close-in DC 'burb

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure why you assume that townhouses would automatically have that much of a price discount, just because they’re townhouses. With everything else equal (location, build quality, square footage, number of beds and baths, etc), the price of a townhouse will generally be somewhat less than a single family house, but not by extreme amounts. And why should it be too much less? Young couples can raise their kids in townhouses too.

If you want a major price discount, you’re going to have to trade off something substantial - location, square footage, # of bedrooms….

+1. Boomers don't really want to downsize. That is the reality. Just own it. I'm genx and have no plans to downsize either.

I'm GenX. I bought a 3 BR/2 car garage condo TH. Never moved. Raised 2 kids, one now in college.

It hasn't appreciated like an SFH but lots more money went into the stock market and our taxes are lower from being in same place since the 2009 recession. And we haven't had to do any exterior maintenance or chores during our entire period of homeownership. And now we don't have to downsize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure why you assume that townhouses would automatically have that much of a price discount, just because they’re townhouses. With everything else equal (location, build quality, square footage, number of beds and baths, etc), the price of a townhouse will generally be somewhat less than a single family house, but not by extreme amounts. And why should it be too much less? Young couples can raise their kids in townhouses too.

If you want a major price discount, you’re going to have to trade off something substantial - location, square footage, # of bedrooms….

Exactly!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure about your age but consider also that townhomes have tons of stairs and that can become a problem later in life

Came on to say this. Townhouses are too vertical and you’re not getting any younger. Unless you’re looking at townhomes with elevators.

In my TH, my master suite is on the main floor.

[Anonymous]

This is exactly why Millenials and Gen Z have anger towards boomers. They sucked up / consumed / trashed / indebted so much in their path leaving nothing for those after them. No regard for others’ future, just assumed the gravy train would continue. And many just now realize at the first, most obvious ripples of what’s been done.

The nationwide housing crisis has been in the news for a decade or more, at least?? Young people can’t buy a home, start a family, etc because Boomers generationally punched downward. Intentional or not, it’s been done.

[Anonymous]

It's better to downsize to a 3 bedroom ranch home, or at lesst something that has a master suite and laundry on the main level. A lot of senior people run into issues with stairs at some point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's better to downsize to a 3 bedroom ranch home, or at lesst something that has a master suite and laundry on the main level. A lot of senior people run into issues with stairs at some point.

I had 2 sets of grandparents who lived into their 90s who had 2 story homes. One set actually built their house so they could retreat to living on the first floor but never needed to.

From what I can see, if you don't use your legs enough, you lose mobility. Skinny, spry older people are usually the healthiest. I wonder if making our environment really unchallenging furthers the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is exactly why Millenials and Gen Z have anger towards boomers. They sucked up / consumed / trashed / indebted so much in their path leaving nothing for those after them. No regard for others’ future, just assumed the gravy train would continue. And many just now realize at the first, most obvious ripples of what’s been done.

The nationwide housing crisis has been in the news for a decade or more, at least?? Young people can’t buy a home, start a family, etc because Boomers generationally punched downward. Intentional or not, it’s been done.

Generalize much? I downsized significantly and am a boomer.

[Anonymous]

Why do you need to buy? You could have your rent paid from the sale of the house and the principle will still keep growing.

[Anonymous]

it's not really about townhouse pricing, it's about hedonic adaptation. You don't want to move to a crappier place, so you are looking at fancy townhouses and those aren't cheaper.

You can't both "pocket half a million" and stay at the same standard of living.

[Anonymous]

This is why we bought a modest ranch house with 3 bedrooms. We don’t have to move.

[Anonymous]

You need to really think about the HOA, how much you spend to do your own maintenance and what you may spend on this as you age.

People usually grossly underestimate how much they spend on maintenance, both interior and exterior…even if they cut their own lawn or shovel their own walk. They will say it’s “free” even though you buy a new mower, shovels, fertilizer, rock salt, etc.

People who already outsource much of this probably see very little change in their monthly spend vs HOA dues covering these things.

There is also some value on just not having to do it yourself anymore and th

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure about your age but consider also that townhomes have tons of stairs and that can become a problem later in life

Came on to say this. Townhouses are too vertical and you’re not getting any younger. Unless you’re looking at townhomes with elevators.

Most houses also have stairs. And you can't neglect the upper and bottom floors of houses because you'll need to clean bathrooms and do other maintenance, or you'll need to get something from those floors.

Anyways, stairs are good for you and will help you stay fit longer. I view them as a positive, not a drawback.