Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it depends on your health and how big your house is. If you have an 8000SF home in McLean, maybe you downsize when the kids are in college/done with college.

If you have a 3000 or 4000SF house with a first floor master suite, I would think there's no urgency unless you need the equity out of it or don't want to pay for cleaning and lawn care as you get older.

Lol, 3-4k sf house is not a small house. Particularly if you're cleaning it yourself.

I posted that- if the master is on the first floor, you don't use the second floor unless people are staying with you. My parents moved to a house like this and were fine until about age 70. In their case, they had laundry and the master bedroom on the main level, and the cleaners only did the second floor a few times a year (mostly just dusting).

My parents just bought a ski house like that at 69. I guess age is relative. And they're going out with a bang.

Good for them. I think my parents would have stayed in the home past age 70 since they only lived on the first level. They had cleaners and landscapers (they wanted a nice yard for their dogs), and they envisioned their kids and grandkids using the bedrooms and bathrooms on the second level. Unfortunately, at age 70, my dad was diagnosed with a terminal illness. They moved before he died because my mom didn't want to be alone in a house of that size. But it would have served them just fine if my dad hadn't gotten so sick.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it depends on your health and how big your house is. If you have an 8000SF home in McLean, maybe you downsize when the kids are in college/done with college.

If you have a 3000 or 4000SF house with a first floor master suite, I would think there's no urgency unless you need the equity out of it or don't want to pay for cleaning and lawn care as you get older.

Lol, 3-4k sf house is not a small house. Particularly if you're cleaning it yourself.

I posted that- if the master is on the first floor, you don't use the second floor unless people are staying with you. My parents moved to a house like this and were fine until about age 70. In their case, they had laundry and the master bedroom on the main level, and the cleaners only did the second floor a few times a year (mostly just dusting).

My parents just bought a ski house like that at 69. I guess age is relative. And they're going out with a bang.

Wow, they are regularly skiing? Good for them! When they can't ski anymore, they can just do apres ski on the main level of their home. Amazing.

Start shedding stuff at age 50. Go to smaller place around 60.

Ha. I'm 40 in a 3500 sf house and ready to downsize yesterday. It is too much upkeep for me.

Anonymous wrote:Instead of downsizing, just get rid of things. Make sure all the spare rooms have empty dressers and empty closets. Nothing in your attic.

that, too, but it's the stairs that will be difficult when you get really old. Better to get out while still young.

Anonymous wrote:Going through it with my parents now, who are 80, which has made my spouse and me conclude that we want to do it by 70.

Size is not the primary issue; it’s stairs. And it’s not that we think we won’t be able to handle stairs at 70 but that we want to be in a single-level place before we hit that point. My parents have both had health issues in the last five years that make being in a multi-floor house challenging. If they had moved 10 years ago, the last few years would have been less stressful.

yep. My ILs refused to do this. MIL fell on the steps, but still didn't want to leave their 4 br house even after FIL died after a fall (also had dementia). She finally pulled the trigger when she fell and blackedout. She lived all of 18 mo in her bungalow before she passed. She was 92. It was hard on the kids because they had to help her move.

My parents moved in their 60s when they were healthy. That was a gift to us.

We morons bought a "starter" rowhome with the only full bath and reasonable sized bedrooms up a stairway with a turn. The idea was NOT to get old there. But the housing market is what it is in 2026. So I guess we'll downsize when my knees go.

Although my ILs also lived in a rowhome without a first floor bedroom or bath; my MIL's cancer decline was so fast it didn't really matter, and my FIL is in full "I'll die here, nobody can stop me!" mode in his mid-80s. So maybe never.

Anonymous wrote:We did it at 51. Best decision ever.

I want to now with youngest going to college. I'm 56. Oldest basically is off on their own and uses our house for storage. They are a senior in college and comes home for xmas and thanksgiving, that's it. They are at an internship all summer, and away for spring break. They live in an apt with roommates. I don't think they'll be coming back home after graduation.

Going through it with my parents now, who are 80, which has made my spouse and me conclude that we want to do it by 70.

Size is not the primary issue; it’s stairs. And it’s not that we think we won’t be able to handle stairs at 70 but that we want to be in a single-level place before we hit that point. My parents have both had health issues in the last five years that make being in a multi-floor house challenging. If they had moved 10 years ago, the last few years would have been less stressful.

Instead of downsizing, just get rid of things. Make sure all the spare rooms have empty dressers and empty closets. Nothing in your attic.

I'd say maybe when you think you have 5-10 years of good health left? Don't wait until the last minute to do it.

Never, I also want to upsize. We have a 1000 square foot house.. ho wmuch more should we downsize?

Anonymous wrote:Start getting g rid of stuff now

Moving is great for this. Really lights a fire under you to do it and do it right.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it depends on your health and how big your house is. If you have an 8000SF home in McLean, maybe you downsize when the kids are in college/done with college.

If you have a 3000 or 4000SF house with a first floor master suite, I would think there's no urgency unless you need the equity out of it or don't want to pay for cleaning and lawn care as you get older.

Lol, 3-4k sf house is not a small house. Particularly if you're cleaning it yourself.

I posted that- if the master is on the first floor, you don't use the second floor unless people are staying with you. My parents moved to a house like this and were fine until about age 70. In their case, they had laundry and the master bedroom on the main level, and the cleaners only did the second floor a few times a year (mostly just dusting).

My parents just bought a ski house like that at 69. I guess age is relative. And they're going out with a bang.

No desire to ever do that but I live in a 2300 sqft home, not a mansion.