Downsizing means different things to different people.

I know a couple who had a 4,000 sf in Potomac on two acres with a swimming pool and tennis court.

When kids moved out and ready to retire they downsized to a 4,000 sf house in Avenil in Potomac on a 1/2 acre. In Avenil the HOA does mowing and snow removal your property as well as all common properties, they take care of trash service, plus they have a community swimming pool and tennis courts.

Was not size of house that stressed him it was all that land to take care of and cost and him aging.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I never ever got the appeal of a townhouse. You may as well get a condo.


You don't have anyone above or below you and sometimes share just one wall. You can have a private garage and driveway.

You can, but those are usually the more expensive townhouses and the garage is tucked under (which means stairs to the level with the kitchen which makes hauling in groceries harder unless you have an elevator). I have also seen those kinds of townhouses that have few parking spaces for visitors.

Not true. My garage has zero steps into the TH kitchen. No stairs outside anywhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never ever got the appeal of a townhouse. You may as well get a condo.

You don't have anyone above or below you and sometimes share just one wall. You can have a private garage and driveway.

Also, what is wrong with a condo? If built properly (our building is 20+ years old), soundproofing is excellent. I only hear the people above us a few times a week, typically when something heavy is dropped. Otherwise, we hear nothing from above, below or next door. When you renovate and replace floors you must soundproof, and there are fire walls/soundproofing walls between the units.

I love having no real maintenance at all and the city at my doorstep. 2 bedrooms for 2 of us is all we need (and 2 bathrooms). Easy to clean a 1500 sq ft place (versus the 4.5 sq ft home we downsized from). Then again, we are a more upscale condo building, so even the renters are "not your typical rental clientele"---the prices things rent for tend to get you better tenants than many places

“Only a few times a week” is awful. That means the soundproofing quality is not great and your quality of life is entirely dependent on whether you have bad neighbors. It might not bother you now but this can become an extreme nuisance if you get neighbors who are extremely loud and inconsiderate.

Moving in a retirement community condo or townhouse can be a nightmare. There's 55 year old pot heads and drunks can be your neighbors who stay up until 2:00am making noise, loud music, smoking pot, yelling and screaming. It may cost you 150K just to sell and move. Its not worth it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never ever got the appeal of a townhouse. You may as well get a condo.

You don't have anyone above or below you and sometimes share just one wall. You can have a private garage and driveway.

Also, what is wrong with a condo? If built properly (our building is 20+ years old), soundproofing is excellent. I only hear the people above us a few times a week, typically when something heavy is dropped. Otherwise, we hear nothing from above, below or next door. When you renovate and replace floors you must soundproof, and there are fire walls/soundproofing walls between the units.

I love having no real maintenance at all and the city at my doorstep. 2 bedrooms for 2 of us is all we need (and 2 bathrooms). Easy to clean a 1500 sq ft place (versus the 4.5 sq ft home we downsized from). Then again, we are a more upscale condo building, so even the renters are "not your typical rental clientele"---the prices things rent for tend to get you better tenants than many places

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's why we bought a house with a big bedroom on the first floor. I plan to be here as long as I can. I don't need the basement except for laundry and can just never go upstairs once the kids leave for college.

That was smart but for some reason those homes are very rare in the DC area, especially in MD.

I looked for one for years and still occasionally look but that first floor primarily bedroom is still rare even in new builds. I don't understand it.

Because most people who purchase a 2.5K sq foot or larger home have kids, often younger kids and most do not want their kids bedrooms on a different floor than them. I'm not running up/down a flight of stairs when the kid cries at 2am or vomits at 2 am.

Anonymous wrote:That's why we bought a house with a big bedroom on the first floor. I plan to be here as long as I can. I don't need the basement except for laundry and can just never go upstairs once the kids leave for college.

Why would you want all that space if it's just 2 of you? Also, why do you want laundry in the basement if you ever have mobility issues?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My wife and I own a SFH in Sterling and we’re considering downsizing to a condo near the Reston Town Center when we retired. There’s a current listing that fits what we would be interested in (https://www.redfin.com/VA/Reston/1830-Fountain-Dr-20190/unit-1004/home/9855887) for $875k. However the HOA is $1365/mo, which is more than ten times what we’re paying now. That’s on the high end, but some of the other HOA fees are in the $800-$1000/month range. I don’t know if we can justify that, and really wonder: what do you get for that? Where does all that money go?

It’s in the listing…you get access to two gyms, an outdoor pool, club room and other amenities, and I assume it covers all utilities?

You may not value those things which is the issue.

HOA fees usually do not cover utilities.

it depends. They typically cover utilities in all common areas. In our condo, GAS is included (for cooking and the fireplace). IN winter I rarely run the heat as we like the bedroom cool, live on the 15 floor (heat rises) and we heat the main living area with the fireplace as needed 95% of the time. It's included in my HOA fees

Anonymous wrote:My wife and I own a SFH in Sterling and we’re considering downsizing to a condo near the Reston Town Center when we retired. There’s a current listing that fits what we would be interested in (https://www.redfin.com/VA/Reston/1830-Fountain-Dr-20190/unit-1004/home/9855887) for $875k. However the HOA is $1365/mo, which is more than ten times what we’re paying now. That’s on the high end, but some of the other HOA fees are in the $800-$1000/month range. I don’t know if we can justify that, and really wonder: what do you get for that? Where does all that money go?

First, you must find out what the HOA fee includes.
We live in a city in a condo building. For us, it includes most of our Home insurance. All we have to insure is our belongings and Liability and enough to cover the $50k master HOA Deductible (if you are the cause of damages to other units you must pay the HOA deductible). So instead of $4-5K for insurance on a $2M home (we live in an area where you need earthquake insurance), we pay only $1800 (and that includes our jewelry and artwork/etc). So we are saving $2-3K/year. I no longer have to replace the roof every 20-25 years (at $40-50K each time), the H20 heater is included in the HOA, no more garage door replacement or new opener, so is everything except what's inside my condo. When you add up what I used to pay versus what's included now, I come out about even. The extra HOA fees include the perks of a 24 hour concierge, full time building manager and maintenance team of 2, cleaning of the common areas, Heat/lights/AC for common areas, maintenance of the elevators and huge garage door, etc. My packages are always "Signed for" (no more waiting around all day for a wine delivery), in fact they are also delivered to my front door several times per day by the concierge.

Anonymous wrote:
I never ever got the appeal of a townhouse. You may as well get a condo.


You don't have anyone above or below you and sometimes share just one wall. You can have a private garage and driveway.

You can, but those are usually the more expensive townhouses and the garage is tucked under (which means stairs to the level with the kitchen which makes hauling in groceries harder unless you have an elevator). I have also seen those kinds of townhouses that have few parking spaces for visitors.

Anonymous wrote:I never ever got the appeal of a townhouse. You may as well get a condo.

You don't have anyone above or below you and sometimes share just one wall. You can have a private garage and driveway.

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that going from a 3 bedroom to a 3 bedroom just not to do lawn maintenance isn't really downsizing. And, people aren't always realistic about how long they can continue to maintain that much space and end up wanting to downsize again a few years later. Why not just stay put and hire someone to take care of the yard until you are legitimately ready to downsize.

A house is more than a yard.

Downsizing is definitely going to be worth it to me. Our house is too big and unsustainable in retirement, short of some huge unicorn liquidity event. I can't afford it if we divorce or if DH dies, and we won't be able to afford it in retirement. We have enough equity to buy something decent but much smaller with cash, which I think will be great when the time comes.

The problem is that going from a 3 bedroom to a 3 bedroom just not to do lawn maintenance isn't really downsizing. And, people aren't always realistic about how long they can continue to maintain that much space and end up wanting to downsize again a few years later. Why not just stay put and hire someone to take care of the yard until you are legitimately ready to downsize.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My wife and I own a SFH in Sterling and we’re considering downsizing to a condo near the Reston Town Center when we retired. There’s a current listing that fits what we would be interested in (https://www.redfin.com/VA/Reston/1830-Fountain-Dr-20190/unit-1004/home/9855887) for $875k. However the HOA is $1365/mo, which is more than ten times what we’re paying now. That’s on the high end, but some of the other HOA fees are in the $800-$1000/month range. I don’t know if we can justify that, and really wonder: what do you get for that? Where does all that money go?

It’s in the listing…you get access to two gyms, an outdoor pool, club room and other amenities, and I assume it covers all utilities?

You may not value those things which is the issue.

HOA fees usually do not cover utilities.

For this building, it includes water and gas.