# Seniors Are Holding Onto Their Homes Rather Than Downsize to Rental Housing



## SeaBreeze

More seniors over 65 are holding onto their homes, rather than downsizing to rental apartments or condos.


“They want to remain as home owners now because it represents stability, so they don’t have to deal with generating fluctuating payments for rent,” says Chris Mayer, a real estate professor at Columbia University Business School in New York. Even during the housing crisis, the home ownership rate for Americans 65 and over stayed around 80 percent while it dropped for every other age group, according to Census Bureau data. 

Since then, Americans under 35 have seen the largest decline in home ownership, falling to 36 percent from 48 percent, Census data shows. In 1982, the home ownership rate for every age group was higher than it was in 2013 — except for those 65 and over. 

“This group has been a ballast for the market,” says Chris Herbert, acting managing director at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. “If not for them, we would have seen a much lower home ownership rate overall, more homes on the market, and more weakness.” 

Seniors usually have less mortgage debt than younger home owners, greater wealth than they had four years ago, and longer lifespans than previous generations, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

 For those aged 65 to 74, their median net worth rose 5 percent to $232,100, which is the largest gain for any age group from 2010 to 2013, according to the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances. - See more at: http://realtybiznews.com/older-americans-holding-up-home-ownership/98726826/#sthash.ro47GsQk.dpuf


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## Butterfly

The fluctuating rent thing is one of the reasons I'll continue to hang onto my home.  The idea of worrying about rent going up or having to move because of changes in a rental property gives me fits.  I had WAY to much moving back when my husband was in the military and we had to move every time we turned around.  Granted, I got to see some wonderful parts of the world, but moving again, noooo, not if I can help it.


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## rkunsaw

I don't ever want to pay rent. If I should ever need to downsize, I hope I'll be able to just sell my house and buy a smaller house or condo.


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## Ameriscot

I asked my husband what we'll do if/when we aren't capable of taking care of the huge garden, all the maintenance, etc that we now do ourselves on our 88 year old house. Would we want to sell and buy a flat (apartment)?  Nope.  He says we'll just have to start paying people to do it.


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## Vivjen

Like his attitude, Ameriscot; I feel the same.
not a lot of maintainence here, really, and a courtyard garden; but I am on my own!
i need the occasional plumber, and electrician, for things I can't do...otherwise I do it myself!
i need a man; a handyman only really!


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## Jackie22

My house is small, I only have 2 bedrooms and I've repaired and remodeled it for the last few years...so my house is no problem, its the upkeep on the yard that worrys me, but I will not be moving either.


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## Ameriscot

We've got a half acre garden (yard) with a LOT of flowers, trees, shrubs, a series of waterfalls and ponds that hubby built.  I could live in a different house but I couldn't leave this garden or our view.  And husband did it all from scratch except the big trees.


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## Ken N Tx

rkunsaw said:


> I don't ever want to pay rent. If I should ever need to downsize, I hope I'll be able to just sell my house and buy a smaller house or condo.






Ameriscot said:


> I asked my husband what we'll do if/when we aren't capable of taking care of the huge garden, all the maintenance, etc that we now do ourselves on our 88 year old house. Would we want to sell and buy a flat (apartment)?  Nope.  He says we'll just have to start paying people to do it.



..We have 4 acres and a lot to maintain, we did down size my wife's flower (rock) garden.


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## Ameriscot

Ken N Tx said:


> View attachment 14406
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 14406..We have 4 acres and a lot to maintain, we did down size my wife's flower (rock) garden.




Do you maintain it all yourself?  How much of it is flowers etc that needs maintaining?  Any veggies?


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## Josiah

I'm anxious to sell my house and relocate to senior retirement facility in Cincinnati. My house is much larger than what I need and I don't enjoy climbing stairs any more. The only thing I'll miss is the attached garage. My immediate neighbors were all roughly my age and in the past couple of years five have past away.


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## Ken N Tx

Ameriscot said:


> Do you maintain it all yourself?  How much of it is flowers etc that needs maintaining?  Any veggies?



Yes, I do the mowing and some landscaping..Flowers and vegetable gardens are long gone!! We have had 5 years of grasshoppers and drought!! I will show you two videos..I will someday compile a slideshow of what pretty flowers my wife had.

Grasshoppers




.Mowing


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## ClassicRockr

We had a two-story house in Colorado, south of Denver, that, after about 4 years, sold it and moved to a much less snow/ice area. It wasn't an old house, being that it was built in 2000 and we bought it in 2003. 

It didn't bother us renting an apartment because we remember all the upkeep it took for our house......inside the house and outside. We knew, after my hip replacement and RC surgery, we just couldn't keep up a house anymore. At the time, it was fun moving front/back yards, fertilizing, planting a tree (that ended up dying). It wasn't nearly as fun vacuuming that size of a house, but when it came to the Christmas holidays, we sure decorated our house inside and out nicely. 

Now we live in a nice, but older, "bungalow" style (single level) apartment that is attached to the apartment building we live in. We've had so much problems with people living above us (noise), that we were sure glad to get into this apartment. Yes, we've had rent increases each of the 6 years we've lived here, but we don't have to pay for any replacement of anything or maintenance of anything. Last summer, management gave us a brand new AC unit (outside) and this year we got a brand new Water Heater. The apartment is a 2-bedroom/2-bath w/a nice wood-burning fireplace, washer/dryer and dishwasher. I remember when we had to replace the microwave oven in our old house and have the water heater repaired.......fairly costly! Yes, we have less space in our apartment, but that also helped us to down-size, which we really needed to do!

I'm not saying apartment renting is great, but am saying that "physically" speaking for us, having a Maintenance Department that takes care of things, sure is nice. When we were more physically able to do it, taking care of lawns and that was ok, but today, no. Yes, we have rent increases, but we don't have Property Taxes to pay each year. Now, that in itself is nice!!

We may not "rent" the rest of our lives, as we've thought about buying a condo someday, but for now, this apartment is ideal for us.


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## Ameriscot

Ken N Tx said:


> Yes, I do the mowing and some landscaping..Flowers and vegetable gardens are long gone!! We have had 5 years of grasshoppers and drought!! I will show you two videos..I will someday compile a slideshow of what pretty flowers my wife had.
> 
> Grasshoppers
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .Mowing



OMG, the grasshoppers!  Looks like a lovely quiet bit of land.  A drought in Scotland means it hasn't rained for two weeks.  

In our garden we have dozens of species of flowers, different ones each month from Feb - October.  When I first got a professional camera I took a lot of phtotos of the garden trying to document every single type.  I gave up on naming them all though.  

https://www.flickr.com/photos/anniedanny/collections/72157626074273741/


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## Ameriscot

ClassicRockr said:


> We had a two-story house in Colorado, south of Denver, that, after about 4 years, sold it and moved to a much less snow/ice area. It wasn't an old house, being that it was built in 2000 and we bought it in 2003.
> 
> It didn't bother us renting an apartment because we remember all the upkeep it took for our house......inside the house and outside. We knew, after my hip replacement and RC surgery, we just couldn't keep up a house anymore. At the time, it was fun moving front/back yards, fertilizing, planting a tree (that ended up dying). It wasn't nearly as fun vacuuming that size of a house, but when it came to the Christmas holidays, we sure decorated our house inside and out nicely.
> 
> Now we live in a nice, but older, "bungalow" style (single level) apartment that is attached to the apartment building we live in. We've had so much problems with people living above us (noise), that we were sure glad to get into this apartment. Yes, we've had rent increases each of the 6 years we've lived here, but we don't have to pay for any replacement of anything or maintenance of anything. Last summer, management gave us a brand new AC unit (outside) and this year we got a brand new Water Heater. The apartment is a 2-bedroom/2-bath w/a nice wood-burning fireplace, washer/dryer and dishwasher. I remember when we had to replace the microwave oven in our old house and have the water heater repaired.......fairly costly! Yes, we have less space in our apartment, but that also helped us to down-size, which we really needed to do!
> 
> I'm not saying apartment renting is great, but am saying that "physically" speaking for us, having a Maintenance Department that takes care of things, sure is nice. When we were more physically able to do it, taking care of lawns and that was ok, but today, no. Yes, we have rent increases, but we don't have Property Taxes to pay each year. Now, that in itself is nice!!
> 
> We may not "rent" the rest of our lives, as we've thought about buying a condo someday, but for now, this apartment is ideal for us.



I lived in apartments most of my adult life until I moved to Scotland 15 years ago to this 3 bedroom bungalow.  It's very quiet here.  I wonder if I'd be happy living with the possibility of noisy neighbours again?  Or not having a big garden?


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## AprilT

You are all very wise to stick with home ownership, it wasn't such a big deal, actually, for many, rental was a preference for many reasons several years ago to me and many others, but, the times have changed and if I could have seen the collapse that was to come and the flood of the rental market that would cause the issues of today, I would have gone with some different options I had back then.


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## Raven

We still live in our own three bedroom home with one and three quarter acres to look after.
So far we can do it all ourselves and plan to stay here as long as our health permits.

I don't have a cleaner come in to help with the household work and my husband looks after the mowing
and has a small vegetable garden.  
In winter he plows the driveway and does the shoveling.
I know the day will come when we will have to hire help with all the chores but for now we are
thankful to be able to do it ourselves.
Apartment living does not appeal to me but one does what is necessary.


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## Butterfly

My house is paid for and the way I figure it I can hire people to do chores or repairs for me and still come out way ahead of paying rent.   Rent around here is outrageous (or at least it seems so to me).  I'm glad my house is a one story house -- most houses in this area are.  Yes, I still pay taxes and insurance, but I still believe I come out way ahead.


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## Ameriscot

Our is a bungalow, and in this country you don't have basements.  We do have a huge loft the same size as the house which we have to climb up a ladder to get to.  That could be an issue.  Also if one of us needed a zimmer/walker we'd need to pave the driveway as it's gravel.


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## Ken N Tx

Ken N Tx said:


> Yes, I do the mowing and some landscaping..Flowers and vegetable gardens are long gone!! We have had 5 years of grasshoppers and drought!! I will show you two videos..I will someday compile a slideshow of what pretty flowers my wife had.



I completed a Slide Show of her Garden.

CLICK HERE


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## LogicsHere

I bought a co-op apartment back in the mid-70s which I had originally thought I would sell when I remarried.  Never had the chance to remarry so I kept the co-op.  The only thing I will begin to regret is that it's on the second floor, a decision I made when I was 26.  Oh well.


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## rkunsaw

Taking care of 25 acres with large gardens, canning, cleaning, mowing, cutting firewood, picking up fallen limbs, maintenance of house and equipment gets to be harder as we get older. I think if either of use is ever alone, a move would be necessary. Maybe even before then if we are no longer able to do the work. Until then, we'll stay here; we love this place.


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## ClassicRockr

Renting an apartment vs. owning a home or condo......both have their good points and bad points. Our income doesn't call for buying a home or condo and, when my wife retires, it definitely won't. I would think that most people in our age bracket own their homes. Owning a home is nice......no monthly mortgage to pay, but still have that dang yearly Property Tax thing to be paid, along with Homeowners Insurance. We have Renter's Insurance that the apt. complex owners/managers say all residents here must have.

Anyway, if you own a home and can take care of it, inside and out, GOOD FOR YOU and keep up the good work! But, for those, like us, that can only afford an apartment due to income, nothing wrong with that either. Another thing, I only know one member on this forum who owns a boat, like we do. We love boating, but, like any recreational vehicle (RV, ATV, camping trailer), they cost money for upkeep and insurance.


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## rkunsaw

True, CR. Most folks our age do own their home. It is the equity in that home that allows us to be able to buy the condo or smaller home.

We have a pontoon boat, a small Pelican boat and a canoe. We only use them on our little lake.


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## Josiah

I wonder how much of this holding onto to your home is because the housing market has been so depressed. People are hanging on hoping to see the value of their home increase.


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## DoItMyself

I suppose there's always the possibility that life circumstances would require us to downsize, and if something were to happen to me I'd expect my wife to move to a smaller home in-town.  That being said, I can't imagine not living where we do right now.  We have a few acres, and the chores are one of the things that keep us busy and active.  I enjoy mowing, I enjoy getting on the tractor and plowing the driveway after a snow, I enjoy doing maintenance on vehicles/equipment in the shop, and I enjoy the rural lifestyle that we have.  Both of us enjoy yard work and gardening and the peace and quiet of living in the country.  I can't imagine not being able to walk out to the garden and grab a tomato and eat it, or not being able to walk to the back and grab and an apple fresh from the tree.

Even at 94 my dad still lives on the farm and does quite a bit of work.  I'd like to at least be able to keep up with him...


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## Warrigal

Josiah09 said:


> I wonder how much of this holding onto to your home is because the housing market has been so depressed. People are hanging on hoping to see the value of their home increase.


We own the house we had built on a vacant block back in 1965. It modest in size and the yard is manageable. We have been here ever since and won't move until one of us needs nursing care. We have someone come to clean the windows, another to mow the lawns and a third to blow leaves and twigs off the roof and clean out the gutterings. When we move out the house will be demolished and a big new house or a couple of more compact homes will be built on the land. 

As long as we are able we will stay put because we are part of this district and have friends and connections that are valuable to us.


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## Butterfly

Josiah09 said:


> I wonder how much of this holding onto to your home is because the housing market has been so depressed. People are hanging on hoping to see the value of their home increase.



I don't much care about the value of the house, as I don't plan to sell it.  I don't like the  $$$ drain of renting and I don't see any point in moving.  I sure don't want to move to a retirement community.  Rents for apartments are very high here (in relation to wages, etc.), and continue to go up, and in retirement communities they are even worse.  If I still had a mortgage payment to contend with, I might see it differently.  Maybe I'll see it differently when I get older.  I just don't see the point of paying out money every month for rent (and thus depleting my assets) when I can just stay here.  It's a bigger house than I need, but it's all on one floor.


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## Ameriscot

I had this hairbrained idea years ago for us to sell this house and move to the Outer Hebrides.  Stunningly gorgeous beaches, quiet, peaceful, everybody knows everybody, etc.  So my husband said go ahead and do your research which I did for a while.  The houses would cost less than we'd get for selling this house.  However, the pros/cons columns were very heavily weighted on the Con side (which my husband knew I'd discover on my own). Small hospitals and likely not nearby, would need a helicopter to get to the mainland for anything serious.  Everything costs more.  Shipping things costs more.  Island fever. The huge cost of ferries to get to the mainland (5 hour trip), few or no trees.  Etc etc.  Too much to give up just for beautiful beaches.

This is one of those islands we visited:


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## Kathy G in MI

My dear mother (87 years) still lives in her house of 50 years. She does not want to move. I live 3 hours away, my brother lives 3 hours away. We have tried to get her to move into an apartment building where her 90 year old sister lives, but she is not ready. Her handy man has alzheimers, her other handy man just died. I,67 years, refuse to be a handy man. Just last week she asked me to touch up her basement floor, I told her to ask my brother. But, Oh no, she didn't want to bother him (2 years younger than me). It's not that the floor needs to be painted, but it is scuffed and she is a perfectionist! Also wants inside of garage painted, it has minor dings in the walls, you should see my garage!!!

I spend about 5 days with her each month and do what I can. We did find a young man (44 years) who will do some of the things she wants done, like painting my Dad's old work bench in the basement because it is not painted. She doesn't even use the basement anymore because we moved her washer/dryer up into a closet on the first floor.
I hope I am not that stubborn for my kids when I am that age.
Sorry for the rant, I love my Mom, but would love to see her in a condo or apartment and have her enjoy the activities there.


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## Bullie76

I met a guy on the gulf coast not long ago who said after he retired, he sold his house and all contents. Him and his wife rent a condo on the coast 6 months a year and  something up north the other half. They own no furniture, just clothes and some family pictures. He says they are totally happy and feel free as a bird. I can see the benefits of this life style.


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## Cookie

As I get older I just don't want many things around to clutter my life. I live a minimalist lifestyle with simple decor and barely any niknaks in an apartment with a nice view, no yard work and any maintenance I need is done by the property management. That frees up my time and energy for other creative pursuits.


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