So, we're selling the house after only three years.

[cynatnite]

It's a huge house, over 3200 sq. ft. Without mom's extra income since she passed and with so few of us living here, we just can't justify keeping it.

There's just me, the husband and the son. The son is 19 and will be getting his own place in the not too distant future. The husband is on the road as a truck driver. That leaves just me here at home alone most of the time.

We paid most of the bills and food here even when both my mother and grandmother were alive, but their incomes made it much easier. Since husband sold his truck and went back to work as a company driver there isn't as much income as there used to be.

We're using an experienced realtor we trust. She explained to me that just in the last few years the housing market has changed drastically for the better in our case as sellers. We stand to make a decent amount of money which will help get us in another home more suitable to our size and with much lower payments that even in retirement we can easily afford.

The husband has had injuries over the years and I think he'll be coming off the road in the next five to ten years due to that. Plus, I want him home more. I'm tired of the truck driver's wife lifestyle after 20 years of it. We're past due.

It's another big change in such a short amount of time, but I find that I don't mind it.

[MLAA]

1. Good for you! Glad the market is working in your favor 😉

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Congrates,you are not alone in your

circumstances. See this in our Community almost weekly. Once you close,do rent,this market is getting shaky by the day.

Good luck.

[brush]

3. Make sure to get a one-story house. Forget climbing stairs as you get older.

[irisblue]

16. First floor laundry room as well.

[safeinOhio]

4. I'm in my 4th

never again home.

[Luciferous]

15. We're in our 4th in 7 years- I'm over buying houses!

[badhair77]

5. Sounds like a good choice for you and your family. I agree about the ranch idea - no stairs.

Good luck. It seems like a good time to sell.

[Dave Starsky]

6. You had a house to sell. Good for you.

I am always wondering about the rest of us who don't own property (real estate, which literally means the land allowed to you by the king). We renters pay monthly for the roof over our heads. What challenges do we have in this modern world? Does anyone care?

I didn't mean to hijack your thread. I hope you get your money for your house. I hope all your dreams come true.

[Squinch]

8. Not sure I understand what you are wanting from the OP...

[Dave Starsky]

10. I was just saying "Congratulations".

I'm glad they're able to sell a home. ☺

[Ferrets are Cool]

9. That is a horribly mean post.

Some people work hard to own homes. Some people work hard and cant afford a home. It is the world we live in. If you are over the age of 14, you should understand that by now.

[Dave Starsky]

11. I am in the "work hard and can't afford a home" category.

Can you, assuming that you are over the age of 14, understand why some of us might not remotely relate to "home ownership" problems?

[Luciferous]

13. How rude! Nobody made you read their post.

[brush]

22. It takes a while to get up the down payment. Once you do buy a house...

instead of paying rent every month you're paying a mortgage, and the gas, the electricity, the water, real estate taxes, insurance, to fix the fridge when it goes out, also the stove, the AC, the roof—everything, no calling the landlord to fix stuff.

And no moving if you have an annoying neighbor blasting his/her music too loud.

[Dave Starsky]

32. That's exactly right.

Although I would love to own a home again, there is something to be said about not having to deal with all of that shit. The people that own homes for rent have the time/means to take care of all that. If they don't, they shouldn't own rental homes.

[cynatnite]

23. The fact is that in our area, it's cheaper to buy than rent...

We'll be fortunate because we'll have a decent down payment which will drive down the payments. To rent anything decent you're looking at a minimum of $750 a month and that's barely passable decent. Not only that, there is not much available to rent either.

We're looking at retirement in the next decade and since we didn't save for a retirement we have to keep our payments low enough that no matter what, it's affordable which means between $500 and $600 a month.

This isn't about getting a dream home. This is about practicality and thinking of our future.

Also, I'm not looking down at renters. Hell, we spent the majority of our adult lives renting. But there isn't a large selection in our area.

Across the country it's a housing shortage. That's why we're in a good position.

[dixiegrrrrl]

25. I did what you are planning and saved a bundle.

If you can afford to put 20% or more down payment,
you can ask for/demand a mortgage with no escrow, no pre-payment penalty, that will avoid those escrow rip-offs.
and tell them you will buy your own insurance and taxes.
Make sure they show you in the contract where that has been written.

I asked the lending company to make the payment under 500.00 a month ( this was in 2005, before the housing crash and subsequent new bubble).
because of our projected retirement budget.
The mortgage was thru Bank of America at first, and because of the no pre-payment penalty, I added extra principle payments every other month early on, when we could afford to do so.

When BOA sold the loan to a mortgage servicer, the principle balance was 5,000 less than it would have been normally.

[BBG]

28. It is concerning

We were able to get into a house during the last bubble burst but that’s with dual incomes and no kids at home. I don’t know how anyone could get into buying now with the property appreciation/inflation of the past few years.

[Dave Starsky]

30. We used to own, but we were nearly wiped out in 2008.

Unemployment and medical bills from an accident. We had to sell our home in a terribly depressed market just to clear enough money to relocate to a place where one of us could get a decent job so we could survive.

We've had to rent a home ever since. Our earning situation has gotten much better in the intervening years. But it really is nearly impossible, home-ownership-wise, to recover from something like that. How in the hell do you amass a new 20% down payment on even the cheapest home in a place where jobs actually exist?

I consider myself fortunate. I, at least, owned a home once and lost it. Many people can't even dream of being able to buy a home. I have a (rented) roof over my head. Way too many people don't even have that.

So I hope people here forgive me for sounding cold and callous about the trials and tribulations of selling your home for hopefully enough money as you were expecting. I hope that some people here understand that the misfortune that befell me can happen to any of us at any time.

[BBG]

33. Right on

Been thru ups and downs myself. Too (two) many exwives who enjoyed the benefits of joint home ownership after the dissolution. So I definitely feel your pain.
I’m no enonomist but suspect that housing inflation has to lead income inflation. And that is what is way overdue, actual income gains for the masses. Otherwise the middle class is to become the new serfdom class.

[Dave Starsky]

35. Thank you for understanding! I hope you're right...

About income gains. It has been way too long since wages kept pace with the cost of living.

I know that you know that I wasn't trying to be a dick. People never seem to understand how hard life is for other people until they've walked in those same shoes.

[Squinch]

7. When you get out from under carrying too much house, you'll wonder why you ever did it

in the first place.

Smaller home = more freedom, less stress, more money.

[Luciferous]

14. I would love to have a smaller house but my husband wanted a large house. I think

when the kiddos are out of the house I will try to talk him in to a condo. Less cleaning, less money, less maintenance all sound good to me!

[47of74]

17. I'm not looking to change my living arrangements for a while yet

But I find the idea of a condo or a loft attractive.

[Luciferous]

21. Our youngest is 11 so we have a ways to go before we think about a condo :)

[TuxedoKat]

12. Think Ranch

It is so nice having everything on one level. It's so much easier to get around and clean as well. If I ever buy another house it will definitely be a ranch again, preferably with a walk-out basement.

[47of74]

19. I remember my uncle saying that...

....to buy a one story ranch style house even if a person is young. Makes life a bit easier especially as a person gets older and aren't as mobile as they used to be. I know with some of my family that was a concern with relatives as they got older and were still living in old two story houses and weren't as mobile as they used to be.

[cynatnite]

24. Yep, that's what we're aiming for...

Husband's knee and ankle isn't great. We need everything on one level.

[Skruffy]

31. I am comfortable with a small 3/1 or preferably 3/2 ranch.

Sitting in some yard. No muss, no fuss, easy repair and care. Works for me. Some shade to sit under.

[Codeine]

37. What's a walk-out basement?

I’m from California where basements are an exotic foreign notion, so I honestly can’t imagine what that means.

[TuxedoKat]

42. Oh

Just a basement that has a door that you can walk right out of from the same level to your yard or patio. Preferably one with large, sliding glass doors as they let in more light and make the space more livable. Here are some examples:

https://tinyurl.com/yctwh62p

[FSogol]

18. Translation: Ancient Indian Burial Ground

Just kidding cynatnite. Good luck with the sell.

[47of74]

20. Best of luck with selling and finding a better place.

Hope everything works out well for you.

[TwistOneUp]

26. I've often thought of doing that.

Live in SF, single, and the prices here are sky-high. Local seafood place I used to patronize: $15 for a small order of calamari. Another place charges $4.25 for a very small mason jar of ice tea. Burgers are $14 at restaurants, but half-pounders cost less than $3 to make at home.

I would like to move but RE demand here is sky high, so I'm riding out the prices while I wait for higher home values.

I wish you the best of luck!

[Skruffy]

27. I downsized about five years ago.

And then really downsized again and got rid of most of my stuff. Stuff. Lots of stuff. I have really enjoyed the bareness of my environment. Now I am looking for a house that has space, with very few things in that space. It feels good as we age, to get rid of so many things that only gather dust.

The market is good for the seller, but I am waiting for Trumps magical failure to get a hold of the market to buy a house.

[samplegirl]

29. We did the same thing

We downsized after 19 years. So much of everything was in that house including my memories. It adjustment to move and even though I was fortnutate to build a small ranch it has never truly felt like home. I keep working on it and try not to hold on to the past. With the trump era it makes it much harder to even think about retirement in just 5 more years.

[ailsagirl]

34. I had a friend who lived alone in a two-storey house in the midwest

She said it was so huge that there were many rooms whose doors she always kept closed. Naturally, she didn't have enough belongings to fill them all so she effectively cut them off from the rest of the house.

She said it was rather spooky

[haele]

36. We currently own a double wide at a mobile home family park.

Got a windfall in 2013 when FIL passed and left us a small almost six figure amount up front (the rest in trust until his surviving spouse dies).
Paid off $50K in lingering 10-year-old medical bills, and paid cash for 1500 sq. ft, of home for around $30K so we'd only pay for the lot rental and the sub-metered utilities, usually around $1K a month total, which is pretty damn cheap here in Southern California - especially in the middle of San Diego.

If we hadn't had the medical bills, we would have purchased outright one of several small 1/3 - 1/2 acre relatively level city lots we had our eye on at the time that were going for $50K - $90K, and gone into hock on a $150K or so loan at the credit union for a halfway decent 1024 sqft or so 2 bdrm/1 ba manufactured double wide home put on a slab with utility hook-up and a driveway with a carport installation. (The manufactured home companies will include leveling, slab, and hook-up with installation)
And done our own damn xeriscaping in the front and container veggie gardening in the back with the kid's help. And maybe added some chickens...

Because even then, buying a house on property was typically over $350K for a small city lot - for something you would need to drop $50K in over the first year just to fix everything that was painted over by the previous owner.
So piece-mealing your purchase between an empty lot and a new manufactured home is still about the only way to really afford buying your own home in San Diego.

Good luck on your house hunting. And as other posters had indicated previously, the older you get, the harder stairs become, so think about a single story home that doesn't have high ceilings.

Haele

[Skruffy]

38. I am surprised how much the lot cost is.

I am seeing 500-700 in my area. That is almost a rent cost.

[haele]

39. It's within an incorporated area.

If we were out in the country, lot rental would be around $500 on average. But we are in the city proper, with a nice pool and clubhouse facility, an on-site picnic/Park area, and gated. The lots are also large enough for a small yard or veggie garden; 60 x 60 for the smallest lots, 60 x 80 for the larger lots.
We also don't have Mello-Roos to deal with, it's an older park.
Most parks within 20 miles of here have a lot rental of at least $1100 base a month. For smaller lots. But then, apartment rents for a 600 sqft unfurnished average around $1500 a month, with the average mortgage running around $2200. That's not counting basic utilities - water, power, and trash), which average $200 a person on average.
So it's pretty inexpensive, all things considered.
Haele

[Codeine]

43. I owned a manufactured home once upon a time.

The space rent kept increasing annually and when added to the regular mortgage payment it wasn’t long before we found ourselves paying as much or more than a comparably-sized regular home with a better yard. Very frustrating.

Retrospectively it would probably be a bit less than a regular house now due to the enormous increase in property values in Southern California, but at the time it pissed me off.

[cynatnite]

41. My aunt and uncle bought a home in Anaheim for $25k back in the sixties....

They sold it for over $200k in the nineties. It wasn't for the money. It was because the area had gotten so bad, but my uncle was retiring anyway so and they had quite a nice nest egg already saved. They moved to Sun City, bought a much nicer home and still had a nice sized bank account.

I told my husband that we have to get a ranch style home, single story. Even those with basements that have the washer and dryer downstairs are out of the question unless we have the means to relocate them on the main floor. I'm not wobbling up and down stairs for the rest of my life. We have enough of that now, plus husband's knee and ankle don't work that great anymore. He'll be wearing braces for those for the rest of his life.

California was already expensive when we lived there and it's just gotten worse. I loved living there, but it's not possible for us to make a decent living. Especially near the ocean which I loved.