Retirement can be the best years of your life, without question. But there’s more to retirement than a permanent holiday from work. Unless you retired very young, there are very real implications of aging as you make real estate decisions. Don’t let pride, sentimentalism or inertia get in the way of good financial sense and health planning.
Here are four housing pitfalls that many retirees make and how to navigate each with grace and wisdom.
1. Staying Too Large, Too Long
Plenty of empty nesters get sentimental about the house where they raised their children. Some simply refuse to move out of pride and stubbornness (“What am I, an old person? I’m only __!”). But bigger houses are cost more money, more time and more effort.
If it has more than two bedrooms, you probably don’t need a house that size. You don’t need to wait until your last child graduates college (or high school, for that matter). Sell it now, and downsize to a single-story house or condo (more on stairs later).
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