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

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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
 

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.
 
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.
 

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.
 
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!
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
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ditto.gif

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.
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ditto.gif..We have 4 acres and a lot to maintain, we did down size my wife's flower (rock) garden.
 
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.
 
Ameriscot said:
Do you maintain it all yourself? How much of it is flowers etc that needs maintaining? Any veggies?
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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
 
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.
 
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
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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/
 
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.
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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?
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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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