Stevelee
New Member
My wife and I retired to Florida in December 2018. We began our retirement process following 40 years of a career involving long hours and extensive travel. We notified our 3 kids in 2015 of our intended plan to downsize and sell our home of 20 years.
We started the tough challenge of downsizing the possessions that we had acquired throughout our lives. That was the toughest job of all. During this time we examined possible options for where we might live. Our goals were to move from the large 5 bedrooms, 3 level home into a single-level 3-2 home with almost zero maintenance.
We both grew up in Florida but met and married in Virginia. Following an overseas posting, we settled in Atlanta for the benefits of a large southern city. After a year, we settled on a move to Florida. We started January 2018 in Fort Myers and worked our way up the west coast of Florida before settling on a North Central Florida location.
In the course of retirement home searching, we dismissed most 55+ communities because of the high HOA and the golf expense (we don't golf). The real estate market has been a seller's market for some years and we discovered the need to first sell our home before buying a new property.
It took many months to prep our home for selling, finding a buyer, and getting to the closing. With cash in hand, we found ourselves in a bidding competition to purchase a Florida home. During this time, it was necessary to place our household goods in storage. With a closing date set, we scheduled the movers for December. Fortunately, the closing and move all went off on schedule.
I had measured rooms in the new home and knew where everything would fit before we bought the home. In the end, we downsized from 4000+ SF to 1600 SF. The lesson learned was the need for very careful and detailed planning. Downsizing and moving to a new city for retirement is a major undertaking and I am quite certain it is my last move. My wife will likely handle the next move.
We started the tough challenge of downsizing the possessions that we had acquired throughout our lives. That was the toughest job of all. During this time we examined possible options for where we might live. Our goals were to move from the large 5 bedrooms, 3 level home into a single-level 3-2 home with almost zero maintenance.
We both grew up in Florida but met and married in Virginia. Following an overseas posting, we settled in Atlanta for the benefits of a large southern city. After a year, we settled on a move to Florida. We started January 2018 in Fort Myers and worked our way up the west coast of Florida before settling on a North Central Florida location.
In the course of retirement home searching, we dismissed most 55+ communities because of the high HOA and the golf expense (we don't golf). The real estate market has been a seller's market for some years and we discovered the need to first sell our home before buying a new property.
It took many months to prep our home for selling, finding a buyer, and getting to the closing. With cash in hand, we found ourselves in a bidding competition to purchase a Florida home. During this time, it was necessary to place our household goods in storage. With a closing date set, we scheduled the movers for December. Fortunately, the closing and move all went off on schedule.
I had measured rooms in the new home and knew where everything would fit before we bought the home. In the end, we downsized from 4000+ SF to 1600 SF. The lesson learned was the need for very careful and detailed planning. Downsizing and moving to a new city for retirement is a major undertaking and I am quite certain it is my last move. My wife will likely handle the next move.
