I've thought about down-sizing for years... only to find out that smaller homes in this area cost just as much if not more than my current 2200 sq ft home and those neighborhoods are not near as nice as mine. Since communal living [apartments/condos] is not for me, I've decided to stay put until an alternative arises that is clearly more beneficial.
Eight years before I retired, we decided to hire a contractor and build our dream home and then sell it just after retirement. We built a home with just over 5000 sq. ft. with 5 bedrooms and 6 1/2 baths. It has a pool and is pretty well loaded. It's situated in a development with many similar homes with some that are larger and more expensive. They have had NO problem selling them. (Being located on a golf course helps when it comes to selling.)
Over the 51 years that we have been married, we have accumulated a lot of stuff. We have been looking for a smaller place, preferably a condo. I told my wife that when it comes time to downsize, I am leaving for a week while she tosses away whatever she feels we will no longer be needing the rest of the way. She plans on donating much of it, but some of it is just personal junk that has no use to anyone else, so that kind of stuff will be tossed.
BTW, we also owned a place in Florida at a naturist resort. It was a one bedroom, 1 1/2 bath condo with about 850 sq. ft. It sold in two days. We had owned it for almost 20 years, so we did pretty well price wise when we sold it. No one that I or my wife worked with knew that we owned it because people just do not understand the "naturist lifestyle." To most people, it just means that it's a place that is all about sex, which couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, our association had very strict rules about what a person could or couldn't do. They held it to a zero tolerance and any infractions would likely get you expelled.
I also wanted to comment about pictures of cars being sold. If you are looking for a good used car and you use a website like cars.com, be careful. Some of those guys working in the social media department are very creative and have the ability to make a Chevy look like a Lexus. I drove a long distance to look at a high priced car that I thought was a good deal and I was ready and prepared to buy with cash in hand. The description, however, didn't even come close to the actual car itself. So, be careful.
