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Sure, why not give it a try? Lots of people really do enjoy the amenities of a 55+ community.
If you find you do not like the “vibes” in a certain community where you are renting, you can turn over the keys and move on. No muss, no fuss. OTOH, you may find a place where you feel at home and content.
I am very impressed with the cleaning out you have already done. That is a major job which is difficult for many people so you seem determined. Good luck!
We have a 2bed, 2bath 1500 sq ft home. I find it a bit small. We live in a Sun City community. Everyone watches out for each other, and there are plenty of handy men, that live here, that you can count on. I do find it abit like being back in HS, with the gossip, and the neighbors, know everything about you. It could be a lot worse though. The OP, has the right idea....RENT.....to see if you like it, and try different communities. They are all different.
No garage is preferred. My husband was starting to become hoarder. When we were going through the stuff and starting to get rid of things I found so much junk like old empty boxes, around 250, and a multitude of other stuff that he was clinging to. Stuff like old books from the 70s when he was a college student and magazines. Also he had hundreds of shirts and shoes. I found dozens of unopened shirts that were so old the pins had created rust stains. We have big house and each have our own spaces and maintain a live and let live attitude towards one another but the massive accumulation of stuff was truly alarming. He didn't want to let a lot go so I had to sneak down on trash mornings and set a bunch of his horde out before he woke up. I made numerous Good Will trips unbeknownst to him. He did willingly part with things he could get money for like his old college books. He received 19.00 dollars for 8 boxes. For now he squirreled away some old string and some small boxes and seems content with that but I do not want to encourage future hoarding by having a garage where he can began "storing" things.
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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I totally relate. I always thought I'd own and, here I am, happily renting (not in a 55+ community, though).
We had owned for decades and I thought we always would. However, houses are expensive in terms of both time and money. Our neighborhood was changing. Traffic was a nightmare. We felt stuck.
I have to admit, I had no idea how much work and money it would take to sell...and our house was well-maintained over the years. Still, cleaning, painting, prepping, showing....it was exhausting. I am so glad we did that in our 50s while we were still healthy and energetic instead of waiting until we were older.
I'm not sure if we'll ever buy again. Its still hard to wrap my head around the fact that I could decide to move across the country tomorrow and, in 30 days, actually do it. That flexibility and freedom is so awesome. I think it will become more important as we age.
For now, we're renting for the foreseeable future.
We are in the process of selling our house. Going to pay thousands in closing and realtor fees, painting the entire thing is going to cost 4000, grouting and caulking and on and on. We paid about 15000 a year in property takes and HOA fees for the past 10 years. We might break even when all is said and done. Our home is beautiful, large, 3 and half baths, gorgeous hardwoods, high end appliances, granite, jetted tub, 13 foot high ceilings. A total dream house... and I cant wait to unload it and move into a 800 square foot apartment!!!!!! I hate the endless maintenance and worries that go with home ownership in a humid climate. Some of my neighbors have had issues with black mold and more. I feel like we are lucky but also very aggressive with prevention. My husband is already looking at new homes in another state. He always goes along in the end with whatever I want and I am seriously thing of just renting at a nice 55 plus community and maybe moving to a different state each year. We have sold and given away 80% of our belongings and I have no desire to start accumulating again. I want to live as minimalist as possible, travel and pursue interesting activities instead of blowing money on property taxes, HOA fees and home maintenance. My husband almost tumbled off a 8 foot ladder while changing a light bulb on our 13 foot high ceiling. Also I think it is stressful for him in general to deal with home ownership issues.
I would like all the amenities of a 55 plus apartment community without being tied down. We would like to try living in different parts of the country. I was looking at Affinity communities but am open to others.
one of the reasons for owning a home was so we "wouldn't throw money away each month" but with the taxes and fees I don't if that is true anymore.
I think this is an outstanding plan/idea and something I'll eventually opt to do. There is a lot of overhead in maintaining a home (maintenance, hoa, taxes, etc). I'd like to simplify things myself.
Be prepared to give up some of your privacy in a communal setting along with peace and quiet depending on the community configuration you select. There is nothing like owning your own home. If your hubby is on an 8ft ladder, you two must still be young. I would wait until you are less mobile.
I had a big old brownstone. Got tired dealing with snow in winter, weeds in summer and fixing things all the time. Took me a long time to clean it out until I got serious. I moved to a one bedroom apartment 3 years ago. A 55 plus community never crossed my mind. I found a doorman building that's full of all kinds of people and amenities in a good neighborhood. I have no regrets.
Desfleurs, I hope you'll be as happy as I am when you find your new home.
I would never have wanted a monster of a house like you have but I don't know if a small apartment would be enough either. I know a few people who live in cute 1950s style ranches and find them perfect. One person had the kitchen totally remodeled, built a deck onto the back, and really loves her home. She does pay someone to cut the lawn and trim the shrubs but other than that, she just enjoys herself.
I live in an 890 sq ft apartment and it's fine. We don't need two bathrooms, we don't need high ceilings, in fact the ceilings here are abnormally high and it's a disadvantage of the place. It's supposed to look "spacious" but it's a pain in the neck if you need to reach the a/c vents that are in the ceiling or if you had to change a light bulb.
Luckily, the maintenance dept. here comes and changes the smoke detector batteries every year and they would change a lightbulb if you called them.
What I miss about a house: having my own backyard. The backyard for privacy and for outdoor entertaining, for gardening, for just having a back door and walking out into your own backyard. There's plenty of privacy here though, it's quiet, I have a nice laundry room, and not much work except for cooking and cleaning. Ideally, you could rent an apartment and take a month or two to travel. Pre-virus, we would spend a month in winter with my sister in a warmer climate, maybe take a trip to the UK in spring. You're right about not having to worry that the pipes might freeze or that someone might break in. We can/could take a trip up to Maine on the spur of the moment, whereas, with a house we used to strategically leave a timer going to turn the lights on, install a motion detecting outside light, alert the police that we were going away and ask them to drive by and check on the house, alert our neighbors that we were going.
But you said you want to live in several states? I think the hard part about that is that you'd start to make friends in one place and then you've move to another state, and then another. I'd either get a really good condo where I checked and made sure it had good management or live in a 55 plus apartment and then just travel when you felt like it. Besides leaving your friends every time you moved, moving is NOT fun. There's a reason for the olde saying that, Moving is Hell.
We have a 2bed, 2bath 1500 sq ft home. I find it a bit small. We live in a Sun City community. Everyone watches out for each other, and there are plenty of handy men, that live here, that you can count on. I do find it abit like being back in HS, with the gossip, and the neighbors, know everything about you. It could be a lot worse though. The OP, has the right idea....RENT.....to see if you like it, and try different communities. They are all different.
Let's say you rent a house in Sun City, the A/C goes out in the middle of summer, how do you know how long it will be before the landlord fixes it, or if anything else goes south in the house? That's one of my concerns about renting, how quickly will things get fixed, or if a water heater goes out.
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