When the topic of renting vs buying comes up it usually implies that people only rent when they can’t afford to buy. However, I can think of many other reasons why a person might want to rent instead of buy.
That’s true, I know a retired couple that sold their home, invested the money and use the interest and dividends to pay their rent. They don’t want to be permanently in one place and have lived in 3 or 4 states over the last 6 years. My old roommate never bought a home because his rent is so cheap, he cares more about the location than a fancy place to live. He’s paying $700 a month in the Lakeview neighborhood in Chicago, it’s close to everything and all he needs. 25 years ago he was going to buy a condo but just the taxes and HOA costs would be over $1,100 a month.
IMO for most middle class people owning is a good way to build wealth and financial security.
Obviously there are cases where a person is only going to be in an area for a short amount of time…but thats a minority of situations. Many people will be of a “renting” class their entire lives…
I currently own my home and haven’t had a mortgage on it for a few decades. However, now that I am a widow I would prefer to live in a place where I don’t have to worry about maintenance, snow plowing, tree care, etc. At the same time, I am very healthy but considering my age if I move in the near future I might need to eventually move again to a place where I can get some assistance. In addition, if I do decide to move to Atlanta to be closer to my daughter’s family I would be reluctant to buy a place in case I subsequently decide I don’t like living in Atlanta. For these reasons, I am considering the possibility of renting if I sell my current house. However, I don’t want to make a decision of this magnitude until at least a year after my husband died.
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Renting would probably make your life easier, the big problem will be getting rid of everything you won’t have room for. If I was in your situation I’d probably move near my kid and rent also, if you don’t like the area moving back to Connecticut or anywhere shouldn’t be too difficult.
My neighbor had their house built with an in-law suite that’s on the first floor and has a larger than a regular size bedroom with full bath. The wife’s mother lives there and it works out well for them.
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We moved 15 years ago from a 4 level split. We wanted to get away from Steps. We needed a Basement for all our stuff.
Iy was a good move as issues have made steps a bigger problem… especially the lack of a Bathroom on the Kitchen/Living Level.
We seldom go to the Basement… cleaning it out now would be extremely difficult… would have been better to clean it out 15 years ago… except the grand kids like it. We did fix it up to a level where the Grandkids have a safe enjoyable area.
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Not like Atlanta…
Well you will have to make new friends… that IMHO is the biggest downside. Between Church and Bridge you will have many opportunities to make new friends.
Please do not worry about the stereotype of the South. The areas you would consider could be in any Northern City filled with prosperous educated (ex Northerners) like yourself … but with better weather and more driving. We are more spread out. With no barriers (Mountains/Coast) Atlanta has grown in a 360 degree pattern.
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I am living in what I call my “forever house”…it’s a ranch style house - no stairs, except to the basement. I don’t have a lot of stuff down there, but the laundry is down there. One of my projects in the next year or two is to bring the washer dryer upstairs.
One think I have that I didn’t think about when I moved in - my basement access is in the garage. My ex mother in law had a basement access inside and got up one night to go to the bathroom. She got a little disoriented coming back and turned left instead of right and fell down the basement stairs. I figure I’d have to be really disoriented to fall down my stairs
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One thing I’ve been talking with friends about as I get older is the need to check on each other when we live alone. I have my teen in the house for at least three more years, but I had to take a friend to the ER twice in the last few months and it reminds me of how easily accidents could happen, not just for older people, or anyone living alone. There are check-in apps that help with this kind of stuff now too.
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Congratulations. When we married, we had a ranch style house with a full basement. All the stuff down there just seemed to constantly procreate. The next house had only a half basement. Over time, it somehow filled up also. Our current house is on one floor with no basement. It has a 3-car garage, but we have controlled the extra bay pretty well and with about 15-20 minutes effort could probably get a new 370z in there if I can convince my wife that I need one.
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My general rule when moving is that if there are boxes in the basement, they get thrown out. Maybe not though…I do have my mom’s old china that she’s had since the 60’s Franciscan Desert Rose, In the 12 years that I have lived here, I have never served dinner on China, but one look at those dishes brings back a flood of memories… After the kids moved out, mom worked in the China department at Dillards. Perfect job for her. She knew more than about China than pretty much everybody
“Now that right there is funny…No matter who you are!” Larry the Cable Guy
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After late wife expired 5 years ago, I resolved to see about returning to Florida. Thought I would find a little rent house to buy and get my sister off my butt. Didn’t happen.
Then I found this place. Too small, two story, too goofy (log house) and yard too big, on almost 4 acres. No way I could rent it because no tenant would keep up the yard. That served to hasten my effort to shovel out what frugal hoarder late wife had collected over 30 years, and git on down the road.
Then I went back to see the girl who wistfully asked why I was going to FL and the rest is history. Sold her house and packed up a big U-haul truck and we continue to dispose of ever what will not fit because we just ain’t doing storage. But if I had not bought this place I might still be cleaning out late wife’s trazh. Sure glad I did as it seems to be up 150k or so at this point. Not that it makes a rip as wife loves it and we would never find another “old garden” with flowers popping everywhere.
Have a 2 car garage and was only able to fit 1 car in there. Had a fairly big shed built. Moved some of the stuff/junk into the shed…can now fit 2 cars in there now.
Here is the after photo.
I am not a super organized person, but one thing I consistently do is make sure two cars can fit in my two car garage.
The way they solved in in Johnson County was to build a 3 car garage. I’m lucky…my house is older so I have more room in my garage, which is good because of the big assed trash bins I have to store there.
There is a weird building code out here that only allows for a half driveway for a third car garage. So on new construction the builders will frame out the driveway before the inspection but not actually pour the concrete. Then after it is inspected they will frame out a full driveway for the third garage.
We have a three car garage and you can actually fit three cars plus enough room for a workbench, cabinets, garbage cans, beer fridge, etc. I like that it has a 10 foot ceiling with no posts, plenty of high storage for crap you don’t use often. I can’t imagine going to a 2 car.
To dream the impossible dream.
When we bought a bigger house, the garage was actually smaller. Both two car, but the new one was not as deep or as wide.
I invested in RubberMaid storage system, it attaches to the wall and can hang almost anything on them.