Elderly couples selling their houses for apartments. So why do people put so much emphasis on buying?

[DreamLife7]

I live by a lot of elderly couples as well as worked for them in their homes. They've all told me that once they got older, they sold their homes because home ownership was too much work. They love the convenience of an apartment. So why do people stress buying houses to only turn around when they get older to rent an apartment?

[MikeTheBartender]

They should have done a reverse mortgage, they could have used that money to pay for whatever maintenance. I rented for over a decade until I bought my house. I'm not sure what the elderly couple are talking about, landscaping? Everything else can go wrong in an apartment, the toilet can break, the AC can go out, whatever, if the landlord fixes it there's nothing to say he won't raise your rent to the next year. However, if you are old enough and see that your savings is going to last till the end, maybe you can go the rental app. I am sure glad I bought, and got into real estate investment. it gave me wealth that I could have never achieved with just bartending or whatever.

[DreamLife7]

If the toilet breaks and the ac goes out in the apartment maintenance replaces it no charge. Rent automatically goes up yearly in apartments that has nothing to do with repairs they've done.

Secondly, dude everything with a house is work. You're literally on your own. If piping gets old and needs to be replaced you pay, poor roofing you pay, ac goes out you pay, washing machine breaks you pay, flooring comes apart you pay, cabinetry falls apart you pay, clogged drains you pay, painting you pay, oh yes and everything exterior. If you have a home you should know this

[MikeTheBartender]

Depending on where you live, AC, clogged drains, and pipes I sort of don't pay. I have an annual warranty ($550), But all the other things yes I pay, floors, roof etc if I want. But I also have no mortgage. So my monthly bills are drastically lower than an apartment. The problem with home ownership, and why Banks profit, is most people don't stay in the homes they buy, they live four or five years, and then they want to upgrade or move to a different neighborhood. Nothing wrong with that, but if you look at the amortization table on a mortgage, after 4 years you really own almost nothing, it's generally all interest. I decided I didn't want to do that, so I live mortgage free now. Yeah there is going to be a day where I'm going to have to spend $20,000 on my roof, but my neighborhood would cost around $60,000 a year to rent this house minimum. And I pay nothing. I told my brother who just bought a house, the first 7 years of your life are going to suck. But then with inflation, as rents go up and up and your mortgage stays the same, it becomes VERY profitable to own.

[LazerBean]

It depends on the priorities of different people and what sort of life they like to live. But personally, I wouldn't want to raise kids in apartment. I wouldn't be able to have a garden, fruit trees, and raise rabbits in my backyard if I lived in an apartment community. I probably wouldn't have a big enough yard to throw parties the size that we do, either. We wouldn't have enough space to have a whole another building that works as storage and a house me gym. Plus it is more cost-effective, I'm putting the same amount of money into this house that I can turn around and sell one day that a renter is just completely losing. But yeah if I was old and had nothing better to do than sit around chit-chatting with neighbors all day, then an apartment would be better.

[DizzyDesii]

Thats why i said i never cared to “buy” a house but i do want to have one built. If its not custom everything i want, i dont want it. I’d be fine just renting an apartment if i can't have the custom/semi-custom home i want. My mom and grandparents switched from rent to buy in 2007 when they found some houses out in the countryside. The houses were newly built in 2007 but they didn't get to customize anything. They are now pretty unhappy with their homes and ready to sell/rent them out. They realize its too much work trying to fix everything themselves. They miss how rentals came with someone to repair everything. in my opinion they’ve been wasting their money since they’re looking to sell/rent out their houses now

[DreamLife7]

Even if you have your home custom built, it's the same work as any other home. You're responsible for keeping up the roofing, plumbing, ac , carpet, pipes, cabinetry, yard work, and any other maintenance interior and exterior. Also, homeowners insurance and property taxes yearly, which can go up depending on where you live.

[DreamLife7]

But like you said, I'm not really caring for the whole buying thing unless I have kids.

[DizzyDesii]

Yea im not worried about the responsibilities, insurance or taxes because i expect that when i get a house built. And i’d only build a house if i had the exact amount of cash on deck. I prefer to continue avoiding loans at all costs and have never taken out one. I just think its silly that my family didn't think all of that through before impulsively buying.

[DreamLife7]

You have to pay property taxes and homeowners insurance yearly. it doesn't matter if your home is built. unless you plan to pay 350k plus upfront you'll need a home loan.

[DizzyDesii]

Yes i intend to pay that upfront. And i know property tax and insurance is yearly. Im just talking about the cost of the home itself

[RavVid]

Yes. There are non-obvious costs with home ownership. Keeping up with fashion is one. Aside from a lot of work it is a lot of cost. Nobody can keep up with kitchens and bathrooms.

[RavVid]

Freestanding houses appreciate more and better if you have kids. Other apartment owners may not enjoy hearing your kids for one thing. If you have a boy and a girl you need three bedrooms. Apartments are better for singles, couples without children and older couple/singles.

Don't know what you would call them in your country but in my country we have Owners Corporation levies for common property and these are not insignificant. Quite a bit more than rates and water. The concept that somebody looks after the maintenance - which is sort of what the older people have told you - is something of a flawed concept.

I can rant more on the later if anybody wants me to.

[laly520]

cuz they r old n their priorities n the way they see life has changed

as for me I got couple of reasons, I do plan to have a big family so apartment won't be good choice on long term

second I wanna have bigger place for my activities

[DreamLife7]

What type of activities do you do?

[laly520]

I have a huge piano so I need place for it and besides my job and degree I have a music diploma so I plan to give private lessons in future thus I need more space to have students

[DreamLife7]

Yes you definitely need a home or townhome

[JacobJordan]

Houses are a lot of work and when you get older that house will have far more value than when you bought it. So if you decide to sell you get all your money back plus a lot. A house is an investment. An apartment is all well and good but if you rent a place year after for 60 years you have spent hundreds of thousands right? Now you decide to move to a new apartment from your old one do you gain any financial benefits? No. You own a house that you live in take care of blah blah it costs say 200k. You move out 60 years from now and sell the house for 750k and move into an apartment. Do you gain any financial benefits?

[alice55]

They sell because they have no choice they don't have enough money to stay in their big house it's very expensive and exhausting and they have spend many decade in it so I think they didn't lose anything.

they want to buy for security not having to fear getting kicked out one day out of treble

[gorydetails]

You're never going to believe this... but your priorities change as you get older.

[DreamLife7]

That's common sense, but people always make it seem like being home owners is easier and more cost effective

[gorydetails]

It is more cost-effective because home interest is a tax deduction.

[Redstang88]

Buying a home allows you to build wealth/equity so you CAN afford to retire and downsize when you get older

[LiamS95]

Probably because a lot of those older folks paid around $30000.00 for their houses and paid it off and then sold it for 1.2 million when they moved into a condo.

[lightbulb27]

harder to maintain house when old, taxes, they are expensive.

but I don't like apts where someone else has control over where I live and could kick me out, raise rents too much.

[douride2]

Like many older folks. They bought when the housing market was cheaper. Now the prices are in the 100s of thousands or even millions of $. Why not sell & not have to worry about upkeep & repairs.

[A_Bell]

Guaranteed cost going forward. Appreciating asset less maintenance and taxes. Full control over property. Potential lack of close neighbors.

[azure81]

Buying and owning a house is more about building personal wealth. But it requires a lot of maintenance. As people get older they do not want to have to deal with the maintenance themselves. So they go to condos or apartments.

[Anonymous]

They buy to raise families and build equity

Once the kids leave, the body starts to fail and it makes sense to downsize

[Opinion Owner]

Someone I know from my volunteering gig, she bought her house for 50k in the 70's sold it some years ago for 1.5M, she bought an apartment for 250k and lives a comfortable life on the interest that money pays

[nawtee_me]

So they can sell and have extra money to live on in an apartment.

[Bklynbadboy12]

All old people don't do that. Some people I'm sure they do but that's a small percentage