Has anyone on board had to make the decision to stay in your existing home or move to another home? My husband has Parkinson disease and dementia and other health issues. We both are 65 years old. We live in a 2 story home where all of the bedrooms are on the second floor. With his health, I feel eventually we both need to have our bedrooms on the 1st floor. He wanders at night getting up several times at night going to the bathroom. We have been comparing the cost of adding a bedroom on the 1st floor, but, it is costly. The value of the homes in my neighborhood is down due to the original owners moving out and renting out their homes, short sales of homes, foreclosure, therefore, they are not up keeping their homes. When I look at the cost of the addition, which will make the value of my home more than what the houses are selling for in my subdivision. I looking around at different houses and the thought of moving makes me uncomfortable too, to start all over again. We have been in our home for 20 years. I just wanted to see if anyone out there had to make the decision to stay in their home or move. If so, how did they decide what to do?
walk! And the Lord bless you too!
9:50 p.m. Sat. We are out of chocolate.
I love you all, so not much else to do tonight but pray!
Thanks everyone. Have a safe night.
I dont regret the move one iota - it has made my life a lot simpler. The apartment is warm cosy and large enough. I don't have a garden to do.... that is done for us. I have a simple clean easy to manage space...AND MUM of course!
Ideally, planning a move while one is able would be good, but staying put has it's benefits.
Even though I am for moving to accommodate any decline in abilities to keep your home up, this staying where you are is doable if one can afford help.
I have also seen and read where one spouse refuses to have help come into the home, (often a cognitive decline), putting the other spouse at risk, ending with their children intervening and the spouses separating. Things can go south abruptly, and while we should not live in fear and negativity, planning ahead can be a good thing!
Makes me think, really hard.
If you move to a home no matter the age you are just make sure there is a bathroom with a shower on the lower level. Anything can happen to anyone at anytime.
I would suggest moving if possible to an assisted living facility. Good luck.
For my parent's home, I've been tossing out anything that has a cord on it as I have no idea if it works correctly or not. Dad kept every nut, screw, bolt for the past 70+ years. The workshop has been daunting. I just tossed out lot of Mom's dishes that were faded or had chips as no one would want those, not even good enough to donate.
I probably will call Goodwill or whatever group that will bring a truck and take away the furniture and other large items. For the handful of nice antique furniture I will try posting them on our "neighborhood" website and see if there are any takers.
Kids today don't want antiques or second hand items. They tend to keep their "memories" on their cellphone where we kept Grandma's old curved glass china cabinet proudly displayed in the living room.
My background is real estate, and when you mentioned that your neighborhood isn't being kept up as nicely as it use to be, time to put that For Sale sign in your yard. You are correct your house would be one of the most expensive if you add an addition. And the issues with trying to add an addition, first having to deal with zoning, and once you get approval, finding a contractor who will finish the job within 6 months.
Start downsizing right now in your home, get rid of paperwork you no longer need. It amazing how much paper we keep. I tell you, it feels so good to tear up or shred documents :) Find things to donate, or to give to family. That will make packing to a new home much easier.
Look for 55+ community that also offers Assisted Living or continuing care [there are about 15 such places in and around Richmond]. That way you can actually age in place, make new friends who are from your own generation... and when the time comes for hubby to move to continuing care, you can be in the same community which makes visiting him easier, and you'll have friends to rally around you :)
gwb financed that population into the suburbs with no money down loans ,
loans went unpaid , banks crashed , the lower middle , and middle class took the hit .
i personally dont care . it just made my property taxes go down .
I have read it is unwise to invest more into your home than the neighborhood calls for because one cannot recoop the investment.
Health conditions and finances should be a priority.
With parkinsons, one never can plan too far ahead for the in-home help you may need-and the finances to do this.
It may not be too early to enter assisted living together, what do you think? A cottage on the premises of AL could be nice for a couple instead of a one room set-up.
Happy new homing to you and hubby!
I can't see starting a project like adding on a room. You may not recover your investment.
Would you have a way to convert a space on your first floor to a bedroom without construction, for example turn your den or dining area into a bedroom by just moving the furniture around? I don't know if that would be feasible, but it might work on a temporary basis until you see how your husband's health is going to go. Years ago, we set up a bed in our living room for my grandmother for a while. We just switched to using our den as our living room. It worked out fine on a temporary basis.
Would you live there by yourself if your husband required long term care or rehab? If so, then I might see about staying on the first floor and avoiding a move, but if you and your husband will likely stay together, regardless of his health, then I might look into an Independent Living apt with an Assisted Living attached. So, you'd have support if you needed it close by. It makes more sense to me than a detached house that has so much upkeep.