Be careful. Read the part in my comments about my elderly mom. I told her to stay in an owned home rather than downsize to a rented apartment as my dumb sisters advised her, by telling her that rents continually rise, often beyond the capability to pay the rent. Another example: one of my daughters and her family rented an apartment in San Francisco for about 4 years until a couple years ago when her 2nd child was coming. They needed a larger apartment. They moved down the peninsula to a cheaper town. They rented the SF apt for $1600. When they moved out, the landlord boosted the rent to the new tenants to $3500. That's more than 200 percent increase within 4 years. Although they rent here, they do own a home in the midwest that they're currently renovating. Her husband is handy and doing all the work by often traveling there to renovate. When it's done, they'll move there. They got a good deal by buying in a redevelopment district and don't have to pay property taxes for 10 years. That home is now worth 5 times what they paid 5 years ago.
I'm also handy with a hammer, and do all my maintenance and remodeling. If one can't maintain a property, they're better off owning a condo or renting. We owned our 1st home ten years, and I did a lot of improvements and we got profit in the 6 figures selling it. We kept it for a couple years after buying our 2nd home, and got rental income on it, selling within 2 years to use a rollover exemption and not pay taxes on the profits. Over a couple decades I've done a lot of improvements to our existing home while our kids grew up, and now we enjoy babysitting our grandkids in it. That would not be the case if we rented. I taught another daughter carpentry, and she used those skills to buy and sell a home for profit after remodeling it. Owning land and property is still beneficial, because demand is outpacing supply.
I still recommend that young people get their foot in the door of ownership somehow, but do it in a way where they won't go bankrupt. Like in the case of my eldest buying in a redevelopment district in a large midwest city. A whole neighborhood went upscale with new owners improving the area.
For elders, it's best if relatives can step in and help manage affairs. Seen plenty cases where elderly get dementia and need help. Don't think you can just hang around for 20 years and rent, when you may need assisted living care. Either hold a house as a piggy bank for the equity value, or put the sales profit in an investment that can go towards paying assisted living care.
What you do and what you taught your children in the best solution, to be able to maintain and improve housing with a minimum of outside help.
I’m an elderly woman.
I sold my large home and bought a delightful apartment/condo.
A common solution among my group of friends..
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