You post much younger than 50:')
I understand how she feels. My house isn't as big as yours but we don't need this much space now that the kids have left. My husband wants to sell. It costs us 2400 a year in taxes and it keeps rising. My husband built it for me 5 years ago and it's the first house we ever owned . He said if I wanted we could just rent it out but the upkeep probably wouldn't be worth it.
Hah! You don't know how lucky you are. Wisconsin is one of the highest taxed states in the country. Of course, paying for all the snow plows, road salt, rebuilding the roads when they deteriorate from the frost heave and road salt etc. takes a lot of money. Living in the city, my property tax bill for last year was $5,000. And we don't live in an extravagant home. If you live in a rural area, tax rates are somewhat less.
Good luck.
That's another thing that's killin' me. Mine are about $3500.