1 in 3 Baby Boomers Say They'll Never Sell Their Home

[OnlinePoker]

An additional 30% of baby boomers who own their home say they’ll hold onto it for at least a decade.

One-third (33.5%) of baby boomers who own their home say they’ll never sell, according to a recent Redfin-commissioned survey. Another 30% say they’ll sell their home at some point, but not within the next decade.

Older people are even less likely to sell, with nearly half (44.6%) of Silent Generation members never planning to sell.

Younger homeowners are more likely to eventually part ways with their house: 25% of Gen Xers and 21% of millennial/Gen Zers say they’ll never sell.

https://www.redfin.com/news/baby-boomer-homeowners-never-sell/

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Not surprising. For a lot of people in retirement age, you have your home the way you like it and don't want to have to go through the hassle of starting fresh in a new place.

[Cloudhopper]

1. We would love a home that's a little more contemporary and less like a box,

but our neighbors are GREAT and we don't want to risk that. (me, GenJones/retired; hubs, first week GenXer still working)

Neighborhoods are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.

[Cerulean Southpaw]

2. It's not surprising.

I'm not old enough to be a boomer, and I try to avoid absolutes like "never", but when I bought my home, I wasn't "flipping" real estate. I assumed it would be the place I'd settle.

I'm still not finished paying the mortgage, but this will probably be the place where I die.

[wildflowergardener]

3. Home

I thought when I bought my house I might sell, but I have put so much into my gardens and it would be such a hassle. i like my neighborhood and house. Gen X.

[NutmegYankee]

11. I'm in that same boat. Gen X/Millenial depending on poll definitions.

I have built up 700 sq ft of raised bed gardens for vegetables with even more in-ground beds for flowers.

[Celerity]

16. Gen X (1965-1980) and Millennial (1981-1996) birth year ranges have been firm for ages now.

[NutmegYankee]

22. It's not that simple.

I'm within a month of millennial now. But for years in the early 2000s, the definition cutoffs shifted wildly between 1977-1983, resulting in an X-ennial generation that feels no firm attachment to either modern definition. For many years, I was labeled a millennial, and then in the last decade I was shifted to Gen X. I boycott the discussion entirely because I won't agree to be labeled one thing today when I was labeled something differently in the early 2000s.

[Celerity]

24. I am within less than 2 and a half months of being Gen Z, but the widely accepted boundaries (1981-1996) for Millennial's

have been pretty much locked into place for at least 10 to 15 years now, maybe more.

I am in the Zillennial micro gen (1992/93 up to 1998).

If you were born 1977-1980 (or even up to 1982/3) you are in the Xennial aka Carter Babies aka Generation Catalano micro gen.

Generation Catalano

We’re not Gen X. We’re not Millennials.

https://slate.com/human-interest/2011/10/generation-catalano-the-generation-stuck-between-gen-x-and-the-millennials.html

[haele]

48. Like Generation Jones 1956 -1965.

Old enough to remember Woodstock happened, but not old enough to go.
There was a major cultural shift in the US during that period.

[quakerboy]

41. I get argued with everything I say that

I've been told anywhere from 78-84 quoted as the cutoff year.

[Celerity]

47. those are not widely accepted cut off years at all, whether informally or in academia

[quakerboy]

54. I dont claim to be an expert.

What i can say with relative certainty is that the last time I looked at it on Wikipedia
(Years ago now) it gave a variety of answers in approx the range I stated, but as of today it seems the preponderance is settling on 80, with a few outliers still quoted.

[spooky3]

27. Wow! Please post photos here if you want to.

I have a very small yard with inadequate sun so I enjoy seeing photos of beautiful gardens.

[valleyrogue]

4. A lot of people in the baby boom generation

don't have homes they "own." There are LOTS of us who are in that situation and who cannot retire anytime soon.

It is a myth all baby boomers are "wealthy" and have big houses they "own."

A lot of times circumstances will force a sale, and, when they die and if they were in a nursing home at the time of death, there is a lot less money going to any heirs if there are any.

[Johonny]

5. Interest rates are at 7, so yeah.

[yardwork]

38. I know, right?! Dumb article.

[quakerboy]

44. my parents bought their first home at 17%

Then again my grandparents took up arms agaisnt fascism. The world changes. Its crazy to see the diversity of experience of conditions within one lifetime.

[WSHazel]

6. Home prices are declining in most of the country

and only being held up in the Northeast by the New York market because there is no more land left. The population has stopped growing, and with immigration dropping off a cliff, likely for a long time, demand for housing is going to drop nationwide, causing housing prices to continue to decline. On top of that, there is huge overcapacity in commercial real estate, some of which is being converted to residential.

A lot of people make decisions based on home prices continually increasing, but for much of America's history, home prices have only increased with population growth, and population growth is slowing, stopping, or possibly even turning negative. That is going to have long-term implications on housing prices.

[chowmama]

7. Whether it's paid off or it isn't

This isn't a time to take on more debt by buying new, or by refinancing at a higher interest rate. And relying on the kindness of the people who own rental property to keep the rents low is not the greatest idea either.

If you're still paying and the interest rate is low, best to stay put. If you're paid off, you're going to be money ahead to do whatever maintenance and/or improvements you can afford. And stay put.

As far as neighbors, neighborhoods keep changing. When we moved in 40 years ago, we were a block from 'Crack Alley'. That took almost 2 decades to resolve. A decade ago, a landlord across the street rented to a bunch of college dropouts (I assume) who played music at top volume every night till 2 or 3AM. Calling the cops resulted in about 20 minutes of silence before they resumed - just long enough to fall asleep. At one point, most of the block ended up in the street at their address and we had a near-riot. The drug lords were quieter. When they moved, the property owner had to gut the house to the studs to deal with the damage they did.

Worst thing at the moment is the mariachi band that rehearses in the evenings, but they quit at a reasonable hour. And they're actually pretty good, especially the vocalist. It's a little tuba-heavy, though.

[Alice Kramden]

53. "a little tuba-heavy," lol

Very loud! My brother played tuba in high school and he used to practice in my dad's van in the driveway - with all the windows up. We could still hear it in the house!

[markodochartaigh]

8. I think that the US single-family home market

was in the midst of a transition to an investor owned market like in other extremely unequal societies. Now, with Trump's attack on the dollar and economy, it is impossible to say what will happen. Of course if the Republicans tank Social Security millions of seniors will be forced to sell their homes into a market spiraling downward in order to get money for their living expenses. Seniors will lose their homes and the next generation will lose their inheritance. Hedge funds will buy up houses in bulk for pennies on the dollar in cash from their golfing buddies, the foreclosing banksters.

[Unwind Your Mind]

9. Another situation I've seen

Couple who built a nice house on land almost 50 years ago. If they sell the capital gains tax will be big. So they want to keep the house until it can be inherited by their child at stepped up cost base.

[mopinko]

20. this is on my list of y i'm staying put.

used to b no capital gains once, now it’s capped at $250k. i’ve done so many improvements over the 38 yrs i’ve had this house. i never kept track cuz i didnt think i needed to. many of them were diy, and no, i didnt keep a big box full of receipts which wd b unreadable now anyway.
my house is worth 10x what we paid.
i think about getting out of this big barn of a house now that it’s just me, and not the 7 of us it once was. it wd b the smart thing to do. but i put so much of myself into it.

[Historic NY]

10. I get calls to sell. People are still buy shitboxes here

to flip. These are complete guts that have been vacant or results of estate sales. So around me I just checked up the street small cape 433k on the 31st. Still going strong around here

Companies seem to be buying and of course the burging Orthodox are buying up everything too including vacant Catholic Churches and schools.

[mwmisses4289]

33. We were getting calls asking us if we wanted to

sell almost as soon as we moved in. I finally lost my temper with one company (repeat caller) and they quit calling.

[marybourg]

12. Until they can no longer take care of

themselves at home.

[spooky3]

28. And immigrant workers who once could provide care for pay

Are being intimidated and kidnapped.

[KentuckyWoman]

29. That's what got us

I live in a senior village now. I miss my home but he is gone and I now need a walker. It was the right choice. The payout from the house is invested and helps cover the gap between what I have coming in and the cost of living here.

Edit to add I can take care of me just fine, but not a house.

[marybourg]

37. Yes. I am in a condo now, with an aide 3x/week.

I moved in here in great shape, but didn’t want to take care of even my very low maintenance landscaping any more. And then I fell. And suffered some complications. Happens to most who live long enough.

[Renew Deal]

13. Not a big surprise

Many of the boomers are pushing 80. People over 70 usually don’t move around much.

[yorkster]

14. In many cases, even to downsize to a condo

or small house, you have to make enough money selling your house to be able to afford the next (possibly last) place.
In the northeast that's a tough sell, literally.

[Renew Deal]

15. That sounds about right

A big portion of the boomers are pushing 80 and people over 70 don’t usually move around much.

[Mossfern]

17. We bought our house about 37 years ago

We had grown out of our present house at the time (4 kids)
I fell in love with this old dilapidated turn of the century Victorian cottage.
When we moved in the plaster walls were literally falling off the lath, the electricity was knob and tubing.

We needed to rewire the entire house, replace all the plumbing - eventually replace all the interior walls.
We also needed to add on to the house- one child was sleeping on an upstairs porch, another in a room that fit only a crib and a dresser and the kitchen was too small for a refrigerator - it was kept in a cold pantry. One 5' X 7' bathroom was a scheduling nightmare. There is nearly an acre of historic landscaping that needed restoration - we've been working on this and the house for decades.

We raised our children here and the walls hold so many memories.
The house was purchased as an Estate sale, as it had been in the original family since about the
1880's.

Yes, there are "entities" sharing our home with us. Sometimes they make themselves known and I, personally speak to them when things go missing or weird. We have all seen the patriarch of the family walking up to the front door of the house - and then disappear. The family left us deeds going back to 1807. We've got photos of the original family - even old bills and various other papers that got handed down.

I feel privileged to live here, and plan to stay until I can't make the stairs any more. I hope that my children will find a family as sensitive to the history of this place as we were. The man who built it for his daughter was a Civil War captain (North), influential in the community, who eventually died of his war wounds.

[Maeve]

18. Would love to move to a smaller house, no yard, BUT...

Those are hard to find and we are really waiting for my mom to pass, as I couldn't manage her finances AND a move at this time (one mess at a time, please!) Really, I hate the four-level split concept as even 5-7 stairs can be risky, but it worked well when the kids were at home

[travelingthrulife]

19. Why should we? I paid a mortgage for 30 years. It is paid off.

[Aristus]

21. I'm Gen X. Mrs. Aristus is a Boomer. We own our house free and clear.

I've lost count of the sleazy, oily fly-by-nights that keep calling asking to buy our house. If there's one thing the idle rich, billionaire class hates, it's generational wealth belonging to people who aren't wealthy. They aren't getting mine. No home equity lines-of-credit, no reverse mortgages, nothing. The rich assholes of corporate America can kiss my ass and then go pound sand.

[hatrack]

25. I have a standard reply when those shitbirds call . . . after making sure not to say "yes" . . . .

"This property is not for sale. Do not call here again."

Then, depending on how I'm feeling, and optional "Asshole".

Click.

[Polybius]

30. Hi fellow Xer!

I am not married, but I don't date other Xers either.

[Aristus]

35. Mrs. Aristus is eight years older than me.

Her first husband was a Boomer. She hated him.

[Polybius]

46. Ms. Polybius is more than 20 years younger than me

She is from Colombia working on her green card, but is worried about Trump's ice raids.

[Vinca]

23. The house, although way too big for us, is paid off and we like the location. If a smaller one in a similar

location with similar acreage and in good condition appeared at a reasonable price, we'd be interested, but I don't expect to see such a thing anytime soon. Our town is a desirable spot for buyers and even the dinky houses go for a fortune.

[doc03]

26. The house is paid for and rent is too damn high. nt

[H2O Man]

31. Recommended.

I live in a house that was a stage coach station in nthe late 1790s. I know the stories of those who inhabited the house before me. Some of them died here. I have lived here longer than anyone else. I plan to die here, although I'm not sure when that will happen. I've had more than one close call. A doctor yipped at me once, saying I should have been in the hospital. I'd much rather transfer to the next energy level in the comfort of my own home.

In my will, I demand to be cremated, and my ashes used on the driveway in the winter. It gets icy, and I don't want my son to get injured falling.

I do think about having my "calling hours" while I'm still alive. I want to hear what my family & friends say. Though I can lay still for hours at a time, I might pop up every so often.

[Joinfortmill]

39. Lol

[Tree Lady]

32. We have low interest loan

And can't afford to upgrade house to sell. I need new flooring, new heat pump, house painted all expensive things.

Hubby wants to move to condo so we don't have to mow our small lawns in front and back but I told him price of condos here more than we could sell house and then interest higher and HOA fees.

And that doesn't even factor in the stress of moving...we almost divorced after last move, hubby gets easily frustrated.

So I told him when he can't mow anymore I will hire someone after I try first.

[MoonlightHillFarm]

34. My home

I’ve lived here for 26 years and love it. In CA a boomer. I have 2.5 acres in the country, but not far from the city. I have dogs, cats, donkeys, goats and llamas. And I have a 4,000 sq ft garden I planted myself. I have no debt. I am beyond lucky. I have a small village who will take care of me when I can’t. I will never move. This place is my sanctuary from this disturbing world.

[Joinfortmill]

36. I'm a Boomer.In my lifetime I've owned 3 houses & 5 condos.

I moved mostly due to job relocation. I currently live in a condo a 1/2 mile from the ocean in N.E. U.S. At 75, I have a mortgage that is about a third of the rents charged in my area. It's crazy out there.

[OC375]

40. Gen X

We've been trying to buy a home since 2 weeks before our state's initial 2020 COVID lockdown. There are entire neighborhoods, literally thousands of houses we've been watching, the sort you'd raise a family in with room to run, basketball hoops in half the driveways and ponds for hockey in the winter. Hasn't been a thing for sale in most of them since that lockdown. Sure, occassionally stuff comes up... with every interior surface painted HGTV white or grey, same grey LVP installed in every room, and at nearly twice what it cost in 2019.. Pisses me off to no end, but... I wouldn't sell either! Prices are nuts, rates are high, people be crazy, and the country is ripping apart. Why sell, spend more, and get less house when you can just stay put and give it to the kids or grandkids someday? I think housing is the new generational wealth.

[JT45242]

42. Gen Xer here...will sell in next ten years. Most are not realistic

Will want to move into some home with a first floor master bedroom.

Watched my mom stuck in a nursing home because she had a trip level and couldn't do steps at the end.

Watched a lot of people struggle with stairs or fall.

The house of when are kids were growing up is NOT the house we need to retire in.

Might have guest rooms upstairs, but whether a ranch or two story, the master bedroom will be a straight walk with no steps to kitchen and garage

[Liberal In Texas]

43. Yep. I'm one of them.

I wouldn't mind moving to the west coast just to get out of red state hell, but there is no way to sell the one we're in and make enough from it to move and buy something that is anywhere comparable to what we have.

Besides, even with the old house problems here, we're used to them and have actually spent a lot of money over the years making things better.

[Happy Hoosier]

45. Why would I sell?

I’m just about to pay off my house. Why would I sell it?

[Arazi]

49. Is this a new percentage? Feels like the silent generation stayed in place too

[OnlinePoker]

52. It says 45% of silent don't intend to sell, but there aren't many of them still in their own homes.

They're all in their 80's or older.

[Marthe48]

50. I don't want to sell my house

I don't like my neighborhood any more, but if I sell the buyer will cut down the trees. Every person who bought a house on this street after we moved here had cut trees off their lot. I don't understand. If you don't want trees, why buy a lot with trees? The trees destroyed were mature trees, that had been managed by the previous homeowners.
I'll probably leave this house to my kids and they can sell it after I'm gone. The trees might be a stupid reason to hang on, but I feel useful guarding them.

[MineralMan]

51. So 2/3 will sell?

Sounds about right. My wife and I sold our home of 17 years in 2021

I was 75 then. We bought a townhouse with landscape maintenance and other things to replace it. We sold our house for about what we paid for the new one. Since our house was paid for, so is the new one.

We're part of that 2/3, I guess.

[marble falls]

55. Our houses are most of our savings.

[Metaphorical]

56. The Shifting Demographics of Housing

Historically, people buy up in houses (more space, better amenities, especially schools and similar facilities), then reach a point where they are empty nesters, and buy down as children leave, with job changes usually being the catalyst for that change.

That's become somewhat distorted for several reasons:
* More DINKs and DISCs (Dual income, single child) have meant that family size became less of a factor in moving, typically meaning more people are empty-nesting by their late forties and early fifties, rather than in their sixties or seventies.
* We're facing the end (probably for several decades) of Zero Interest Rate Policies (ZIRP). This is disincentivating moves in general.
* People buy up when they are feeling optimistic about the future, and buy down (or hunker down) when they aren't.
* All Ascending Boomers born before the peak in 1955 are now above retirement age (65). By 1930, all Gen Jones will be. Fixed incomes in general have been diminishing over time (in both absolute and inflation adjusted terms), which means that there is more and more financial pressure to cut costs, which in real estate terms meaning not taking on new mortgage debt, paying down existing debt, and holding on to housing that's been paid off.
* By the age of 75, the likelihood that one or the other spouse will die rises dramatically, The youngest boomers hit that point in 2030, and that will usually result into a move to either a retirement community an assisted living facility, or moving in with one of the kids within a couple of years of the spouse's death. While Boomers are no longer the largest demographic (the Millennials took that spot in 2012), they are still a large demographic bulge that will affect housing dramatically for the next couple of decades.
* At some point, investment companies are going to end up with a surfeit of houses that are all declining in value because of market pressures, plus are just getting older, and will be increasingly poorly maintained. This points to a housing recession sometime in the next ten to fifteen years.
* Work From Home has started decoupling the need for workers to have to move to their next jobs (geofencing).Despite efforts to push RTO mandates, as more work becomes virtualized or otherwise geospatially automated, this trend will continue, and this means in general the 25-65 year old cohorts will likely be less incentivised to live in high cost areas. The biggest beneficiaries - smaller cities and large towns that balance low housing prices with reasonable cultural amenities. It may end up rebalancing some purple states (such as Pennsylvania or North Carolina), making them bluer again, and it will relieve the pressure for housing in geographically constrained areas such as San Francisco, New York, Boston, or Seattle.
* On the other hand, many rural towns are likely to disappear altogether. The median age in many Midwest and Southeast towns is well north of 55, and as these populations age out, there will be fewer and fewer people younger people interested in staying there, let alone retiring there. By 2035, much of Red America outside of towns> 100,000 people will be ghost towns.