Mary has been asking herself, her friends and family the same question for over a year.  She and Bill built their dream house in Hunting Creek when the kids were still in grade school.  Now her grandchildren are in high school.  Bill has been gone for about two and a half years now, and this house is just so large.  She really thought with two of her adult children living out of town, having a place plenty large enough for them to come stay was important.  But they don’t come as often as she thought they would.   They have lives of their own.  All the bedrooms being on the second floor is making it harder, but not impossible for Mary.  All the original neighbors except one have all moved, and the Smith’s who have been on the cul-de-sac almost as long as Mary and Bill are in Florida most of the year now.  

But she loves this house so much, all the memories of the last 40 + years are here, not to mention all the ‘stuff’.  Mary has cherished items from her mom and grandmother, not to mention each of the adult children when they moved out, left most of the souvenirs of their childhoods and teenage years in the attic, basement and garage.  This house is just full of belongings and memorabilia.  When the kids do visit, she tries to get them to decide what they want and what they don’t, but it never seems to happen.  And holiday décor from over the years alone fills a large part of the basement.  This is all part of Mary’s life.

Several of her friends have ‘downsized’ and they think she should do the same.  Find a nice new house, patio home or condo where she doesn’t have to worry as much about upkeep and maintenance.  Move to a neighborhood that has more people her age not a young family neighborhood like her current one.  And while she knows she can get a lot of money for her house, whatever she buys will also cost a lot of money.