I’m a Retired Boomer With a $1 Million Home: 4 Reasons Why I’m Not Selling in 2024
Written by
Maggie Ethridge
Edited by
Cory Dudak
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After 47 years of ownership, Carol Shaker doesn’t intend to sell her San Diego suburban home in 2024.
Shaker and her husband worked hard over the years to pay the mortgage of their suburban home, and put in the money necessary for renovations and upkeep to maintain or increase their home value.
“I’ve never had the house appraised, but the home next door was sold a year ago for $1 million,” Shaker said. “With the cost of homes in San Diego right now, I wouldn’t be able to get the same-size home with the money I would receive from the house.”
Shaker estimated that her home could be worth $1.2 million, as she and her husband put $50,000.00 into the home in additions and upgrades. The area of the home in Poway, California, raises the value, as the community is highly desirable due to excellent schools, a low crime rate, and money spent on the landscaping of the town. In fact, Poway has consistently been ranked as one of the top ten safest cities in California.
Here’s why this retired boomer is not selling her home in 2024.
1. Home Purchased
The one-story suburban home was $44,000.00 when Mrs. Shaker and her husband purchased it in Poway, California, in 1977. They bought the home brand new and raised a family. For many of those years, theirs was a dual-income household, and they dutifully paid the monthly $400.00 mortgage, as well as the home insurance and property taxes.
Mrs. Shaker worked as a high school librarian, among other jobs, and in her last few years of work, she ran a daycare from the home, before retiring in 2014. “I am now the sole owner of this house,” she said.
In 2010, the house was fully paid off. The security and satisfaction of living in a paid-off home is not common, and factors into Shaker’s decision-making around her residence.
2. Investing in Home Quality
The Shakers took out a home equity loan on their home in 1999 for $50,000.00 at 10% interest. The house had additions as well as remodeling, and Shaker is currently very comfortable in her home.
“The mortgage doubled after we took out the home equity loan,” Shaker said, going from $400.00 a month to $800.00 a month.
3. Prop 13
“I’m still paying property taxes and home insurance,” said Shaker, “but the property taxes are extremely low, partly due to Prop 13. If I moved out of this community, I’d be paying higher property taxes on any home I purchased.”
Prop 13 was adopted in California in 1978. This is a large incentive for Californian homeowners like Shaker to hold on to the home they own.
Shaker noted that if she were to move more coastal, she would have to be willing to live in a very small condo or apartment, as that is all she would be able to afford in the 2024 real estate market. ” I’m not interested in moving any further inland, ” she said, where homes would be less costly. Currently, she can use her income and savings for her lifestyle and trips to visit grandchildren instead of being used for higher property taxes and a new mortgage.
4. Settled In
With the property tax, home quality, community and paid-off mortgage, Shaker isn’t considering selling in 2024. “I live right in the middle of the town and have been in this community for 50 years, ” she said, “I’m healthy and can take care of myself. If something happened to me, I would pay for care. The house is designed to keep it easily mobile; it is one level and flat and we purposefully kept that in mind when remodeling.”
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