Farm house or chalet?

I generally prefer old homes - the one i'm in now is about 100 years old - but i realize that a home with this many stairs is not really a good retirement option. I suspect there is a regional difference in what chalets are - a chalet here is definitely not something to live in year-round, unless you're living by yourself. I've never heard of a salt-box - must be an american style.

So all in all a useless post - except for the sorta vote against a house with a lot of stairs as a retirement option.

Not useless at all, ehBeth. We have thought about the stairs -- decided stairs are find as long as there is at least one bedroom on the first level. The 'chalets' are basically A-frames and are very open style (living room/dining area/kitchen all one big room). They are a little small (and will no doubt seem smaller when the kids visit) but cute and not much to clean (another retirement consideration).

The salt box is actually a New England style:



which has been adapted and made to look more modern.

I just hate making these decisions. I want 'comfortable'.

Given the experience of my parents and some of their friends, I'd suggest that open concept might not be a good way to go in retirement - it's hard to get private time when there's really only one room to choose from - or the doors/entries to any other rooms are visible. Private time/space for retired couples seems to be a survival issue - i thought my mother would murder my father when he retired and tried to organize the cheese. If she'd had to stay in one room with him the whole time they were in the house, things would have been much worse than they were.

I think chalets are cute for a few weeks, then the enforced face-time could be straining. Can you imagine not being able to go to the kitchen and slam a few things around? Sometimes that's all you need to deal with something. When the cause of the slamming is in the same room with you, it's not always as effective.

Some of the apartment condos my parents have stayed in, in Myrtle Beach, looked like that salt box picture. They had lots of nice privacy features - bedrooms at opposite ends of the unit, bathrooms for each bedroom, those rollie-down things between the kitchen and dining area - separate balconies for each bedroom and the living room - lots of steam valves.

Excellent point there, ehBeth. We are planning on having a workshop for hubby and a greenhouse for me, but we probably will need a few more doors to hide behind from time to time. There's also the matter of our sleeping habits (he is a morning person and I'm a night person) which will require some separation between bedroom and other room or we will not be a happy couple. Nix the chalet idea.

We don't want anything too big, but we are spoiled in that we have lots of rooms to hide in now. The older homes tend to give you more room to roam I think. Maybe that's what we should look for.

Thanks for your input, ehBeth. It's helping a lot.

Glad my meanderings weren't an annoyance

I've always believed the old saying, "home is where the heart is." Whether yours is new or old, love it and follow your bliss.

Houses are so tough because everyone has such different tastes. Right now I prefer a multi-level just because it seems more like what I grew up in but that could easily change when I reach retirement age and have to start considering that I may not have the mobility I once had. I may buy a retirement home at 65 but I'd have to consider that I'd still be there at 80 or 90 too...

I do hate the "cookie-cutter" houses in developments though. I want something unique. One of the advantages of older homes is that previous owners each added bits and pieces to it to make it unique. On the down side, having owned a home that was built in 1880, the older homes aren't energy efficient and can be a bear to maintain.

Now if I could find something for the early 1900s that has been completely renovated in the last 20 years or so....

And it's on an acre or two and is nearish to a town (another consideration as I get older -- don't want to have to drive two hours if I forgot something at the food store), sounds perfect, fishin'.

So many things to consider. I'm not fond of developments either. They call them communities in PA and usually there are lots of different styles of homes, but I still don't like them. Mostly I don't like them cause the association dues are ridiculously high (over $1,000 a year in some cases) and I'm not all that sociable so I won't be using the club house and such.

My unsociable nature is also why we're looking for an acre or two. Having lived my entire life on Long Island where houses are pretty close to each other, I'd like to go for a little space between neighbors.

and another factor to keep in mind - proximity to good medical facilities. A friend of my parents (hmmmmm, he's about 75) just fulfilled his lifelong dream of moving out to live year-round in his cottage. Spent the two years after his wife died winterizing the joint. Sold the house and moved out there this spring. Now he's been diagnosed with cancer and the doctors want him in town - they don't want him driving 2 - 3 hours after a treatment. He's in an absolute state. He won't be able to get back into the house market in town - the prices have been going up steadily for the last 6 - 12 months - he will now probably end up in a small condo in the city - the very LAST thing he ever wanted. If he'd moved to a cottage/camp maybe 30 - 45 minutes out of town, the doctors might have said ok - or he could have arranged for a volunteer driver to take him back and forth.

ok, now i'm really on a rant. A good friend of mine has parents who live in the same town as mine. Her father and brother (brother early 60's) were out shutting down the cottage for the season. The cottage is about 10 minutes from our friend's. Brother fell off the roof, hitting a picnic table 3 times on the way down - broke an arm, leg, collar bone and wrist - Father had to drive into a village to call an ambulance station - then back to his son to wait for the ambulance - it was 4 hours from fall to hospital <shudder>

Please don't go too far from town, bandylu. I'm starting to get nervous again!

Your concern is greatly appreciated, ehBeth. One of the primary reasons we've decided to move to the area we've selected is because it's pretty near to lots of good things -- the big lake is the most important, of course, but there are also lots of stores, doctors, hospitals, interstates, etc. also.

We'd looked initially in another area and it would have been a big drive to everything so we decided to look further. This place seems to be ideal for both pleasure and need.

Yahoo is a great place to search for such info -- plus we checked out the demographics to get an idea of what's going on in the area as far as growth, etc. We're only going to do this once and we know odds are one of us will go before the other and want to sell our retirement home and move nearer to one or both of our kids, so we've considered resale as well.

Sometimes it seems a bit morbid to think of such things, but better morbid than sorry.

I also dont like the gated communities or cookie cutter house developments but, have seen the advantages of them in my grandmothers case. She just turned 79 and has been without my grandfather for about 18 years. All was okay while she was alone in Vermont..till she ran herself over with her own car in the snow, doctors told her also effects of Polio would be a dramatic downfall to her health in this region of the Americas. So, my mother being recently on her own and moving up to take care of her after the whole car incident to drive her and watch her and all...sold the house and went to Arizona.
Now, heres my point.
My mother got remarried and gram was again alone in her home and being in the developments has been great for her the last few years. Since she doesnt drive, they offer bus trips daily to different shopping areas and such where she can do grocery shopping...they pick her up at her front door and drop her off even bringing the groceries in for her. She associates with others only when she wants to. They offer many different things for the variety of people.
Now, she is starting to suffer with Alzheimers and Security and the community knows to not let her wander, to redirect her if she needs it, etc.
So, my thing is this, while it is not an idea for first stage retirement, it certainly should be looked into for later years with the possibilities of injuries, loss of companion, etc.

Okay...Id like a farm house, or Victorian type home, its what I grew up in and although those stairs are crazy...I'd do it till I cant!
I just have a thing about ranches and splits...anything that looks just like another one makes me nuts.

My mother-in-law (aged 84) also lives in an over-50 community (actually it's a trailer park but we don't talk about that) and it is great. There's a community center where she can hang out when she wants to and they have bus trips to various places (including Bingo). She still drives, sort of (I wish she wouldn't) but most of the time one of the younger folks will drive her.

If I were on my own, or older than I am, I might consider such a place. Not ready for it yet, though.

I also spent my early years in a big old house which may be why I'm thinking about one now. We have oodles of steps in the split level so I am used to going up and down, though in smaller increments. Anyway, I think climbing stairs is supposed to be excellent aerobic exercise.

It certainly couldnt hurt to do stairs, it could actually help in some cases.
I guess I think of it this way...I would rather live in a house with character until Im the character living in the house, and Im hoping that wont be for about 35 or so more years.

I'm afraid there are a few neighbor kiddies around here that already think of us as 'characters'.

I think its all in the degree of character you tend to achieve, its okay to be a bit of a character all your life, in fact it adds a great deal, in my opinion, keep up the good work!

My parents lived in an old house which they renovated, and were constantly working on. As they got older they got sick of working on the place and in retirement decided to build a new home. You have never seen 2 people settle into a new home so quickly.

NOPE, ID NEVER DO IT AGAIN. we own a 200 + yr old beautiful rambling farmhouse built in a Federalist style. Its got history, charm, its comfortable,BUT, getting it that way cost waaay more than we will ever get out of it. nOPE, save your marriage while you have time.

We actually had an Old House Support group(there are lots of old home retoration nuts out there.) The support group was started by a couple of us who were always in between being elated at some new piece of work we did followed by depression when you learn that your entire first flor has to be restructured because its caving in. Whenever you felt like burning your house down , you would call your fellow old housers and theyd talk you down
Do you remember the movie'The Money Pit"?
Its like that.