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Valued Contributor
Posts: 694
Registered: ‎09-09-2010

Re: Would you let lack of closet space deter you from a house?


@Annabellethecat66 wrote:

Right now I live in a 3,000 square ft house, 2 car garage.  I am going to have to 'down size'.  It makes no sense I know it.  There are 5 or 6 bedrooms, toy room, office, huge rec room, family room bla bla.  I mention this because in most of the rooms there's some form of closet.  They are all filled with my clothes...I live alone with my cats.

 

When my husband died that was how I dealt with his sudden death....I bought myself clothes...not expensive clothes, QVC and HSN clothes.  That was pretty much it.  That's my pleasure.  I keep thinking...."How in the name of Heaven am I going to fit all of these clothes into a 2 or 3 bedroom something else (have no idea what)."

 

I'm not alone with this problem.  Just today an acquaintence I knew several years ago called me because her husband died and she wanted advice on how to handle money, moving from her big house (she raised 3 children in) same as me.  What to do?

 

So, when I see a question about choosing a house with or without much closet space, it really hits close to home (so to speak).

 

There are a lot of people in the same position as myself, my friend and another dear friend of mine.  What to do?  What to do........

 

I just re-read this post and perhaps I should have posted it on the widow's board, but I think it also (maybe fits here?).  If not, I apologize.


I think your post is fine here..it seems a lot of us are in the process of thinking of down-sizing or actually doing it! We need to get serious soon, as we don't want our sons (daughter-in laws) to have to do it..clothes seem to be something we have way too much of..& my husband's camping stuff, that he will never part with..good luck! 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,892
Registered: ‎07-03-2013

Re: Would you let lack of closet space deter you from a house?

It probably would.  My current house has tons of closet space, love it.  Not sure I'd want to go back to only being able to keep one season of clothes in the closet.  I used to hate going up into the attic and taking down the bins and swapping clothes and putting the bins away.  

Honored Contributor
Posts: 19,346
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Would you let lack of closet space deter you from a house?

No it would not deter me.  The description you gave seems to provide reasonable storage space.  A small pantry is all I would need, so as long as there was something, I'd be content.  For me, the key would be if it was truly a single family home.  I hate the look of duplexes that simply cannot be passed off as a single family home.

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Posts: 25,929
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Would you let lack of closet space deter you from a house?

Right now we can get a villa (duplex) for approx. $250,000 brand new in the area where we want to live, or pay $100,000 to $150,000 more for a single family home with the same sq ft. We have already decided we don't want to put that big of a hit on our savings nor have to carry a large mortgage, so a villa it will be. We aslo don't want to buy an older home that would require a lot of upgrading and still would not meet the Miami dade hurricane codes, as those are only available in newer homes.

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Posts: 38,157
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Would you let lack of closet space deter you from a house?


@151949 wrote:

Right now we can get a villa (duplex) for approx. $250,000 brand new in the area where we want to live, or pay $100,000 to $150,000 more for a single family home with the same sq ft. We have already decided we don't want to put that big of a hit on our savings nor have to carry a large mortgage, so a villa it will be. We aslo don't want to buy an older home that would require a lot of upgrading and still would not meet the Miami dade hurricane codes, as those are only available in newer homes.


 

@151949  Does the villa have closet space? Smiley Happy

Valued Contributor
Posts: 515
Registered: ‎07-12-2010

Re: Would you let lack of closet space deter you from a house?


@Evie2004 wrote:

@Annabellethecat66 wrote:

Right now I live in a 3,000 square ft house, 2 car garage.  I am going to have to 'down size'.  It makes no sense I know it.  There are 5 or 6 bedrooms, toy room, office, huge rec room, family room bla bla.  I mention this because in most of the rooms there's some form of closet.  They are all filled with my clothes...I live alone with my cats.

 

When my husband died that was how I dealt with his sudden death....I bought myself clothes...not expensive clothes, QVC and HSN clothes.  That was pretty much it.  That's my pleasure.  I keep thinking...."How in the name of Heaven am I going to fit all of these clothes into a 2 or 3 bedroom something else (have no idea what)."

 

I'm not alone with this problem.  Just today an acquaintence I knew several years ago called me because her husband died and she wanted advice on how to handle money, moving from her big house (she raised 3 children in) same as me.  What to do?

 

So, when I see a question about choosing a house with or without much closet space, it really hits close to home (so to speak).

 

There are a lot of people in the same position as myself, my friend and another dear friend of mine.  What to do?  What to do........

 

I just re-read this post and perhaps I should have posted it on the widow's board, but I think it also (maybe fits here?).  If not, I apologize.


I think your post is fine here..it seems a lot of us are in the process of thinking of down-sizing or actually doing it! We need to get serious soon, as we don't want our sons (daughter-in laws) to have to do it..clothes seem to be something we have way too much of..& my husband's camping stuff, that he will never part with..good luck! 


I think your post is fine here, too...a year and a half ago we downsized to a small (1,000 sq ft) 3 bedroom home (no basement, but does have a garage/shed).  Our previous home had walk-in closets and a basement. 

 

Our new home has a smaller closet in each bedroom, linen closet, coat closet, laundry closet and a pantry.   Even though the closets are smaller, it is working out well.  I would not let that deter me from buying a home if it's in a good location...

 

When we both retired, we decided to move back closer to our kids.  We previously lived in a nice area in the UP of Michigan with woods, etc. and extra land.  We found it was getting too hard to maintain and we wanted to be closer to family (was 500 mi. away)...

I wanted to be back in a neighborhood with good neighbors (which we do have) in case either one of use needed help for anything...up there, we had no neighbors...

 

Months before we moved, I started to purge each room (one dresser/ closet/chest at a time ) and donated LOTS of items to the local St. Vincent store...Put all things to be donated in the garage and then they brought their truck over and picked everything up for us...worked out nicely.

 

I know how overwhelming things can be..Start small and in one room... think what you would really want to keep and what you would think would fit into a smaller room..Then pack it away/label contents and what room it will go (I used a different color tape for each room) i.e. red for fragile. blue for bed.#1, etc.).  Number your bins and keep a journal of the contents in case you need to find something..I had a "Main Moving Journal" where I kept all my information (Box numbers and contents/where these boxes were stored..in case I needed something...) also contact numbers of movers, etc. 

Then we hired a moving company and they came, gave us an estimate, shrink wrapped everything and packed mattresses, etc. to prevent any damage...was quite pleased with the move.. had only one thing damaged and that was a small lamp shade (which I packed) got smashed, otherwise good to go...

 

I know it can be overwhelming...just remember it can be done (one thing at a time)..don't rush..

Good luck...you can do it Annabelle...

Honored Contributor
Posts: 9,281
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Would you let lack of closet space deter you from a house?

It would be a deal breaker for me.

 

We don't have a whole lot of storage now so I wouldn't want less.

Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,664
Registered: ‎05-13-2010

Re: Would you let lack of closet space deter you from a house?

Location is everything.  Make do with closets.  And trim down.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 30,916
Registered: ‎05-10-2010

Re: Would you let lack of closet space deter you from a house?

Yes, that's exactly what we did and we adjusted.  Actually, once we moved into our condo and started living in it and adjusting...there was more storage space than we envisioned.  It just didn't seem that way because were downsizing from a big colonial.