Retirees turn into freedom seekers
- Laura Moore: Housebroken
- March 25, 2025
- 709
Over the last few years, we have noticed a remarkable trend among our friends who have reached retirement age. They’re not just leaving their jobs; they are leaving their houses too.
What is causing this trend, you may ask? Exhaustion! Longtime homeowners are suffering from burnout. Years of supporting and maintaining a house have taken a toll. They want freedom from the demands of their domiciles.
Just think about it. By the time a person reaches retirement age, they have owned an average of 3.5 houses and spent 20-40 years taking care of their various tax deductions. If a homeowner is lucky, they will have their last house paid for when retirement time arrives. Of course “paid for” means only the mortgage is satisfied.
Former neighbors of ours retired, paid off their mortgage and made plans for a life of leisure and golf. Unfortunately, their house needed a few things done to it. After several golfless months spent doing endless jobs around their place, our neighbors rebelled. Determined to be free from all their house’s needs, they sold their place and bought a motor home.
We think the strain of 30 years of homeownership was just too much for them. In their haste to escape one house, they jumped right into the clutches of another. A house is a house, whether it sits on a foundation or rolls on wheels.
Though it was big and comfortable, the motor home had a very serious drawback. Everywhere our neighbors went, their house went with them. They were always together.
Too much togetherness also can kill a relationship, and it did! Today our former neighbors are living happily in an apartment. They do take vacations with their motor home, but they no longer live together.
I do hope Taller Half reads this. Lately, he has developed a keen interest in the motor home.