3 Reasons You Should Never Buy a House When You Retire

Planning for your future retirement is going to require you to look at your finances in a holistic way. Not only do you have to consider if you have enough money to get through the day-to-day, you have to figure out what that day-to-day even looks like once you're the captain of your own ship.

Will you take a part-time job? Will you travel or start a business? All of these are things to consider when you're planning for your financial future. And since owned housing is often up to half of a person's living expenses, it's also important to consider if you'll even own a house in retirement.

Although I'm a solid proponent of the power of owning real estate, I recognize that it's not for everyone. So, here are some reasons why you shouldn't buy a house in your retirement.

1. You want to travel

There are a lot of concrete financial reasons to not buy a house when you retire, but perhaps the most important reason is that you don't want to be stuck in one place. If your retirement plans include traveling, you need to have the freedom to live in Airbnbs or buy an RV and drive it across the planet or spend half your year on a cruise ship and the other half visiting the grandkids.

Even if you get a mortgage with one of the best mortgage rates, it's still an extra expense that might end up tying you down rather than freeing you up.

2. The cost of owning a home

Buying a house is one thing, but owning it is quite another. Depending on where your home is located and what kind of home it is, you may find there are considerable costs associated with owning a home.

For example, right now in places like Florida and the Texas Gulf coast, the cost of homeowners insurance is absolutely intense. Even here in Missouri, homeowners insurance rates have skyrocketed, and we're not even in a hurricane zone.

And that's not all. There are also maintenance costs and emergency expenses, which Angi has estimated to be approximately $2,458 and $1,667 in 2023, respectively. If you're not even home for a big chunk of the year, it gets harder and harder to justify spending money on your house. This goes doubly so when your budget is limited and you have to make a lot of hard choices about money in general.

3. The amount of time and energy a home consumes

Owning a home takes more than just money, though. It also takes time -- which you may not have a lot of if you have a long to-do list in your retirement. Even if you can do your own maintenance and repairs, you may well not want to. And cleaning a house much bigger than you really need? Forget about it.

According to a 2022 Angi survey, homeowners spend about 44 hours per month -- the equivalent of an entire paid workweek -- on maintaining their homes. If you don't find joy in owning a house, you're sure not going to enjoy maintaining it all the time.

This also goes back to things like traveling or just doing whatever you please. A house you own is your problem and your commitment, and you'll have to balance its needs with your own.

Owning a home in retirement isn't for everyone

Owning a home isn't the guaranteed solution for everyone's financial problems in retirement. For a lot of people, a home can be an added headache that they neither want nor need. If you're of the opposite mind, though, go ahead and check out our list of top mortgage lenders to help you purchase the home you'll retire in.

Whether you rent or buy in retirement, you should look at all your options to be sure you're making a decision that will be right for you today and down the road.