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Why some people don’t choose this option sooner than later has always been a question for me personally. You would think that people would jump at the chance to be mortgage free as soon as possible, but there are many other factors involved depending on the people in question.

For instance, people who have lived in the city most of their life don’t want to lose the equity they have in their home and never be able to afford to move back to the big city again. This is understandable reason for Brant and Betty to stay Los Angeles given that they love LA and they are not so sure they want to be in a position per they can afford to move back.

They are right to be concerned about this because once people to scale down their lifestyle to a smaller community and spend the money they made from selling their homes on paying off vehicles, loans, credit card debt, and student loans they can scarcely afford to ever buy back the expensive house in the city again. Brant and Betty saw this as a very big decision because it was a do or die decision. Move away and never move back again.

So the great dilemma went on for over five years as Betty and Brant tossed around the idea of moving to a smaller community somewhere in Southern California. They thought about buying property in Palm Springs and retiring there. They thought about selling their home in Los Angeles and buying a home in Fresno. They thought about selling their house in Los Angeles and moving to Arizona. Every time they tried to make a decision they thought about the cost of the move financially, physically, and emotionally.

Many many times this is why retiring couples never actually move – they simply don’t want the headache of packing up all of their stuff and moving it to another home. By the age of 50 most people will have moved to different homes (sometimes between cities and states) over four to five times, and they don’t really want to be doing it again.

It’s like moving is the young persons habit and necessity when raising children and chasing the almighty dollar, but when you’re retired there is no real rush to be moving across the country or from house to house. Betty and Brant had to make the hard decision on whether or not to scale down and retire mortgage free.

What They Decided To Do

Eventually Betty and Brant did follow-through on their plan to downgrade their equity, pay off their motor home, pay off the last student loan that they had left for their children, get rid of the leased vehicle, and move to Fresno. They found a good 1977 fixer/flipper in northern Fresno for a low price (which they did not disclose in their interview) which they had no intention of ever flipping. Brant had extensive experience in renovations such as taking down walls, redoing kitchens, and redoing floors.

They both worked together and completely gutted their new home in Fresno. Luckily because of the good shape their house was in in Los Angeles they managed to get top dollar from a buyer who was deeply motivated to purchase their house. Everything seemed to come into line and workout for the best but it was because of their careful planning that they managed to sell their house in Los Angeles for top dollar and by the 1977 house in Fresno for cheap.

Over the next two years by 2007 they had their home in Fresno completely refurbished and refinished into a quaint little retirement home. They had RV parking for their 23-foot motor home and they bought a small truck for $10,000 (with no loan of course). They were virtually financially free and they began planning many exciting trips in their motor home and sometimes by flying to exotic locations.

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