Many retirees are having a tough time extricating themselves from the massive homes that seemed such a good idea at the time—but as age and infirmities encroach, now appear to be folly. (Photo: Shutterstock)
A decade and a half ago, Big Homes were the Big Thing as retirees rushed to sink lots of money into the massive Sunbelt homes they perhaps had dreamed of for years. Real estate was booming and it was all too easy to follow that dictum memorialized on cutesy plaques in souvenir shops: “House—a hole in the ground surrounded by wood into which one pours money.”
That's turned out to be literally true in many cases, according to a Wall Street Journal report that says that many of those same retirees are having a tough time extricating themselves from the massive homes in lush locations that seemed such a good idea at the time—but as age and infirmities encroach, now appear to be folly.
Recommended For You
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Marlene Satter
Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.
