Lifestyle

Kathy Always Said She’d Stay in Her House Forever. Then, at 70, She Decided to Downsize: “I’m Feeling Like I’m 50 Again”

By Curtis Jones · November 14, 2026

For years, Kathy had a simple answer about moving. She wasn’t going to.

Her daughter, YouTuber Shannon Torrens (@shannontorrens1), tells the story in a video called “Downsizing And Moving At 70,” posted in February 2026. Sitting beside her mom, Shannon remembers what Kathy used to say about the family home: “We’re gonna stay in this house forever.”

Kathy doesn’t argue. Moving, she says, “That was the last thing on my mind.”

It started almost by accident. Shannon says she spotted a cute house for sale on her drive over and pulled it up on her phone to show her mom. Kathy liked it but wasn’t in the market. Then the idea stuck. The house was a little smaller and single story, and when it had an open house, Kathy and her husband went to see it. Shannon says that once her dad came along, she knew it was serious.

Over time, Kathy says, she and her husband became open to downsizing. In the video, she explains that they are in about 2,000 square feet now and want to go down to about 1,500, from four bedrooms to three and from three bathrooms to two. They put their home on the market and planned to make an offer on the house that caught their eye in the first place, though at the time of filming nothing was final.

She is candid that the process has been stressful. If you buy a house and don’t sell yours, she points out, you own two houses and carry a big loan. Everything has to come together. Living in a staged home also means putting everything away each morning in case a buyer wants to come by on short notice.

The good news, she says, is how much they have let go. Her husband, who is 82, has been handing over things he has kept for years and saying he doesn’t need them.

What she is looking forward to is a fresh start. The new house has a sunroom where she could set up an art table, plus about a dozen fruit trees and a garden. After 35 years in the same house, Kathy says life there has gone stale, and she is hoping for more sunshine, exercise and activity.

Turning 70, she says, can feel like things are winding down. Not for her. “I’m going to get a new boost and I’m excited. I’m feeling like I’m 50 again.”

Kathy is part of a bigger trend. The National Association of Realtors’ 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers found that the typical home seller is 64, the oldest on record, and the typical repeat buyer is 62. Sellers had stayed in their homes a median of 11 years, also a record. NAR also found that 28% of recent buyers called their purchase a “forever home” they never intend to leave, which shows how often plans like Kathy’s change.

For anyone weighing a similar move, a few questions can help. How many rooms do you actually use? Can you afford to carry two homes for a while if the timing slips? And what would the sale mean for taxes? The IRS says in Topic 701 that if you qualify, you may be able to exclude up to $250,000 of the gain on selling your main home, or up to $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly.

This article is for general information and is not financial or legal advice. Kathy’s story and quotes are from her daughter Shannon Torrens’ YouTube video; housing figures are from the National Association of Realtors and tax rules are as stated by the IRS. This article was produced with the assistance of AI and fact-checked against the sources cited by LightWave Reports.