Should I buy my retirement home now or wait 5 years?
Buying a second home years before retirement forces you to juggle primary housing, taxes, and ongoing work while managing two separate locations. This often means paying for a mortgage or HOA while still renting near work, leaving you to weigh whether buying now or waiting until retirement makes better financial sense.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from October 2026.
- This comes up 28.4× more often in r/homeowners than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Waiting five years until retirement to buy a homeDid this help you?
- 2Using home sale proceeds as a down payment with small withdrawals for a mortgageDid this help you?
- 3Paying cash upfront to cover monthly expenses while continuing to rentDid this help you?
- 4Continuing to rent an apartmentDid this help you?
- 5Investing savings into index funds instead of buying real estateDid this help you?
- 6Budgeting out savings to travel or enjoy remaining years while rentingDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Do you like paying condo fees for the rest of thy life, in exchange for not having to mow a lawn?”source ↗
“The only reason I would buy a condo instead of continuing to rent an apartment is to stabilize my housing expenses a bit.”source ↗
“One thing to check before you commit: the building's finances. A cash purchase doesn't protect you from special assessments, and an aging condo building can hand you five figures overnight.”source ↗
“I (M59) want to buy a second home closer to ocean with a budget of 900k. This is to establish a place where we can retire eventually peacefully when we turn 67 me and 64 wife.”source ↗
“Do you think I can keep both places 2 hr apart from each other and make it to retirement.”source ↗
“We are considering buying a forever home now. The forever home is far enough away that we would still need to rent for work.”source ↗
“Would it make sense to just pay cash to ensure monthly cash flow pays HOA/Taxes/Rent? Perhaps the $175K as down payment and small withdrawals for a mortgage?”source ↗
“The other option; Just wait another 5 years and buy then? Ideally 401K would be bigger and could pay cash then?”source ↗
“I’m guessing housing prices won’t drop too much over next 5 years.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 5Can I buy a luxury item before closing on a house?
- 2Buying a new house before selling the current one
- 5How to use home equity for retirement without losing the house
- 17Should I buy property or keep my money invested?
- 7Where should I keep my house down payment?
- 5How to cash out investments for a house down payment