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- My husband and I loved living in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo near Washington, DC.
- When we retired, we wanted space for retirement hobbies and grandkids.
- To afford a larger house, we headed further from DC to the suburbs of Maryland.
For 17 years, my husband and I lived in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom condominium in North Arlington, Virginia.
We moved there from the Maryland suburbs in 2004 when our last-born went off to college. Both my husband and I worked in the heart of Washington, DC, and we wanted to ease our commute challenges.
Our condo was near a major metro station less than 20 minutes from DC, and we loved being blocks away from shopping, movies, and restaurants.
For a long time, our life in Arlington was idyllic in many ways. But the convenience of condo life came with some challenges, especially once we retired and became grandparents.
And although many retirees downsize, we soon found ourselves doing the opposite in 2021.
Eventually, our condo didn't suit our life anymore
Although I loved the coziness of our duplex condo, the smaller size started to become a bother — especially when our family grew from four to 10 in the span of seven years.
We had no space to store baby equipment, like high chairs and potty seats, and no room for our grandchildren to play when they came over.
With our kitchen on one floor and dining room on another, hosting holidays and dinners for our larger family became extra stressful.
Our second bedroom became a guest room, grandchild nursery, and office for me to write from after I'd retired. It also became an art studio once my husband retired and leaned into his oil-painting hobby.
We loved the convenience of Arlington and how close it was to DC, but our condo there no longer fit into our future plans.
Our solution was to upsize in a more affordable location nearby
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Eventually, we began looking for a bigger home.
Unfortunately, other townhouses in Arlington in our price range still seemed too narrow and small. We wanted an open living area that flowed easily to accommodate groups, which was hard to find in anything but a single-family home.
To afford such a house, we knew we'd have to move further from DC to a lower-cost suburban area where our money would go further.
In 2021, we left the walkability of Arlington and its environs and headed back to the suburbs of Montgomery County, Maryland.
We now live on a leafy cul-de-sac in a single-family home with five bedrooms, four and a half baths, and a finished basement. It has a huge kitchen that flows into a dining area and living room — a perfect space for large gatherings.
A nice bonus is that we ended up finding community and friendship with our neighbors.
We're near a popular swim and tennis club, and the nearby neighborhood community center is filled with activities. Our town is more walkable than I expected, too, with a pleasant path along a wooded area just a block and a half away.
I still miss city life and how easily I could easily ride my bicycle to the Mount Vernon Trail and Georgetown — but everything in life comes with a price.
During the first holiday dinner at our new house, the kids went down to the basement to play by themselves while the adults stayed upstairs and relaxed in our huge living space. I knew then we had made the right move.