retirement

so, my parents are retired and they live in about 3 hours from us in the house that i grew up in. as time goes on (and we all get older), i would like to persuade them into selling their modest 3 bedroom home and move closer to us. this would be beneficial in that we would have a safety net for babysitting and that type of thing, but also in that we would be close at hand if and when they need to start leaning on us as they get older. in financial terms, i thought it would be about a wash if they moved out of their home and moved into an apartment. where we live, real estate taxes are around 2-3% and insurance is probably around another 0.5% or so, but i thought that it was relatively conservative to say that they are paying about 3% all in with insurance, taxes, and maintenance. but, because of various homestead exemptions and caps, this is actually probably less than 2%. this doesn't amount to a whole lot of money out of pocket. it's certainly less than renting even a 1 bedroom apartment close by.

even so, i would like to still persuade them to make a move -- we could certainly supplement their income or provide housing, which would make the financial terms a non-factor. family matters aside, that still means up rooting them from a place where they have lived for a good number of years (again, it's the house that i grew up in) and transplanting them to a new city. it's a tough sell, but to me it has to happen at some point, so why not now?