Wallet Watch newsletter: Is downsizing worth it?
Source: National Association of Realtors' 2026 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends report
After falling behind on her rising property taxes, Tracy Weimer decided to move.
She sold her four-bedroom home in Rocky Point in early March, and moved to a two-bedroom in a 55-and-over community in Riverhead. She purchased the home without a mortgage and her annual taxes are $1,200 — a far cry from the approximately $11,000 in property taxes she was paying before. An $800 annual homeowner's association fee covers the land-lease rent, garbage collection, snow removal and street maintenance.
For some Long Islanders, downsizing has helped lower housing costs, reduce maintenance and simplify daily lives, Cara S. Trager reported for Newsday earlier this month. Besides the financial benefits, some say living in over-55 communities specifically has offered easy access to peers and on-site recreational activities, like pickleball or card games.
Do you want to downsize? Here are some tips from Ryan Frederick, who authored a guide on choosing a home later in life:
- Before committing to a move, lease out your current home and live in the community you're considering for around a year to see if you like it.
- Consider access to healthcare facilities when choosing a new place to live, especially if you are weighing a move to a rural area where such services could be more scarce.
- Be realistic about stairs. Will it be easy to navigate a multi-story home in the coming years?
Read the story here.
Editor's Note: The story linked above was reported and written by Cara S. Trager, who died before publication.
From our readers
Steve Olivier asks:
My son Eric, a married 30-year-old working father of a 2-year-old, struggling to make ends meet here on Long Island, recently received a $250 ticket for not stopping for a school bus traveling in the opposite direction, separated by two other lanes and a very wide grass divider on the street where he lives. ... We are all struggling here on Long Island and this just adds to the extreme high cost of living here. This particular legislation is costing families trying to afford living here and needs to be amended to a reasonable solution. Why in the world would I be expected to look that far across traffic when it could cause me to look away from children crossing the street in front of me? Just another Long Island money grab. Like $250 is nothing.
I'm sorry about the ticket; $250 is a lot of money.
According to the state, school buses are treated differently because they have bigger blind spots, need more time to stop and take more room to maneuver. Children also might run out unexpectedly to catch a departing bus. Kids eight and under are especially vulnerable because their small size makes it both more difficult to see around stationary objects, and harder for drivers to see them.
When a school bus is stopped with flashing red lights, traffic approaching from either direction should stop at least 20 feet away from the bus, including on two-lane roads and multi-lane and divided highways.
"By and large, those school bus tickets are pretty open and shut. And they're not in favor of the motorist," said Olivier Roche of Roche Law Group in Hauppauge. "However, a skilled attorney, with knowledge and experience, may be able to find a caveat or make mitigating arguments on your part to try to get you out of that situation."
But, he added, the reason the state is tough on school bus violations is because the law protects children.
More broadly, if you're pulled over for a traffic ticket and the police officer asks if you know why you've been pulled over, you should say you don't, Roche said.
"The officer is going to note any statement that you make that could be used to support the violation that he or she saw," he said.
After receiving a ticket, Roche recommends consulting with a local attorney who specializes in traffic tickets to minimize the points that could be added to your drivers license, noting that New York increased penalty points for moving violations earlier this year.
Have a question you'd like to submit? Confused by a bill? Spotted a price hike? Ask our team and we might answer it in the next edition. Email walletwatch@newsday.com or click here.
Brianne Ledda covers personal finance and affordability for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.
