Dear Liz: I often agree with your advice, but recently you suggested a 70-year-old widow rent rather than buy. I say buy the condo with the stairs and reap the appreciation. Later, if you need a home without stairs, sell the condo and buy another with your profit. I’m 73, and buying rather than renting has allowed me to live payment-free while leaving some future equity for my heirs.
Answer: In a follow-up email, the reader told me she had already purchased the condo and just wanted confirmation she’d done the right thing. A bigger issue than the stairs is her lack of savings and the possibility she would become house rich and cash poor. Fortunately, though, the condo is new and she’s not likely to face large special assessments for repairs, which would be an issue for an older building.
Even the stairs are not an insurmountable obstacle should the reader wish to stay in her condo and not want to move again. Chair elevators are easily installed, often at reasonable cost. A friend has been able to stay in her 100-year old home.
That’s a good solution for interior stairs. In this case, it was a second-floor unit.