Annual report · 2026
The Right Size Index™
Every year we publish what we actually see: what large homes cost, how much space goes unused, how long people wait, and what the equity inside those houses could be doing instead.
Headline findings
Six Numbers That Explain The Decision
Journalists, financial planners, and advisors are welcome to cite these figures with attribution to The Right Size Life™ Index 2026.
68%
of homeowners over 50 live in a home with rooms they entered fewer than five times last year
The most common unused room is a formal dining room, followed by a bedroom kept for visits that average four nights a year.
$5,700
average annual property tax saved moving from a $700k to a $400k Central Texas home
At a 1.9% effective rate, before utilities, insurance, and maintenance reductions.
1.0–1.4%
of home value spent annually on maintenance, rising with age and size
A thirty-year-old 3,500 sq ft home with a pool routinely lands at the top of that band.
212 hrs
median annual hours spent maintaining a large single-family home
Roughly five working weeks a year — the clearest non-financial cost of staying too long.
4%
conservative annual draw we apply to freed equity when projecting freedom income
A deliberately cautious assumption. Every projection on this site uses it.
3.2 yrs
average delay between first seriously considering a move and actually making one
The delay is almost never financial. It is the contents of the house.
What the data says
The Delay Is Never About Money
The financial case for right-sizing is usually settled within an hour. Two numbers — carrying cost and freedom income — make the decision obvious on paper. And then almost nothing happens for three years.
What stalls people is not the math. It is the garage, the china, the boxes in the attic labeled in a parent's handwriting. That is why our method puts the release before the listing, and why we count hours alongside dollars.
The households that move within a year of deciding share one trait: they started sorting a single category — not a whole room — within thirty days.
Methodology
Where These Numbers Come From
- Client intake data from right-sized moves advised by our team, de-identified and aggregated.
- Public county appraisal district rates for Bell, Williamson, Travis, Hays, Comal, and McLennan counties.
- Published national housing maintenance research, reconciled against observed Texas costs.
- Cost-of-living index figures normalized to a US average of 100.
Figures are directional planning estimates drawn from aggregated advisory experience and public data, published for education. They are not appraisals, tax advice, or investment advice.
Explore this topic
Everything on Home Equity & Financial Freedom
Related guides
You may also like
Topics this connects to
Financial Freedom
Property Taxes & Capital Gains
Home Maintenance & Cost of Ownership
Your next chapter
See Where Your Home Lands On The Index
Schedule your Right Size Strategy Session and we'll map your equity, your timeline, and the life you want on the other side of it.