The Price to Stay Home: Questions Worth Asking

Picture a retired bookkeeper in her late 70s with a stack of mail on the kitchen table: an insurance renewal, a property tax statement, a gas bill, and a roofer's estimate. Her son asks how she is doing with it all. She is not sure where to start, and she does not want to worry him.

Staying in the home you choose has a price. It is not one bill. It is many, and they arrive on different days, from different places, for different reasons. This guide names those costs in one place and explains how the guides in this collection can help you and your family talk about them, one at a time.

Who these guides are for

These guides are for older adults who own their homes and want to keep living in them. They are also for the people around them: adult children, friends, neighbors, and anyone else who helps.

By home, we mean the home of your choosing. That might be a house, an apartment, an accessory dwelling unit (ADU), or a room in a shared or community setting, however you define it.

Some guides, like the ones on insurance, property taxes, and repairs, are about owning a house. If you rent or live another way, most of the care and daily life guides apply to you too.

Most people want to stay put. In a 2024 AARP survey, 75% of adults 50 and older said they want to stay in their current homes as they age¹. These guides are written with that wish in mind.

Three beliefs sit under every guide. Anyone can stay in the home of their choosing as they get older. No one has to do it alone. And no one should struggle to pay for it.

Why we ask these questions

Money talk can be hard in a family. A parent may not want to seem like a burden. A grown child may not know how to ask without sounding like they are checking up. Good questions make that easier.

These guides are meant to simplify conversations and inform decisions, not to overwhelm anyone. We explain what each cost is, why it is what it is, and where to find help. We do not tell anyone whether to stay or move, and we do not judge anyone's finances. Those decisions belong to the people living them.

The costs of keeping a home, and a life in it

Here are the costs this collection covers. Each one links to its own guide.

• Homeowners insurance. What the policy protects, why premiums (the price you pay for the policy) change, and how to lower one without losing coverage. Start with What Homeowners Insurance Is, and What You Get for It.
• Property taxes. What you pay, what it pays for, and the relief programs many states offer. See Property Taxes: What You Pay, What You Get, and How to Pay Less.
• Utilities. Heat, power, water, and the programs that help with bills and with weatherization (sealing drafts and adding insulation). See Utilities: Keeping the Lights On and the House Warm for Less.
• Repairs and updates. The roof, the furnace, the steps, and the changes that make daily life easier. See Repairs That Keep Your Home Safe and Comfortable and Updates That Make Living on Your Own Easier.
• Help at home. Help with chores, meals, or personal care, and who pays for it. See Help at Home: What It Is and Who Pays.
• Home health care. Skilled care at home after an illness or hospital stay. See Home Health Care: What Medicare Covers at Home.
• Safety. Falls, emergencies, and alert systems. See Getting Help Fast: Falls, Emergencies, and Alert Systems.
• Caregiving. What family caregiving costs the caregiver, and the programs that help. See Family Caregivers: Sharing the Load.
• Getting around. Rides, transit, and life after driving. See Getting Around When You Stop Driving.
• Food. Groceries, meals, and help paying for them. See Food and Meals: Eating Well at Home on a Budget.
• Staying connected. Phone, internet, and the people and places that keep a life full. See Staying Connected at Home.

How each guide works

Every guide asks the same plain questions. What is this cost? Who sets the amount, and what drives it up or down? What do you get for the money? How can you lower it? What could change it?

Some costs are set by others, such as an insurer, the county office that values your home for taxes, or a utility and the state office that oversees it. Some depend on the age and condition of the house. Some depend on health and daily needs. Knowing which kind of cost you are looking at tells you who to call.

Income matters too. Many older adults live mostly on Social Security. The average retired worker gets about $2,071 a month (January 2026), according to Social Security². Benefits change once a year. For 2027, they rise 3.6%³. How that change compares with your own bills is one of the questions worth asking.

Using the guides together, one cost at a time

You do not need to read every guide at once.

• Pick one cost. Start with the bill that worries you most, or the one coming due next.
• Read the guide together. Sit side by side, or share it before a phone call.
• Make one call. Each guide lists who to ask. One call to an insurance agent, a county office, or an Area Agency on Aging often answers more than an hour of worry.
• Write down what you learn.
• Come back to the next one. A cost a month is a steady pace.

The older adult leads. Family and friends help gather facts, sit in on calls, and listen.

Where help comes from

Help with these costs usually comes from a few places, often more than one at a time.

• Programs. Federal, state, and local programs help with home repairs, weatherization, utility bills, property taxes, and insurance. Rules and programs vary by state. Our page Help with housing costs, state by state lists them for every state, and your Area Agency on Aging can help you apply.
• Discounts. Utilities and local governments may offer discounts based on age or income. Insurers offer discounts for safety features, and some carriers offer a discount starting around age 50, though the age varies by carrier⁴. It is fair to ask each one directly.
• Family. Time, rides, a second set of eyes on paperwork, or money, when that is something everyone has agreed to.
• Neighbors and community. Faith groups, volunteer programs, and neighbors who already check in.
• Another person in the home. Sharing a spare room can bring in rent, company, and help with small tasks. Our research, Staying Home, looks state by state at the money pressures that move older homeowners and how sharing a spare room can help them stay.

If rent from a room is part of your plan, check two things first. Read Will Sharing My Home Affect My Benefits? and Taxes on Rent From a Room, in Plain Words.

An extra set of hands

Where it makes a real difference, a guide in this collection has a section with this name. It asks what another person can do about that cost, and it is left out when the honest answer is "not much." That person might be a family member, a friend, a neighbor, or someone who shares your home. We never assume who it is.

Help can lower costs in plain ways. Someone who carries in groceries, changes the furnace filter, or drives to an appointment saves the price of hiring it done. For comparison, the national median for non-medical home care was about $35 an hour in 2025⁵.

Help also protects things that are harder to price: independence, routine, company, and relationships. When you choose programs or professionals for the chores and paperwork, family time can stay family time, and the decisions stay yours. Our guide You Don't Have to Carry It Alone covers this in full.

A few lines hold in every guide. Help is optional and agreed in advance. Being present is not caregiving. Skilled or risky work, such as roofs, trees, electrical, plumbing, gas, and anything on a ladder above the first floor, belongs to licensed professionals. Our guide Help Around the House Is Not Caregiving explains where that line sits.

Watch for

When bills pile up, pressure follows. Be careful with anyone who offers to solve every cost at once, wants a quick signature, or asks for control of your money or your deed. Take time, ask a second person, and read Protecting Your Money While You Share Your Home.

Conversation starters

If you are an adult child or friend talking with an older adult:

• "Which bill is on your mind most right now?"
• "If I found a program that helps with this, would you want to call them together? You'd make the decision."
• "I'm not here to tell you what to do. I just want to know how I can help."

If you are an older adult talking with family or caregivers:

• "I want to stay here. Can we look at the costs together, one at a time?"
• "I'd like help with the paperwork, but I want to make the decisions."
• "When you visit, I want it to be a visit. Could we find someone else for the chores?"

Staying in the home you choose has a price. It is not one bill. It is many.

Last reviewed October 15, 2026