I would think there's no reason you can't move "down" to a slightly smaller, easier to care for place? We moved from a huge rambler on nearly an acre with a basement the size of the entire house to a tiny townhouse with my husband's and my bedroom and the other bedroom the "office" for both of us. We had had 3 bedrooms before an an office that was 20+ feet long x 12 feet wide for the two of us. My two cats actually prefer this house to the other and though we're surrounded by dogs :-) they go out for a little bit during the late morning after the dog owners are at work. The next door neighbors on our right have 3 dogs and on the left, 2 and a couple of the 5 are "large" breeds (in townhouses only a little bigger than mine). But we have no trouble with the upkeep and are really enjoying retirement.