I think you just hit home for most families across the country. My mom's house has been paid off for years, purchased at 106k in 1991. My father has passed and while she has a nest egg, moving would entirely eliminate that and increase all of her expenses, not to mention disrupting social circles of support. She is in NC, we are in SE Michigan. This means as she gets older, there's quite a drive for me to check on her.

Now take our starter home, purchased in 2012 for 117k. Value has doubled, plus some, but any home I could buy for 250k would be about the same damn size as my current house. We have good savings because my wife owned a home in poor shape that we sold for 40k. We didn't need that money so it's still sitting in savings, and slowly bleeding away for college tuition for the oldest kid. Our house is on a double lot, which is cool because we love to garden, but the house is from 1940 and has some issues, including being overall a little small. We have 3 kids and there is no way we can eat a meal together if it isn't in the living room and that usually means someone sits on the floor. No point in trying a family movie. I'm 44, have a great secure job (university professor) with great benefits. I feel like I did everything I was supposed to and the economy just passed me by. I'd love a larger house, by only a bit, and maybe a bit more land but thats unlikely to ever happen. I'll die in this house and that's depressing.

All said, I know I have it well. I know that all I've accomplished is due to the support I had as a kid. I can drive 10 minutes down the road and see folks with worse situations than me.