Many baby boomers own homes that are too big. Can they be enticed to sell them?

Lots of older Americans say they'd love to downsize, but it doesn't make financial sense. The housing roadblock has left some would-be buyers stuck. We asked experts what policies could change that.Some baby boomers would like to downsize from their large homes, but say it doesn't make financial sense. Single-family homes in Dumfries, Va., are seen here last year.Some baby boomers would like to downsize from their large homes, but say it doesn't make financial sense.

"What a lot of us have done is not walled off the extra bedrooms, but closed the doors, and you try not to have to maintain them," she says."It's just too much house at this point." Engelhardt says that's a serious concern because it can can lead to things like falls."And falls can be very devastating, could have very devastating health consequences, especially for the oldest old," he says."In general, we would like to have older homeowners ... matched with their housing in a much better way than we currently have."Engelhardt says there are basically two policy approaches to deal with what's happening.

Jenny Schuetz, a housing policy expert at the Brookings Institution, says in trying to incentivize older adults to move out of homes that are now too large for them, different tools are needed depending on their geography and financial resources. For instance, a lower-income homeowner of a deteriorating row house might be willing to a swap for a newer, smaller apartment in an elevator building, if there was a program for that.

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