SEATTLE — Brenda Beeson loves her house. It’s where she woke up next to her husband each morning and rushed her daughter out to school. She never thought the house in South King County, Washington, once so full of life, could feel as empty as it does now.

Ever since her husband unexpectedly died in 2018 and her daughter moved out, four of the home’s five bedrooms sit unused. The stairs, which once frequently creaked with footsteps, are now simply a barrier to the disabled woman’s bedroom. She’s drowning in bills. Maintenance for the big house, bought two decades ago, is piling up.

Despite her memories of her home’s better days, Beeson is ready to give it up for a smaller place. But that’s easier said than done.

People like Beeson, who secured homes years ago in fast-growing places, such

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