What is Downsizing?

Downsizing is when you purchase a home that is a smaller than the one you currently have. Typically homeowners who decide to downsize are empty nesters, are struggling to deal with the upkeep of their home, or are finding the related costs hard to deal with. While many people have been trying to upsize throughout their home-buying journey, downsizing can offer so many options!

Advantages of Downsizing?

There are lots of advantages to downsizing your home.

  1. A huge advantage you might find is if you’ve been in your current home a while, then it’s likely to have increased in value. You also might be in a position where you are close to paying off your mortgage, if not having paid it off completely. So buying a smaller, cheaper property will give you a lot of equity left over, to use for whatever you wish. It also means you can buy your new home as a cash buyer, giving you more options, a quicker chain and the ability to live mortgage free.
  2. Downsizing to a smaller home means less upkeep, lower bills and more time to do the things you love. It’s an exercise in saving both money and time.
  3. If you are downsizing late in life, it means you can choose a property that will be better suited for your needs as you get older. Instead of having to deal with stairs, rooms that aren’t being used regularly, limited accessibility, or a huge garden requiring maintenance- you can pick a property that can work for you.

When To Downsize

There are several reasons why people decide to downsize their home. For many there is typically a reason, like empty nesters who have a house that requires too much upkeep, for others it may be loneliness, divorce, accessibility or the loss of a loved one that prompts the move.

You can make the decision to downsize at any point, but you’ll want to do some research first. Look into where you want to live, what kind of property you’d be happy with, and being realistic about how much you own.

Some always intend to downsize but can be shocked by how much stuff they’ve accumulated over the years in their homes. From the moment you decide you want to move & downsize you need to start purging your items. Start going through everything and anything that can be thrown away or donated, do so before you even put your home on the market. This can also help with the staging of your home and making it easier to sell.

Why Wouldn’t You downsize?

Moving out of a home that you have lived in for so many years can be tough. You’ve gotten used to a home of a certain size, space, location, and nothing you look at is appealing. This can be a very hard process, especially if you spend years aiming for more space only to decide on moving somewhere smaller. Perhaps everything seems poky, or you can’t imagine how you could ever fit all your items into a smaller property. It’s a natural feeling to be resistant.

Property values change over time, which should be great if you’ve had your property for a while. You may find that your property has increased in value, and you should have a lot more to work with when looking for a new home. However, just because you want a smaller place, it doesn’t mean you necessarily want to change your location. You may struggle to find a smaller property in your area or feel that even the smaller homes are too expensive for you to truly benefit from the sale.

If you want to be in the same neighborhood, or to be near family, you may find there aren’t many downsizing opportunities.

This whole process can be tough. If you are wanting to downsize then consider calling Greg Broadbent at 860-460-6939 or visit us online at gregbroadbent.com