For many seniors, the recent holidays have meant opening up your big family home to family and friends who flocked in to enjoy your Christmas or Hanukkah treats, exchange gifts, watch sports ,and enjoy each other. If you are thinking of downsizing, you may be nostalgic about this possibly being your last holiday season in your home. Even if you are staying put, you may not be up to hosting the holidays as you age. Great things are ahead for you, but now is time to talk with your family about how to make future holidays just as festive.
Meaningfully Trim Down Your Decorations
Whether you are looking toward assisted living, buying a new home, or renting an apartment you are likely to have less space for holiday decorations. In moving from one place to another it is also possible that even if you moved somewhere with the same square footage, all the decoration you used would not fit the same in your new space.
Make this the year you part with some of your favorite decorations and let your children and grandchildren include them in their own celebrations. You will have the triple benefit of making them happy, being able to see something familiar when you visit their homes, and have less to move.
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“Preparing to Downsize” Report
Share Hosting Duties
If you have not already shifted the hosting duties for holiday dinner to others in the family now is the time to plan for it. Even if you have a crew of helpers who come in to help you get things ready, it is still stressful to always play host. When you talk about this with your family, you may find that your children or other relatives will step up to take turns with dinners. You might plan some future holiday gathering at a restaurant or in the club or party room of your new apartment.
Part of your holiday hospitality may have included putting up relatives at your home. This might not work out If you have a small new place. Even paying part of a guest’s hotel bill is less costly than staying in a home that is too big for you.
Discuss The Future
The holidays may be the first time that you speak honestly with your children – or they with you – about your decision to move, or even your need to do so. This discussion is a good time to determine what you need to do to get the house ready to sell. Even without talking to me, as your Realtor®, about upgrades that will make your home command a better price, you can consider the obvious decluttering, cleaning, repair, and freshening up that needs to happen. With plenty of advance notice, you can determine what family members can do and what needs to be hired out.
After your preliminary discussions with your family, the next move after the holidays is to call me. As an agent who loves to work with Baby Boomers and seniors, I can help you sell your current Halifax-area home and even buy a new one.
Looking to sell your home? Give me a call today.
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Roy Thomas SRES® (Senior’s Real Estate Specialist) is a REALTOR® with Sutton Group Professional Realty. Since 1991, Roy specializes in helping retirees with their later in life real estate transactions. Call Roy at 902-497-3031 or contact Roy here
