One of the most common dilemmas faced by retirees is when should I downsize and move to a new place? It’s never easy to decide when to leave the family home you have lived in for decades. I have clients that have been in the family for over 60 years.
Here are 5 points to consider
– Housing needs to change over time. Your 4 bedroom 2 storey house with a large backyard was perfect to raise a family, but the kids have moved out years ago.
– Many clients I work with are currently only using 3 rooms (living room, kitchen & bedroom), for day-to-day living. The remaining rooms are unused. They are paying to heat, insure and maintain the entire house.
– Don’t try to time the market for a few thousand dollars more next Spring. Are you are going to spend the entire Winter stuck in the house paying someone to plow the snow? it might be easier to sell sooner so pick the time that is most convenient for you,
– Homes do require upgrades and multiple things may need to be replaced. Spending $10k, $20k, or more to enable you to stay another 1-2 years is very expensive and likely to bring a limited return on resale.
– Are you finding it financially difficult to live in the home? If it takes all of your income each month to live and you are dipping into savings each month to cover housing costs then a right sizing move may make sense.
Eliminating expensive housing costs while simultaneously freeing up equity to invest and produce income can change your financial situation.
Invest and produce an income
If you invest $300,000 (using RBC Managed Payout Solution or a similar product) it will pay approx. $1500 per month in income and you can eliminate $500 per month in housing expenses, giving you $2000 per month to live on.
Hopefully these points will give you some things to consider in making your decision of when is the right time for you to the right size.
Downsizing is a process but a rewarding one. It can be an opportunity to right-size your life and move onto the next chapter with more independence.
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
