Posts Tagged “age in place”
For some people, moving from the family home is something to do only when you can no longer manage where you are. There is a certain amount of nostalgia built around staying in the Halifax home where you raised your kids, and where you created many of the most important memories of your life. Even as you move through your Boomer years and well into your senior years, you might modify your house to age in place. You think that if you manage to make it through your older years without a lingering illness, you can even stay there until the end.
This can make a certain amount of sense, but it can also deprive you of many of the pleasures of your senior years if you hold on to your house too long. Often, moving to another residence can net you a lump sum of money and reduce your monthly living costs.
“Wait,” you are thinking, “my house is paid for. How can I really be money I had if I sell my home and buy another one or even rent a place?”
A Lesson In Retirement Math
According to Stephen Sass, an associate director at the Boston College Center for Retirement Research, many seniors have the math all on. With thinking about downsizing, “if it makes sense, don’t wait,” he says.
It may seem like a bad move to leave a house with a paid off mortgage for rental, smaller house, or condominium with maintenance or association fees, but living in a house involves paying for repairs, maintaining the yard, paying utilities, and of course, paying taxes. If your family home was in an area with a great school district, paying those taxes made sense when your kids free on now, you can move to a place with lower taxes and with many living costs included.
Request Your Complimentary Copy of My
“Preparing to Downsize” Report
Rental units and even condominiums cover many maintenance costs, landscaping costs and often even utilities in rent and association fees. Though you might still have to put in a water heater or a new stove when you need one if you choose a condo, you do not have to pay directly for major outside repairs. What’s even better than not having to write the check for repairs and maintenance? Having to worry about those things! You won’t have to spend a minute trying to find a handyman or hoping your son will be able to cut the lawn this weekend.
Big Annual Savings From Downsizing
As Sass puts it, about 30% of the average retiree’s monthly expenses go for housing. If you move from a $250,000 house the one costing 150,000, you might clear $75,000 after you pay out moving expenses. That would enable you to bolster your nest egg in case you need it later, or to withdraw an extra $3,250 from savings each year. That means if you want to take a trip or buy a new couch, you can do it without worrying that something important won’t get paid. When you throw in the savings on utilities and other expenses from a bigger house, you might be able to save an additional $3,000 per year, for a total of $6,250.
Some people with out of town children and other relatives don’t want to leave the family home because it is a refuge for them when they come home to visit. When the kids come home, they can stay with other relatives or at a hotel. If you feel you want to pay for the lodging, you will be able to use a little bit of the money you’ve saved to contribute toward the cost.
Why Wait To Move?
Besides the monetary savings, other experts point out that finding new housing can mean a whole new world. If you live in the suburbs where young families are replacing many of your old neighbors who have moved or passed away, you can acquire a new peer group if you move to a senior community. If you leave the suburbs where everything is spread out to settle in urban area, you can have instant access to restaurants, culture, shopping, and even amenities such as indoor parking and the doorman. The sooner you move, the sooner you can start reaping the economic and social benefits you seek.
The Time To Get Move Is Now
It makes good sense to downsize your home when you retire. Now is the time to start thinking about the possibilities ahead if you live in a less costly place with lower expenses.
Looking to sell your home? Give me a call today.
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
The majority of seniors surveyed have indicated a desire to stay in their home for as long as possible. Obviously the familiarity of the family home provides comfort during aging. However as we age our physical and mental condition changes. Some of the changes we experience include: reduced vision, decreased muscle strength and endurance, reduced hearing, decreased mobility and increased risk of falls.
The concept of aging in place allows seniors to live in their home as long as possible while modifying the home to enable this. Some of the modifications are simple and can be done at a small cost. Things like removing throw rugs to prevent tripping, installing extra lighting to increase visibility and replacing door knobs with levers.
Other modifications are much more elaborate and costly. For example one problem seniors experience is slipping and falling while bathing. One option is to remodel the bathroom and install a walk in tub or curb less shower stall, nonslip flooring and grab bars. Other things could include toilet extenders, Toilet paper holders that can be reached from a seated position and changed with one hand and adjustable shower heads.
In the kitchen lower counters can be a benefit. Also storage should be lower as reaching overhead can be difficult. Replace round knobs on taps with levers. Replace kitchen cabinets with drawers and pullout shelves, they make it easier to see and retrieve items.
Other modifications you may want to consider for your home would be a no step exterior entry, widened doorways and hallways for wheelchair or mobility issues, lower light switches.
Request Your Complimentary Copy of My
“Preparing to Downsize” Report
Before you go ahead and make expensive changes to your house, I suggest there are several factors you should consider.
1. How long will you be able to stay in your house? Being in your 60’s and doing these things to enable you to live in your house for 10-20 years is one thing. But if you are in your late 80’s and just trying to gain an extra 1-2 years in your house may not warrant expensive renos.
2. How are you paying for them? Paying cash is ok but do you really want to take a mortgage to pay for the renovations.
3. How will they affect future resale? What if you have a health decline and you are forced to sell quickly to move to new accommodations? If the next buyer is much younger, they may be reluctant to purchase your home knowing they will have to spend money to remove some of the renovations.
4. Is there other acceptable housing already built in your area where you could just sell your existing home and move into? Increasingly more homes, condos, apartments and retirement communities are coming with these features already built into them. It may be easier to move to a new home than renovate an older one.
There are many options available to allow seniors to live independently in their own residence. Before you commit to spending a lot of money on your current home, it is worth your while to look at all the options and then decide what is best for you.
Thinking of selling? Download a free copy of my eBook Top 11 Questions Boomers & Seniors Ask About Selling Their Home. Just click here.
Looking to sell your home? Give me a call today.
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