Posts Tagged “Downsizing to a smaller space”
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
As you get older, you may realize that surrounding yourself with a lifetime of memories has a cost to you. Your home may be so cluttered that downsizing to a smaller house, senior apartment, or assisted living facility is an overwhelming project. Even if you want to stay in your current home, you may need to clear space so you can move through your home in a wheelchair, or you may need to accommodate a live-in caregiver. When your home is overloaded with too much furniture and clothing or too many knickknacks and treasures from the past, you may find yourself feeling stuck.
The Challenges of Decluttering
When you try to approach the clutter yourself, you can find plenty of resources that suggest how to plan a decluttering project. Start with a room at a time, the articles say, or do little work each day until you have a manageable amount of possessions. Call in a relative to help make the job easier. For seniors, these suggestions might not be workable, especially if you are not in good health, if you have no relatives able to help, or if you need to make a quick move.
For most people, one of the hardest things in parting with possessions that DIY approaches do not address is that “things” acquire emotional value beyond their monetary worth. While looking over boxes of old memorabilia that chronicles your life or the early life of your children can bring closure, the decluttering process can be time-consuming and not extensive enough.
Hiring The Pros Can Get the Job Done
One of the most effective ways to whittle your possessions down to size is to obtain help of professionals who specialize in decluttering. As an objective third-party, the professionals do not have the same attachment to your possessions as you do, so they can move through your house quickly and help you decide what to keep, what to throw out, and what to donate. A good decluttering firm is respectful of your memories while getting the job done. Whether you are trying to make more room in your current location or you need to move to a smaller space, the pros have the experience to know exactly what will fit. They can do the job quickly and at a reasonable price.
Request Your Complimentary Copy of My “Preparing to Downsize” Report
Who to Call
While you could run a classified ad in Kijiji one of the safest ways to obtain the help is to hire a professional organizer. There are several local firms that specialize in decluttering in Halifax. When you hire a firm, they will take care of arranging to have your unneeded possessions hauled away.
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
When you are retired and have less income to meet emergencies, take vacations, or handle a big-ticket repair, keep in mind that you have a ready source of cash at hand: your house. Your home is likely the largest financial asset you have. You can put your home equity to work for you.
You may have approached retirement with no plans to sell your home, especially if the mortgage is paid off. When you own free and clear your costs to live there are vastly reduced, although the taxes, repair and maintenance costs, and utilities bills go on. Your home is an asset that can be tapped to improve your quality of life. You should think carefully about how to use the value of it when doing financial planning and develop a strategy to access your home equity if you need the funds by either selling the home or borrowing against it.
When You Might Want To Sell
Does your home still work for you in your senior years? Is it where you want to be? Is it too big? Does it accommodate your physical needs? You may realize it is too big for you or not near enough to the kids. If your health is failing, you may need to consider assisted living or at least find a home that is a better fit to your needs. Selling the home will free up cash.
Thinking of relocating? If you move to less expensive home or condo, you could purchase with cash and have money left over to help fund your retirement.
Becoming a renter. This gives you the option to take all your home equity and invest it to produce a monthly income. You can also pay off any mortgage debt you may have. Plus you eliminate the ongoing expenses of property tax, repairs and maintenance.
When You Might Want to Borrow
If you aren’t ready to sell, you have alternatives that allow you access a lump sum of cash or an ongoing stream. Taking a home equity line of credit (HELOC) can offer you access to cash for emergencies. Assuming you qualify for a home equity loan, a HELOC is a good way to put on a new roof or take the trip of a lifetime.
If you need to supplement your monthly income, a reverse mortgage will pull cash from your home that does not have to paid back until you sell the house or pass away. You can choose either to receive a lump sum or monthly payments, or both. Your home equity is your money and having it in hand can relieve the stress of daily living.
Should You Access Your Home Equity?
The family home should be part of your retirement planning. Using the equity to improve your retirement years is something you have earned. There is no benefit to struggling financially while hundreds of thousands of dollars in equity sits unused in your home.
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
So, you’re a senior looking for a new housing option. The old family home is just too big, or needs too many repairs for you to plan on living there for the long run. You occasionally need a little help, but are basically in good health. You want to be near your kids, but want some privacy. Your answer may be to live in an in-law suite in the home of one of your children. An alternative might be to develop a separate suite in your home for either yourself or one of your children to live. Many families find that this would work and provide a safe, economical for aging parents.
Eight Things to Consider Before Changing Your Address to an In-Law Suite. With good planning, living in an in-law suite is a good solution, but pulling it off requires excellent communication and often some upfront money. Here are a few things to consider.
1. If you or your children already own a house that is amenable to having a second suite, you are off to a good start. As long as the property is sanctioned by the city to have an additional suite on the premises, you can make some modifications to assure that you and your child are comfortable. If you have to look for a house, what are the requirements each of you would need the property to meet?
2. This arrangement usually means that one person is going to be the landlord and the other the tenant, which may mean a change in roles for one of you. Will both of you be comfortable with that?
3. What will happen to your furniture and other possessions? Will you be able to move your own things into the space? Will you give away or store the extra?
4. Who will pay for renovations to the space to make it suitable for you? The renovations will be a permanent part of the home and increase the value for the owners.
5. Will the new space be just sleeping space, or will there be a kitchen and additional living space? Will there be a full bathroom there? The more self-contained the unit is, the more that you or whoever resides in the new suite will have a sense of independence. Having a full suite, plus a separate entrance, will make the area rentable in future years even if you move out.
6. If the second suite is in the basement, will that pose breathing problems for you? How about mobility issues? If the area is to cold or drafty for you or if you can’t easily get outside or move between levels, you might feel uncomfortable and trapped.
7. What are your mutual expectations regarding how you interact with your children’s family? As a senior, will you be expected to be a daily childcare provider or occasional babysitter? Will you cook your own meals or eat as a family? Will you care for your own apartment and clothes or will your child – landlord take care of them for you? Will there be free access toward your home and theirs?
8. Is the new space near your old home or in an area where you can meet new people and or participate in activities? If you feel isolated, you may not feel that you are at home.
Living in an in-law suite in one of your children’s homes can be a viable alternative to moving to a smaller house, an apartment, or even assisted living.
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
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
Whether you’re a Boomer looking ahead to retirement or a 20- or 30- something who is refocusing your life, downsizing your possessions is part of the deal. Do the math. “Big house” equals lots of room to store everything you use now, used the past, and may use in the future. “Smaller house “means room for some of which are use now and not much else.
Making Downsizing Work For You
Resizing your living to a smaller space does not mean you are embracing a spartan lifestyle; it may mean you are willing to become more creative in using available space both in and out of your own personal space. Here are five things that will make downsizing easier.
1. Do not use the “funnel” approach to furnishing your new house. The funnel approach means that you take everything you own now, dump it into the funnel, and only fill up your new house with what slowly comes through the smaller opening as the other end. Rather than leave things to chance, carefully consider your current stock of furniture and other possessions. Plan in advance what you want to take to your smaller space. Commit yourself to only take items that fit your space appropriately. Sell or give away what doesn’t fit and buy something designed to fit your new setting.
2. Rethink your use of space. Modern homes have many single use rooms, a change from a century or two ago when most rooms were multi-functional. A smaller home may mean going back to having areas where entertainment, working at home, and socializing are merged. Whether this will work for you depends on your family and your situation. If your five kids and the main wage earner works at home, having an office in the family room where the kids play won’t work.
3. Expand your definition of “your space.” If you are like many people, you might move to an urban area so that you can enjoy cafés, restaurants, and clubs on a regular basis. Or you move to a condo or apartment that features an exercise room, community room, or other group space. If you have the small personal space in your unit, plan larger gatherings of friends in the club or community room. Don’t litter up your space with exercise equipment when there’s a gym three floors down. There may even be room for you to spread out personal hobby supplies. Consider area resources as “your space.”
4. Buy extra space as you need it. Wondering where to store your holiday decorations, sports equipment, hobby supplies, and even extra clothes and furniture? Many areas, even in downtown, have storage units available for rent. Many of these are climate controlled and accessible 24/7, so storing your camping equipment next to your winter coats and Christmas tree make more sense than jamming things you need less frequently into your new home. The closer the storage facility is to your home, the more you can consider it an extension of your personal storage space.
5. Be creative with your in-home storage solutions. A trip through your local Target or a bit of scrolling through some websites can open your eyes to the vast amount of multi-function furniture, shelving systems, and other organizational aids available to help you maximize your space. While you don’t want your home to look like a warehouse, you can make it convenient and well-organized. Once the systems are in place, you must be disciplined about returning items to their place before clutter makes you claustrophobic.
Request Your Complimentary Copy of My
“Preparing to Downsize” Report
Live Large In A Small Place
The key to enjoying a new smaller space is attitude. If you see less space as a permanent choice, rather than as something you settle for until you can do better and move to a bigger place, you will find something unrelated to space: contentment and peace of mind. If you’re satisfied with your life, you can live large even in a small place.
Are you thinking of downsizing? I can help. As an experienced Halifax Realtor®, who specializes in working with boomers and seniors, I can help you find a smaller, livable space you love. Just give me a call so we can discuss your exciting future in a workable new home.
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