A home is not just a piece of property: it gives people a larger sense of belonging. It’s the roots that we lay down in a community and the place we make years of memories with our friends and family.
As people’s needs change over the years, they need to adjust aspects of their life that have been fixed for decades. People often stay put in their homes for emotional or physical reasons.
However, there are many benefits to downsizing. Please read on to learn what they are.
Less Upkeep
Every day, dust inexorably falls on surfaces and floors and needs to be cleaned up by someone. The emptier rooms your home has, the more unnecessary maintenance and upkeep there is to stay ahead of.
Housekeeping was a nuisance when your kids still lived there. Now, it’s more like a Sisyphean burden than anything. Moving into a smaller home frees up your time by eliminating the need for cleaning and maintaining a larger footprint than you need.
Whether you clean the house yourself or pay someone to do it. Reclaim your time and financial resources and spend it in a way that brings you more pleasure or satisfaction than dusting, sweeping, and vacuuming.
Create More Cash Flow
The result of moving to a smaller home or condominium (in the same neighbourhood your family home is located in) is often to create cash from the difference in the selling price of the larger home and the purchase of a smaller home or condo. This money can be invested to create additional cash flow or be used for travel and leisure activities that you enjoy. If you sell your large home and move into a smaller home in a neighbourhood or region that’s more affordable, you can enjoy a larger relative windfall.
Choosing to downsize means weighing various options relating not only to your budget but lifestyle as well. If you’re looking to leave the city and downsize to a smaller, quieter town to retire, the financial upside could be considerable. However, a move like this requires thoughtfulness around proximity to family, friends, activities, doctors, and other comforts of familiarity.
Lower Taxes and Maintenance Costs
If you downsize your family home and then move into a smaller one in the same neighbourhood or nearby, you can remain close to your friends and family. Whether the market’s fluctuations are up or down, you’re buying into the same relative market.
Smaller properties have a smaller tax burden, so there are fewer costs surrounding ownership. The same applies if you’re moving from a large condo to a smaller one because the property taxes and maintenance fees will be reduced. You can also reduce things like utility costs, home insurance, upkeep and maintenance by living in a smaller home.
Logistics Are Easy
Some people think that deciding to downsize your family home means dealing with the complex logistics of a move and are overwhelmed by the prospect. Today, there are companies dedicated to helping you thoughtfully downsize your home. They don’t just throw your stuff into boxes but help you declutter, sort and pack the contents of your home with sensitivity and understanding that this can be an emotional and overwhelming process.
Don’t feel bogged down by the accumulation of stuff you have to sort through or move. Homes reflect a life well lived, and it’s crucial to hire someone who can treat your lifetime’s worth of belongings with compassion and sensitivity.
They can help you sort and organize your belongings, dispose of what you no longer want, and help you unpack and reorganize them in your new home. Deciding to downsize your home is an important moment in your life that shouldn’t be dispensed with by logistical or practical concerns.
The prospect of decluttering, moving and packing everything may seem daunting, but there are professional, full service, turnkey solutions available.
Feel Freer and Lighter
Homeownership can feel like putting roots down where you live, which can cut both ways; it’s good to feel connected to your neighbourhood but not at the expense of feeling too tied down. Reducing the size and scale of your home can be liberating and freeing.
Just like decluttering can have positive psychological benefits, owning less square footage can make you feel lighter on your toes. The money you save on maintenance and utilities or the investable funds following the sale of your large home can be spent on trips abroad or whatever else you’d like.
Maintaining a large home consumes energy and time as well which can be redirected to where it’s spent more pleasurably. Practicalities aside, downsizing makes people often feel freer and more mobile. Homeownership can weigh on a person, and larger homes carry more weight.
Final Thoughts
Moving into a new home is always a milestone moment. It might be difficult to process some of the emotions that come with change, but the financial and lifestyle benefits can be hard to ignore, and the move itself can be far easier than you might guess. Consider the above reasons if you’re on the fence about downsizing.
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