The Upside of Downsizing
A house doesn’t stay a house for long. After you move in and unpack, it quickly becomes a home—a place of your own to fill with memories. But as time goes on, years pass, and circumstances change, you may start to realize that the space itself is becoming too much to manage. Whether you’re newly retired, your kids are off in college or you simply have too much room, scaling back on the size of your home has plenty of upsides. But the question remains: Is downsizing right for me?
The answer will depend on your priorities. There are plenty of reasons to downsize, but the most common one is for savings. From baby boomers (59%) to millennials (78%), saving money has been cited as the primary reason to downsize. Other factors driving the trend include having unneeded extra space and larger homes/spaces being too hard to maintain. But can you really save money by scaling back in size? And does less space really mean less maintenance? Here is where we find the upside.
Fewer Expenses
Although a smaller house may not guarantee fewer expenses, certain factors can help you scale back in size and budget. A smaller house can mean less in property tax depending on where your new house is located. Not to mention your utility bill, which will likely be less given your reduced square footage. And with the right mortgage, you might be saving from the start. There are plenty of opportunities to save—it all comes down to taking advantage of them.
Manageable Maintenance
Every house requires maintenance, but with a smaller property, you’ll have less to worry about. From the basement to the roof, less square footage means less to maintain and fewer opportunities for something to break. If it’s a newer home or one you had built yourself, you’ll lessen the chances for high maintenance costs even more. Unexpected problems will still arise, but the costs and time needed to address them may be more manageable.
Decluttered Lifestyle
As the years go by, it’s easy to let your possessions build up. By downsizing, you’re given an opportunity to scale back and remove the clutter in your life. Yes, it will require you to part ways with certain items, but less clutter is shown to have health benefits, including lowering the risk of asthma and allergy triggers.
No one can tell you whether you should or shouldn’t downsize. At the end of the day, the choice is yours to make and is entirely dependent upon your situation and what you want out of your home. If downsizing is the right move for you, we can help you find additional savings along the way, including through our no closing cost mortgage1. To learn more about our home loans or to see if downsizing makes financial sense for you, get in touch with us today.
