Are you considering selling your family home and moving into a smaller property? When the upkeep and space of a large home starts feeling like too much, many Americans look to downsizing as the natural, next step.
Here are 5 key questions to ask yourself when planning to downsize:
Identify what your primary goal with downsizing would be. Do you want to...
Once you’ve identified your main motivator, use it to guide the rest of your planning process.
Take inventory of your personal finances and your equity position in your home. In most situations, downsizing can be a good way of boosting your savings and lowering living expenses. However, there are a few things to consider first:
Most likely, you’ll be interested in downsizing to a property that can suit your needs in the long-term. For most seniors, the four main options are:
It may be surprising to learn that an increasing number of American seniors are opting to rent, instead of own. Owning your home has its benefits but it comes with the effort and cost of home ownership — including maintenance, property taxes, and more.
“Most of all, we didn’t want to spend our time tracking down contractors to fix the roof and the pool heater. Managing a home was just more responsibility than we wanted.”
— Kathy, retired registered nurse (early 70s) and Ron, retired General Motors executive (early 70s) to the Washington Post about their decision to downsize to a rental
As an older adult, home ownership as an investment becomes less important. Instead, the equity you might free up when you downsize can be put into investment accounts that are more readily accessible for your living expenses.
Further reading: AARP article on the decision to rent or buy.
One of the most daunting aspects of downsizing is paring down your belongings. The physical burden and emotional toll of saying goodbye to decades well-lived in a home you love can be intimidating.
Start by taking inventory of your possessions and deciding how much space you will need to keep the things you want to. If you need more time to sort through your things, you can rent out storage space or engage professional rightsizing experts to help you with that job. If you’re not yet ready to part with most of your belongings, you may want to consider moving later.
At Truehold, we believe you should have the time and resources to move on your schedule. With our sale-leaseback solution, you’ll receive 100% of your home’s value in cash, determined using comparable market transactions and a third-party valuation.
If you’d like to learn more, give us a call at (314) 353-9757 and one of our advisors can help determine if Truehold is the best option for you.