Your home is a huge investment, both financially and emotionally. Deciding to downsize can be a loaded decision. You may have raised your family there, spent some of the best years of your life and put a lot of money into buying and maintaining your home. There comes a time when it just makes sense to downsize to a smaller home so you can comfortably maintain your home and divert some of your extra funds to other things. Think about the following when you’re considering downsizing your home.

• Too much maintenance – Maintaining a home can be a lot of work. As your home ages, it will need more maintenance and things will need to be replaced, like HVAC systems, appliances, the roof and other things that wear out over time. Then you’ve got daily outdoor maintenance like mowing the yard, pulling weeds, raking leaves or shoveling snow. All of those are very physical tasks. If you’re not up to doing this maintenance yourself and you don’t want to pay someone else to maintain your home, it might be time to consider downsizing. There are many condominiums that take care of a lot of the maintenance for you.
• Too much space – If you have a good deal of unused space, like extra bedrooms your kids used to occupy, it may be time to downsize. Maybe you used to be a two-car family and now that you’re retired, you’re down to just one. Ditch that huge garage for a cozier home. If you’ve paid off your home, you could still be paying more than you need to for unused space in property taxes, utilities, maintenance and homeowners insurance. When you downsize, all those bills could shrink with the amount of space.
• Dreams of travel – If you want to spend your time seeing the world instead of staying at home, you likely won’t need as much space. You can fulfil your wanderlust with the money you’re saving on a smaller home.
• Retirement – Once you retire, you’ll have a set amount of money to live on each month. Downsizing your home is an easy way to save money that you’re paying each month toward bills. Even if your current home is paid off, you could potentially sell it and use the proceeds to completely pay for a smaller home. You’ll also save money on insurance, taxes and maintenance, which will all lead to a healthier financial picture during your retirement years.
• Opportunity to declutter – We collect a lot of items we don’t need over a lifetime. Downsizing is a great way to re-evaluate what items you truly need in your life and what is weighing you down. There are studies that say there is a link between clutter and anxiety and depression, so cleansing your home of items you don’t need in order to downsize may also help improve your mental health.

If you need help finding the right home for your next stage in life, we are here to help!

Looking for real estate services in Gainesville, Haymarket or Bristow? Contact your local real estate expert Belinda Jacobson-Loehle ofJacobson Realty and Home Staging today. Also be sure to sign up now for a FREE copy of my eBook, “The Real Estate Key – What You Need to Know!”

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