Downsizing Your Home: Your Guide to a Seamless Transition

Making the decision to downsize is a significant life milestone for many individuals transitioning into their golden years. While numerous lifestyle, financial, and flexibility benefits exist, stepping away from a home where many memories were forged is an emotionally and logistically demanding project. To remove as much stress as possible from the process and to kick off this new chapter in an exciting way, read on to learn my tried-and-true tips for seamless downsizing.

Consider the Benefits of Downsizing

If you’re considering downsizing your home, you may have identified various benefits of this transition. From financials to lifestyle, environmental to emotional, making the leap to a house with smaller square footage offers many positives. 

Before you decide to downsize, consider your “why” for making the change. Get clear on your reasons for moving so that when you begin your house hunt, your “why” will help you navigate the many listings available. Evaluating the pros and cons of your reason for downsizing will allow you to make an informed decision you can feel confident in as you transition out of your current space. 

Financial Savings

As a general rule of thumb, smaller square footage translates into a lower sticker price in real estate. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule where decisions on finishes, amenities and neighbourhoods come into play. Still, overall, folks looking to reduce the size of their home can expect some significant savings on their mortgage. Further, with less space comes reduced utility and maintenance costs. Hydro, water, and heat bills will see a dramatic drop from those in a single-family detached home when downsizing into a townhouse, condo or retirement home. 

What does this mean for you? Increased liquidity allows you to enjoy life to the fullest, invest in companies you believe in, or spoil yourselves, your family, and your friends. 

A Simplified Lifestyle

Stepping away from a larger home gives you the gift of time, as you are no longer required to spend as much of your day on maintenance and upkeep of the property. In fact, nearly all condos, townhomes and retirement facilities include building and landscaping maintenance as part of their strata fees, giving you more time to do what matters most to you. 

While less space does limit the amount of stuff you can own, it provides a sense of simplicity by necessitating a pre-move declutter to prioritize your most prized and essential possessions. Finally, downsizing offers greater mobility, with less upkeep and financial burden, translating into more freedom to travel, relocate, and live on your terms.

Environmental Impact

As you consider downsizing, a smaller carbon footprint may be on your radar. Newer developments and condos also offer the potential for energy-efficient upgrades under new building incentives and green building standards.

Physical and Emotional Factors

Many people consider downsizing due to mobility impairment, which limits them from navigating larger homes with staircases or large yards. Proximity to family and friends who can support you physically in your golden years may be top of mind. Alternatively, enjoying time with loved ones may be the sole purpose for packing up and moving closer to them.

Finding the Perfect Downsized Home

Choosing the housing type that’s right for you can feel intimidating. On your downsizing journey, you may explore condo living, townhouses, or even retirement communities! Each offers its own unique benefits and considerations for you to keep in mind. Along with housing preferences, you’ll want to consider community appeal, your personal finances, and market trends. 

1. Identify your needs. Keeping your “why” in mind, consider your current must-haves versus nice-to-haves. This list can include features like proximity to the ocean, onsite amenities, social clubs, maintenance support, or built-in healthcare. Drafting a list of items required in your new space will help you and your realtor narrow your search. You’ll also want to keep in mind your future needs. If you anticipate mobility may be a consideration in the future, perhaps your search includes only homes with single-floor living or with accessible showers and kitchens, for example. 
2. Select the right community. Assessing the appeal of your target destination may include researching lifestyle benefits, walkability, proximity to nature, available amenities, the number and quality of cultural events and activities, etc. 
3. Assess the market conditions. What is real estate selling for in your target community? Knowing market conditions will benefit your purchasing decision – a piece of the puzzle your real estate agent can provide plenty of insight into. You may want to ask your realtor, “Which areas are experiencing growth for the downsizing community?” or “Where is the greatest demand for smaller homes and townhouses?”.

Establish your budget. Of course, your downsizing ability will all come down to understanding your budget once you sell your current residence. Assessing what your home will likely sell for, exploring mortgage options for your new space, and inquiring about possible financial assistance programs for senior buyers are all worthwhile to consider at this stage of your journey.

Preparing Your Home for Sale

Preparing your home for sale may feel overwhelming, but this necessary step in every downsizer’s journey can be simplified by following a systematic approach. As you prepare your home for sale, incorporating each of these steps will help to set you up for success:

1. Declutter proactively. Decluttering your space is one of the most daunting but necessary tasks during a downsizing journey. This process can span multiple months and can be an emotional endeavour as you go through all of the possessions in your home. If you’re eager to tackle the process yourself, consider decluttering room by room, assessing which items you’d like to bring to your new, smaller space, which you could donate, sell or throw away. Consider hiring a professional organizer if the decluttering process proves too difficult to accomplish alone. 
2. Maximize curb appeal. To ensure that your home shines once the listing goes live, work to proactively maximize its curb appeal. This can include regular indoor and outdoor maintenance, landscaping projects, or adding a fresh coat of paint to make the facade pop as prospective buyers explore the space. 
3. Stage for success. As you prepare your home to list, pay special attention to removing clutter, depersonalizing by removing family or personal photos, and highlighting your home’s best features with strategically placed furniture, lighting or artwork. Professional stagers and real estate professionals can support you in staging your space to best appeal to prospective buyers. 
4. Set the right price. Understanding local market conditions is key when setting the price for selling your home, but when downsizing, it’s equally important to assess your bottom-line needs to secure your new residence following the sale. Real estate agents can provide valuable insights into market conditions and outline strategies for pricing your home competitively to attract buyers and encourage multiple offers.

Transitioning Smoothly to Your Downsized Home

As you transition into your new space, you’ll be navigating the process of buying and selling simultaneously, managing a move to significantly smaller square footage, and often, getting acquainted with a new neighbourhood. This exciting time is full of novelty, nerves and new beginnings. Consider the following as you make these final steps into your new home:

Buying and Selling at the Same Time

Selling your current home often takes place before purchasing your new space, but it can also be done once your dream home has been acquired. Explore strategies for aligning closing and possession dates to avoid temporary housing needs. Should you need to relinquish your current home before you have access to your new home, plan for contingencies like short-term rental options or rent-back clauses to ensure you’ve got a place to rest your head during the transition period. 

Also worth considering is the financial impact of misaligned moving dates. Your real estate agent and mortgage broker will be able to support you in exploring bridge loan options to cover gaps between fund transfers, and help navigate deposits and down payments if funds are still tied up in the sale property. 

Settling Into Your New Space 

To help streamline your move, consider labelling your moving boxes based on their destination room. This will require you to assess how you’d like your downsized spaces to be organized, as oftentimes, your new home will require dual-function rooms that may house items from more than one space in your previous residence. Several professional moving companies on Vancouver Island can help manage packing, moving and unpacking in your new space. Other logistics to keep in mind are the timing of utility and service setup. Contact your strata and service providers to have your internet, hydro, water and other utilities up and running by move-in day. 

Meeting your neighbours and integrating into the community can be a fun exploratory piece of the moving puzzle. Set aside some time to wander nearby neighbourhoods, dip into local retail and restaurants, and scope out nearby service providers like healthcare, grocery stores and recreation centres that you’d be interested in becoming a patron of. Embracing downsizing means a smaller space, but is also an opportunity for a bigger community and an even more vibrant lifestyle.

Are you looking for a trusted industry professional to help you on your downsizing journey? Contact me today! 

 

Downsizing is an exciting time in any real estate journey, offering opportunities for a vibrant, connected lifestyle with reduced maintenance and financial outputs. As you consider downsizing, focusing on the above mentioned key areas can ensure a successful and smooth transition for you.