Whether you are considering a move to a smaller house, condo, or retirement living community, deciding to sell your current home and downsize can be overwhelming.
Here are five points to consider when making this decision:
Space Needs
Figuring out whether a smaller home or a condo is an option for you can be one of the bigger decisions. Consider your overall physical space needs. How many bedrooms will you need? Do you need extra space for your hobbies? Will you need a large kitchen? A condo may be a better fit if you plan to travel a lot or no longer want to maintain an outdoor space.
Expenses
Many different costs can arise when moving. Costs to consider when budgeting include moving costs, cost of new furniture for your new home, storage costs for any potential items that might not fit into your new home, and costs that may incur if you need to discard of old items. The cost of boxes or other packing material.
Decluttering Costs
If you have lived in your home for some time—for many older adults, it has been years—the cost to declutter and rightsize your possessions can be significant. The cost depends on many variables, such as the quality of items to resell, what you are taking with you, the type of items in your home, the size of your home, the quantity of items to relocate, and more.
Garbage and Junk Removal
The quantity of garbage and donations during a downsizing process is always underestimated. There is always a need for both of these when going through a downsizing process.
Plan Ahead
Allow time to declutter your current space. Start going through your belongings and try to downsize by donating or selling items you will no longer need. The more items you can declutter in your current space now, will make moving into a smaller space easier in the future. It is quite common to underestimate the amount of time that it takes to declutter a large home to be ready for relocation.
Best tip: Start to declutter now!
