Top 5: Ups and Downs of DOWNSIZING!
At some stage in our lives we reach a point when it’s time to consider downsizing to a smaller home.
Whether it is for financial or personal reasons, it’s important to weigh up the pros and cons of downsizing before you make such an important and significant decision.
With this in mind, here are the top five ups and downs of downsizing.
THE FIVE UPS
1. Financial Benefits
In simple terms, the larger your home, the higher household costs such as utility bills and council rates or other things like watering and maintaining a larger garden. The same applies to running those electronic devices that seem to multiply when you have more rooms or spaces to fill. By downsizing you can significantly reduce your overall household expenses.
2. Family Togetherness
Larger homes with multiple inside and outside living areas can provide mini sanctuaries that help us get away from life’s stresses. But they can also act to separate and segregate family members such that while they may be living under the same roof they’re not really living as a close and cohesive unit. A smaller home can help strengthen the family bond by bringing everyone closer together.
3. Less Time Spent on Home Maintenance Chores
Most of us hate doing household work, like vacuuming, cleaning, and everyday maintenance, all of which eat into our personal and leisure time. These tasks also become that much harder the older and busier we get. While moving into a smaller home won’t eliminate these chores altogether, it will certainly reduce the time we spend on each thereby freeing us up to spend more time doing the things we enjoy the most.
4. Declutter
The bigger our home the more stuff we own to fill those spaces, both inside and outside. Downsizing a home presents an opportunity to downsize our belongings or declutter. It is amazing what we accumulate over the years and downsizing presents as an opportunity to get rid of those items, that we don’t really need or want.
5. A Fresh Start
Moving to a new property and location can be a bit daunting, but it can also be a great opportunity to start a new and exciting chapter in your life. New neighbours, new sights, new friends and new experiences could be just what you need to reinvigorate and re-energize your life and your relationship. If downsizing is viewed positively it can reap many long-lasting rewards.
THE FIVE DOWNS
1. Costs of Moving
While there may be some financial savings, there will be some costs. Things like the cost of selling and buying and moving costs can add up. These costs need to be taken into account when assessing whether to downsize.
2. Finding Somewhere to Live
Although, conceptually downsizing may make sense but practically it can be a different scenario. For instance, it may not be a simple case of trading big for small because you may not be able to find the right type of accommodation an accessible home. With more and more people likely to downsize over the next ten years or so, demand for smaller properties in sought after locations will increase.
3. Move Away from Family and Friends
Downsizing sometimes leads to moving to a new location due to property affordability and availability. This can be hard as you may not see your long-life friends or neighbours, or have access to the same amenities like transport, shops and recreation facilities.
4. Emotional Pull
One of the biggest challenges of downsizing is breaking the emotional connection with the family home. There’s no doubt you may have spent many years and created some great memories. The fear for many is that these memories may fade or not be reinforced if you move.
5. Unwanted Lifestyle Changes
When you downsize, you are looking to improve your lifestyle so you will definitely have to compromise on size. For instance, the downsized property may not be as “large or nice” as the family home, you may have only one living/entertaining area or a small garden. Your new house may be in a higher density living meaning you’re closer to your neighbors and/or are sharing common facilities (like a driveway or garden).
As a closing thought, it is a good idea to discuss your plans with someone who has done so themselves. Talk to us about your downsizing plan and our team members who have downsized, will be able to provide some useful insights and help you avoid the problems and pitfalls you may otherwise encounter.
