Retirees: Check Out the Benefits of Living in a Smaller Home

One minute you're a fresh-faced 20-something taking on the world, and the next, you're taking down the shingle and considering how the two of you (or the solo you) will deal with life after work.

It's at this point that many baby boomers decide to flee the empty nest and downsize. It's a smart move right now considering how much equity homeowners have been able to accumulate in the recent overheated housing market.

The Advantages of Downsizing Outweigh the Disadvantages

If you've owned your home for some time and plan on selling soon, you may be surprised at how much you'll gain from selling. "Soon" is the operative word in the scenario, however. The real estate market is correcting and some experts claim that we'll be in a homebuyers' market sometime later this year.

Selling sooner rather than later allows you to take advantage of mortgage rates that are still "lowish" and a market that is still fairly friendly to sellers. But, that's not the only advantage of downsizing.

Smaller Homes are Easier to Maintain

The worst part of owning a house is the amount of time, effort, and money that maintaining it requires. If you'd rather spend those hours with family and friends or traveling, snoozing, or whatever, downsizing is a good choice for you.

BONUS: Smaller homes also take less time to clean.

You'll spend less money with a smaller home. Smaller homes not only cost less, but they're less expensive to insure, heat, and cool and they typically come with lower property taxes than larger homes.

Your Body Will Thank You

Com one, we may not like admitting it, but our aging bodies don't do well with stairs or bending over to pull weeds and anything that represents a "slip and fall" danger becomes terrorizing. Downsizing gives you a chance to choose a home that allows you to safely age in place.

Questions? Feel free to reach out! Downsizing doesn't have to be a chore.