The thought might hit you once the young ones have flown off and left an empty nest behind—and it might not even be for monetary reasons. Faced with the hollow feeling of an empty home, you might be wondering what to do with all that extra space. List a spare room on Airbnb? Only if you want to play a hotel manager in your retirement. Fill the space with a new hobby? Maybe if you’re the kind who keeps a room of collectibles. Have another child? Or maybe a cat?
Or perhaps you would like to consider living more comfortably in a smaller home? Here are three reasons why downsizing might be the way to go—as in, to live.
Affordability
Let’s face the facts: You’ve got many more decades of life ahead of you, rising living costs are a factor you’re keeping in mind, and that cruise/massage chair/novelty collectible is going to cost a <insert politically correct metaphor here>. Besides, your children are grown and can (probably) take care of themselves—even if they still spend money like irresponsible teenagers.
“How are you still buying toys at your age?” Photo by Charles on Unsplash.
Rental rates, property prices, assessment tax, quit rent, and utility bills are all things that scale with square footage. It goes without saying that less would certainly mean having more to spend on enjoying what life has to offer. Downsizing to a smaller home would mean lower rental rates, purchase prices, and taxes, in addition to lower lighting and cooling expenses—you could end up saving even more on utility bills if you used some of what you saved to go on a long holiday.
Better yet, evoke parental privileges and store your belongings at your kid’s place while you take a swimsuit and a bottle of sunscreen on an extended holiday. Photo by Alonso Reyes on Unsplash.
Convenience
Once you’ve let go of that dream mansion on a hill for the whole clan, you’ll find there’s far more choice available. Most people start out with terraced homes or apartments—it’s those big expensive bungalows that are relatively rare. Most people also opt for convenience over aesthetics as a cost consideration, so there are smaller homes to be found closer to the city.
Most people are happy to sacrifice long driveways and sprawling backyards just to make it to work on time. Photo by CK Yeo on Unsplash.
You could move to a home nearer to a transport hub and spend less on vehicle maintenance. Or you could go to the extreme and keep a tiny apartment while you spend your days globetrotting. You might as well take advantage of the inevitability of demand and supply to grab a modest and readily available abode in a conveniently located and transit-oriented development.
And just leave that sitting in traffic to the young‘uns. Photo by Fahrul Azmi on Unsplash.
Security
Now that the size of your household has been significantly reduced, your expansive home might fall within the target profile of opportunistic criminals. Homes in gated communities are generally more expensive and even the most illustrious homesteads are not impenetrable.
Even this one lady’s house was broken into twice… by the same guy. Photo by Mike Marrah on Unsplash.
With a terraced home, you’ll find there are more of your neighbours around, and the street has more watchful eyes going over it throughout the day. Downsize even further, to an apartment in a high-rise, and intruders would have to get past several more layers of nigh-insurmountable barriers just to arrive at your front door.
Can you climb over that? Is anyone watching? And you’re not even in the compound yet. Photo by Ed Robertson on Unsplash.
Sure, it’s not as big and fancy as you’re used to, but you’ll eventually find there’s a value to cosiness that few talk about. Stay tuned to read about how to make that downsize happen smoothly and how to make your new (smaller) house a home.
Kevin Eichenberger would be perfectly fine renting a room but his dog insists on a landed property with a garden.
(Written by Kevin Eichenberger, 18th February 2020)
