Bigger is not always better. For many people, moving into a smaller home makes sense for a number of reasons, and not just because the kids have left you feeling like empty-nesters. Downsizing your home can be a beneficial lifestyle choice.
Trading Down
Property values are a national obsession, but realising the value in a property can be more challenging when average house prices have risen across so many areas of the UK. The issue becomes one of what you can actually afford to buy once you’ve sold.
Downsizing is a sensible option for making the most of your assets. Making the right choice can leave you with plenty of surplus to refurbish where required, or to use to ease other financial pressures, or spend in other ways.
For some, the shift in thinking towards trading down may be a challenge: after all, large properties are intimately linked to ideas about status, success and the good life. But in fact, there are plenty of sound reasons to downsize in order to actually improve your quality of life.
Why Smaller Can Mean Better
Smaller homes are generally less expensive to look after. This includes reduced energy bills, along with the practical task of keeping it clean. Basically, a smaller home is likely to free up more of your time and more of your money.
If you need a mortgage for downsizing, it’s likely to be smaller and therefore
your debt and risk are reduced, with a noticeable improvement in your
monthly outgoings.
If you’re concerned about your environmental impact then having a smaller home will require less resources to maintain.
Besides these practical advantages, the potential for feeling more mentally liberated shouldn’t be underestimated. Freeing up more of your time by not having a larger house to manage gives you space and the opportunity to focus on the other things that are important to you.
Actually having less physical baggage out of necessity, and resisting the urge to accumulate more stuff, for the same reasons, can make life seem less complicated, and again contribute to a sense of possibilities opening up.
Really it’s a question of perspective: does your home define who you are, or should it instead give you more freedom and opportunity to do what you really want?
