Did you know that when it comes down to the size of your own home, sometimes less is actually more?
Downsizing your home at the right moment in life can feel like a masterstroke – a smart move that will bring you plenty of benefits.
However, moving into a smaller home can have a handful of disadvantages as well, so you may get in two minds whether you should do it now or wait some months or even years before until you are ready to face the new challenges. Or maybe you won’t want to hear about downsizing your home at all.
To help you make an informed decision, here are the major pros and cons of downsizing your home.
Choose wisely.
ADVANTAGES of downsizing your home
There are numerous benefits of downsizing to a smaller home – an important life decision that can easily put a smile on your face as long as the timing is correct. Downsizing your home can give you the financial freedom you so desperately crave and should give you more free time to enjoy a relatively maintenance-free lifestyle.
But the pros of downsizing home are more than just financial gains and extra time.
Financial freedom
After you move into a home with less square footage, you should be financially better because you’ll be able to save more money in the long run. It’s quite possible that your mortgage will be (greatly) reduced and or even eliminated in case you manage to purchase a smaller home with the cash you got from selling your existing home. Also, the property taxes should be lower because of the reduced living space.
The lower mortgage payment or monthly rent means that you’ll have more cash each month – money you can use for other immediate or not-so-immediate needs. But downsizing your home may also mean that the sale price of your current home may be much more than the purchase price of the new home (the smaller one), which automatically means that you could get a lump sum right from the start.
The newly-discovered financial freedom will give you a golden opportunity to do things you’ve always wanted to do but couldn’t afford… until now. Interested in traveling to some exotic destinations?
Reduced energy bills
Without a doubt, there will be both pros and cons of downsizing your home, not only clear benefits. Nevertheless, another reason why you should consider moving to a smaller home is the money you’ll be saving each month thanks to the lower utility bills – a home with less square footage means that it’ll be easier and cheaper to heat during the cold months and cool during the summertime.
Put the money saved from the lower energy bills into a savings account or use it towards realizing one of your bucket-list goals. You’ll be surprised how much cash you’ll be able to save in a year by reducing substantially your utility consumption.
As a bonus, reduced energy consumption is good for the environment, so downsizing your home will also be an eco-friendly move – aka a green move.
Less time spent on caring for the new home
As a rule of thumb, the larger a home is, the more care and upkeep it will require from you as the owner/renter. Another benefit of downsizing house is that a smaller home will usually have fewer areas that you will need to maintain almost constantly as opposed to caring for a large backyard, for example, or cleaning too many rooms on a daily or weekly basis.
And as a result, you will suddenly have more free time on your hands – time that you could not possibly have with your current large residence. If you happen to be moving into a newer home or one where a homeowners’ association usually handles the outdoor care of the residence, then you’ll get even more free time to do whatever you feel like doing – certainly something more fun and enjoyable than cleaning and maintaining.
Less unnecessary consumption
Most advantages of moving to a smaller house or apartment are clear, but there are some downsizing benefits that you won’t be aware of right away. One such benefit of moving to a smaller home is that you won’t have much space to store items that are not really essential.
And that basically means that you’ll need to get rid of the clutter accumulate through the years and reduce drastically the items you purchase due to the limited living space in the new home. And of course, the resulted reduced consumption of consumer goods will help you save more money in the long run.
Donate items you no longer use or give valuable yet unnecessary items to friends and family. You can always try to sell some of your belongings that still have good market value.
All in all, having zero clutter in the new home will make it cozier and more pleasant to live in than a bigger and much-cluttered place.
See also: How to downsize your home: the steps
DISADVANTAGES of downsizing your home
Moving into a smaller home has its share of disadvantages as well. If it didn’t, everybody would be downsizing their homes, right?
Here are the major cons of downsizing your home.
Downsizing may not bring in much cash
As mentioned above, one of the biggest benefits of downsizing your home is the money you should get as a result of the sale of your property. Most people assume that if they purchase a smaller home, then they will automatically save money but that’s not always so.
In reality, selling a home includes many additional costs such as the real estate commissions, the closing fees, and of course – all the moving costs as well. Factor in those costs and it may turn out that downsizing your home will not be worth from a financial point of view.
Smaller homes can feel cramped
If you’ve lived in a relatively spacious residence until now, moving into a smaller home can make you feel that there just isn’t enough room to maneuver inside it. Soon enough you may start feeling cramped and you’ll start missing your privacy from the rest of the family members due to the fewer rooms you can escape to for a little quiet and alone time.
A more restricted living space will also mean there won’t be any guest rooms, which in turn means that your out-of-town guests won’t be able to spend the night at your place when they come to visit you. And you may also feel a bit awkward having to recommend good hotels to your friends.
Less storage space for belongings
Downsizing to a smaller home almost always means that you’ll have to get rid of many of your current belongings simply because there’s just not enough room to store those items in the new home. Ultimately, you’ll be forced to sell, give away, donate or throw away some or most of your furniture items, some household appliances, kitchen items, clothes, and even books.
And if you’re one of those people who are emotionally attached to their stuff, then parting with your some of your possessions can turn out to be a really tough task.
Change can be a hard pill to swallow
Are you resilient to change? If yes, then downsizing your home may not be your cup of tea.
Every house move brings plenty of changes, mostly lifestyle changes that may easily throw you out of your comfort zone. Change is not easy, at least not for everybody, and when you factor in the inevitable adaptation period after downsizing to an apartment or downsizing to a condo, then you won’t be too happy – at least not until you manage to re-adjust your lifestyle and start reaping the benefits of downsizing your home in the first place.
Moving house is often a difficult period – exhausting, stressful, uncertain, and even a bit risky. Luckily, you should be able to have a hassle-free move by asking professional movers to help you out with the relocation aspect of your decision to downsize your home.
Read also: Should you hire movers or move by yourself?
