There’s comes a point in life when people look at their home and think about whether it’s a bit too much real estate for them. Henry Wong has worked with people who are thinking of downsizing or are in the process of it, and in this vlog he has some advice for you:
“Hi, I’m Henry Wong from Remax United Vision. Today we’re going to talk about thinking of downsizing. Having sold a lot of homes for retirees, people that have actually downsized, people that are actually thinking of downsizing… We generally have two groups of people I guess. If you’re one of those retirees who’ve actually secured a place at a retirement home, obviously you’ve definitely made a decision to move, to secure that spot. You’re moving, you’re selling, great.
But what if that’s not you? What if you’ve been thinking about downsizing over the last three years, five years, and you’re thinking, “Oh look, it’s been on my mind. The garden needs a lot of work. The house is too big; it’s just too much to tidy up and to get things repaired,” just part of normal home maintenance. It’s getting a bit too much for you.
I guess the key is to think about if you delay making a decision, what’s it going to look like for another three years and five years? And what I’ve experienced with most home owners that eventually do sell their home to move to a retirement village or to a smaller home, is that they’ve arrived at a decision that if they keep going the way that they’re going, it’s going to … As you get older, you’re going to be less and less mobile. That’s just how it is; it’s part of life. Do you want to make that decision when let’s say, you turn 100 or 105, when you’re less and less mobile? Unfortunately we don’t all live forever, so as we get older, we get less mobile, and also sometimes, our health may deteriorate. When you’re thinking about this, you’ve just got to make a decision: should I make the move now? And if you do, just have a plan in place, and just decide. “Yeah, you know what? I’m going to downsize. I’m going to sell at the end of the year.”
Now “decision” derives from the word “incision”. Incision means to cut off, so once you’ve reach reached the point where you’ve actually decided, you cut off all thoughts that you had prior about maybe I should, maybe I shouldn’t. So once you decide, you just move forward, and get your home on the market.
Almost forgot about one more thing: when you’re looking at downsizing, most retirees that we’ve actually sold houses for, you have to … A lot of them have kids, and when you have kids, you have to understand that the longer you drag this out, when you decide to downsize, the less mobile you’ll be, especially when you get older, like when you get to 80, 90, 100 or over 100. Now, when you get less and less mobile and should your health deteriorate, you are more reliant on friends and family.
You have to understand that if you have children, more than likely your children will be working, and if they are to help you out, they will have to take annual leave or leave without pay to help you out. It could take one month’s two markets’ process to help you transition, to clean up the house, especially if you’re less and less mobile, or if your health is not there. That is something that you really have to bear in mind, and most home owners that we talk to, practically if not all of them are very good people. They don’t want to place so much of a burden on their kids by having them take time off work to help them out. But it is what it is, but the longer that it is delayed, the more time off the kids will have to need to help you move. That’s something you have to bear in mind.”
