Down Sizing Your Home Could Improve Your Life
Craig Siphers, Erica Siphers
Image via Pixabay
Downsizing Your Home Could Improve Your Life
Are you tired of dusting guest bedrooms and maintaining an expansive lawn you’re rarely home to enjoy? Many buyers dream of owning a big, beautiful home, but the reality doesn’t always match expectations.
If your dream home no longer fits your lifestyle, downsizing might be the answer. And if moving to one of the most beautiful places in the world has always been a dream of yours, contact the professionals at C & C Real Estate Services in the breathtakingly beautiful Bitterroot Valley area of Montana to make your dream come true.
5 Reasons to Downsize This Year
1. Small homes are trending
Millennials are starting families later and having fewer children. These buyers don’t need the large suburban homes of their parents’ generation. Instead, younger buyers prioritize a desirable location, updated interior, and a backyard for four-legged family members over total square footage.
Older adults are trending towards smaller homes too as empty nesters leave family-friendly neighborhoods for areas that fit their lifestyle better. For some retirees, that means a condo within walking distance to urban amenities. For others, it’s a modest house in the mountains or on the coast.
2. Small homes are cheaper to maintain
Beyond everyday upkeep, smaller homes also come with smaller price tags for major repairs like a new roof, siding, or flooring upgrade. That’s important at a time when home improvement costs are soaring due to labor shortages and supply chain constraints. When you’re a young professional paying off student loans, a parent saving for college, or a recent retiree living on a budget, home repairs can put a major dent in your budget.
3. Downsizing enables a flexible lifestyle
In fact, less maintenance is one reason some Americans are selling their homes to rent instead. We want to spend our downtime chasing meaningful experiences with family and friends, not calling plumbers or mowing the lawn. Use the time not spent on home maintenance and earn that degree you’ve been putting off getting.Online classes still allow you the freedom you’ve downsized for, while achieving your goal of having that business degree you’ve always wanted.
4. It’s the green thing to do
Not convinced yet? Maybe this will change your mind: Downsizing your home reduces your carbon footprint. Smaller homes require less energy to heat and cool, less furniture to fill, and are more likely to be located in walkable areas with access to public transit. Researchers even found that downsizing to a smaller home creates “a domino effect” of eco-friendly lifestyle habits like recycling, using less plastic, and eating less meat. If you’ve been looking for the first step toward a greener lifestyle, downsizing could be it.
5. It’s a great time to sell
Finally, the real estate market is red-hot, and sellers who list now stand to benefit from higher home prices. U.S. home prices were up 24.8% year-over-year in June 2021.While the market has cooled slightly since then, both demand and prices are expected to remain high for the foreseeable future. Sellers who list now reap the benefits of a low-inventory market, including top-dollar prices, cash buyers, and no-contingency offers. A good real estate agency will have already done the market research for you, so take advantage of their expertise.
Contributed by Eva Benoit
