If you are getting close to retirement and are preparing for this transition, you may be hearing a lot about people who sell their homes when they retire. This may seem a little counter-intuitive at first. After all, you have most likely recently paid your home off and you may be looking forward to spending more time in your home now that you aren’t working. But there are plenty of good reasons to think of putting your home up for sale.
To Move Near Family
Retirement means more time to spend with family, but that isn’t very easy to do if your family doesn’t live near you. In your life so far, your location has been determined by your job and other factors like educational opportunities for your children. But now that you are free from these obligations, you can move closer to family members that you don’t regularly see. Rather than constantly traveling to see them, you can sell your home and buy a new home nearer to your loved ones.
To Downsize
When you reach the age of retirement, you are most likely an empty nester, which probably leaves you with a lot of room in your home that you no longer need. This means it is the perfect time to downsize. Downsizing doesn’t mean that you have to shrink your living space to the smallest possible, it just means that you won’t feel like you are rattling around in your home. As you get older, it will also become harder to maintain a large home without help, so downsizing keeps home care and repairs manageable, whatever your age. If you choose to move to a senior community, they usually provide landscaping as well, which means you can enjoy your yard without worrying about yard care.
To Travel
When of the benefits of retirement is that your time is truly your own now. This means you can do all the things you have never had time to do and you can cultivate your hobbies. Many retired couples choose to spend a lot of time traveling and seeing the different parts of the world they have always wanted to visit. If you plan to spend most of your time traveling, owning and maintaining a home may not be something you want to focus on. You can use the proceeds from your home sale to fund your world travels.
Just because you haven’t thought about selling your home when you retire doesn’t mean that it isn’t a good idea. Your retirement lifestyle should be what informs your decisions, not whatever seems easiest to you.
Want to see how much you can get for your home? Click here to start the process of getting your offer!
