There comes a time in many homeowners’ lives when they realize they may be living in a home that’s too large for their day-to-day needs
In most cases, this happens to what the industry calls ‘empty nesters,’ that is, homeowners whose children have moved away to school or out of the family home permanently. And, in most cases, it doesn’t take long for those empty nesters to think about downsizing.
At a certain point, keeping hold of all that square footage you once needed and now rarely use just doesn’t make practical sense anymore, especially when the effort it takes in maintenance and upkeep feels more like a chore than a joy.
While downsizing is no new phenomenon, doing it well can take a bit of thought and strategic planning. However, because we’ve helped many empty nesters and eager downsizers before, we thought we’d share a few of our most useful downsizing tips with you here ahead of your upcoming real estate endeavour.
1. Include Chattels Into Your Sale
Chances are, if you’re planning on moving into a smaller space, you’ve got quite a bit of bigger furniture and decor pieces that won’t fit as well in your new home. If you can’t give them away or easily move them elsewhere, your best bet is to sell them. But what if you could make money from doing just that without having to lift a finger?
In real estate terms, these are called “chattels,” which are essentially any item of property other than the real estate itself that can be included in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale. Think of things like a pool table, a large credenza, exercise equipment, light fixtures, or an office desk as great examples of chattels that aren’t worth the effort to move into your new home or manually sell on your own.
If you’re currently downsizing, most of these larger ticket items won’t really fit in your new home either, but probably work perfectly in your current home. Our advice is to work as many of these chattels into the deal for your home as possible while ensuring you’re fairly compensated for them.
Selling a home can feel like a daunting undertaking, but it really doesn’t have to be with the right guidance and help. Find out what Selling Your Home With Us is like to learn more about our full suite of home selling services.
2. Let Location Lead The Way
When you first bought your current home all those years ago, you probably had a lot more to consider than just yourself and (possibly) your spouse.
If you had children, you’ll have had to allocate extra square footage for things like bedrooms, bathrooms, car space, and clothing and sports equipment to ensure everyone was comfortable, which more often than not ends up meaning you compromised a little bit on where you lived.
However, with most, if not all, of your kids now out of the house, these days your current space requirements are a different story, and location no longer needs to take a back seat. Even if you really enjoyed living in your current neighbourhood, one of the best parts about downsizing is that a smaller footprint allows you to (theoretically) get much closer to the action of more vibrant and lively neighbourhoods than you previously lived in.
Our advice is to embrace this change and make where you live and all the great amenities and events that come with it a point of pride. We guarantee that your kids will want to come to visit a lot more often if you’re set up in a trendy neighbourhood like The Annex, The Junction, Roncesvalles, or King West.
Downtown Toronto is one of the most inspiring and energetic places to live anywhere in the world. And the best part is, there are so many vibrant and eclectic neighbourhoods to choose from. Learn more about some of our top picks for downsizers here:
- The Annex Neighbourhood Guide
- The Junction Neighbourhood Guide
- Roncesvalles Neighbourhood Guide
- King West Neighbourhood Guide
3. Donate, Don’t Discard
One of the most difficult parts about downsizing into a smaller home when you’ve been acclimatized to a larger space is facing the reality that you can’t take everything with you. What makes it even more challenging is when you’ve grown very fond or even emotionally attached to many of your more sentimental items that simply won’t all fit in your new place.
The best thing you can do with all of the items you can’t sell or give away to friends or family members is to grant them a new life by donating them. Whether you’re taking a wardrobe’s-worth of clothes to a consignment store or a donation centre, you can feel much better about the idea of someone else enjoying your things once again than simply tossing them out.
If you plan on downsizing into a condo in the near future but are struggling to find storage space for all of your favourite things, read up on our 5 Storage Tips For Condo Owners here.
4. Strategize Your New Floorplan Ahead Of Time
In the time between moving into your new, smaller home and moving out of your current one, you’re bound to have a lot of prep time, and one of the most useful things you can do with that time is to spend some of it devising the layout of your future home.
During your next visit to your newer, smaller space, make sure to bring a tape measure with you and jot down some approximate measurements of your new home with a focus on rooms like the kitchen, living room, and primary bedroom. Then, go home and draw out the dimensions of your future floorplan on a piece of paper.
From there, take the measurements of all the furniture and decor you want to bring with you into your new home and plot those pieces out on your 2-dimensional floorplan. Really spend some time thinking about functionality and foot traffic so that interacting with your new space is much easier from the get-go when you finally move in.
The last thing you want is to have done all of that heavy lifting on move-in day only to find out that your bed is too big for both side tables or your couch protrudes too far into your dining room.
Not quite sure about the idea of moving into a condo? We’ve helped countless clients downsize into luxury condo spaces before, and can offer you a few valuable pieces of advice to help smooth your transition. Start off by reading through these:
5. Go Paperless
Over the course of your journey to owning fewer things, it can come as a shock just how much physical space pieces of paper can take up. Things like receipts, certificates, cards, photographs and more tend to stack up much quicker than you’d imagine.
While we’re not saying it’s time to bid farewell to your cherished recipe box or family photo albums during your new move, it’s worth it to sort through all of your printed and paper items to see what you can digitize and bring into the 21st century.
Don’t get us wrong, we know that some things are better-kept old-school than new school. A comprehensive vinyl collection just doesn’t sound the same on iTunes, and those degrees you worked so hard for still deserve a spot up on your wall. However, if you’re able to scan and upload the bulk of your overflowing paper collection onto a computer or external hard drive, you’ll not only be helping the environment but helping save valuable storage space in your new home.
Wondering how to find the perfect new home to take you into the next stage of your life? Start by reading through our comprehensive home buying guide below, then have fun browsing through our Featured Listings page to see if a listing captures your attention.
