Bigger isn’t always better! There comes a time for all families when the family home that served you well for so long, simply becomes too big for just one or two people.

Downsizing; where you sell the family home and move into a smaller and more easily maintained property – has a lot of benefits for empty nesters (parents with kids who have moved out of home) and those looking for a more relaxing journey towards retirement.

The biggest benefit is financial – selling the family home and buying or building a newer, smaller home means you can pay off a significant chunk of your existing mortgage – or in some cases, the whole amount. What an incredible feeling! Selling the family home can enable you to buy a great new (smaller) home – or purpose-build your dream home that will perfectly fit your life stage and style for the next 30 years.

A related benefit of selling the family home is there is no Capital Gains Tax (CGT) payable on your primary place of residence – which means more money in your pocket to head towards the next exciting phase of your life.

Next, if you buy or build a new home, you can enjoy significantly lower costs compared to a larger family home – for example, lower heating and cooling bills due to a smaller area to cover, and possibly due to older or less energy-efficient appliances.

Now we come to the really important one – there’s less work to do! Maintenance time and costs are far lower with a new property – the smaller area, newer garden, freshly presented facade and internals means all those odd jobs staring at you (constantly) are a thing of the past!

At the end of the day, downsizing is the perfect excuse to build a dream new home that is perfectly suited to the next exciting phase of your life!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

The information contained in this article is intended to be of a general nature only. It has been prepared without taking into account any person’s objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on this information, Fairhaven Homes recommends that you consider whether it is appropriate for your circumstances and that you seek independent legal, financial, and taxation advice before acting on any information in this article.