Guide to Downsizing Your Home

Estimated reading time 3 minutes

You may be considering downsizing to a smaller home for any number of reasons, from relocation to a reduced household. Once your children have grown-up and moved out and on to start a life of their own, a 4 bedroom detached house for two people seems a bit excessive. Of course those extra bedrooms could be repurposed into studies or gym rooms. But many couples and single parents alike are against downsizing when they get to this stage in their lives. They like the size of their house, they’ve designed and grafted over each and every detail to make their home their own. Why would they want to leave the house they’ve worked so hard to make?

Why?

First and foremost a bigger houses takes high running costs, with excessive electricity and heating needed to power the house, meaning inflated bills. And the mortgage on a larger house is inevitably more expensive than a smaller home.

Where?

The best downsizing locations

When downsizing you don’t necessarily have to move away from your current area. But it is a good opportunity to experience and live in a different part of the country if you are in a position to leave your job or are retired. Recent research from Savills has shown the next wave of house price rises that will come in the Home Counties, and the South of England surrounding London. They plotted the 31 places that are expected to rise by at least 20% over the next five years.

Revealed: the 31 hotspots where house prices will surge now (with map) @Savills @knightfrank https://t.co/xV6QzXz5Pj pic.twitter.com/H99LhIXQrg

— Telegraph Property (@TeleProperty) May 20, 2016

Here are the hottest places to buy when downsizing

How?

A lot of people associate the downsizing process with moving into a less desirable, less size, less everything new property. But it certainly doesn’t have to be this way. It is, in fact, an opportunity to be innovative with design and experiment with new bold features that you may never have considered in a larger space.

Downsizing doesn’t have to mean moving away from the hustle and bustle of city life to the quiet countryside retreat, you can just as easily stay in the city and take on a terraced house. It’s all about the design, and being clever with your refurbishment choices. For example, inner city terraces tend to be limited with natural light, but with the right choice of roof panel windows and an injection of bright colours such as turquoise, coral, clean white and oranges. Design features that make the most of small space are also a welcome introduction, such as building storage space into the side of staircases, and ingenious use of partition walls or glass windows. Consider multi-functional furniture that serves a double purpose for storage making it more than just an enjoyable seat.

Another factor that enables a unique approach to downsizing is the silver economy. Today’s over-65s have more cash to burn than ever and are a particularly lucrative market. Older consumers are more active, healthier and more aspirational than the senior generations before them. So they can afford to splash out on innovative design features and hire architects to accentuate the space available, there really is no limits.

If you’re interested in downsizing your property and need help selling your home then we’d be happy to help.

Feature image credit to: Shutterstock/ Andrey_Popov