Whether your children have flown the nest, or you simply want a house with less up-keep, it could be time for you to downsize your home.
Downsizing to a smaller home has many benefits, including saving money, less space to keep tidy and enjoying the equity freed up from your current, larger house.
Check out our top signs that it could be time to downsize.
You feel overwhelmed with home maintenance
One of the biggest reasons that many people, particularly seniors, decide to downsize, is due to feeling overwhelmed by the size of their current house and the up-keep of it. Whether it be hoovering and dusting, making minor repairs, touching up paintwork or even mowing the lawn, taking care of a larger house can be extremely time consuming, tiring and physically challenging. If you are retired/due to retire, the last thing you want to be doing is taking care of the houseconstantly, so if you’re looking for a more relaxing retirement, it could be time to downsize.
You spend time in the same few rooms
Do you have a large home but find yourself spending time in the same few rooms? This may be the case if you’ve had children that have flown the nest, or older children that no longer need dedicated playrooms for example. You may have a couple of reception rooms, an unused dining room, or spare bedrooms that are gathering dust. If you relate to any of these, then downsizing could be the answer.
You want to save money
A bigger home generally tends to mean bigger bills, so it’s easy to see how downsizing your home can save you money. By downsizing, it means you won’t be paying to heat unused rooms, and it also means you won’t have an unnecessary amount of lights on around the house too. And did you know that a new home will save you money, whether you’re choosing to downsize or not? Owners of new build house are saving on average £2,600 per year in energy costs compared to owners of older houses (source: HBF). The average new build home emits a third of the carbon of older properties, reducing emissions by 2.5 tonnes each year.
You’re struggling to fill the space
Do you have rooms collecting dust? A garage with nothing in? Areas of the house that look sparce and bare? Then it could be time to downsize! By having a bigger house, you’ll be spending time and money keeping these unused areas clean, when you could be spending time doing the things you love instead. If you’re worried that a smaller property won’t be big enough for all of your belongings, then don’t worry, moving house will give you a great excuse to go through all of your things, and throw away or donate what you don’t want or need anymore.
Do any of these signs seem familiar? Here at Stonebridge Homes, we have plenty of options available if you’re thinking about downsizing. Call 0113 357 1100 or email sales@stonebridgehomes.co.uk, to have a chat with our friendly sales team, and find out more.