4 benefits of downsizing your home

Whether to downsize your property or not is a difficult decision and can come about for many reasons.

Maybe you’re debating downsizing now that your adult children have flown the nest. Your family home is likely full of fond, happy memories, but without your children it can feel empty.

Perhaps you’re having to downsize for reasons out of your control or are close to retirement age and would like the additional funds to support your new lifestyle.

Downsizing your property is exactly what it sounds like – selling your current property to move to a smaller one.

And downsizing your home comes with a number of benefits.

Here are the top four benefits that come with downsizing your home.

1. Lower running costs

For most of us, the cost of running our house is only increasing.

So, you may be interested to hear that smaller houses tend to cost less to run than larger houses. This is simply because less energy is required to heat a smaller space.

For example, according to usave.co.uk, it costs around £823 a year to heat a one-bed house in the UK, whereas heating a four bed house can cost upwards of £1,647 per year.

This is especially useful information if you’re currently living in a house with unused rooms that you’re still paying to heat.

So, stop spending money heating unused rooms and lower your utility bills by downsizing your home.

2. Financial gain

Whether you’ve paid off your mortgage or still have some payments left, downsizing can have big financial benefits.

Downsizing your home would mean any surplus money after the sale of your home would be yours to use as you please (once you’ve paid any associated costs like stamp duty, fees or remaining mortgage of course).

These additional finances could be put to use in many ways.

Maybe you want to enjoy a holiday with your loved ones or aim to purchase a holiday home abroad. Perhaps you just like the security of having money to fall back on should your circumstances unexpectedly change in the future.

Or maybe you want to use the capital from your larger house to fund your retirement.

Even if you can’t afford to buy a smaller house outright, downsizing will at least reduce your mortgage repayments each month.

3. Reduced maintenance

Once family members have moved out, your house can feel too big and even lonely.

Not only this, but maintaining a large home is hard work, especially if you’re alone.

From simple tasks like hoovering and dusting to larger tasks like gardening and fixing general wear and tear – the maintenance of your home likely feels like it’s taking up far too much of your time.

Downsizing your home not only means a smaller, more cosy living space but also means there’s less space to maintain, making it a much easier space to manage.

4. More accessible

Often, as people age, they find their larger houses are no longer accessible. Perhaps there are too many stairs, these stairs are too steep, or there’s no downstairs bathroom.

Although there are many ways to adapt a home to make it more accessible they can often end up being very expensive, time consuming tasks. Therefore, downsizing your home is also a great option. It allows you to find a home better suited to your personal needs.

For example, many choose to downsize to a bungalow, this ensures everything is on one level, reducing the risk of trips and falls within the home.

Many small terraces, especially terraced houses in St Helens, have also retained a downstairs bathroom (unless the current owner has converted it) so this can be a good option.