Is It Wise to Downsize?
By Julie Kazzin, MoneySense Magazine
Five years ago, Bill and Karen Fung started planning for one of the most important days of their livesthe day they would both leave their full-time jobs for good and begin enjoying the long unstructured days of a carefree retirement. Their goal? To sell their $565,000 home and retire by age 60 to a small condo in Richmond Hill, Ont. "We had a lot of equity in our house and with our two adult kids now on their own, we didn't need all that space," says Bill, a retired engineer who is now 62...
The kids are gone and the family home is starting to feel a bit empty. The Vancouver and Lower Mainland real estate market has been very good to you. House prices here are so high your heads are reeling, and with your equity you could buy a nice place out of town and pocket several hundred thousand bucks. Won't that be a nice addition to your nest egg?
You and your spouse have talked about downsizing someday. Is it time?
This article from MoneySense magazine has some good advice on what to expect and how to plan. After all, downsizing is as big a decision as buying your current house was.
