The Emotional Side of Home Downsizing

I write regularly here on the topic of downsizing your home because it’s something we think about often. We spend most of our time in a house that is much larger than we need. We also have a lot of equity tied up in that house. That equity could likely be put to much better use.

The question of whether (and when) to downsize a home also has emotional aspects. Read more

Baby Boomer Downsizing – Tell Your Story

If you are a baby boomer and haven’t thought about downsizing your life, you are likely in the minority. Unless you are abundantly wealthy or are already living the simpler lifestyle of an empty nester, downsizing should be on your retirement planning agenda. It’s certainly on ours.  Read more

How to Downsize a Home – Your Stuff

Although our likely downsize move from our present home is at least a couple of years away, I am already spending time thinking about it. This includes appreciating the many financial benefits of downsizing. Read more

Should You Buy or Rent a Home for Retirement?

Should you buy or rent a home? That is a question that a lot of baby boomers will be asking themselves when they are planning to retire. Even if you are in the home in which you plan to retire, in some cases it can make more financial sense to sell it and rent something else. Read more

Downsizing to a Prefab Home

How does a baby boomer downsize to a nice living space and save money? One of the latest retirement housing trends is a prefab or modular home. I’m not referring here to the tradition “mobile home” or trailer park environment. (Nor am I being critical of that type of manufactured housing.) Read more

Best Home Improvements before Downsizing

As baby boomers who are anticipating downsizing, we are thinking about home renovations or upgrades that make financial sense.  We want to maximize the market appeal of our home without overspending.  So I decided to do a little research in the area of home improvements and particularly their relative cost versus financial benefit received.  Some people call this the “payback analysis.” Read more

Downsizing to a Condominium – Is it Too Soon?

When baby boomers consider downsizing, moving to a condo is often high on the list of options. We have certainly thought about a condo as one future housing option.  Thus, I have made it a habit to keep tabs on condo prices in our area.
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Active Adult Communities – Del Webb Lake Providence

Last fall Mrs. GoTo and I decided to take our first visit to an active adult community (also known as a 55+ community).  We had been generally discussing the concept of downsizing in the not so distant future, so we thought we would begin exploring the various options for a downsized destination.  Del Webb may be the best known developer of active adult communities.  It has properties all over the country.  Lake Providence is one of its newest. Read more

Financial Reasons for a Baby Boomer to Downsize

The more I think about downsizing, the more I consider reasons why baby boomers in general would use downsizing as a way to reduce spending and better prepare themselves for retirement.

These are the financial reasons I have identified so far that would favor a downsize strategy for baby boomers: Read more

Downsizing a Baby Boomer from an Empty Nest

Baby boomers who have have completed the task of child-rearing (or are in the home stretch) start to think about that empty nest. Mrs. GoTo and I are semi-empty nesters.  We have two sons working and living on their own.  The third son is still in college so he still lives with us on breaks and during the summers.  But the complete empy nest is in sight. Read more