Our personal downsizing experience can be constructive to those considering selling their home and moving down in size.  This post begins with where we started, then discusses where we ended up and where we plan to go from here.

Our pre-downsized home was in a great neighborhood, near the office,  siting on a large lot and comprised over 3000 square feet.  The house had  4 bedrooms, a separate study and my personal favorite, a 3 car garage with workshop.  This house was built to accomodate two growing children, four automobiles and lots of activity.  And at the time, we did not own a second home.

So what changed?  The kids went off to University, actually graduated and found jobs and built lives of their own.  I’ve coined the term “off the payroll” when people ask about our kids.  We also purchased a second vacation home (cottage in Muskoka) which we absolutely love and started spending more and more time at. 

Why did we downsize?  To begin, we wanted to minimize the amount of necessary home care and maintenance and put some cash in our pockets.   As well, operating costs were climbing when one considers taxes( based on market value assessments), heating, cooling, snow removal and major updates such as a new roof.  If we could save some of this money, we’d be able to spend less time working and more time traveling.  And off we went to look at alternatives.

What we bought and why!  As we were spending more and more time away – either at the cottage or extended southern vacations in the winter – we looked for a smaller home with less maintenance and care.  The ideal of a townhouse or condo just didn’t sit well with me after spending a lifetime in a detached home.  So we compromised and bought a bungalow in another great neighborhood.  The new house has about half the square footage  yet cost us 80% of the price we got for our previous home!  It is perfect for two people to live in – when you’re actually there.  However, extensive landscaping has to be  maintained, snow still plowed and operating costs, though reduced a little, are still high. 

The lessons learned are many.  First of all, know why you are downsizing and let those reasons prioritize your move.  For example, we wanted to minimize maintenance and care so we could spend more time away.  Yet, we chose a home that is beautifully landscaped with a fish pond my wife always desired and in a neighborhood with the kind of demographics we liked.  In hindsight, the emotions driving me away from high density housing (such as a townhouse) should have been overcome. 

Now what?  We’re off and running again with a plan to sell the bungalow and buy an affordable town house with no landscaping to maintain, a driveway that can be cleaned off with a broom and a market value that puts more $ into our pockets and further reduces our annual tax bill.  Standby, we’ll let you know how it works out.