How Do You Know When You Are Ready to Downsize? 5 Signs It’s Time to Make the Move

20/07/2023

Are you a Harrogate homeowner with an 'empty nest' wondering if it's time to move? Perhaps your home is challenging to maintain or simply too large for you? These thoughts may have crossed your mind, but how do you know when you are ready to downsize?

The term downsizing means selling your home to buy a smaller one. But while the definition is easy to understand, the decision isn’t an easy one to make. Choosing to sell your home is a huge, often emotional, decision. And downsizing can feel like an even more significant decision.

People sell their homes and move to smaller properties for many different reasons. But it’s most often because the space just isn’t right for them anymore.

If you’re unsure whether you are ready to downsize, here are five signs it might be time to make a move.

1. Your property in Harrogate is hard to maintain

The bigger the house, the harder it is to keep on top of maintenance – and that’s a fact. From general repair work to regular cleaning, a lot must be done to keep a house in check.

If you’re struggling to keep up with the maintenance of your property in Harrogate because of changes in your mobility or just because your priorities are different, downsizing can make these things much more manageable.

2. You have too much unused space in your Harrogate property

Do you have more empty bedrooms than you know what to do with? Many families need lots of space in the early days. But, as children grow up, go to university, and later marry and move into their own places, it can leave empty bedrooms. Some people will enjoy the extra storage space or convert the spare bedrooms to create a home gym or office. But if you don’t have any use for the empty space, it may simply be because there’s too much of it.

3. Health and mobility reasons make life challenging

It's not a good sign when daily life becomes a strain because of worries about your home. Many people prepare for old age by moving into a smaller one-storey property. Others choose to adapt their home to enable them to continue living in them for longer. Just because your health and mobility have changed, it’s not an automatic sign that it’s time to downsize. But if you’re struggling to move easily around your home, even with adaptations, making a move could make life easier.

4. Your bills have become unsustainable

Finances are a common reason why people choose to downsize. When you retire, reduce your working hours, or suffer the sad loss of a partner and have one less person around to help pay the bills, your outgoings can quickly start outweighing your incomings. If this happens, downsizing could be the solution you need. By moving to a smaller, more efficient to run property, you could create a sustainable living situation with more manageable bills.

5. Your home makes you emotional

Our homes should be places that make us feel happy and comfortable. But if you feel lonely, sad, or even scared in your home, it may not be the ideal place to live any longer.

Moving home can feel like a fresh start for many reasons. While downsizing may not always be the solution, moving somewhere smaller or to a different community could feel safer and more comfortable.

How do you know when you are ready to downsize?

If any of our points resonate with you, it could be that you are ready to downsize. However, downsizing is a significant decision that you should never feel pressured into making. The most important thing is to ensure it’s the right choice for you at the right time.

What Next?

Thinking about downsizing and ready to sell your home? Would you like a FREE Property Valuation in Harrogate?

TLC Properties are your local estate agents in the Harrogate District Area. Call us on 01423 582020 or email tom@tlc-properties.co.uk to find out how we can help you.