Downsize When Retiring: Balance Your Budget & Make a Great New Start

Downsizing your home is a great option for retirees. The considerable money it can generate helps safeguard you and your family’s future. In addition, moving to somewhere smaller can also mean moving to somewhere you prefer, anywhere in the country, and there are always ways to manage the reduction in living space.

The Downsizing Bonus Helps You Secure the Future

Nationwide, on average, you can save a couple of hundred thousand dollars by moving from a 4-bedroom home to a 2-bedroom one. That’s enough to pay off debts, set a young relative up with an apartment or a college education, or simply build up savings for the years ahead and changeable factors such as healthcare costs.
​
The downsizing gain can be several times the national average within regions with high housing costs such as California. And, of course, moving from a higher-cost to a lower-cost state, or from a major city to a small town, also puts a lot more in your bank account.

Get Organized for Your Move & Your Smaller Space

You can carry out the moving process yourself, but it is usually better to book a reputable professional company well in advance. You can also rent a self storage unit at low cost near your new home so everything can be moved there in one go, leaving you to transfer your belongings into your new space on your own schedule when it is completely ready — you don’t want the rooms full of furniture if you need to decorate them.
​
With your downsized living space, now is a good time to rationalize your possessions, so sell furniture, toys and other items you can do without or donate them to charity. And you can leave items you don’t use regularly in your storage unit — for example sports gear, tools and seasonal decorations — so they don’t clutter up your new, smaller home. ​Get Organized for Your Move & Your Smaller Space

​The List of Top Retiree Destinations Always Includes Florid

Choosing a new place to live is an exciting thought for retirees! The best US metropolitan areas for them will prioritize factors such as the cost of living, safety, tax burden, healthcare provision, year-round weather, life expectance and leisure options.
​
The Florida metros centered on Cape Coral, Sarasota and Tampa get high marks for seniors, with golf, beaches, winter warmth and safe environments. Considering a 4-bedroom Tampa home costs $508K on average, compared to $283K for a 2-bedroom, you could save $188K after taking into account closing costs and property taxes, and renting a Tampa self storage unit would help extend your living space.

​Northern Retirement Destinations Earn You More Downsizing Money

If you have a more limited budget, metros such as Ohio’s Cleveland-Elyria and Dayton-Kettering tend to have housing costs around half what you would pay in Florida’s retirement hotspots. Costs of living are lower there, too, while the provision of health care and social assistance is reckoned to be good.
​
Maybe you can’t face becoming a Cleveland Browns fan! New York’s Albany-Schenectady-Troy and Connecticut’s Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk are also both known to have good healthcare provision and safety. Meanwhile, the metro centered on Providence, Rhode Island, is known for its provision of age-restricted accommodation — apartment communities set up especially for seniors, generally with a 55+ age rule, meaning that it offers downsizing retirees a particularly appealing range of housing options. 

Downsizing your home could be one of the best decisions you will ever make, and also it ticks all the same boxes for those already happily retired, boosting finances and giving the impetus for a new start in life. The best retiree destinations across the US include not only places where you can stroll on a beach but also fine cities offering great value for your downsizing dollar and much more besides.