Should I Downsize?

Before deciding whether you should downsize, ask yourself what downsizing means to you.

For one person, it might mean moving from a four-bedroom family home into a two-bedroom apartment.

For someone else, it might mean moving from a large suburban block to a smaller house with a manageable garden.

It could mean:

• Moving closer to family
• Moving to a more convenient location
• Moving into an apartment
• Moving into a townhouse
• Moving to an over-55 community
• Moving to a retirement village
• Moving closer to shops and public transport
• Moving to a home with fewer stairs
• Reducing the amount of maintenance you have to do
• Decluttering your possessions
• Simplifying your lifestyle

Downsizing doesn’t necessarily mean moving into the smallest home you can find.

It means finding a home that better suits the life you want to live.

So the first question to ask is:

If I moved, what would I want my new life to look like?

That question may be more important than:

How many bedrooms do I need?

This is a surprisingly important question.

Your home may be familiar and comfortable, but are you still enjoying living there?

Ask yourself:

• Do I enjoy spending time here?
• Does the house still feel like my home?
• Do I use most of the rooms?
• Do I enjoy maintaining the property?
• Do I still enjoy the garden?
• Do I feel connected to the neighbourhood?
• Do I feel safe and comfortable here?
• Does the home suit the way I live today?

It’s easy to stay in a home simply because you’ve been there for a long time.

But familiarity isn’t necessarily the same as suitability.

Your home may have been perfect when you were raising a family, but your circumstances may have changed considerably since then.

A useful question is:

If I didn’t already own this home, would I choose to buy it today?

Your answer may tell you a lot.

Walk through your home and think honestly about how you use each space.

How many bedrooms are regularly occupied?

How often do you use the formal dining room?

Is the second living room used?

What about the spare bedrooms? The garage? The study? The shed? The garden?

You may discover that a significant portion of your home is rarely used.

That doesn’t automatically mean you should move.

But it is worth asking:

Am I paying for and maintaining space that I no longer need?

For some people, unused space is perfectly acceptable. You may love having a spare bedroom for visiting family. You may enjoy having a workshop or large garden. You may simply value having room around you.

The question isn’t whether you could live with less space. It’s whether you want to.

A large home can require a surprising amount of work.

Think about:

• Cleaning
• Gardening
• Mowing
• Pruning
• Repairs
• Painting
• Gutter cleaning
• Pool maintenance
• General upkeep

Ask yourself:

How much of my time is spent maintaining my home?

Then ask:

Would I rather spend that time doing something else?

Perhaps you’d rather:

• Travel
• Spend time with family
• Play golf
• Exercise
• Take up a new hobby
• Volunteer
• Entertain friends
• Simply relax

Downsizing can be appealing if you increasingly feel that your home is demanding more from you than you’re willing to give.

Your current home may be comfortable today but increasingly difficult to manage over time.

Consider:

• Stairs
• Bathrooms
• Doorways
• Outdoor areas
• Long driveways
• Sloping gardens
• Pool maintenance
• Distance to essential services

Ask yourself:

Could I comfortably live in this home for the next five or ten years?

You don’t need to predict the future. But thinking ahead can help you make decisions before circumstances force you to.

A move made because you want to move is often very different from a move made because you have to.

Planning early can give you more choices.

Location can become increasingly important as your lifestyle changes.

Ask yourself:

• How far am I from shops?
• How far am I from healthcare?
• How easy is it to access public transport?
• How close am I to family?
• How long does it take to reach friends?
• Is driving becoming more difficult?
• Would I prefer to walk to local amenities?

Sometimes downsizing isn’t really about the size of your home. It’s about improving your location.

You might prefer a smaller home that is:

• Closer to family
• Near shops
• Near public transport
• Close to restaurants and cafés
• Near healthcare
• Easier to access

A smaller home in the right location may provide more freedom than a larger home in the wrong one.

Family relationships often play an important role in downsizing decisions.

Perhaps your children have moved to another suburb or city. Perhaps your grandchildren live further away. Or perhaps you’d simply like to be closer to the people you care about.

Ask yourself:

Would living closer to family improve my quality of life?

But also consider the reverse.

Would moving closer to family create new challenges?

It’s worth discussing expectations. Living closer to family doesn’t necessarily mean living with them or relying on them. The ideal arrangement may simply be being close enough to see each other more often.

This question is often overlooked.

Imagine that you move into a home that requires:

• Less cleaning
• Less gardening
• Fewer repairs
• Less maintenance

What would you do with the time you gain?

Would you:

• Travel more?
• Spend more time with family?
• Take up a hobby?
• Exercise?
• Volunteer?
• Socialise more?
• Relax?

If the answer is yes, downsizing may be an opportunity to redesign your lifestyle.

If you can’t think of anything you’d rather do, that’s also useful information. You may discover that you genuinely enjoy your current home and everything that comes with it.

This is one of the most important questions.

Your home isn’t just a building. It may represent:

• Raising your children
• Family celebrations
• Weddings
• Birthdays
• Christmases
• Friendships
• Personal achievements
• A lifetime of memories

Ask yourself:

What would I miss most if I left?

Then ask:

Is it the house itself, or the memories associated with it?

Sometimes the memories can travel with you. Sometimes they can’t.

There is no right answer. If your home is deeply important to you and you genuinely want to stay, that should be part of your decision. Don’t downsize simply because other people think you should.

Downsizing a home often means downsizing your possessions. This can be harder than downsizing the property itself.

Ask yourself:

How would I feel about letting go of things I haven’t used for years?

Think about:

• Furniture
• Books
• Clothing
• Collectibles
• Family heirlooms
• Tools
• Photographs
• Children’s belongings
• Old paperwork

You don’t have to get rid of everything. But you may need to decide what is genuinely important to you.

A helpful question is:

If I were moving tomorrow, what would I absolutely want to take with me?

The answer can help you distinguish between what you value and what you simply happen to own.

Before deciding to downsize, think about what would happen to the things you don’t take with you.

Would you:

• Give them to family?
• Sell them?
• Donate them?
• Auction them?
• Store them?
• Recycle them?
• Dispose of them?

Don’t underestimate this part of the process. For many people, deciding what to do with possessions accumulated over decades is one of the biggest challenges of downsizing.

If this feels overwhelming, you don’t have to tackle everything at once. A gradual approach can make the process much easier.

This is an important question, but it isn’t always straightforward.

Moving to a cheaper property could potentially release equity. However, downsizing can also involve significant costs.

Depending on your circumstances, these might include:

• Selling costs
• Agent fees
• Conveyancing
• Moving costs
• Cleaning
• Repairs
• Property styling
• Stamp duty or other purchase costs
• New furniture
• Renovations
• Storage

The financial outcome will depend on your individual situation.

Ask yourself:

What would I actually do with any money released by downsizing?

Would you:

• Increase your savings?
• Travel?
• Help your family?
• Invest?
• Pay off debt?
• Improve your lifestyle?

It’s also important to consider how downsizing could interact with your broader financial position. Depending on your circumstances, there may be implications involving tax, superannuation, pensions or government benefits.

Before making a decision based primarily on financial considerations, consider speaking with an appropriately qualified financial adviser or tax professional.

This may be the most important question of all.

Are you considering downsizing because:

• You want to?
• Your partner wants to?
• Your children think you should?
• Your family is worried about you?
• Your home is becoming difficult to maintain?
• Your friends are moving?
• You feel pressure to “do the sensible thing”?

There’s nothing wrong with listening to the people around you. But the decision should ultimately reflect your own priorities and circumstances.

Ask yourself:

If nobody else had an opinion, what would I choose?

Your answer may be revealing.

Before deciding to move, consider whether there are other ways to address the issues you’re experiencing.

Could you:

• Hire a cleaner?
• Hire a gardener?
• Reduce the amount of outdoor maintenance?
• Renovate a bathroom?
• Install accessibility improvements?
• Move your bedroom downstairs?
• Add better lighting?
• Improve storage?
• Get help with household tasks?

Perhaps the problem isn’t that your home is too large. Perhaps you simply need help managing it.

On the other hand, if you’re spending significant amounts of money modifying and maintaining a home that you no longer want, downsizing may still be worth considering.

The key is to understand your options before making a decision.

It’s easy to think:

“I should downsize.”

It’s harder to answer:

“Where would I go?”

Before making a decision, think carefully about your ideal next home.

Would you prefer:

• An apartment?
• A townhouse?
• A smaller house?
• An over-55 community?
• A retirement village?
• A property closer to family?
• A property closer to the city?
• A property closer to the coast?
• A property with less maintenance?

Think about your priorities.

For example:

• Location — Where do you want to live?
• Space — How much space do you actually need?
• Maintenance — How much work do you want to do?
• Privacy — How important is having your own space?
• Community — Do you want more opportunities to socialise?
• Accessibility — Would a single-level home be preferable?
• Convenience — Would you like shops and services nearby?

Your answers will help define what “downsizing” actually means for you.

Now imagine you’ve made the move. What would be better?

Perhaps you would have:

• More free time
• Less maintenance
• Lower household costs
• More convenient access to services
• More opportunities to travel
• More time with family
• A better location
• Less responsibility

Write down everything you think you would gain. Then ask:

Would those benefits make the disruption of moving worthwhile?

This is the heart of the decision.

Now do the opposite. What would you lose?

Perhaps:

• Space
• Privacy
• Your garden
• Your workshop
• Your neighbourhood
• Your neighbours
• Your routines
• Your independence
• Your connection to the home

Some of these things may be replaceable. Others may not.

The goal isn’t to create a list where the positives outweigh the negatives. It’s to understand the trade-offs.

Every home has advantages and disadvantages. The question is which combination works best for the life you want to live.

If you live with a partner, don’t assume you’re both thinking about downsizing in the same way.

One person may be ready to move. The other may want to stay. You may have different priorities.

For example:

• “I want less maintenance.”
• “I love the garden.”
• “I want to be closer to the children.”
• “I don’t want to leave the neighbourhood.”
• “I want to travel more.”
• “I don’t want to move.”

These conversations can be difficult. Try to understand the reasons behind each position. You may find that the disagreement isn’t actually about moving. It may be about what each person fears losing.

This is the question many people forget to ask.

Imagine you decide to stay. What does your life look like in:

• 2 years?
• 5 years?
• 10 years?

Will you still enjoy the home? Will you still be able to maintain it? Will your circumstances change? Will you need additional support?

There’s nothing wrong with staying. But make sure you’re choosing to stay because it’s the right decision — not simply because moving feels difficult.

Now imagine you move. What does life look like?

What are you excited about? What are you worried about? What would you miss? What might be better?

This exercise can help you compare two possible futures rather than simply comparing two properties. Sometimes the decision becomes clearer when you think about the life you want rather than the home you currently own.

You don’t have to decide today. In fact, if you’re uncertain, that may be a sign that you need more information.

Consider taking some time to:

• Research different housing options
• Visit properties
• Talk to family
• Understand your finances
• Explore your local area
• Declutter gradually
• Speak with relevant professionals

You can start preparing without committing to moving. In many cases, the best time to think about downsizing is before you urgently need to.

Take a piece of paper and answer these questions.

Sometimes, writing your answers down can reveal a clearer picture than simply thinking about the decision.

There isn’t a universal answer.

You may be ready to downsize if your current home no longer suits your lifestyle, you’re spending too much time maintaining it, or you’d prefer to live somewhere more convenient.

You may decide to stay if you genuinely enjoy your home, value the space and garden, and don’t feel that moving would improve your life.

You may also discover that you’re not ready to make a decision yet. That’s okay.

The most important thing is to make the decision based on your life, your priorities and your future. Don’t downsize simply because someone tells you that you should. And don’t stay simply because moving feels too difficult.

Instead, take the time to understand what you want from the next chapter of your life.