Downsizing Your Home? Don’t be too Ruthless!

In Britain, the days are over when people climbed the property ladder until they bought a family home in which to grow old. Today’s younger generation often need financial help from their parents and grandparents at a time when their pensions may not be paying for a relaxing retirement.

This may explain why, according to The Prudential, two million people over the age of 55 intend to raise money by downsizing to a smaller property. Some will move to one of the 610,000 homes in retirement communities sprinkled around the country.

A sensible plan no doubt, but one that can cause logistical headaches. The furniture and possessions from a family home are unlikely to fit into a retirement apartment or cottage.

So, what do you do?

Well, let’s start here in Harrogate and bring in a local perspective.

Rule one for anyone considering downsizing in the above circumstances – do not be too ruthless with your belongings.

You’d be quite right to attach enormous significance to your  possessions and should make a list of all the pieces you hold dear. By that, I don’t just mean things of financial value.

An object that triggers happy memories is worth far more in terms of sentimental value than an antique which might fetch hundreds of pounds. Find a temporary home for these pieces. Keep them with family or friends, or put them into storage throwing out as little as possible at this early stage.

The best retirement developments do offer help with downsizing dilemmas and will even help with packing and unpacking.

There are sound logistical reasons for keeping your possessions in store early on.

Regardless of all the measurements you take, you will only be able to judge what will fit into your new home once you have moved in, so take the bare minimum and add your pieces from store later.

Many downsizers end up finding valuable items in their attics. You should take expert advice and consider what to keep, sell or auction. By all means enlist the help of an auctioneer who can give you an idea of what items may be worth, and maybe talk to a couple of Antique dealers. The main thing is to make sure you know the true value of your items before you even think about calling any house clearance companies. You must however not be too surprised if you have to pay the clearance company to take away some of your belongings.

A next stage could be the move into your new home. Again, good retirement developments do a great deal to help their new residents and modern day apartments are much larger than and designed to maximise storage space, with walk- in wardrobes and cupboards. If extra storage is needed, they will arrange for a handyman to put up shelves and do other odd jobs.

Assuming your new home is furnished with your most prized possessions, one problem still remains — what to do with the surplus ? If you have pieces that you are convinced will become valuable in the future, then keep them. This takes some good judgement and expertise, but here are some pointers.

Do not throw out your bureaux. Twenty years ago, every home seemed to have a big, bulky desktop computer and nobody wanted a bureaux because they were too small to hold them and consequently their prices fell. Nowadays most people use laptops which can quite easily be used on a bureaux and prices have gone up again.

Do not dispose of  Regency dining tables and chairs. When people preferred to eat less formally in their kitchens around 15 years ago, demand for these lovely pieces fell. More recently however, dinner parties have become fashionable again and so Regency dining tables & chairs are worth a lot of money again.

If you’re thinking of downsizing, come along and see the Myrings team. Talk to us and enjoy a free no obligation chat.