Moving to a new home – especially a smaller home than you are used to – can be a challenge.  We are constantly working with clients during times of transition, and most of the time, our clients are downsizing from a large home to a smaller town-home or an apartment in a retirement community.

This is a big change that affects every part of their life, including their day to day routine.  That can be scary and intimidating, and often folks are tempted to put off this transition as long as they possibly can.  However, speaking from my experience of helping hundreds of clients through the rightsizing process, waiting could be a big mistake.

There are some wonderful advantages to rightsizing proactively:

1. Time to find exactly the right place for you. Whether you are moving to a retirement community or a townhome, there are lots of options to choose from, and you’ll want to take your time to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of each one.  Some retirement communities and apartment buildings also have a waiting list for their apartments, so starting the rightsizing process proactively allows you time to get on their waiting list for the exact apartment or floorplan that you want.
2. You get to stay in the driver’s seat of your life. Too often I have seen clients who have waited for an “emergency” to move – a fall, a broken bone, the death of a spouse, or an advancing medical condition that requires a move to happen as soon as possible.  In these situations, people do not have the luxury of time to visit all their options and carefully choose what’s best.  Instead, they are rushing around, calling to see which retirement community has an opening and taking whichever is available first.  This is not a thoughtful or intentional way to approach this major life change.  It is the opposite of proactive – it is reactive.
3. Being healthy enough to enjoy all the amenities and stress-free lifestyle that go along with your new home. Many townhomes offer maintenance-free living, with handymen to fix indoor problems that arise and a landscaping crew to handle mowing the lawn, trimming the trees and blowing the snow.  Retirement communities offer even more amenities, such as fitness facilities, activities, outings, social gatherings and so much more.  Older adults who choose to move into these retirement communities while they are still healthy and active get to participate in these activities.  If an injury or illness has spurred the move, however, these amenities often go unused by the resident.
4. Accomplish the task now, while you have the energy. Think you can’t possibly move because of all the clutter in your basement?  Or you just can’t face the pile of stuff sitting in your garage?  Guess what?  The brutal reality is that sorting through all that STUFF is only going to get harder.  In one year, or two years, or five years, there will be more to sort through, and you’ll have less energy to do it.  So get started today with the rightsizing process, and begin living your best life NOW!