- Dec. 16
- Richard Parker
3 Convincing Reasons to Sell Your Home When You Retire
Most retirees will end up selling their homes when it’s time to finish work and disappear off into the sunset. If you’re planning for the future, you might wonder if you should plan to sell your home when you retire. The answer to this question will obviously be based on your own wants and needs. Nevertheless, it is almost always a good idea to sell your home when you retire. Why? Take a look at these very convincing reasons.
A Large Influx of Cash
Hopefully, by the time you retire, you will have already paid off your mortgage. If you haven’t, there should only be a small amount left. So, even when you take this into account, selling your home gives you a large influx of cash to use in retirement. From here, you can take this money and use some of it to buy a new home. The key is that you find a cheaper and more affordable home, so you have lots of money leftover. Or, as you’ll see if you click here, you could opt to build a home instead. This is a smart choice as you only pay for what you want, making it a more cost-effective option. Even after you’ve moved into your new home, the earnings from your house sale will still be available to fall back on for years to come.
As a quick note, this is one of the reasons you should get on the property ladder as soon as possible. For one, it gives you enough time to repay your mortgage before you retire, so all the cash from the sale goes to you. Secondly, the longer you own your house, the more it will increase in value, helping you get even more money from it.
You Won’t Need a Big Home
Why do you need a big home when you retire? The chances are any kids you’ve had will already fly the nest long before it’s time to finish work. The only reason you stayed in the house was that you wanted to increase its value, and it was convenient for work purposes. Now, you’ve no reason to stay in a house that you aren’t getting a lot of use of. So, selling it makes sense to seize the equity tied up in it. Move to a smaller and cheaper home; it makes more sense and is easier for you to maintain in your golden years.
Move to a Dream Location
Similarly, most people stay in their family homes because of convenience. It’s close to where you and your partner work, or it’s close to where your kids went to school. When you retire, you have a lot of time to yourself. So, you can sell your home to let you move to a dream location. This could mean traveling abroad or moving to an entirely new state/city in the same country. Either way, selling your home can help fund this endeavor and give you a retirement you’ve always dreamed of.
Realistically, there’s no reason to keep your home when you retire – unless you want to rent it out. This is a good idea, but selling it can provide more benefits as it helps you remain financially stable while living out a dream retirement.