Week 3

My five-week series, How to “Right-Size” Your Home and Life with Your Next Move, will help you determine when it’s time to “right-size” your home and move on to one that will better match the life you’re living now or the one you want to live. Your home should reflect your needs, wants, and budget — and maybe those have changed since you last bought your current home. Even a home you have loved!

Whether it’s moving up to a larger home or moving to a smaller one, you’ll learn about the steps you can take for this next “right-sized” purchase and also see how to buy and sell at the same time with maximum profits and minimal stress. 

This might sound a bit cliche, but it’s true — buying a home is a journey from start to finish, and you want to make sure you get on the right path. It will lead you to your next best home!

Sounds straightforward, right?

However, you can easily get sidetracked if you don’t truly know the objective of your move. And because our focus is on “right-sizing” your next home and life, it’s important to determine what’s driving your move so you do it right and not be disappointed.

Even though you’ve bought a home before, it’s still the start of a new home-buying journey and requires you to be methodical and purposeful in your quest. You’ve got to be strategic, so you don’t waste time or regret your decision.

And that’s why you need to focus on TWO questions to ask yourself. These two very important questions will help you explore your reasoning for moving. They will give you the necessary clarity and point you in the right direction from the get-go.

You want to fully understand why you want to move and what you envision for your life in your next home. And this is how you can ensure you will right-size your home the right way! 

QUESTION #1 — How long do I want to live in this next home?

This is THE absolute most important question to answer honestly since it will impact the rest of your home-buying search. You must answer this question first before you continue to the next.

In fact, your first answer will help you determine your #1 driver (next question) and all of your “must-haves” and what you’re “willing to compromise” on. 

So in order to “right-size” this purchase, you need to estimate how long you expect to live in this next home. This answer will point you toward your new home, which should be a better fit for the timeframe you anticipate living there. 

Everyone is at different stages of their lives with evolving needs and wants. This next move should address any new or upcoming stages during this time period. I always tell clients that they should live in their next home for at least 5 years to gain substantial equity.

So what do you see for yourself? 

• Maybe you see yourself living in this next home for enough years so that your kids can finish grade school or all the way up through high school. 
• Or, you know retirement is a certain number of years away and you envision working at your job and have an idea of what your life will be like during that timeframe. Maybe you’re empty nesters or on your own now.
• Or, you’re moving from a condo unit to your first single-family home, hoping it could be a stepping stone to your next one if both your family and budget expand. 

QUESTION #2 — What is the #1 driver of my decision to move?

Whether you decide your #1 driver is “moving for schools” or “your stepping stone home,” I’m here to help you jumpstart your thinking and help you brainstorm what you want for your next home. 

And since you answered the first question and know how long you expect to live in your next home  — you have a better understanding of what your life will be like and, most importantly, what your wants, needs and budget are in the years ahead.

This will lead you to finding the purpose your home will serve at this stage of your life. It will be your main objective for the move and everything else can fall into place, including what you’re willing to compromise on and what you won’t.

Knowing you’re moving for schools, moving to be closer to work, moving to have space to care for older family members, moving for a forever home in a community you love, moving to be near the ocean or the mountains or other dream location, moving to downsize, moving to save money, moving to get into a certain neighborhood — will give you so much clarity.

Even though you’ll zero in on your objective for this timeframe, it doesn’t mean you can’t dream big and satisfy other wants and needs. You know what you don’t like about your current home, what really bothers you AND what you really like and can’t live without — so here’s your opportunity to use that knowledge when house hunting this time around. 

And there’s nothing stopping you from brainstorming your ideal scenario when it comes to your next home. You can make this right-sized purchase your dream home for this stage of your life!

Let’s Work Together

Please don’t hesitate to reach out for guidance if you’re thinking it’s time to right-size. I can strategize with you no matter what your circumstances are or whatever stage you are at or entering in your life.  We can go over these two questions and together we can get it RIGHT!

Remember that the earlier we meet, the better, so we can come up with a plan that works best for your timeframe to buy your next home and sell your current one.

Next week you’ll get a great overview — How to Right-Size When Buying and Selling At Same Time. You’ll see why I’ve got it down to a science for determining whether you should buy your new home first, or sell your current one first, and how to avoid the dreaded homeowner’s Catch-22. Keep enjoying this 5-week series, How to “Right-Size” Your Home and Life with Your Next Move, it’s not over yet!