Reasons to Rent, Not Buy Another Home
As homeowners approach their golden years, the ability to care for their home, diminishes. They may not be ready for assisted living or skilled care, but still have years to enjoy independent living.
As part of the process of downsizing, residents realize they have a lot of items to disperse. Begin to distribute items no longer needed or wanted. For instance, imagine the thrill of your granddaughter receiving a treasured ring, she can wear now, and you will both enjoy that experience. Allow the family to collect items they wish to have/need. Then distribute the remaining items to a charity of your choice. Many charities have trucks that will come to your home to collect these items.
At the same time, you will decide to where you are moving. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to be thinking about buying a replacement home. Recent trends show residents sharing living space in condominiums or apartments. Other community living spaces are homes, with individual living quarters, sharing kitchens, etc.
Independent living doesn’t mean you can’t have your own home-living experience – it means renting a home/condo/townhome/patio home, etc., and shedding the responsibility of homeownership, taxes, maintenance, yard work, etc. The only insurance you need is to cover your personal items, a much lower expense than homeowners hazardous insurance.
Renting also allows you to travel as you wish, have more income for living expenses, less cash outflow for repairs, etc. In general, renting is a much simpler way to live, independently. You can live in an area that may or may not have children living there; it may be an adult community; it may be a condo downtown, close to the theatre and arts districts. It’s what you’ve been thinking about if you didn’t have this behemoth property to maintain.
After you have rid yourself of all the things cluttering your living space, and now you live with what you need; it’s a sense of freedom to be out from under all the items that have been collecting for years. No need for any of those things, anymore – let others enjoy them!
Your budget will be simple – now you don’t have to budget for emergency repairs, or unexpected disasters (remember the last time the hot water heater went out Thanksgiving week, and you were cooking for the family the next day! That will all be behind you now. If this appeals to you, begin planning how to downsize your household items, and then plan a life, free of homeownership worries.