I bought my house a few years ago in a great area of Richmond, VA. My house is located in Bon Air, minutes away from Carytown and just a mile away from Stony Point Fashion Park. The schools are great, the neighborhood is fabulous and most importantly it’s a spacious home. My intent when I purchased this home was to have my sister come and stay with me and also my mom. At the time she wasn’t in very good health and I thought it may be best for her to stay with us to keep an eye on things. We buy homes a lot of the time with the intent of loved ones staying with us, whether that means a husband or wife, kids or maybe a close relative. Fortunately big homes in Richmond are very common so it wasn’t too much of a challenge finding something that I loved.
As a few years went by, my sister bought a place in the Outer Banks and isn’t spending as much time at home as expected. My mother decided to stay in an assisted care facility and now I am stuck with this huge home! Like many others out there I may have overestimated how much space I would need. As I get older I realize that it’s not just about a mortgage payment but in a bigger home there are a lot of things to consider regarding maintenance both indoors and outdoors. It gets expensive! A large home also has a lot more things go wrong with it, bathrooms tend to break, roofs tend to leak, walls need to be repainted. Like most though, I was comfortable with the way things were but I realized that my home had built quite a bit of equity. Is there something that can be done at this point, or is it too late in the game?
The idea of downsizing came to mind and after talking to friends, colleagues and clients. I realized that that wasn’t such a bad idea! A smaller home typically means a smaller purchase fee, it also means minimal maintenance and in some cases you can get a house that has some of the maintenance covered through a home owners association. People don’t like admitting that they need help or that they can’t do everything on their own but sometimes that is the case. I purchased an apartment closer to the city that requires minimal maintenance because a lot of it is covered under their monthly fees. There is still room for my sister and mom to come visit and stay whenever they need to but my new home isn’t a huge undertaking. Sure it needed to be renovated a bit but I was able to do that with the equity that I had built from my previous home.
I have partnered with a few different businesses in Richmond, VA to make a small presentation on what it will take to make this move, specifically what I have been through and how I can help others based on my experience. We’ll have experts from different industries come and comment on how to make go through this drastic change, especially if you’re no longer in your 30’s and as resilient. If the thought that your home is too much to handle, you should come check out this small seminar / networking event, I think you could learn a lot from it! It’s totally free to attend and there will be food and wine.
Nacho Mama’s has kindly agreed to provide amazing appetizers and there will also be a door prize provided by Missy Bass from Monarch Mortgage.
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