Have your children grown up and left the coop with too many spare bedrooms? Have you retired and decided you’d like to spend your money on traveling, rather than a big house? Are you experiencing hard times financially? Whatever your reason, thousands of people choose to downsize every day. As a real estate agent in Birmingham, I have many couples and individuals come to me to help them find a smaller home. Frequently, the process is difficult, and emotional. I hope that these tips will help ease some of the stress downsizing may cause.

(Are you trying to sell your home while you look for a new one? Get tips on how to sell your home while you live in it!)

Your Belongings

Because you are moving from a larger home to a smaller one, you will have to get rid of many things. Before you walk through your house, make a list of the items you know you can not live without. If they are in your memory before a walk through, chances are you won’t want to forget them.

Next, you will want to sort your belongings. Make three piles. One pile should be ‘trash’, one pile should be a ‘maybe’ pile, and one pile should be your list of ‘must haves.’ It is safe to assume the maybe pile is your largest. Go through it a second time and remind yourself of your must have list. Why wasn’t one maybe item on your original list? Is it really as valuable as you thought? Hopefully doing this can help you narrow it down.

Heartwarming Memories

It’s fairly common for the ‘maybe’ pile to be filled with heartwarming memories. As humans, we place a lot of our importance onto items that may spark these memories. Unfortunately, these items are often unnecessary, and not very useful.

One of the greatest ways to make sure your memories are preserved, especially if you are older, is to invite family over to rummage through your maybe pile. You can be sure your memories will be safe in the hands of your daughter or grandson, and even be given a new life altogether.

Another way to limit down your memories without keeping the actual object is to take pictures. If there are things you would like to look at for comfort, but can’t afford to take up space in your new home, take a nice picture of it. Make sure the picture isn’t blurry, and then save it to your computer and phone. Then you can always have the image to bring you comfort.

Choose A Real Estate Agent In Birmingham Who Cares

Even though you are moving into a smaller house, you still want it to feel like home. This can take some time. Finding the right house that will still give you a decent amount of space, and feels like a place you want to live can be difficult, but in the case of downsizing, it’s very important. If you are going to have less space, you simply have to love the home. You want to choose a real estate agent in Birmingham who you feel like listens to you. Downsizing is an emotional journey, and not all real estate agents have the patience required.

At ARC Realty, we take pride in helping people find homes they are thrilled to live in. If you are downsizing in Birmingham and need some helping finding your new place, give us a call! We would love to help.