{"id":3118,"date":"2026-02-06T02:00:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T10:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=3118"},"modified":"2026-02-06T21:05:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T05:05:47","slug":"should-i-downsize-my-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/should-i-downsize-my-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Should I Downsize My Home? Answer These 5 Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Downsizing can save you both stress and money in the future. Less space means less upkeep, and it also means a smaller financial burden for you going forward into retirement. Downsizing can be a difficult process, though, especially if you\u2019re not prepared for the financial or emotional burden of moving.<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3cL19zi7yJs?rel=0\" width=\"775\" height=\"436\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>(Video Credit: Corinne Rivera \/ HomeLight)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Take Bill and Dorothy, for example. High year-round temperatures and the need for a property that is easier to maintain inspired them to downsize. The decision wasn\u2019t easy: 44 years in their home and strong friendships in their area made the process of downsizing to the right home important. The house needed to meet all of their criteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"geo-cta widget-cta widget-cta--content     widget-cta--dark widget-cta--dark-blue-gradient\">\n    <div class=\"widget-element--content\">\n        <div class=\"widget-element--content-header\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"homelight logo\" class=\"widget-element--logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/ccprototypev5\/images\/logo-small-cta.png\" width=\"106\" height=\"25\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        \n                <h3 class=\"cta-headline widget--bold\">Get Expert Advice About Downsizing Your Home<\/h3>\n                        <p>Take the worry out of the downsizing process. It takes just two minutes to match clients with the best real estate agents, who will contact you and guide you through the process from start to finish. To connect with a top agent in your market, simply tell us a little bit about your property and how soon you\u2019re looking to sell.<\/p>\n        \n                <div class=\"widget-element--buttons\">\n            <a data-type=\"In Content CTA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/find-agent\/quiz\/seller?#\/qaas=0\/\" class=\"cta-click-track widget-element--button\">Find Agent<\/a>\n        <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Enter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/agents\/stewart-walowitz-az-sw250\">Stewart Walowitz,<\/a> a top-rated real estate agent in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/scottsdale-az\/top-real-estate-agents\">Scottsdale, Arizona,<\/a> who helped them move into a home in a higher area where temperatures aren\u2019t so extreme. Bill and Dorothy were able to sell their home quickly for a good price, and they still keep in touch with Stewart.<\/p>\n<p>Bill and Dorothy knew that downsizing was the right move for them, which made the process feel seamless and simple. If your motivation for downsizing is clear (or even if it isn\u2019t) to you, we\u2019ll help you answer the question, Should I downsize my home? so that you can have a similar experience.<\/p>\n<h3>Should I Downsize My Home? Answer 5 Questions<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">How high are your mortgage payments?<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Can you really afford to move?<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Can you part with many of your belongings?<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Do you currently live near family?<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Will someone inherit the house?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div id=\"section--1\" data-toc-header=\"How high are your mortgage payments?\" data-toc-type=\"head\"><\/div>\n<h2>1. How high are your mortgage payments?<\/h2>\n<p>The amount left on your mortgage should be one of the largest deciding factors for whether or not you should downsize. Think of it this way: as you inch closer towards retirement, you want to cut debt as much as possible since you won\u2019t have an income. If you\u2019re not close to paying off your mortgage and you\u2019re getting close to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.guardianlife.com\/retirement\/average-age\">average age of retirement<\/a>, downsizing is a great option.<\/p>\n<p>There is a caveat, though.<\/p>\n<p>A smaller house doesn\u2019t necessarily mean a cheaper house, especially in cities like Seattle, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-best-cities-to-live-in\/\">where housing costs have skyrocketed<\/a>. This makes downsizing trickier because not only do you have to look for a smaller home that\u2019s less costly, but you also have to make sure you sell your home for a price that\u2019s higher than the new home.<\/p>\n<p>If you can find a home for a decent price and the sale of your current home outweighs that \u2014 a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/sellers\">top real estate agent<\/a> can help you figure that out, by the way \u2014 then you have the potential to save a lot of money and even make money.<\/p>\n<p>Take Richard and Mary G., a retired couple from Houston, for example.<\/p>\n<p>They lived in their five-bedroom home for decades before they made the decision to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-to-downsize-your-home-quickly\/\">downsize their home<\/a>. The neighborhood where they lived was growing and when they <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/selling-a-paid-off-house\/\">sold their already paid-off house<\/a>, they made a profit. Then they used that money to purchase a smaller home in Colorado up front and even managed to pocket some extra money for savings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Downsizing can save you both stress and money, but is it the right move for you? We&#8217;ll answer &#8216;Should I downsize my home&#8217; for you with these 5 questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":67270,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[220,319],"tags":[214],"class_list":["post-3118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-downsizing","category-selling-advice","tag-downsizing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Should I Downsize My Home? Answer These 5 Questions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Downsizing can save you both stress and money, but is it the right move? These 5 questions answer &#039;Should I downsize my home&#039; for you.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/should-i-downsize-my-home\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wondering if it&#039;s time to downsize? These 5 questions will help you decide.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You don&#039;t want downsizing to be more of a stress and financial burden than it&#039;s worth! We&#039;ll help you figure out if downsizing is right for you.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/should-i-downsize-my-home\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HomeLight Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-06T10:00:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-07T05:05:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hl-blog.homelight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Should-I-Downsize-My-Home-.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"563\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Julia Aldrich\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Is it time to downsize? 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