Should You Stay Or Should You Go Now?

You’ve stopped here because either the time has arrived to become a snowbird and head to warmer temperatures or you are considering becoming a snow bird!?

As we age (and I include myself in this over 50 category!), we come to the realization that our lives should be easier not harder. And living in New England and our winters definitely make our lives harder. Everything is more difficult in the cold, ice & snow and we have LONG ass winters here. We (the over 50 demographic) are more active, more healthy and living longer. We are realizing we want to be able to be outdoors more with boating, fishing, golfing, etc. We don’t want to remove snow, endure the high costs of heating, worry about ice dam damage to our homes, walk without falling from ice and snow, or just being cooped up for 5 months of the year.

We have so many advantages nowadays to stay in touch and with flights being so cheap & technology available to us, being “far away” from our loved ones is no longer a factor in deciding to stay put in New England as people don’t mind jumping on a plane and visiting for a weekend or the use of Video Chats to stay in touch and “see” our family.

We aren’t the same society as we were just 25 years ago. Multiple generation families can decide to all move because so many employers allow people to work from home. Flights are cheap so if you have to attend “in-person” meetings, it is easily done. Truly astonishing if you think of how so much has changed and staying connected is so much easier now and how we have adapted. Jumping on a flight for a quick weekend is not longer the hassle it used to be!

Making the decision to live your BEST life after working your entire life for your family, tuitions and high cost of living that we have is not an easy one (or maybe it is). But it IS a process and certain things have to be put in motion so that when you finally can make the move, you can do so with as little stress as possible. Decisions have to be made and considerations have to be discussed and plans have to be made!!! I find that for the people who have been in their home for decades that they don’t know where they should start first. Hopefully this little blog article will help you settle upon a plan.

Do you purchase or sell first? That depends on what your financial picture looks like. Most people have plenty of equity in their homes and most southern states’ home prices are much, much cheaper than around here. You’ll have to decide if you use funds from a retirement plan, or take out a home equity on your home and pay cash for the new home, use a Reverse Mortgage, or do you need the money from the sale of your home? A realtor can and should be able to help you work thru your options and then connect you with trusted professionals in the areas you are interested in. I can tell you the most commonly used resource to purchase your warm weather (or colder weather) residence and that is a home equity. Most people have been in their home for decades (unlike the home buyers of today) and we often have plenty of equity to use to purchase the new property. Then you will have a place to go to once you put your home on the market. If you don’t have enough equity/funds and you need the funds from the sale of your present home, that’s not a problem either. It’s a bit more tricky, but not impossible. When we list your home, we will make it known to all potential buyers that you will need to secure suitable housing so that you aren’t homeless. Then any and all offers you receive will include that language and usually a timeline for you to find a home. This certainly helps to alleviate the stress and worry of not having a place to move to because if you can’t find a home within the timeframe allotted – we can either extend the timeline or you withdraw from the sale without any recourse from the buyer.

Regardless of how you plan on purchasing your new home, you need to know WHERE you want to go. If you don’t know where you want to go but you know that you are done with the winters of New England, check out this ARTICLE on retiree friendly states that don’t have taxes on social security funds or state sales taxes so that your money goes a little bit further than it would around here.

Once your location has been decided upon, you’ll likely want to get your home to sell in order. Whether you’re planning on moving in a month or in a year, you want to get 1 or 2 real estate agents out to offer advice on what projects you should do and give a ball park of what your home is worth in today’s market. It’s impossible for us to tell you what it’s worth in 6 months or even 3 months since real estate changes in a heart beat. But you will want to know what to expect.You’ll then want to reach out to your accountant and discuss CAPITAL GAINS and you can use the ball park figure that the real estate agent provided so that your accountant has a figure to work with. There are all sorts of rules pertaining to capital gains so it it’s important for you to get educated before listing your home.