Thinking about downsizing from your home that you own in Beacon NY or in the Hudson Valley area? Here are some tips to help you out with the process! It's not easy taking everything from your current house and packing it into a house that is 2-3 bedrooms smaller than what you've got. I'm here to help you get that process started. These are my top tips that I've learned from helping clients who are in the same position as you are right now. You've got a house filled with stuff, some of it yours, some of it not, but there's no way all of it will fit in where you're planning on going. Have no fear, Tony is here, and you're not alone. Let's get into it.
1. Set a Timeline
You'll want to set out a realistic timeline for yourself to downsize your home. Whether you're selling your home in Beacon, NY and moving out of state, or buying a home in the Hudson Valley, or even just saying in Beacon, you'll need to take that into account. The further you're going, the more time you're going to need. You'll also want to give yourself enough time to physically sort, pack, and store all of your stuff. Rule of thumb, always overestimate. Give yourself more time than you think you'll need. It's easier to work with extra budgeted time than to try to make up for not enough time.
2. Take Inventory
How much stuff do you have? How much of it will fit in the new house? How much of it belongs to you? How much of it belongs to people who no longer live with you? What could you live without in the new house? Will your giant L shaped sectional fit in your new 1,200 square foot condo? All of these and more are questions you'll want to sort out when you're downsizing. Before even moving everything around, you'll want to take an inventory of exactly how much stuff you have and try to sort the list you make by who owns it and what room it belongs in.
3. Sort by Rooms First
You'll want to start sorting items into different boxes. I suggest boxes for wants, needs, donate, trash and non-negotiables. Your needs are for example your forks and knives in the kitchen. However, if you're like me and my family, we have about 150 different types of glasses and mugs collected over the years that if downsizing, lots of them would land in the donate pile. Try and sort your items into these different boxes room-by-room to make things easier on you. Aim to have donate be the largest box, you'll only want to trash the things you really can't give away. Non-negoitables are things that you cannot do without and you must have.
4. Go Digital
Paperwork takes up a lot of space in our households, that comes to no surprise. See if you can have your paperwork scanned to be stored in a digital world instead of the physical one. Keep the important things (like you know..the deed to your house), but the rest of it can be scanned and stored in the cloud.
5. Let Go
Try and donate or start a yard sale to get rid of the things that you've decided not to take with you. If you have some really special items that you don't want to get rid of but don't have space for in the new home, you should instead of selling it, try to find someone who would truly appreciate it the same way that you have. But for the 30 different cowboy coffee mugs that you got at a garage sale, you can just list those on Facebook Marketplace. Try and get rid of as much stuff as possible before making the move.
6. Buy Space
You should invest in some new storage options to sort your things. So much space comes from improper storage. If you're looking to sell your Beacon, NY home, and move to something smaller, you're going to need to buy new storage containers that fit snugly into your closets or a corner of each room that hold lots of your stuff that was previously scattered all over. It's a good investment, I promise!
7. Find the Right Realtor
Last on the list is in my mind, the most important, but also I'm biased. When you're looking to sell your home in the Hudson Valley or buy a home in the Hudson Valley, you want to find a trusted Realtor. I have helped countless people and families who are in your situation and need to move from what they thought would be their forever home into something a little more manageable. I'll be able to guide you through the process from start to finish and make sure you're on track which will help you from feeling overwhelmed. If you need help getting started on downsizing your Beacon, NY home or your home in the Hudson Valley, please don't hesitate to reach out. I'm here to help.
Want to chat more about this whole process and pick my brain about specific details? Send me your info here and I'll reach out to help!
Thanks for listening,
Anthony Ruperto
Licensed Real Estate Salesperson
J Philip Real Estate, LLC.
914.494.0141
Anthony@JPhilip.net