• Life Events
  • Parenthood
  • Retiring
  • Death of Spouse
  • Divorce
  • Ailing Parent
  • Leaving a Job
  • Leaving a Job

Empty Nest / Your Home

An important consideration when the children have left is whether you are going to change your residential arrangements. We are all familiar with the term ‘empty nesters’ and you may be thinking that the ‘nest’ is too large for one or two of you. Various options are available such as ‘downsizing’, selling and renting, buying a vacation home or renovating. Some of the factors to be considered are:

The Children

Even though the children have left home they may still have a strong emotional attachment to the place where they grew up. You may have decided that selling your home is the best strategy but as a courtesy it may be a good idea to include your children in the discussion, which should prevent any misunderstandings or hard feelings.

It has been an increasing trend in recent years that adult children return to the parental ‘nest’ for reasons such as difficulty in finding and becoming established in a career, debt or relationship breakdown. Most parents will be quite willing to take their children back into the home (at least for the short term) and this possibility should be factored in when considering selling your house and moving to another locale or to smaller accommodations.

Selling and Moving

If becoming an ‘empty nester’ coincides with retirement, you may be considering selling your home and moving to a different community. This has become a popular option for many people. It can be a very financially attractive option particularly for city dwellers to take advantage of generally higher real estate prices in urban areas and purchase a new home in a smaller community where home prices are often much lower. This allows you to find a nice home and still retain a fair amount of equity as savings. However, this needs to be carefully considered. Taking advantage of the country life often appears very attractive in theory but small town living can provide a substantial culture shock and the services and other features that a large community provides may be sorely missed in a smaller town. Consequently, you should be doing a fair amount of homework to determine if the new location will provide the sort of lifestyle that you are planning on.

Renovation

As an empty nester, you may have plans to renovate your home to make it more comfortable for one or two people. Before you renovate, it is important to keep in mind the possibility of children returning to the home. You may also want to consider adequate living arrangements for family and friends who come to visit.