Right-Sizing and moving on
When considering a retirement village, there are a number of price options to choose from - ranging from affordable to premium. The price of an ORA reflects the average freehold home value in the area where the village is built.
Rattling around in a large, and mostly empty house, is depressing and challenging. So what can be done about it? “Downsizing” for many is a term that diminishes age, so let’s try “right-sizing”. Not amazingly original, but it suggests that changes in one’s life are a catalyst for thinking about what’s really needed for the future – and for many older people, a five bedroom late Edwardian villa in the suburbs isn’t it.
So, right-sizing it is. And a retirement village is an increasingly popular right-sizing option.
The first and perhaps the greatest challenge in moving to a new place is working out what to do with the accumulated memories and stuff of decades of life. Someone said that “part of the trouble in "getting rid" of stuff is accepting that certain parts of my life are over. For example, I was never a frequent entertainer, but I do have nice tableware that is used for "company." Letting it go would signal that that part of my life is over. The same could be applied to sports equipment. What I mean is it is more than getting rid of extraneous stuff. It is like saying that part of my life has gone forever -I am moving into decrepitude where I won't need my silverware or my tennis racquets!”
It needn’t be like that, but we know it’s not easy. The internet has plenty of sites giving advice on how to decide what to keep and what to give away, how to manage things that provide lovely memories with what’s really a non-essential. Perhaps you could create four piles in four corners of a room – stuff that’s essential for your future happiness, stuff that has value which your family and friends might appreciate, stuff that no-one immediately wants but could be worth something to strangers, and – let’s face it – junk. Then just make sure the family takes delivery sooner rather than later, you send the unwanted but worthwhile stuff to a charity shop or sell it on-line, and lastly, get that skip ordered in today!
People decide to right-size for all sorts of reasons. They don’t want to “be a burden on the family” and decide to sort their belongings long before the children have to do it for them. Or perhaps there are good health reasons – the stairs are too much for the knees, the garden’s getting beyond it, or vacuuming all five bedrooms is an exhausting pastime and you have much better things to do.
Releasing equity in the family home has been a major incentive to move. Thanks to the buoyant property market, we’ve known people to sell their family home, move to a retirement village and bank hundreds of thousands of dollars into the retirement savings. It’s a bit like winning Lotto, and the addition to the savings means a quantum improvement in their retirement lifestyle.
Moving to a smaller home also means significant savings in costs too – power, rates, insurance, furniture, maintenance and upkeep all fall away. Retirement village homes are purpose-built for older people, with no steps, insulation and energy-efficient appliances, the economies of scale with rates and insurance, and someone else looks after the maintenance and lawns.
But don’t take our word for it. See what our residents say about the many benefits of right-sizing to a retirement village
“The sooner you move and the sooner you make the decision, the better.”
