Turning Your Home into Your Retirement Plan

It is often a very good idea to include both your primary residence and a second home in your retirement plan. Mortgage rates have fallen recently, bringing them back in line with the lowest levels in more than 2 months and very near the best levels since late April 2015. The surprisingly strong performance so far in 2016 is primarily due to a much weaker performance in risk assets like stocks and oil prices.  Now is a great time to buy, so even if you are not quite at retirement age, why not buy now and begin building equity? This will also give you the chance to take your potential retirement location for a test drive before committing.

If your home or the community you choose turns out not to be a good fit, better to know now than take the leap and fully move there upon retirement. It can also provide a great stress reliever. If your home is a reasonable distance from your second property, it can provide a great environment to get away for a weekend and relieve the stresses of everyday life.

Purchasing this second home early can really also ease in the transition of downsizing. Perhaps you can downsize your “empty nest” and get a smaller primary residence, while retaining some of the capital to use toward your new second home, or for improvements.

Many memories were made in your home and your family may have trouble breaking those emotional attachments. You and your family can create new family memories in your second home before you fully retire. This will allow saying goodbye to the home that your family enjoyed for many years a little easier.

Take advantage of these low real estate prices and interest rates today to pave a smoother retirement down the road. We can help you with all aspects of planning for downsizing and finding areas that might interest you for a second, retirement home.