Making a break from your community can be exciting. It can offer you new friendships and experiences you never dreamed of.
6. “I want to fill the house with grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”
Some empty nesters — particularly those with larger families — might protest the idea of downsizing so they can have space for their children, grandchildren, and out-of-town guests. They imagine hosting large family gatherings filled with their adult children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. However, as you age, maintaining a large home just so you can fit your entire family in it sometimes isn’t reason enough to avoid downsizing. In my personal experience, we bought our current "Holiday Home" with the large dining room to entertain everyone in our immediate and extended family. In the almost 4 years we've lived here, we hosted only 2 holiday gatherings. That's about 1458 days of not using this room as intended to the 2 that we did. Furthermore, maybe your family members don’t live nearby. There’s also the chance that family who do live close by might end up moving for a variety of reasons, including job transfers and career changes. And bear in mind that not all adult children necessarily want to live close to their parents, so factor in the relationship you have with your grown children before you assume that your large home will be the place everyone flocks to for holidays. On the other hand, you can downsize and still have enough room to host family and other guests (just maybe not all at once!). So, when you’re thinking about where you’d like to live, consider how much space you need based on your family relationships and overall dynamic, as well as how frequently out-of-town family members and friends visit.
Think about how often you’ll have overnighters and how much
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