Are there pros to living in a small home? A new home represents the largest investment for many people in their lives. Western New Yorkers are conservative in nature and many times they stay in the home longer than the national average of 3-5 years. Last year I was involved with more than one sale that the people had been in the home over 30 years. It is understandable that some buyers may want to purchase a home that they can “grow” into.
Today the price of housing is placing stress on many budgets. Home buyers are finding it increasingly difficult to purchase a home. Today’s home buyer is being confronted with high mortgage interest rates, mushrooming energy costs, increasing property taxes, and rising maintenance and repair costs.
Often when showing homes to a prospective home buyer they give me a laundry list that includes lots of square footage, 4+ bedrooms, 3+ garages on big lots with lots of space. Many home buyers are looking to distressed sales hoping to take advantage of someone else’s misfortune.
This is not always what will make them happy. At times it is important to share some options to buyers that are not finding what it is that they are going to be happy in. Instead of increasing price range it might be beneficial to look at the criteria of a home. One of those options is looking at smaller Western New York homes.
Larger homes come with large bills and lots of space to maintain and keep clean. Large lots mean lots of time spent cutting the grass in the summer and driveways to shovel in the winter. A smaller home will take less resources to run, easier to maintain and will give you more time to enjoy your life as you adjust to home ownership. Benefits of purchasing a small home include:
Smaller houses come with smaller price tags as well as less money that in necessary to get into that home. This will give you the ability to save money for your next home while building equity in your current home. Added benefit to purchasing a small home might just mean that you are not house poor. Utility and tax bills will be less as well. All this will put less stress on your budget and overall finances.
Reality is the more house you have the more you have to maintain and those expenses can be larger in a big home. Having a small home if you are single is a lot easier to maintain. Smaller homes are usually on smaller lots, which means that there is less to do outside. If you like taking advantage of the great outdoor activities year round here in Western New York, you are not going to want to have a huge hose to take care of.
When you have less space you can’t have a lot of clutter and you are forced to purge yourself of all that is unnecessary.
Bottom line, a modest home might be the right choice for your long-term financial future, giving you freedom to enjoy your life without being stressed out by the expense of a larger home.
What About One Of These Homes?
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All statistics are gathered from the Buffalo Niagara Association of REALTORS®.
For more information, call our Myriad Team @ Keller Williams Lancaster at (716) 650-0051
Thinking of selling your Western New York home? Interested in finding out the current market value of your single family home, condo or investment property? Then call us at (716) 650-0051 to discuss what is happening in today’s Western New York Real Estate Market. We would be happy to give you a personalized Comparative Market Analysis for your home or assist you to purchase a home.
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