A retirement home is a place where you hope to live post-retirement. A place that is safe and healthy. Most important where you can stay happily in the final phase of your life. A place you can call home (even if it’s away and isn’t the same as the house you stayed in all your life). Simply put, buying a retirement home ought to be the best idea. Not to forget, it needs to be a profitable venture. It involves a major chunk of the earnings of your lifetime.
Buying a retirement home: Make it Hassle-free
It is important that you avoid making serious irreparable mistakes. Here are at least 3 things you must never forget when planning to buy a home for post-retirement.
Buying a Retirement Home: 3 Things to Remember
1. Where is it located?
The location of the property is always a prime consideration. This is essential when buying any house but more so in the case of a retirement home. This is because after you retire, you need to be in easy access of family and close friends. This essential so that that can reach you during emergencies.
Choose a spot that satisfies the above criteria. Besides, there are few other important ones such as the climate of the place, safety, access to essential services. To mention provisions like shops, medical stores, etc. Most important, location also plays a significant role in terms of tax implications post-retirement. Few cities/states may have higher property tax rates than others.
2. What’s your budget?
The next big thing to consider is your available finances. Also remember that your financial scenario post retirement isn’t going to be necessarily the same as now. The simple reason being that there’s not going to be any running income once you retire. Even pensions and other similar benefits aren’t the privilege of all.
This means that the process of planning for and working towards building a retirement home must start NOW, when you have a decent amount in hand. When working on a budget, you must include all your projected expenses and incomes during those years in advance (at least a rough idea). Don’t forget to keep a certain figure in mind as medical expenses.
Most important, budgeting for your retirement home would also require a decision on whether you’d be financing the place or paying by cash yourself. Of course, the latter is more preferred any day because you don’t want to be under the strain of paying off mortgage at that age. But again, it’s a subjective decision that would help you budget correctly.
3. How do you plan to maintain it?
Whenever you buy a property, it automatically comes with the additional cost of its upkeep, besides the purchase cost, mortgage, taxes and insurance amount. The same holds true for a retirement home too. If you plan to stay in an independent house, you’d have to bear these costs alone but if you move into a residential community, maintenance services would generally be included for residents.
So keep these things in mind and make a wise move when buying a retirement home for your golden years.
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