Planning Your Next Chapter? Start With Your Real Estate Options

If you're planning to retire at 62, you probably wouldn't wait until your 62nd birthday to have your first conversation with a financial advisor.

You'd start years earlier.

You'd talk about what you have, what you might need, what you want retirement to look like and what decisions you can make today to give yourself more options later.

I think we should approach major real estate decisions the same way.

You don't have to be ready to sell your condo to start thinking about what comes next. Sometimes the best time to start the conversation is two, three or even five years before you think you might make a move.

Thinking About a Different Lifestyle?

Maybe you've lived in your Lakeshore East condo for 20 or 30 years.

You like your condo. You like your building. You like living downtown.

But lately you've started wondering what else might be out there.

Maybe you'd like something smaller. Maybe you'd like to spend winters somewhere warmer. Maybe you want to travel more and own less. Or maybe you're simply ready for something different, even though you can't quite define what "different" looks like yet.

Nothing has to be wrong for you to wonder whether something else might be right.

And wondering doesn't mean you're ready to sell. It means you may be ready to start understanding your options.

Talking to a Realtor Doesn't Mean You Have to Sell

I think some homeowners wait to call a real estate agent because they believe they should already have made the decision to sell.

You don't need to.

The goal of an initial meeting shouldn't be to convince you to put your home on the market. It should be to give you enough information, data and perspective to make an informed decision about what makes sense for you.

What is your condo worth today? What would your approximate selling costs be? How much equity might you have after a sale? What could you buy with that money? What would your monthly expenses look like somewhere else?

And perhaps most importantly, what are you hoping will be different about your life?

Sometimes we may go through all of that and determine that staying where you are makes the most sense.

Other times, you may discover that you have more options than you realized.

Both are useful answers.

Your Next Move Doesn't Have to Be Your Final Move

Let's say you've lived in a three-bedroom condo in Lakeshore East for many years.

You know you don't want to spend every winter in Chicago forever, but you don't know where you want to go.

You'd like to spend several months each year somewhere warmer and explore different areas before deciding where you might eventually live. But keeping your current three-bedroom while renting another home for several months every year doesn't make financial sense.

That doesn't mean your only choices are to stay exactly where you are or sell everything and move somewhere you barely know.

What if you sold the three-bedroom and bought a one-bedroom in Lakeshore East?

Now we can put actual numbers around that idea.

What could your current condo realistically sell for? What would the selling costs be? How much equity would remain? What would it cost to purchase the smaller condo, including closing costs? What would your new assessments, taxes and other monthly expenses look like?

Maybe downsizing creates enough financial flexibility to spend three or six months somewhere warmer each year.

One year you might rent in one area. The next year, somewhere completely different.

You have time to figure out what you actually like rather than what you think you'll like. Eventually, you may find the place where you want to spend the next 10, 15 or 20 years.

Or you may discover that keeping a smaller home in Lakeshore East and spending part of every year somewhere else is exactly the lifestyle you want.

Your next move doesn't have to answer every question about the rest of your life. Sometimes it just needs to give you more options.

What About Waiting a Few Years?

One of the obvious questions is: What happens if I wait?

What will your condo be worth in two or three years? Where will interest rates be? What will the home you eventually want to buy cost?

I can't tell you, and neither can anyone else.

But we can look at what we know today.

We can look at your condo's value, comparable sales, current inventory and what's happening in your building and throughout Lakeshore East. We can look at the types of properties you might eventually want to buy and what they cost today.

That gives us a starting point.

If you're several years away from moving, the conversation may be mostly about lifestyle and possibilities. As you get closer, we can start looking more closely at equity, selling and buying costs, preparation, market conditions and timing.

The plan can change along the way. In fact, it probably will.

That's one of the reasons to start early.

You Don't Need a Moving Date to Start Planning

You don't need to know where you're going. You don't need to have decided to sell.

You can simply be wondering what your options are.

And talking to me doesn't obligate you to sell or to hire me if you eventually do.

I've written separately about what happens to the private information you share when you're interviewing Realtors, because I believe you should be able to explore your options without feeling that a conversation commits you to anything.

If you're further along in the process and ready to start interviewing agents, I've also written about how to choose a Lakeshore East Realtor.

But if you're still at the very beginning, that's okay.

Sometimes the first step is simply understanding what you have today and what options it could give you tomorrow.

You don't have to make the decision before you gather the information. The information is what helps you make the decision.