Dee and Patrick McGee at their home in Port Hope.
In 2007, my wife and I sold our 2,300-square-foot Ottawa home, opted for the world of self-employment and moved to a smart new condo on a charming small-town harbour an hour east of Toronto. Soon, we learned that we had been so mesmerized by the sparkling waters of Lake Ontario, we had overlooked the perils of living in a space half the size of our single-family house while trying to work from home.
Beware, all fiftysomething baby boomers preparing for retirement: There is a world of enticing downsizing options out there and somewhere there is one that fits your needs. But look beyond the convenience and the view. Think long and hard before you choose, and make sure the choice you make offers ample space to live the life you plan.
Originally, we intended to rent out our condo until we retired, but its magnificent location seduced us to move in while we worked from home as freelance editors and writers.
Our rude awakening came the first Saturday morning in our "dream home." My wife stepped out to the balcony in her bathrobe to enjoy the activity in the bustling marina. All seemed well with the world until a neighbour shouted from the other side of the courtyard: "Oh, I see you're just getting up!"
Welcome to life in a 1,165-square-foot condo: There's often no private space to escape.
That's not to say you should put off selling the family home, the empty nest that is too large for just the two of you. Maybe there are too many rooms, the yard is too big or you don't want to bother with maintenance.
Downsizing to a condo could be just what you need. Your monthly fees pay for the upkeep and maintenance of the common areas, and if you head south in the winter, all you need to do is shut the door and go.
But before you decide on whether to downsize, by how much and to where, you need to be brutally honest with yourself. Draw up a list of must-haves, then make sure your selection meets your criteria. For example, if retirement preparation involves self-employment and/or working from home, make sure your new home gives you enough elbow room and privacy.
When Dee and Patrick McGee's daughters moved out after finishing university, the Toronto couple sold their 3,200-square-foot home and moved into a 1,200-square-foot condo in the Annex neighbourhood. Before buying, they even rented to give condo living a try.
Psychologically, downsizing was no problem. "We were ready," says Ms. McGee, a real-estate agent. "We are not your typical family that hangs on to grandma's treasures."
She had dealt with clients who were reluctant to part with their possessions and understood the importance of reducing the amount and scale of their furniture to fit their new surroundings. It seemed as though they had done everything correctly.
"We didn't initially miss the space and we did have a great deck. But eventually we missed the grass. Then my built-in office, which was in the middle of the condo, seemed to take over way too much space."
It's hard to think of everything when downsizing. Ottawa real-estate broker Marnie Bennett of Bennett Real Estate Professionals uses a "lifestyle checklist" to help clients zero in on what is really important to them as they get set to make the leap.
Ms. Bennett says one way of easing the transition is to find a condo that offers extra, shared amenities. And we're not just talking about a pool and a workout room. They could include a dining room to book for family gatherings and parties, an activity room for Pilates and other classes, a pet spa, a media room for film nights, a sports room where you can store your golf clubs, tune up your bicycle and wax your skis and a guest suite you can reserve for overnight visitors.
Easing the price tag that comes with such facilities, Ms. Bennett says, is the fact some are in mixed-use buildings, where commercial owners absorb part of the cost. She says buyers should calculate how much they would pay for a gym membership, an occasional trip to the movies and other activities that can be covered by condo fees instead.
Preparation for the move to smaller quarters is both mental and physical. We thought hard about what possessions we could bear to part with. I had proved initially more sentimental than my wife, but soon I caught her "it's only stuff" attitude. A garage sale was held. Newspaper want ads and Kijiji were consulted. Agencies that accept donations of clothing, furniture and bric-a-brac were called.
The McGees sold a lot of furniture and replaced it with smaller, condo-sized designs. These days, the options include:
•Tables that do double duty: With a hydraulic mechanism and flip-out feature, they can serve either as a coffee table or a dining table. That way, you may not need space for a dedicated dining area.
•Platform, Murphy or under-storage beds: Platform beds are less bulky, Murphy beds lift out of sight into a "closet," and some beds come with drawers and other storage.
•Smaller-scale furniture: Poofy-armed couches and chairs are out; streamlined is in. Entertainment centres and desks can be housed in the same unit. There are also high-quality miniature sound systems.
We opted for downsized and double-duty furniture too, but our perfect condo in the perfect location still proved to be too cramped for these two fiftysomething boomers. "If we only had one more room," we frequently found ourselves lamenting.
Madeline Elbirt, a real-estate agent with Toronto's Royal Lepage Signature Realty and an accredited seniors real-estate specialist, frequently deals with preretirement boomers who decide to downsize.
"Some people who have lived in a house all their lives don't consider all the factors when moving to a condo," she says. "People want the advantages of condo living, but then for many of them the reality sets in."
Ms. Elbirt says she tries to anticipate problems and gently raises topics for clients to ponder. "I'll say to them: 'Have you considered … ?' Because often I'll think of something they haven't."
One of the biggest challenges boomers face in the downsize is dealing with bulky furniture that might be family heirlooms. "Sometimes older people have a great big dining-room set and the kids say, 'We don't want that,' " she says.
Ms. Bennett says sometimes she advises clients to test-drive a condo to see whether the downsized lifestyle is right for them. "We'll have them rent their house out, buy a condo with a line of credit and defer their house sale until they know for sure."
In the meantime, the condo is a good investment, she says, and they can either sell it or rent it out until a future date when they may feel ready to move into it.
Our own move to a condo was done after considerable thought and planning. We cordoned off that portion of our house that would be an equivalent size, to see if it would be possible to live in that much space.
Still, envisioning the space when buying a condo off-plan proved harder than we had anticipated. Ms. Bennett says as an aid to buyers, some builders provide models and do mockups of what their space will be like when the condo is built.
Ultimately, we decided that we weren't ready for a two-bedroom condo. We found a small home on Lake Erie that provides space and privacy. It's a mid-step: smaller than that big house in Ottawa, but offering the space we need to conduct business from home.
The McGees, too, decided they had leaped too quickly, left the condo and bought a 1,600-square-foot home in Port Hope, Ont. They still work from home but now, Ms. McGee says, she has space to shut her work away.
Special to The Globe and Mail