4 Benefits of Selling Your Home When You Retire

If you're retired or planning your retirement, one of the biggest decisions you may face is what to do with your house. Do you sell it and live off the funds while downsizing, or keep it? 

While there are advantages to each option, keep reading to learn some of the benefits of selling your home when you retire.

Start a New Chapter

While there are many financial and practical benefits to putting your house on the market when you retire, there are also personal and emotional reasons to do it. 

Retirement is a big change in a person's life—for many, it's a day they've been looking forward to for years if not decades! So, it's worth considering using this time of career change also to make a home change. 

Instead of living in a home designed for raising a family or being close to work, consider moving into a house that prioritizes your retirement life.

Capitalize on a Seller's Market

A lucrative benefit to selling your home when you retire is that you can capitalize on a great housing market for sellers. Now’s the time to cash in on your investment and reap the rewards, especially if you've had the same house for a long time and put a lot of equity into it. 

It's a seller's market in the US right now, so regardless of where you live and assuming your home is in good condition, you should have no problem finding buyers that will pay market or above-market prices. 

Plus, you're no longer working and earning money, and the large sum of cash from selling your home can go toward a new house or pay for living expenses in your golden years.

Downsize and Eliminate Costs

Another reason that many retirees sell the homes they've had for years or decades is that they want to downsize. This is especially true for empty-nesters. 

Those who raised a family in a home now have an empty nest and a home that requires a lot of upkeep and property taxes. Downsizing allows retirees to eliminate costs like repairs, maintenance, homeowner's insurance, and property taxes. 

Your home may have been perfect for previous stages in your life, but now you're onto a different chapter. For example, mobile home living is perfect for retirement because it's so easy to manage and affordable for retirees!

Find Your Dream Retirement Home

Once you've sold your current home and earned a hefty amount of cash, you can put it toward finally getting your dream retirement home. 

We've all imagined what our golden years would be like, and it's often in a different home than we currently live in. Maybe your dream home is a beach house, a cabin in the wilderness, or something closer to the golf course! 

Whatever your heart desires, the first step in achieving the dream will be to sell your current house and put the funds toward your dream retirement home.

Selling your house is often the first step for retirees, and doing so has many advantages. If you're on the cusp of retirement, consider the benefits of putting your home on the market and what it means for your retirement plans.

First Year in a Mobile Home? What to Know About Insurance

Well before you spend your first night in your new mobile home, you need to consider your insurance options. A solid insurance policy will be your first line of defense against a wide array of risks. 

Here is a closer look at a few things that all new mobile home owners should know about insurance.

All Mobile Home Owners Need Insurance

Most homeowners aren’t legally required to have home insurance, but you shouldn’t take any risks with your property and family. Even a relatively small policy will help you cover issues such as fire damage, theft, and vandalism. 

If you are going to take out a loan to purchase your mobile home, then your lender will most likely require you to have some type of insurance. Most mortgage companies won’t approve a loan unless the property that is being purchased is fully covered.

Every Policy Is Different

Every homeowner has their own unique needs, and there is no single policy that works for everyone. When you head to the insurance offices, your agent will need information such as the location of your property, your physical assets, and the total value of the mobile home. 

A smaller mobile home that is occasionally used as a summer getaway will need much different coverage than a larger residence that you live in throughout the year.

You Might Be Able to Bundle and Save

Most insurance providers love to offer discounts to clients that bundle all of their policies. You could potentially save thousands a year if you combine your home insurance with your auto policy. 

It is also a good idea to ask your agent about any other discounts that you might be eligible for. Some insurance companies will reduce your premiums if you carry out security upgrades or work in a certain industry.

Insurance Isn’t Just for Your Property

Many first-time homeowners are surprised to hear that home insurance policies aren’t just for their belongings. These policies cover a variety of liability issues. 

If an individual is injured on your property, then your insurance might pay for some or all of the medical bills. It could also help you cover legal fees if your pet attacks a neighbor or someone claims that your property is unsafe. 

Some homeowners even upgrade their home policies to cover larger items such as parked boats.

Purchasing a warranty is another great way to protect your mobile home and all of your belonging. Your warranty is going to help you cover a myriad of expenses ranging from appliance repairs to annual HVAC service calls.

Guide to Buying a Static Caravan

Mobile Home (Photo credit: kenjonbro)

If you’re thinking about buying a static caravan for the first time, here are a few tips about things to consider and esquire about:

• What are the site’s conditions? Your site, after your static, is the most important thing to you. Check out whether or not it has the facilities you’ll need and also whether or not you’ll be able (and happy) to comply with all their regulations and conditions;
• Have you selected a static that’s an appropriate size? Buying small and cute might look cost-effective but not if you and your family start to live cheek-by-jowl day after day and frictions start to arise as a result;
• Does the static have all required facilities? You may think that roughing it a bit is part of the fun and it might well be – for a short period! After that, it might become tiresome, so be clear that it has everything you’ll need to provide the minimum comfort levels and facilities you’ll require;
• What’s happening in the local area? Your site might be great but if the nearest restaurants, pubs and shops are a 15 minute drive away the novelty of rural isolation might soon wear off. Considerations here also apply in terms of undesirable things going on nearby – for example that adjacent farm might look appealing but will be less so if tractors and machinery start making noise at 4am every morning; 
• Do you understand what insurance will be required in order to protect your investment? If not then speak to a specialist such as Cover4Caravans or someone similar;
• What condition is the static in? If you don’t know what to look for when performing an inspection, then get someone to help who does. Remember that, just like with a motor vehicle, things might look fine on the surface but there may be troubles internally or underneath that will result in you needing to some big cheques unless you spot them in advance;
• What are your site neighbours like? True, this is tricky to ascertain sometimes and you can’t go around interviewing people but even so, look around at the condition of other caravans around you, how well their pitch is maintained, what the pet situation is and so on. Try to talk to a few people around you before making your purchasing decision – unless you’re planning to re-locate anyway;
• Do you plan to let your static out at times? If the answer is yes, make sure you check before purchase that the site owners (possibly also the local council) will permit it. Insurance might not be a problem, providing you declare your intentions at the outset and don’t start letting out unilaterally without informing your policy provider;
• Why is the current owner selling? The up-front answer is likely to be re-assuring and bland but some subtle questioning and discussion might sometimes evidence that there are issues other than those being declared. In one sense it might be none of your business but in others, it might give you a legitimate cause for concern;
• Look closely at local environment issues. Caravan sites perched precariously on cliff-tops, in flood-plains, alongside local rivers or directly on the coast, might all be at risk during times of bad weather. Some sites might be a challenge in terms of finding things such as flood or storm insurance cover;
• Clarify the site cost issues both in terms of the present and the future. For example, your pitch fees might seem very reasonable at purchase time but might look a lot less so if they rocket next year. Check out past annual increases and look for guarantees about future percentages where possible;
• Don’t assume you can go to your caravan whenever you wish. Some sites may close at certain times of the year and in terms of site conditions, local council regulations and your insurance provisions, it might not be possible for you to spend more than a specified number of days in your static each year. Make sure that you understand the details here and what it will mean for your plans.

These are a very few basic points but they might help you to avoid making a purchase you’ll subsequently regret! 

Make Extra Money By Renting Out Your Static Caravan

English: The caravan park at Pease Bay A high quality static caravan holiday home park in a secluded bay. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

From the early day of the package holiday, we all loved to save up and get away from it all on our “two weeks in the sun”. But against the background of the credit crunch and recent economic woes the financial landscape has changed and many of us simply can’t afford to holiday abroad any more.

Despite the unpredictability of our British summer, the undeniable cash savings of holidaying in the UK have driven a massive growth in the “staycation”.

A large chunk of this new holiday market is based around static caravans, usually a cheaper option than staying in a hotel or renting a house. With the added attraction for holiday makers, that the holiday parks the caravans are on usually have entertainment and facilities to hand right there.

Suddenly things look more and more attractive for static owner to start or increase the time that they rent out their caravan. As popularity is growing the financial benefits of renting out your static move from a way to try to offset the costs of your family holiday home, to a reasonable way to actually make some money from what can actually be a relatively low upfront cost.

Obviously for an owner moving into rental for the first time can be a little daunting. Although they will be used to the various site fees associated with static ownership, renting to others can throw up new issues and costs, such as specific rental insurance and regular gas and electrical safety checks.

There are a growing number of websites and forums where owners and potential owners can find information and advice, but a great starting point is the National Association of Caravan Owners website. You can find plenty of advice and information about costs and issues around the ownership and renting out. In particular you will want to look into insurance issues and they can help with quotes for that.

Borne out of a need for some kind of group or association representing the caravan owners themselves when dealing with park owners or manufacturers, the National Association of Caravan Owners are can provide support, information and even legal advice where required.

The obvious way to rent out your static, especially on some of the larger big company owned sites, is to rent via the park owners themselves. Obviously the services the parks provide and of course the charges they make (often they just take their cut from the payment the holiday makers make direct to them) vary and its essential to read any rental contracts before you sign and ensure you understand the costs and responsibilities on either side. This is an easy and reasonably hassle free way to rent, but is usually the most expensive method you can use.

In order to maximise your income you may decide to take on the role yourself and deal with all the renting and booking issues directly. With the advent of forums and websites it is now easier than ever to get set up online and start to make extra money from your caravan.