Seniors have few options as they look to downsize, York Region real estate expert says
YorkRegion.com
Sept. 28, 2016
By Lisa Queen
After watching their parents cling to the houses they owned for decades, Stouffville husband and wife Graham Sparrow and Jan Douglas are determined not to make the same mistake.
For their parents, who had grown up in England during the Depression and the Second World War, their homes were their security.
Even as they became older and more frail, they refused to sell the only houses they had owned as married couples, meaning they also didn’t free up equity to spend money on the things they’d always dreamed of.
“In both of our parents’ case, it was only when they got really to an extreme physical state, did they acknowledge that the house they had lived in for 50 years was no longer suitable,” said Sparrow, whose parents were finally forced to go into a long-term care facility.
Douglas agreed.
“Each of them only ever bought one house, each set of parents, and they just couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. And what we learned from that is that you have to have a plan, you have to think about options,” she said.
“We realize it’s just a house.”
This is a second marriage for both Sparrow and Douglas, who wed 20 years ago.
They have five children between them, whom they raised in a five-bedroom home in Scarborough, although they point out both started out with modest homes when they entered the housing market.
When the kids left home, they sold the house seven years ago for $345,000 and bought a semi-detached home in Stouffville for $290,000.
Flexibility about home ownership and communication about their goals have given Sparrow and Douglas the freedom to live the life they want, including booking three trips over the next year and owning a vacation home trailer in Florida.
The couple is already thinking about their next move, about a decade in the future, this time to Stouffville’s Parkview Village for seniors.
“When you are at our age, which is the late 60s, you have to start looking at people who are 10 years, 15 years older than you are and what is our most likely physical reality going to be?” Sparrow said.
“With a wait list of 10 years for some of the units, now is the time to put your name on a list if you’re realistically saying where are we going to be in 10 years?”
Parkview will provide them with a home with no stairs, an environment in which they can comfortably manage their finances and a close-knit community of seniors.
“All of this I have to attribute to our parents and our watching them and being, not frustrated with them so much as wishing they would look at their lives and think about what they want from life rather than feeling stuck,” Douglas said.
Beverley Varcoe, a veteran broker with Aurora’s Royal LePage Your Community Realty Brokerage, is a senior real estate specialist who sits on the executive of the Aurora/Newmarket chapter of the Canadian Association of Retired People.
Varcoe, who gives seminars on housing issues such as mortgage and title fraud, gave a presentation to Aurora council in July about the lack of housing options for young seniors not yet ready for supportive housing.
Seniors are often a forgotten demographic in today’s housing market, Varcoe said.
“The current housing market is affecting seniors for several reasons. The prices have been going up so fast, homeowners are reluctant to sell their investment. The next issue is the lack of somewhere to move to because of the limited supply of affordable condominiums and accessible bungalows,” she said.
“Seniors are staying in their homes longer and looking for ways to make them accessible and safe.”
Seniors selling their long-term homes, who don’t need to buy something new - if they are moving in with family, for example - stand to make hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But those wanting to buy are finding few options for the types of housing for which they are looking, Varcoe said.
“The limited supply of housing suitable for seniors means that you could be looking for months with nowhere to live,” she said.
“Or you could end up in multiple offers on a property, bidding higher than the retirement budget you planned with the sale of your home.”
SIDEBAR
Varcoe offered a number of tips:
- Keep important papers, such as surveys, permits and home improvement receipts, filed together.
- While reverse or home equity mortgages are often pitched at seniors to free up equity from their homes, it may be best to only use this option in an emergency or for a short period of time.
- Start decluttering months before you decide to sell.
- Do all the needed repairs and maintenance beforehand.
- Consider hiring a home stager for ideas on how to update decor.
