Virginia Beach Estate Planning Attorney Discusses Advantages of Retirees Considering Selling Their Home

Hook Law Center (formerly Oast & Hook)

Virginia Beach, VA (Law Firm Newswire) February 25, 2016 – Many retirees are considering putting their home on the market and moving to a less expensive area.

Two married couples did exactly that when they left their homes in Maryland and moved to Florida. Barbara and Mike West made the decision to sell their home in a suburb of Maryland that they had owned for 26 years. Encouraged by a desire to escape the Mid-Atlantic winters, they thought about relocating to Hawaii, where they had resided during Mike West’s time in the Navy. However, they concluded that it was too far away, and focused on relocating to Florida.

Barbara West, 63, stated that selling their mortgage-free home would provide them with an opportunity to dream and to explore, and the availability of funds from the sale would give them more flexibility.

“Retirees who own a home that is free of a mortgage may find that they have more possibilities for their financial future,” said Andrew H. Hook, a prominent Virginia estate planning attorney with Hook Law Center with offices in Virginia Beach and northern Suffolk. “Upon selling the home and moving to a less-expensive area, they can greatly improve their quality of life while ensuring their economic security.”

Another retired couple, Joseph and Phyllis Applebaum, who are 71 and 67-years-old, respectively, also sold their home in Maryland and purchased a home in Boca Raton, Florida. In contrast to the Wests, they still had a mortgage on their home, where they had resided for 27 years. Upon realizing a profit from the sale of the house, they could use cash to purchase a home in Boca Raton and be free of a mortgage. In so doing, they have created for themselves a less costly lifestyle.

The financial future seems appealing to those aged 65 and older who have paid off their mortgage. About 70 percent of homeowners within that age bracket have a mortgage-free home. Several of them would like to sell their homes in order to allow funds to be available so they can have more flexibility in their retirement years. Those who have a mortgage can sell their home and move to a less costly area, thereby establishing a lifestyle that does not include a mortgage.

Retirees who decide to sell their homes and relocate to a less expensive area find that they have more funds that they can use toward travel. Such was the case for JanSuzanne Krasner and her husband, who sold their mortgage-free home in Westchester County, New York, and traveled to Israel. For 10 months, they lived in a rental apartment in Tel Aviv. Afterwards, they traveled throughout southern Africa and Europe for one month, and then lived in a rental apartment in Manhattan for two months. They subsequently made an all-cash purchase of a furnished home in Boynton Beach, Florida.