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40 OUR HOUSE WINTER 2018 DOMINION LENDING CENTRES TheTRUE COSTof Think you can just sell your big family home, buy a smaller one and pocket the dierence? Don't go making plans for an early retirement just yet C By YVONNE ZIOMECKI DOWNSIZING I n the midst of the booming real estate market in Canada (especially in Vancouver and Toronto), many Canadians are entertaining the idea of downsizing to boost their retirement nest egg or leave the workforce early. They dream of selling their home at a high value, purchasing a smaller home or condo at a lower price and pocketing the dišerence. Many of those would-be downsizers fail to recognize that there are many costs to downsizing, and not all of them are obvious. Let's explore both the expectations and the likely outcomes. Why Downsize? Canadians have many reasons to downsize. They include: » Less house to clean and maintain; » Moving closer to loved ones; » Spending the winter in a warmer place (therefore they don't live in their home year-round); » Getting equity out of their home to help fund retirement. Costs to sell your home Let's break down the more obvious costs of downsizing so that you can weigh the financial pros and cons. Keep in mind that the example below is for illustration purposes only. There may be other expenses not mentioned, but the key ones are highlighted. Let's use the example of a home that will sell for $1 million, the approximate average cost of a detached house in Toronto. The home still carries a $200,000 mortgage, which would equate to net proceeds of $800,000. However, there are costs that you must deduct from the total sale that can eat into your lump sum: » Realtor commission - between one and seven per cent depending on where you live in the country and what you are able to negotiate). In Toronto, the standard TOOLBOX