Home Buying Guide

4 Reasons Millennials Should Buy a Retirement Home First

By Bond Street Mortgage

There’s an idea running through marketing and business circles that anything that is popular, the opposite will likely be popular as well.

Consider that sugar and caffeinated beverages such as Coca-Cola have seemingly opposite products like Coke Zero. That product, in turn, is offset in the marketplace by high-sugar, high-caffeine energy drinks such as Monster and Red Bull.

In the housing industry, reverse living homes enjoy popularity. Basically, the bedrooms are downstairs while the kitchen, living room and other gathering spaces are upstairs. This concept of doing the opposite brings us to the idea about buying a first home.

Most potential buyers focus on starter homes as they build financial success. Some think about how that first home could be expanded to grow a family or sold when marriage and young ones come along. But Millennials enter the housing market may want to consider doing the opposite. What if you bought your last home first?

Consider these reasons for starting with your retirement home.

1: Lifestyle Suits Renting First

Millennials are flooding the job market and beginning to earn wages that prompt them to make major life purchases. But Millennial jobs tend to be different from the traditional ones of previous generations. Tech companies are trending in hip cities across the country and places with excellent weather. That means these first-time home buyers would either find themselves commuting through rush-hour traffic from the suburbs or paying urban real estate prices. Young Millennials may be better off renting and investing in property elsewhere.

2: Rent Your First Home

By taking your initial down payment and investing in a rental property, Millennials can make money or maintain a zero-expense real estate buy.

By purchasing your future retirement home in a vibrant community with a relaxed environment, it can pay for itself while strengthening your economic portfolio. The equity building in that first property will position you for a second home to live near work or build a family. That retirement rental may even put a few extra dollars in your pocket.

3: Pursuing Career Opportunities

Whether you are fresh out off college, completed military service or rising in a company’s ranks, Millennials on the younger end of the spectrum can benefit from agility. Being able to seamlessly relocate to pursue emerging career opportunities or take a promotion in another city or state can help maximize your earning potential. Having a home is certainly nice, but you will be faced with a decision to sell and buy a new one or pass on an opportunity. Those are not necessarily the best considerations during prime earning years.

4: Downsizing Matters

The trend of valued elders is to downsize family homes as the enter their golden years. Ironically, many purchase the same type of starter homes all over again. The value of buying a retirement home first is that you will be able to cash out of any other property and apply that revenue to living expenses. Likely, the initial real estate buy will be paid off. In the end, doing the opposite of common trends can prove to have improved long-term benefits.

If you are considering buying property to rent and retire later, contact a trusted mortgage advisor with Bond Street Mortgage to discuss your financing options.

Frequently Asked Questions

Millennials often work in tech jobs located in hip cities with good weather, making renting more practical due to high urban real estate prices and challenging commutes from suburbs. Renting first allows them to adapt to their lifestyle and job locations.

Instead of purchasing a starter home, Millennials might consider buying their last home first—a retirement home in a relaxed community—which can serve as a long-term investment and lifestyle choice.

By investing their down payment in a rental property, Millennials can generate income or maintain a zero-expense investment, building equity that strengthens their economic portfolio.

Reverse living homes, where bedrooms are downstairs and living spaces like the kitchen are upstairs, are becoming popular as an alternative to traditional home layouts.

Buying a retirement home first helps Millennials build equity and financial strength, positioning them better to purchase a second home or starter home in the future.

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