{"id":1216,"date":"2013-02-04T17:47:56","date_gmt":"2013-02-04T21:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/\/?p=1216"},"modified":"2018-04-27T15:14:12","modified_gmt":"2018-04-27T19:14:12","slug":"downsizing-for-many-an-obstacle-to-living-downtown-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/downtown-living\/downsizing-for-many-an-obstacle-to-living-downtown-2","title":{"rendered":"Downsizing: For Many, an Obstacle to Living Downtown"},"content":{"rendered":"

I keep hearing that the demand for the lifestyle associated with Downtown living is high and growing.\u00a0 But when I talk with Boomers who live in big houses in the suburbs, there is a real reluctance to make the shift . . . and it\u2019s mainly about the challenges of downsizing!<\/p>\n

My wife and I are empty nesters, and made the leap from a large single family home to apartment\/condo type living over 10 years ago, and we\u2019re very happy we did.\u00a0 I know many of you Boomers out there are thinking about it too . . . so I wanted to share my own perspective and thoughts about it.<\/p>\n

First, are the many benefits of an urban lifestyle.\u00a0 I attended a lecture last week on \u2018Transit in the Triangle\u2019, which reported that the public demand for \u201cwalkable urbanism\u201d or Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is growing in the Triangle and across the country, and is projected to represent at least 1\/3\u00a0 of the U.S. Housing Market by 2030. \u00a0Like those surveyed, my wife and I see walkable communities as providing a better quality of life and healthier lifestyle.\u00a0 We want the choice of not taking the car to do routine errands.<\/p>\n

\"Downsizing\"<\/a>There are overwhelming environmental and economic benefits to steering development away from living patterns that gobble up green space and add to our increasing transport cost and time spent on over crowded roads.\u00a0 But moving to a higher density area usually means downsizing to a much smaller space.\u00a0 And that can be a major obstacle and a real challenge for many people.\u00a0 Boomers typically trade-up in house size several times as the family grows and the kids get older.\u00a0 But when the kids leave, you may find ourselves like us, asking your selves . . . Do I really need all this space?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the kids leave . . . Do I really need all this space?<\/strong><\/p>\n

So what does it mean to downsize?\u00a0 It means getting rid of all the extraneous things and noise in your life that are not contributing to your happiness. \u00a0 My wife\u2019s philosophy comes back to an Asian aesthetic about art and design.\u00a0 She says \u201cyou aim for one focal point in each room and clear out the rest..\u00a0 Get rid of the clutter, and everything around you becomes the things you love.\u201d<\/p>\n

I put it a little differently.\u00a0 If your house has become merely a large storage container, go through all your treasures and enjoy the trip down memory lane . . . then sell the \u201ccrap\u201d.<\/p>\n

Happy downsizing!<\/p>\n

[Article reposted from February 2010]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I keep hearing that the demand for the lifestyle associated with Downtown living is high and growing.\u00a0 But when I talk with Boomers who live in big houses in the suburbs, there is a real reluctance to make the shift . . . and it\u2019s mainly about the challenges of downsizing! My wife and I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1216"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2791,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216\/revisions\/2791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighdla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}