Downsizing
Selling the big house is not just a transaction.
It’s memories, a garage full of things, and the sudden realization that nobody needs 47 extension cords. I’ve done this with a lot of families. It goes better when nobody rushes you.
You’ve probably been there longer than you think
The typical American seller has now owned their home for 11 years — an all-time high — and the typical seller is 64. Two thirds of sellers move somewhere else in the same state.
Eleven years of ownership means two things. The equity is probably larger than you expect. And the house has a decade of decisions baked into it that a buyer’s inspector is going to find. Both are manageable. Both are better handled before the sign goes in the yard.
- 11 yrsMedian time a seller has owned the home — a record
- 64Median age of a home seller, the highest ever recorded
- 66%Of sellers move elsewhere in the same state
- $500kMaximum Save Our Homes benefit Florida lets you carry to your next home
The tax break most downsizers don’t know they have
If you’ve had a Florida homestead exemption for years, the 3% assessment cap has built up a benefit — the gap between what your house is worth and what you’re taxed on. Florida lets you take that with you. It’s called portability, and it’s worth real money.
But downsizers don’t get all of it — and this is the part that surprises people
When you move up in value, the full accumulated benefit transfers, up to the $500,000 cap. When you move down in value, the benefit is reduced in proportion to the drop. Here is a simplified illustration.
Market value of the home you’re selling$300,000
Market value of the smaller home you’re buying$180,000
Ratio of new value to old ($180,000 ÷ $300,000)60%
Share of your accumulated benefit that transfers60%
Two deadlines matter and both are easy to miss: you must apply by March 1 of the year you’re claiming it, and you generally have a three-year window from January 1 of the last year you held the old homestead exemption. Miss either and the benefit is gone. I raise this early, because it can change which house makes sense — and sometimes changes the order you do things in. Your county property appraiser is the authority on your actual figures; I’m a real estate licensee, not a tax adviser.
Sell first or buy first?
This is the decision that causes the most stress, and there is no universally right answer — only the one that fits your finances and your tolerance for uncertainty. Here’s the honest version of each.
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Sell first
If certainty matters more than convenience
The upsideYou know exactly what you have to spend. Your offer on the next house carries no financing contingency tied to a sale, which makes it far stronger in a competitive situation.
The costYou may need somewhere to live in between — a rental, family, or a post-closing occupancy agreement negotiated with your buyer. And you may move twice.
Usually right whenYou can’t carry two payments, or the thought of an unsold house keeping you awake is worse than the thought of moving twice.
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Buy first
If you’d rather move once
The upsideOne move. You take your time choosing, and you’re never under pressure to accept a house that doesn’t fit because your closing date is looming.
The costYou need to qualify for or bridge two properties, and you carry the risk that the old house takes longer to sell than you planned. Homes in this market have been sitting a median of about four weeks, but a median is not a promise.
Usually right whenYou have the equity or income to absorb the overlap, or you’re looking for something specific enough that you can’t afford to miss it when it appears.
There’s a third path people forget: sell with a negotiated leaseback or a long closing, which buys you weeks to find the next place without a rental. It doesn’t suit every buyer, but it’s worth asking for.
What’s different about the house you’re buying
Downsizing in Florida isn’t just fewer square feet. A few things are worth knowing before you tour.
- Check before you commit
A smaller house doesn’t always mean a smaller bill
Your insurance on a house you’ve owned twenty years may be far below what a new policy on a smaller, newer home would cost — or far above it, depending on the roof. And your tax bill resets, softened only by whatever portability you carry across. Run the real monthly number on both, not the square footage.
- Read the documents
55+ and active adult communities have rules with teeth
Age-restricted communities can limit who lives with you and for how long — which matters if a grandchild might stay for a summer or an adult child might need to move in. Some also restrict rentals, vehicles, pets and what you can park in your own driveway. These are knowable in advance, and I’ll read the documents with you rather than handing you 200 pages.
- Budget for
Maintenance-free usually means maintenance-included, not free
Communities that handle the lawn, the roof and the exterior charge for it, sometimes substantially, and many newer Central Florida developments add a CDD assessment on top of HOA dues. That can be excellent value if it replaces work you no longer want to do. It just needs to be in the monthly number from the start.
- Think ahead
Single story, and what the house asks of you in ten years
Stairs, step-in showers, doorway widths, how far the mailbox is, whether the laundry is in the garage. Nobody enjoys thinking about this at 64. It’s much less pleasant to think about at 78 in a house that fights you.
How I handle a downsize
Both halves of it — selling the one you’re in and buying the one that fits next — coordinated so neither one strands you.
- A realistic valuation, not a flattering one — homes in this market have been selling around 99% of list, and an inflated asking price costs you weeks and then money
- A pre-listing walkthrough — what to fix, what to leave, and what a buyer’s inspector will find after eleven years
- Your portability position figured out early, because it can change which house makes sense
- A sequencing plan in writing — sell first, buy first, or a leaseback, with the dates mapped out
- Referrals for the unglamorous part — estate sales, donation pickup, junk haulers, movers who’ve done this before
- The full due diligence report on whatever you buy — insurance quote, roof age, flood zone, permits, HOA and CDD, delivered while you can still walk away
- No pressure on the timeline — if this takes you two years, it takes two years
My promise to you
If a house is wrong for you, I’ll tell you — in writing, before your inspection period closes.
The roof, the insurance quote, the flood zone, the HOA rules, the stairs you’ll regret. I’ll put my concerns in writing while you can still walk away, even when it costs me the commission. This is meant to be the easy chapter.
Questions downsizers ask
Will I owe tax on the profit from selling?
Federal rules let many homeowners exclude a substantial amount of gain on a primary residence — commonly cited as up to $250,000 for a single filer and $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly, subject to ownership and use tests. After eleven years in a Florida house, plenty of sellers are fully covered and owe nothing. But the tests matter, and so does your basis, which includes improvements you’ve made. This is a question for your CPA or tax adviser, not for me — I’ll just make sure you ask it before you sign rather than after.
Should I renovate before selling?
Usually much less than people assume. Paint, decluttering, landscaping and fixing anything that reads as deferred maintenance earn their keep. Kitchens and bathrooms usually don’t return what you put in, and you risk choosing finishes the buyer would have changed anyway. I’ll walk the house and tell you specifically what to do and what to leave alone — including the things where doing nothing is the right call.
What do I do with everything?
Start earlier than feels necessary and go room by room, not category by category. I can connect you with estate sale companies, donation services that collect, and haulers for what’s genuinely finished. The practical tip that helps most people: decide where you’re going first, even roughly, because “does this fit in the new place” is a far easier question than “do I still love this.”
Is a condo or villa a better idea than a small house?
It depends on how much you want to own versus maintain. Condos hand off the exterior entirely but bring association finances, reserve requirements and assessment risk you need to examine — Florida has tightened structural reserve rules and that has real budget consequences in some buildings. Villas and maintenance-included single-family homes sit in between. I’ll pull the association’s financials and reserve position on anything you’re serious about, because a low monthly fee with no reserves is a bill you haven’t received yet.
Can I stay in my house after closing while I find the next one?
Sometimes, through a post-closing occupancy agreement or a longer closing period. It has to be negotiated with your buyer and it isn’t always achievable — a buyer with their own moving deadline may not be able to accommodate it. But it’s worth asking for, and I raise it in negotiations when the sequencing is tight for you.
What if I change my mind halfway through?
Then you change your mind. I’ve had clients get six weeks into this, look around the living room, and decide they’re not ready. That is a completely legitimate outcome and I’d rather you reach it with me than be talked past it. Nothing about my advice changes based on whether this ends in a transaction.
No pressure, no timeline
Book an hour and we’ll talk through what the house is worth, what portability you’re sitting on, and what comes next. Even if next is two years away.
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Vince Reina
Licensed Real Estate Sales Associate · REALTOR®
Haven Realty
Licensed Florida Real Estate Brokerage
FL License #SL3302950
(863) 398-6243 · vince@thereinateam.com
Equal Housing Opportunity REALTOR® · MLS
Figures on this page are current as of September 2026 and come from public sources including the National Association of REALTORS® 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers and Florida county property appraiser materials on homestead portability. The portability illustration is simplified and uses round numbers to show the proportional reduction when moving to a lower-valued home — it is not a calculation for any particular property, and the applicable cap, deadlines and your eligibility are determined by your county property appraiser. Capital gains figures are general federal rules subject to ownership and use tests. Verify your own position with your county property appraiser, a CPA or tax adviser, and a licensed insurance agent. Nothing here is legal, tax or insurance advice.
