We are downsizing our current home. We are moving from a 4br 3000+ sqft 1 acre property with a 600sqft guest house to a 1200sqft 2br Condo. The mortgage lender asked for a motivation letter to justify the downsizing. Here is what I wrote:
This is a motivation letter stating the reason we are selling my current home located at <removed> and purchasing a new home. We are significantly downsizing our residence to accelerate our ability to achieve early retirement. We have built a financial plan that incorporates significantly reducing our expenses (typical largest expense is housing) and maintaining our income will allow us to use the increased delta between expenses and income to achieve early retirement within 5-7 years. My personal goal is to have the option of retiring at 50. Investing the income/expense delta by eliminating debt, including mortgage, then investing the rest is a simple explanation of the strategy.
Owning a large home has its benefits, but also its downsides. Big is not always better. Cleaning, utilities, yard maintenance, general maintenance, higher taxes, etc… all decrease our available time and funds. We view the condo as liberating from a time and expense perspective, yes we are moving into a smaller home, but we will have more time and funds (spending within budget) to spend with family, experiencing life. We are trying to shift from buying things to buying experiences.
The issue of moving into a smaller place is not a concern for our family. We do not plan on spending all of our time in the home. We have family close by and have a good friend who lives in the division we are purchasing in. One of our children lives with us part time. The layout and space of the home is not a problem for us.
J.C.
I almost put a paragraph is about MMM and the philosophy, but thought it would be too much.
