Fremont · Downsizing
Downsizing in Fremont
The sale and the next place sequenced together, at a pace you set rather than one a calendar sets for you.
Out Here It Is Usually the Land, Not the House
Inland the thing people most often want less of is not rooms. It is ground.
Acreage asks for upkeep whether or not it is being used. Mowing, trees that come down, fence lines, a drive that wants attention after a wet spring, and outbuildings that need a roof regardless of what is in them. A property can be exactly the right size indoors and still take far more looking after than somebody wants to keep doing.
That makes this a different search from a town downsize. The next place may have a similar amount of house and a fraction of the responsibility, which is not something you find by filtering on bedrooms or on price.
Saying out loud that the land is what you want to shed changes the entire shortlist.
Selling the Ground Is Its Own Decision
Where there is real acreage, there is sometimes a choice that does not exist in town.
A property can often sell whole, and in some cases a parcel can be divided, with part sold and part kept. Occasionally that produces a better result and occasionally it costs more in time and expense than it returns. What a parcel may be divided into varies by township and by the ground itself, so it is specific to your property rather than a general rule.
It is worth establishing early, because it can change what the whole thing is worth and therefore what the move actually frees up. Where there is real equity in the current place, the next one can sometimes be bought with a much smaller loan, and that is a question for your lender rather than for me.
In their words
In their words
Going with Tamara as our realtor was a fantastic decision! She is honest, calm, professional, and a fantastic listener. I would most definitely recommend her to anyone!
What I Do, in Both Directions
My office is here, so walking the property is not a trip I have to arrange.
On the sale I check where the lines truly run against the record, what the ground is like at the back rather than at the gate, what the buildings can honestly still be used for, and whether the parcel could be split, since that can change the whole number.
On the purchase I tell you what a property will actually ask of you, not just what it costs, because that is the thing you are trying to reduce.
And a written report every week once it is listed.
More than $4 million in closed sales over my last twelve months, up from under a million the year before. Land is a real part of that rather than something I do occasionally.
At Your Pace
Tell me what you want less of, and whether that is building, ground or both, and the search narrows immediately.
More about the town is on the Fremont area page, the full approach is at downsizing, and if the land is the larger part of it, there is more at selling land in Fremont.
Frequently Asked Questions
Could I keep part of the land and sell the rest?
Sometimes, and it occasionally produces a better outcome than selling whole. What a parcel may be divided into varies by township and by the ground itself, so the answer is specific to your property. It is worth establishing early because it can change what the whole is worth and therefore what the move frees up.
I want less land but not a smaller house. Is that realistic?
Very, and it is more common out here than the other way round. A property can be exactly right indoors and still take far more looking after outside than somebody wants to keep doing. Saying the land is what you want to shed changes the shortlist completely, because it is not something you can filter for.
What happens to the outbuildings and the equipment?
The buildings are priced on what they can honestly still be used for, which is how a buyer will see them. Equipment is usually a separate conversation and sometimes worth more sold on its own than bundled in. Worth sorting out early rather than while a buyer is waiting on an answer.
Fremont
What downsizing looks like in Fremont
Inland in Newaygo County, where Gerber started in 1927 and where the same money buys land instead of frontage. My office is here.
Fremont is the one town I cover that is not on the lakeshore, and I would rather say so plainly. It has Fremont Lake by town with a public beach, a campground and a boat launch, and M120 runs across to Twin Lake and on toward Muskegon.
The trade is the point. The same budget that gets you a modest cottage on the water will generally get you a house with real acreage here, which is why people who start out searching for lakefront often end up looking at this side of the map.
The method
How I do it in Fremont
Downsizing: keep exploring
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