Everyone assumes staying in your home is the safe choice, but almost nobody adds up what it actually costs. Evelyn breaks down the real numbers behind aging in place vs. downsizing, from renovation costs to tax credits to the monthly cost of assisted living, so you can decide with confidence instead of guesswork.
Everyone assumes staying in your home is the safe choice. Almost nobody adds up what it actually
costs.
In this episode, Evelyn walks through:
• What aging-in-place renovations really cost in Ontario, from small safety fixes under a few
hundred dollars to whole-home retrofits north of $40,000
• Which tax credits genuinely help, including the federal Home Accessibility Tax Credit and
Ontario's Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit, and where people misread them
• A free local resource for Caledon residents 65+: the Older Adult Home Safety Program through
Caledon Fire and Emergency Services
• The most overlooked number of all: what assisted living costs per month in Ontario if staying
eventually isn't possible
• The one honest question worth asking before any decision gets made
Free Downsizing Guide: https://bit.ly/4y2KcQw
Book a no-pressure conversation with Evelyn: https://calendly.com/evelynlopes/consultation-meeting-evelyn-lopes-realty-team
Hosted by Evelyn Lopes, Realtor®, RE/MAX Realty Services Inc., serving homeowners and empty
nesters across Caledon, Orangeville, and the Northwest GTA for over 35 years.
Aging in place vs downsizing- What staying actually costs
Everyone assumes staying in your home is the safe choice. I want you to sit with that for a second because almost nobody actually adds up what it costs. Downsizing has a price tag. So does staying. And here's the thing, most people only ever run the numbers on one of them. So let me ask you something. Where are you in this right now? Maybe you're not ready to say, "I'm moving," but you've started noticing things. The stairs feel steeper than they used to. The yard feels bigger than it did five years ago. You know that feeling. And here's what I think actually matters. It's not, "Can I stay in my home?" Because honestly, in most cases, you can. The real question is this: What would it take to stay here comfortably and safely? And does that still make sense for the life you actually want going forward? So let's not start with the emotional question, stay or go. Let's start with something more useful. Let's figure out what staying would actually involve. Welcome to Realty Bites conversations on real estate and lifestyle. Can I tell you the mistake I see all the time? People think of aging in place as one renovation. It's not. It's a whole range. On one end, you've got small, simple safety changes, better lighting, grab bars installed the right way, lever-style door handles instead of doorknobs, a comfort-height toilet, clearing out the things you could trip on. Honestly, those are changes most of us should make anyway, whether we're staying long-term or not. But then it scales up fast. A stair lift alone can run you eight to twenty-five thousand dollars or more. It depends on your staircase, whether it's straight or curved, short or long. And bathrooms, they are another big-ticket item. A safer shower, some grab bars, better lighting, that part's simple enough. But a fully accessible bathroom, a curbless shower, a wider doorway, new plumbing, a different layout, now you're often looking at ten to twenty-five thousand dollars, sometimes more. And then there's the bigger question I want you to think about. What if your bedroom's upstairs? What if just getting into the house means climbing several steps? What if the hallways are too narrow for a walker or wheelchair down the road? Now we're talking a stair lift, ramps, a main floor bedroom, a full bathroom on the main floor, and a laundry room on the main floor would be super convenient as well. Also, there's the possibility of widening hallways. At that point, I want to be honest with you, this isn't a renovation anymore. It's a whole home retrofit. And yes, it can get expensive. You're not fixing up your house at that point. You're redesigning it around how you need to live in it, not just how you live in it today. Now, that might be completely worth it for you, but you need the real number before you decide anything. Not a guess, not an average you found online. Get actual quotes. Now here's some good news. There are programs that can help offset some of these costs. Just know that every one of them has its own rules around income, health, and care needs, so don't assume you'll automatically qualify before you check. The Federal Home Accessibility Tax Credit, also known as HATC, helps with permanent renovations that make a home safer or more accessible. You can claim up to twenty thousand dollars in qualifying expenses. But here's where people get tripped up. That doesn't mean you get twenty thousand dollars back in your pocket. It's a non-refundable credit, which means it reduces what you owe in tax up to about three thousand dollars, depending on your particular situation. It won't refund you anything beyond that. In Ontario, there's also the Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit. That one's income tested, and it's tied to eligible medical expenses. So again, don't assume every renovation on your list will qualify. My advice, talk to your accountant before you build any of these credits into your renovation budget. A credit on paper and actual cash in your pocket, well, they're not the same thing. Now, if you're here in Caledon and you're sixty-five or older, I want you to know about something that's free. We all love free. Caledon Fire and Emergency Services runs an older adult home safety program. They'll help you identify fire hazards in your home, they'll check your safety equipment, and help you put together an actual emergency plan, like a free fire escape route, and they can point you towards other resources if you need them. I want to be clear, this is not an accessibility assessment, but it is one more piece of useful free information. If you're trying to figure out whether your home genuinely feels safe for you right now, this is a great place to start. And that's really the goal at this stage of things, gathering information before you spend a single dollar. Here's something I notice constantly. Most people weighing a renovation only focus on what it costs them. I want you to put another number right next to it. What does it cost if staying at home eventually just isn't realistic anymore? In Ontario right now, assisted living typically runs somewhere between four and eight thousand dollars a month, every single month, for as long as you need it. Now run that over just one year. Suddenly, that forty thousand dollar renovation doesn't feel like a splurge anymore, does it? It starts to look like one of the smarter financial moves you could make. Private retirement and assisted living costs vary a lot. It depends on the residence, the location, the type of suite, and how much personal care is involved. But several thousand dollars a month is pretty common in Ontario. And more intensive care, well, that will push the number even higher. So when someone tells me a twenty, thirty, or forty thousand dollar renovation is too much to put in their house, I always ask the same question, "Compared to what?" If those changes keep your home workable for years to come, that money may be very well spent. But there's a catch, and this is where it gets personal renovation, it can solve a bathroom problem. It can solve a staircase problem, maybe even an entrance problem. But here's what it can't do. It can't solve everything else that comes with owning a house. It won't cut your grass. It won't shovel your driveway, although you can get people to do those tasks. It won't maintain an acre of property for you. It won't clean the rooms you don't use anymore. It won't replace your roof or fix your driveway. And it definitely won't move you closer to your kids, your grandkids, your doctors, or the life you actually want to be living. That's why I'd never make this decision on renovation costs alone. Look at the whole house, and look at the whole life around it too. I see this a lot here in Caledon. Homeowners aren't just maintaining a house. They're maintaining usually a much bigger property than just that. And for some of you, that's exactly what you want and can do. And for others, it isn't. Both are completely valid. Neither one is wrong. Downsizing solves a different set of problems, and it's worth naming them. Less property to maintain, fewer stairs, maybe everything on one level, being closer to family and the things you actually use day-to-day. And depending on your numbers, it can free up equity to help fund the life you want next. But here's what I don't want you to assume, that downsizing is automatically the cheaper option. It isn't. Not always. You've got selling costs, buying costs, land transfer tax, legal fees, moving costs. And depending on where you're headed, that smaller home that you have your eye on, well, it might cost more than you think. So I wouldn't tell you to move just because renovating sounds expensive. And I wouldn't tell you to renovate just because you love your house. Both of these decisions deserve better information than a gut reaction. Here's the question I actually want to leave you with. If your house could be made completely safe and manageable tomorrow, would you still choose to live there for the next ten years? Really sit with that for a second If your answer comes back right away, "Absolutely. I love it here," then figuring out what it would cost to stay probably makes a lot of sense for you. But if your answer is, "Hmm, I'm not so sure," that tells you something too. Maybe it was never really about the stairs. Maybe you're just tired of the upkeep, the grass, the snow, the cleaning. Maybe you can already see the big-ticket items coming, the windows, the roof, the furnace, the driveway, and you're wondering how you're gonna pay for all of that. Maybe you wanna travel more. Maybe you wanna be closer to your kids. Maybe you're using five rooms out of 10 and you know it. Or maybe, and I hear this one a lot, you're just starting to think, "I'd rather make this decision while I still have plenty of choices." That's what we all need and deserve, choice. Instead of waiting until something forces your hand. And if this is you, I want you to know this was never really a downsizing question. It's a question about how you want the next chapter of your life to feel. So where would I actually start if this were me? If you're leaning towards staying, don't start with a big renovation. Start with an honest look at the whole property. What works, what doesn't, what would become a real problem if your mobility changed, what the true renovation cost would be, and where that money would actually come from. And get real quotes Look into the tax credits available to you. And if you're in Caledon and 65 or older, use that older adult home safety program as part of your information gathering. Now, if you're leaning towards downsizing, don't start by touring homes. Start by finding out what your current home is realistically worth. Then figure out the full cost of the move you actually want, not just the purchase price, the whole number. And here's what I want you to remember. Information doesn't commit you to anything. It just gives you choices. So if you remember just one thing from our conversation today, let it be this. Staying and moving both come with real calculable cost. Compare the actual numbers on both sides before you compare gut feelings. That's how you make this decision with confidence instead of guesswork. Next time, I want to sit with you through a harder version of this conversation. What happens when you and your spouse aren't on the same page about staying or going? That deserves its own time, so we'll pick it up there. I'm Evelyn Lopez, realtor, guide, and advisor with RE/MAX Realty Services, and for more than 35 years, I've worked with homeowners and empty nesters across Caledon, Orangeville, and the surrounding northwest GTA who are thinking about downsizing but aren't sure where to start. And I want you to know, you don't need every answer before we talk. Sometimes the first step is just understanding what your options actually are, and that's where I come in. I put together a free downsizing guide that walks through the questions worth asking before you decide. You'll find a link in the show notes below. Thanks again for spending this time with me. This has been Realty Bytes, conversations on real estate and lifestyle.