As we all know, home is where the heart is. It’s a time-honoured proverb with meaning for many people, especially senior citizens.
Keeping your home comes with benefits. They range from financial to emotional.
A home, to be sure, is more than a house. As a Psychology Today article points out:
A strong attachment to the place that you live results in greater satisfaction with your home and expectations of future stability in that place. These feelings transcend attachments to other people in the area and represent a genuine affection for the physical location itself, and the passage of time strengthens our attachment to the places that we live. Because our physical surroundings play such an important role in creating a sense of meaning and organization in our lives, it is not surprising that our sense of the place we live is closely tied to our sense of who we are.
Ageing in place offers the individual the opportunity to keep established family and community relationships alive. For the average person, our home is more than just a hub of memories. It’s also a living, breathing space with our unique personal footprints. We can enjoy visits and share our unique space with friends, relatives, acquaintances.
In addition to the emotional and social benefits, keeping your home is also a sound financial investment. In the long-term, property is often considered a sound investment because it grows in value. Houses can be extended or renovated. They can be updated and transformed.
Keeping your home also allows one to adapt and blend to changing circumstances. From investing in a home lift to renovating an old room with modern touches, owning your space brings a special kind of freedom. We can grow with our house.
Another benefit: fewer rules. For many, a house is a person’s kingdom. We can own pets, plant exotic vegetables, paint our kitchen yellow. In other words, we can assert our independence through creativity.
The benefits of home ownership are long and varied. But best of all they reflect our independence. It’s about the heart.
