Seller guide
Senior Downsizing With Confidence
Kirby Chan, Broker, explains how seniors can plan a downsizing move by focusing on lifestyle needs, financial planning and practical steps.
Key takeaways
- Downsizing is a major life transition that goes well beyond the move itself
- Start with lifestyle needs and financial planning
- Practical steps make the transition less overwhelming
About this video
Downsizing marks a major life transition, so it deserves thoughtful planning.
Kirby Chan, Broker, of Kirby Chan & Co. Real Estate Team explains how seniors can approach it with clarity by focusing on lifestyle needs, financial planning and the practical steps that make the change smoother.
What decides the timing
Selling the house is usually not the slow part of a later-life move. Choosing where to go, sorting the contents of a long-time home and agreeing a plan with the people involved take longer and each depends on the one before it.
A few steps run on fixed clocks. If the next home is a condo, the corporation must deliver a status certificate within 10 days of a request and payment, under Ontario’s Condominium Act. Everything else can be paced to suit the owner.
Two things to check before you sell in Toronto
City property tax relief. Toronto runs a Property Tax Increase Cancellation Program and a Property Tax Increase Deferral Program for low-income seniors and people with disabilities, with a household income limit of $62,000. The 2026 application deadline is November 2, 2026. If you have deferred tax, ask the City how it is handled when the home is sold.
The principal residence exemption. Where the home was your principal residence for every year you owned it, the Canada Revenue Agency’s exemption can remove the capital gain, but the sale still has to be reported. Confirm your own position with an accountant.
Our Toronto downsizing guide covers costs, destinations and the order of steps and the senior downsizing checklist lays them out one by one.
Not advice. This video and these notes are general information only. Nothing here is legal, tax, mortgage or investment advice.
Market data. Any figures mentioned reflect the period stated at the time of recording and may be out of date. Always confirm current figures before acting.
