Finding the perfect balance between your home’s form and functionality can take years of tinkering and rethinking. Design trends come and go and, over time, tastes tend to change as well. However, when it comes to your home’s floor plan, decisions surrounding square footage are often more objective than subjective.

Not everyone needs — or, in fact, wants — a large home, but for many, the size of their homes has little to do with preference and more to do with necessity. So, if you’ve been running into a few headaches around the house and are genuinely starting to wonder if your walls are closing in on you, you might be one of them.

To help you come to a definitive conclusion as to whether or not you should start thinking about trading in your current place for a larger home, use these five scenarios as signs it’s finally time to upsize.

1. Your Family Is Expanding

The first and most telltale sign it’s time to upsize your home is if you’re expecting to add new members to your family. Whether that comes in the way of children, relatives, pets, or any other cherished part of your family, more members mean more space is needed at home.

As you prepare to welcome new members of your family into your home, take some time to take stock of your current home’s functionality and how much more space you’ll need to live comfortably in your next space. Then, be realistic about whether you’ll need even more in the near future.

If you’re having your first child, another bedroom will eventually be necessary. However, it might take some careful consideration as to whether or not you’ll want to have more children afterward, which means you may only have to slightly upsize.

If you’re quite confident that you want to have more than one child, however, it’s much better to be realistic about your future square footage requirements ahead of time versus waiting until later on when you and your family have settled into your home and neighbourhood. Not to mention the gradual appreciation of house prices too.

2. The Kids Are Getting Older

The thing about having children is they’re constantly growing. While siblings will happily share one bedroom together for much of their childhood, eventually they’re going to feel cramped sharing a room and will naturally want their own space.

And, not only will your kids grow out of sharing bedrooms, but they’ll also eventually need more space in common areas too, like your living room, kitchen, and around the dining room table. Once you factor in the space requirements for things like your children’s clothes, sports equipment, and perhaps even garage space for their own vehicles later on, suddenly it can feel more like you’re living in their house rather than the other way around.

Again, rather than wait until much later on when property prices have naturally appreciated, it can prove very beneficial to forecast what you and your family’s future spatial needs will be ahead of time.

In a city as densely populated as Toronto, homes with ample square footage are considered luxurious — but what else separates luxury real estate from the rest of the crowd? Find out by reading our article addressing The New State Of Luxury Real Estate In Toronto here.

3. You Want To Switch Neighbourhoods

Whether you live alone or with your growing family, it’s only natural for your interests and lifestyle to change over time. If you originally bought your home closer to downtown, you probably very much enjoyed living in such close proximity to all the glamour and excitement of the city’s core.

However, the hustle and bustle can wear even the most devout downtowners down, and if you’ve got growing children at home too, your family’s lifestyle might be better suited to somewhere that offers more square footage than your current home.

If the idea of living in some of Toronto’s most premium residential neighbourhoods like Rosedale, The Annex, Summerhill, Moore Park, or Forest Hill, sounds more and more appealing to you, then upsizing to a home in one of those neighbourhoods might be your next natural progression.

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We put together our detailed neighbourhood guides to provide buyers with a glimpse into what life is like living in select neighbourhoods across Toronto. For our luxury clientele curious about upsizing to a larger property, we find they commonly gravitate towards these desirable communities:

• Rosedale Neighbourhood Guide
• The Annex Neighbourhood Guide
• Summerhill Neighbourhood Guide
• Moore Park Neighbourhood Guide
• Forest Hill Neighbourhood Guide

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4. You Can Afford It

No matter how much sense it might personally make for you to upsize to a larger home, the most important factor in whether you’re actually able to upsize is financial. That being said, if you do have the means to purchase a larger home, it’s almost always a good idea to do so.

If you’ve already been pre-approved for a substantial mortgage loan, interest rates look favourable, and a unique opportunity in the market presents itself, then you’d almost be naive not to take advantage of your chance to size up. Generally speaking, larger homes mean larger assets, and as far as investing goes, owning as much capital in real estate as you can will only benefit you in the future.

Talk through your plans to upsize with your financial advisor, a mortgage specialist, and your Realtor® to ensure the idea makes sense for you. If buying a larger home looks feasible after that, then there should be nothing stopping you from starting your new home search.

Do you need help connecting with a great mortgage lender? We work with the most talented brokers in the business to ensure our clients are able to finance the homes they deserve to live in. To get in touch with one of our trusted mortgage professionals, Contact Us here.

5. You Regularly Host Friends And Family

If you live in a highly desirable city like Toronto, chances are you’re constantly playing host to friends and family visiting from out of town. While that can be charming at first, waking up to someone still asleep on your couch gets old fast.

Entertaining loved ones in your home can be an enormous joy, but hosting them in a home that isn’t quite big enough can create more stressful memories than positive ones. If you don’t want to give up playing host, then perhaps it’s time you think about looking for a home with larger common rooms for entertaining and more spare bedrooms for longer stays.

Looking for some upsizing inspiration? Let our curated collection of premium real estate listings spark your interest and ignite your imagination — simply visit Our Properties page here to get started.