If you plan to sell your current home and buy a smaller, cheaper one in retirement, PiggySize models the whole move: at the age you choose, it sells your home, pays off the mortgage, spends part of the proceeds on the new home, and adds whatever's left over to your nest egg.
Before you start
- Retirement planning is a Pro feature (included in the 30-day trial).
- Your home should be tracked as an asset (a Real Estate category) with a current value — the projection uses that value.
- If you have a mortgage, track it as a debt linked to the house. That link is how the projection knows what to pay off at the sale.
- You need permission to update retirement settings (the account owner always has it).
Steps
- Go to Retirement (opens in a new tab) and open the Real Estate settings card.
- Turn on Downsize or sell real estate in retirement.
- Set Age to Downsize / Sell — it defaults to your retirement age, but you can sell earlier or later.
- Under Retirement Housing Path, choose Buy Smaller Home.
- Enter New Home Purchase Amount — the price of the smaller home, in today's dollars.
- Review Estimated Taxes & Insurance % — the ongoing yearly cost of the new home, as a percent of its value (defaults to 1.5%).
- Review Real Estate Inflation Rate (how fast your current home's value grows until the sale) and Closing Costs (default 6%).
- Scroll up to the projection chart — you'll see the sale as a milestone, and your portfolio and expenses update from that age forward.
How the projection handles it
- Sale price: your current home's value, grown by the Real Estate Inflation Rate until the sale age. The sale happens in your birthday month, the month you reach the age you set.
- Net proceeds: sale price minus closing costs, minus the remaining mortgage, minus the New Home Purchase Amount. Whatever's left joins your taxable investment account. If the new home costs more than what's left after payoff and closing costs, the projection treats the reinvested amount as $0 rather than modeling a new mortgage for the new home.
- Taxes: any gain on the sale gets the federal primary-residence exclusion (up to $250,000 single / $500,000 married filing jointly) before tax is estimated.
- After the sale: your old home leaves your asset picture, and the new home's ongoing cost — the Estimated Taxes & Insurance % — becomes a new recurring expense in the projection.
Good to know
- Compare buying smaller vs. renting in seconds. Flip between Buy Smaller Home and Start Renting under Retirement Housing Path — the projection recalculates instantly, so you can compare ending balances for both paths. See Sell your house and rent in retirement.
- Only your primary home sale is modeled. Other properties stay as assets; a second property sale isn't natively supported yet.
- Enter the new home's price in today's dollars. The Real Estate Inflation Rate projects your current home's value forward for you — don't pre-inflate the new home's price yourself.
- The app doesn't model a new mortgage. If the smaller home isn't fully covered by your sale proceeds, the projection assumes you cover the difference some other way rather than borrowing for it.
- Pro members can ask Piggy things like "what happens if I downsize at 62 instead of 67?" once these settings are in place.
FAQ
What happens to my mortgage when I downsize?
The projection pays off the remaining mortgage balance out of the sale proceeds automatically and logs it as a milestone. Your monthly payment disappears from that point forward.
Does the new, smaller home come with its own costs?
Yes. Estimated Taxes & Insurance % of the new home's value becomes an ongoing monthly expense in the projection from the sale date forward.
Can I switch to renting instead of buying?
Anytime. Choose "Start Renting" under Retirement Housing Path and the projection recalculates instantly.
Are taxes on the sale included?
Yes. The projection applies the federal primary-residence capital-gains exclusion (up to $250,000 single / $500,000 married filing jointly) before estimating any tax on the sale.