If you plan to sell your home and rent in retirement, PiggySize models the whole move: at the age you choose, the projection sells your home, pays off the remaining mortgage, adds the net proceeds to your nest egg, and starts charging rent — with its own inflation rate — for the rest of the plan.
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 Start Renting.
- Enter Estimated Rent After Selling Home in today's dollars.
- Leave Inflate rent annually on (recommended) and set the Annual Rent Increase Rate to your own estimate for how fast rent rises each year.
- Review Real Estate Inflation Rate (how fast your 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 spending update from that age forward.
How the projection handles it
- Sale price: your home's current value, grown by the Real Estate Inflation Rate until the sale age.
- Net proceeds: sale price minus closing costs minus the remaining mortgage balance. The mortgage payoff is automatic and logged as a milestone, and the monthly payment ends there.
- 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: the net proceeds join your retirement portfolio and grow with it. The home leaves your asset picture — its value is now in the nest egg instead.
- Rent: starts the month of the sale at the amount you entered, and — if inflation is on — rises every year at your Annual Rent Increase Rate, both before and throughout retirement.
Good to know
- Compare renting vs. buying smaller in seconds. Flip between Start Renting and Buy Smaller Home — the projection recalculates instantly, so you can compare ending balances for both paths.
- Only your primary home sale is modeled. Other properties stay as assets; a second property sale isn't natively supported yet.
- Enter rent in today's dollars. The inflation setting projects it forward for you — don't pre-inflate it yourself.
- Rent keeps inflating through retirement. That's the big trade-off vs. owning, and it's why the same rent that looks cheap at 65 can dominate your spending at 85. The projection makes that visible.
- Pro members can ask Piggy things like "what does selling my house at 62 and renting do to my plan?" once these settings are in place.
FAQ
What happens to my mortgage when the house sells?
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 projection account for taxes on the sale?
Yes. It applies the federal primary-residence capital-gains exclusion (up to $250,000 single / $500,000 married filing jointly) when estimating any tax on the sale.
Can I sell before I retire?
Yes. Set "Age to Downsize / Sell" to any age — if it's before your retirement age, the sale, mortgage payoff, and rent all start earlier in the projection.
Can I switch to buying a smaller home instead?
Anytime. Choose "Buy Smaller Home" under Retirement Housing Path and the projection recalculates instantly. These are planning inputs, not commitments.