Ray Magana relaxes on his big leather couch. He is resigned to leaving most of his furniture behind in his Eastlake home when he moves into a Downtown condominium. Magana plans to shop for dual-purpose furniture that is more fitting for Downtown living. (photo/lambertphoto.com)

People moving from suburbia to Downtown don’t want to duplicate their square footage and way of life. “They are willing to trade it for the convenience of urban property,” says Lee Mullinax, principal of Vertical Properties Inc., a leading marketer of Downtown projects. “Downtown becomes an extension of their lifestyle.”

Most moves require quite a bit of downsizing in not only quantity of possessions, but in the size of what remains. When dealing in tighter quarters, size matters and less can be a whole lot more. Less to clean, less to dust and less to organize means more living space.

In relocating and downsizing, new urban residents are doing everything from tossing it all and starting anew to keeping the bare minimum and upgrading as they go. Ray Magana is trading in luxurious leather furniture, big-screen television, back yard with a built-in barbecue and a garage full of tools for an abode within walking distance of Petco Park, where he recently bought mini season tickets to the Padres. “City living intrigued me,” Magana says. “There is just so much to do.” The draw of walking to entertainment and dining and other amenities of urban life is luring many from suburbia. Magana plans to move from his 2,450-square-foot Eastlake home to a condominium at The Mark in March 2007. He anticipates selling his house and most of his furniture. “I’m looking forward to it,” he says. “I’ve never done that style living before.”

Helping Residents
Make The Move

Stania Rensberger of Stania’s Organizing Systems conducts downsizing seminars for residents moving Downtown. Her biggest piece of advice is for home buyers to know what will fit into the new space before moving in. (photo/lambertphoto.com)

Developers such as K. Hovnanian and Intracorp schedule presentations for their home buyers, including downsizing seminars. Stania Rensberger of Stania’s Organizing Systems has conducted these seminars for new Downtown residents for six years. “I know how to live in a small space,” Rensberger says. She grew up in Prague in a house without any closets. When she hears people comment on the small closets in Downtown units, she can only respond with a smile.

“For people who are moving from suburbs, it’s a totally different lifestyle,” she says. “I recommend they come Downtown and see what they will be doing down here.” Entertainment and restaurant options tend to mean less time in the kitchen. This translates into fewer kitchen utensils and cooking supplies. The added entertainment can mean fewer hobbies or collections taking up space. “I’ve found that people usually know they have to downsize, but they don’t know how much and where to start. I usually give them a simple formula. ‘You take the square footage of your future home and divide it by the square footage of the home you have right now.’ ” The answer is the percent of the belongings the new home accommodates.

Rensberger suggests knowing what fits before moving. Her seminar instructs buyers to obtain a floor plan of the new home or draw it to scale on graph paper. Then cut out pieces of furniture, also to scale, from Post-it-notes. “You can rearrange the furniture several times on the floor plan,” she says. “This saves time and muscles.” Look at the elevators, the halls of the building and the doorways. “You don’t want to wait until the day you move to find out your grand piano is not going to fit in the elevator. Most people procrastinate and then have a problem when they move with all their stuff. Just bring things that support your new lifestyle.” Items not supportive are barbecue and gardening equipment. “You are not going to be doing that down here.”

To make a space look bigger, scale down the size of the furniture. That’s what Magana is doing. He knows his big leather pieces won’t fit into his new condo so he’ll start over with new furniture. He’ll be shopping for pieces that serve dual purposes, such as a couch with a hide-a-bed. “I plan to keep only my bedroom set,” he says. Magana won’t be looking for help downsizing, he will be looking for deals.

The Downsizing Movement

The sales staff at Douglas Wilson Cos. advises new buyers and refers residents to people who can help with downsizing. Peggy O’Connell, vice president, sales and marketing for The Mark, says new residents express excitement over the change in lifestyle and simplified lives. “I haven’t had anyone say they just couldn’t (downsize),” she says. “It’s been quite easy for them.”

O’Connell should know. She has begun preparing to move from her 3,800-square-foot, three-car garage home into 1,400 square feet in The Mark. “In preparation for this, we are going to start one closet at a time,” O’Connell says. “And then in a few months do another round. I think there’s a whole movement of people wanting to just simplify their lives and not carry all the stuff. It’s like my husband says, ‘I’m not going to need all those tools because I’m not going to be doing all those repairs.’ That’s why people are moving Downtown; they no longer have to worry about the landscaping and broken sinks to repair. This is much more simple.”

As for possessions O’Connell is not ready to part with, there are storage units.

CityMark is finding its new owners are already savvy about their new quarters.

“Downsizing doesn’t seem to be a problem as far as sales are concerned and doesn’t seem to be an apprehension for our buyers,” says Russ Haley, vice president of CityMark Development. “We don’t formally give anybody tips on how to downsize. But that doesn’t seem to be an obstacle for people moving into our residences. It’s definitely a lifestyle change. You have to go through de-cluttering for your life. But people are not asking us for guidance.”

Antonio Nunez and his wife, Leila Montoya, moved from a three-bedroom, two-car garage townhome in Chula Vista to a two-bedroom, two-carport CityMark project. Nunez says they lost a room, but they upgraded neighborhoods. The couple moved into The Egyptian in Hillcrest, just one of the denser infill projects now sprouting in Downtown’s surrounding neighborhoods. Their furniture was older and they had no problem parting with it. “There was lots of older stuff we didn’t bring,” he says. “We got over the packrat mentality; if we hadn’t seen it or used it for a year, we got rid of it.”

From Acres Of Sod
To Acres Of Culture

Donna and Richard Zizian got rid of most of their furniture before moving from their five-bedroom home in Fallbrook to their condo at The Grande. However, the boxes of ‘stuff’ will be a challenge to downsize and find space for as storage space is minimal. (photo/lambertphoto.com)

Big furniture and fast toys are recent history to Donna and Richard Zizian. The couple has moved from a 4,000-square-foot, five-car garage home in Fallbrook to a 1,945-square-foot condo and two parking spaces at The Grande by Bosa Development. After raising their three children and living the rural life on 2.5 acres, they made the move to get away from gophers, broken sprinkler heads and the responsibility of an abundance of material possessions. “It was the city life,” she says of the draw to Downtown. “Being able to walk and enjoy. This is the lifestyle we want: lock and go, turn key, no maintenance.” They sold the house, gave furniture to the children, things to the neighbors and got rid of the personal watercraft. “It is an ultimate size down, but at some point in your life you’ve got to do that cleansing process,” she says. You realize that the material things really aren’t worth it in life. Quality of time is much more important.”

That doesn’t mean it was easy. There were tears when she had to sell her dining room table, but nothing would make the 4-foot by 10-foot tabletop fit into the elevator. Now she is looking forward to replacing it with something that shows off her cherrywood floors. However, it’s not the big stuff Donna has to worry about. “I’ve got wall-to-wall boxes right now,” she says.

The Zizians’ solution to limited space is custom shelving and storage. They will have built-ins installed in their condo and make do with the two bedroom sets, one couch and two leather chairs they brought with them. But that doesn’t help with all the boxes. Donna says it will take time to weed out. But without the responsibility of land maintenance, she has the time. Still, Rensberger the professional organizer suggests it’s best to go through all this before move-out day. “If people have problems with de-cluttering, they need to get help,” she says. “Get friends. They are not emotionally involved with your things. Or hire a professional.” Donna accepts all help anyone offers as she and her husband are eager to get out and play and walk around Downtown.