Please help me find somewhere affordable to retire.

lincroft1710

Derwent wrote: »

Have a look at West Cumbrian towns like Workington, Whitehaven, Maryport where just £75k buys you a property like this....


http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35587656.html

That looks ex-council to me

AlexMac

Assuming you are still there OP (as you haven't commented for almost 2 weeks?) and while I have not read every reply, its worth a look at the Isle of Wight. Prices are depressed by limited job-ops and high costs of commuting to mainland jobs, so there is still property around at your budget.

Admittedly, flats, rather than houses, but to be optimistic, we recently bought a 1-bed flat in a small, listed block with low service and maintenance charges (£420pa), in the conservation area of Ryde - a town with a nice range of people- from dogs on string types to genteel members of the local history society. Although it has no garden, it is on a quiet Georgian garden square.

You wouldn't need a car (so one area of saving) as you can walk to shops, coast, beaches and nearby countryside, and buses are excellent.

The big deal is that we paid £82.5k only 18 months ago, and while that reflected the fact that it needed anew boiler, kitchen, flooring and a re-dec, that only cost £5k. Comparable done-up ones go for around £90k- your budget, and over the winter, people will be open to offers.

The final issue is microclimate - the Island enjoys a benign climate- like Hampshire across the water - but at a quarter the cost in property terms!

An alternative suggestion is Bridport in Dorset- sufficiently far from train links not to be commutable, but a charming market town with a slightly bohemian demographic. £90k might be tricky there however, and unless you were happy in town with a bus to West Bay and the Jurassic coast, a car may be needed.

SailorSam

Op i live about 10mls outside Liverpool. it's quite a nice are. A small 2bed semi would probably be about £100k where i live. One thing you may want to think about is public transport. Once you're 60 you can get a Merseytravel pass for free bus; train, and ferry travel within Merseyside. I think if you have some sort of disabiity which has pensioned you off you can get a pass earlier.

lazer

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Now those 2 houses don't look bad.

There is obviously a LOT more money needing to be spent on the 2nd one...but it could be made nice. The one thing I would say re 2nd one is "check out the office blinds percentage in the area of 2nd house generally".

Reason being that the area I moved to recently has a LOT of office blinds (ie those vertical blinds that offices have) in houses round here. I was walking round the area recently specifically counting them - and there are one HECK of a lot of houses round here that have them. I then checked out Rightmove for my "home area" (ie where I have moved from fairly recently) and there are LOTS fewer of them and quite a few house windows with nothing whatsoever to "block people out" (be it office blinds/blinds generally/net curtains/etc). We don't do "block outs" like that in my home area - but area where I am now does do this. I am rather coming to conclusion that this does denote something I am personally not very keen on.

I may be very wrong on that - but I am personally finding it rather offputting. Hence my future reference points (ie if I can afford to move again ever will include checking out the "office blind ratio" in the locality).

*********************

Whilst on the subject of Regional Tastes - there are differences between parts of the country on that front. Where I am from = we hide "Ugly". In this area - I'm frequently astonished at "Ugly" being in full view even on mid-price range houses (eg Oil Tanks/concrete block walls/etc). What I am used to personally is "Ugly is hidden - except on the cheapest price level houses" and I translate that personally into = "Ugly SHOULD be hidden".

I think vertical office blinds are just popular here, most houses I know have them for privacy reasons.
There may be a element of 2nd homes, but given the area I would say most are 1st homes.

MoneyWorry

I live in North Wales about 20 minutes from Chester and 45 minutes from Llandudno. The estate where I live has two beds for about £95 to £100 and one beds for about £85. I live in a cul de sac with a cat and it's really quiet. The cost of living here is really reasonable.

moneyistooshorttomention

Interested to see this thread re-surfacing again.

...and one thought that is certainly quite prominent in my mind right now is the necessity to work out how "sociable" (or otherwise) someone is before deciding where to live.

Where I am now is just about "enough" for me sociability-wise (having come from a rather bigger place) and I am watching a bit nervously in case any of my social facilities here get cut.

However, a friend of mine lives some way away in an even smaller place and I am watching them drive away from Small Place for every single scrap of their Social Life (from what I can see).

I've checked out where they live online and I'd "die a death" personally in somewhere so small - as I literally couldn't find a single bit of Social Life there and couldn't find anywhere much to even do my shopping and would have to "get on a bus and travel" even for dead basic everyday necessities personally:eek:.

I am rather coming to the conclusion that teeny tiny places are okay IF you have one of two things applying:
- you come from them and know lots of people there and therefore don't need/want a Social Life as such

OR

- for one reason or another you want to be away from The World

If neither of those things apply - then check out carefully re the size of the place you have in mind - as to whether it fits your own personal "Goldilocks requirements" (ie not too big and not too small - but just right for you personally).

Lummoxley

Not sure if it has already been mentioned but you could buy a short lease, say 40-50 years. That way you'd get more bang for your buck if you don't mind capital value decreasing.

chevalier

So I kinda read this thread as an adjunct to something else, and am now wondering what the OP decided to do? Perhaps they will come back and tell us
chev

Davesnave

chevalier wrote: »

So I kinda read this thread as an adjunct to something else, and am now wondering what the OP decided to do? Perhaps they will come back and tell us
chev

You could always PM them.

moneyistooshorttomention

True.

But it's always nice to see what the conclusion is to a problem.