Please help me find somewhere affordable to retire.

Smodlet

Yeah, just found this thread, sounds very like what we had to do three years ago... we just trawled rightmove for hours, days, weeks, months and somehow narrowed it down to just a couple. First one fell through so we ended up with the second, thought we had had a narrow escape, not so sure right now with new neighbours but think this is still the better area of the two. Sometimes, you just gotta go for it and roll with the punches.

You can "draw" your own search area on rightmove, y'know. It can include half the country, if you want. I drew the line (literally) at Scotland and the NE but, to each, their own.

Dan83

I'm in a town on the out skirts of Liverpool called Kirkby, 30-45 mins from Crosby, formby, ainsdale, southport and new Brighton. Not much more then an hour to north wales.

Prices are quite cheap in my area and most area's in Liverpool, most of the cheaper house's are ex council.

My house was £68k and the only box it doesn't tick is the semi/detached box as mine is mid terrace, in a cul-de-sac.

Maybe do a search for L32 & L33 on right move.

beedeedee

I've often wondered if I would still need bricks and mortar when I get really old? We both took early retirement and rented our house out whilst we went travelling for three years. We lived in log cabins, tents, caravans and a boat and thoroughly enjoyed the experiences. I honestly feel I would be happy in any of them - (well perhaps not permanently in a tent)..... if we sold up, with cash in the bank for any repairs or unforeseen expenses in my twilight years. It's not really going to happen of course - but it's nice to dream.

moneyistooshorttomention

I think the security angle is a large part of it imo. Re the having "bricks and mortar".

If you've got your own place - then no-one can kick you out of it (bar compulsory purchase by the Council).

You can decorate it the way you want.

There can still be problems - neighbours, over-development nearby, etc and those are harder to cope with if they arise by virtue of the place being so "permanent/fixed". But I would say that the likelihood of problems is lower when you safely own your own house on balance.

Add the fact that the thought is always there at the back of your mind that you could:

- go in for equity release (in my case - make that ONLY when women get to be treated equally to men in that respect - as its a no-no for me until then)

- leaving it to any children you have (assuming it's not grabbed by the State for care home fees)

It doesnt seem to be possible to totally protect yourself from any and every problem that might conceivably arise - though goodness knows I've turned my mind to trying to figure out if there is enough times:(

Hence, going for what I think is, on balance, the safe(st) option available.

AnotherJoe

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

- go in for equity release (in my case - make that ONLY when women get to be treated equally to men in that respect - as its a no-no for me until then)
.

I think the EU is planning to make that treatment equal by randomly shooting women so that on average they die at the same age as men, because since they live longer than men that's why the equity release companies would grant less to a woman than a man, because they have to wait an extra five years or so to get their money back.

steve2000

I am from the area and the criteria here is very much possible.
Some of the old mining towns are very affordable. I have seen reasonable properties sell at auction for less than 35k. However there are no jobs in the area (perfect for the OP)
these towns are mainly made up of older people and generally on pensions.

A good place to find auction properties in the northeast area can be found here.

agentsproperty auction you need to add the w's and the .com

I have bought properties from these auctions before and they are what you would expect from a professional auctioneers.

the Durham area can still be host to some fantastic properties for the price. the reason is the lack of work in the north.

Durham is not far from the sea by car.
Of course there are smaller towns towards the sea (east of Durham)

I would avoid Sunderland and big cities unless you know the areas well)

Pallion in Sunderland is a notorious housing estate, as well as Walker and Cowgate in Newcastle.

since I am a new user I cannot post with links, but a quick search on rightmove in the Durham area will show up a number of properties.

Unfortunately I am not aware of all the smaller towns in the Durham area. and houses by the sea in Newcastle are generally more expensive in the whitley bay area.
DO NOT buy in the North Shields area however.

glasgowdan

The ayrshire coast is lovely, cheap, you'd like it.

moneyistooshorttomention

AnotherJoe wrote: »

I think the EU is planning to make that treatment equal by randomly shooting women so that on average they die at the same age as men, because since they live longer than men that's why the equity release companies would grant less to a woman than a man, because they have to wait an extra five years or so to get their money back.

Well that's one way to get rid of one of the last traces of sex discrimination:rotfl:

How very odd to still judge/treat people by the sex their body is and thus consider it important to find out whether their bodies are male or female sex. Hmmm...maybe all the transgender/gender-fluid stuff going on at the moment might be the "wedge in that wall" that gets rid of that bit of discrimination:p

Davesnave

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Well that's one way to get rid of one of the last traces of sex discrimination:rotfl:

How very odd to still judge/treat people by the sex their body is and thus consider it important to find out whether their bodies are male or female sex. Hmmm...maybe all the transgender/gender-fluid stuff going on at the moment might be the "wedge in that wall" that gets rid of that bit of discrimination:p

This is an insurance matter. Removing the element of risk associated with gender from the calculation of insurance premiums would result in women paying more for many insurance services.

I'm not sure they'd be terribly happy with that.

AdrianC

Davesnave wrote: »

This is an insurance matter. Removing the element of risk associated with gender from the calculation of insurance premiums would result in women paying more for many insurance services.

I'm not sure they'd be terribly happy with that.

Umm, that happened nearly four years ago.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12608777