Downsizing - am thinking about - how have others done downsizing?

blue.peter

Nebulous2 said:

There is something about people being suspicious of free stuff. They question its condition, ask for delivery, ask you to keep it for a week until they can get for it. All of that is much less likely for a transaction where money changes hands.

Yes. I've found that when giving stuff away on Freecycle. Strange, isn't it? But then again, I once had a fellow pay me over £400 for something I sold on eBay, and then just forgot to come and collect it on the Saturday morning as we'd agreed. He lived less than ten miles away.

seven-day-weekend

We downsized from a three bedroom inner-city terraced house to a two-bedroom semi detached bungalow in the suburbs.  We felt it very important that the property was accessible to shops and a bus route if there ever came a time when we couldn't drive.

As for furniture, we left a lot of it (with permission) in the house we were selling.  The buyers  were a young couple with three children and were delighted with the furniture.  Also we left white goods.  Other things we stuck outside as 'free to good home', most of it went.  Others were freecycled or gumtreed. The only things we brought to the bungalow, furniture-wise,  were a sofa and a chair.  Everything else we replaced.  We found we needed different furniture - for example beds with storage and different sized wardrobes, and a washer-dryer instead of separate appliances.

Hope this helps.

PennyForThem_2

Thanks everyone - lots to chew on here.  

My children (sons) don't want anything, I agree about furniture got now - most of which is 2nd or third hand when I got it - should be chucked / given away.  If I move it will be within a town to a flat or small house.

fangoose

Have you considered renting? If you're not that sure then renting a new place while renting out the old one may be an option. It may also give you a net sum each month.
It gives the opportunity to try before you buy, move around if you're not sure of the new neighbourhood and you keep open the option of moving back  if you sell and decide you've made a mistake you may find that you would not be able to afford the sort of house in the location again.
It may be a bit more effort but certainly less risk 

youth_leader

Do make a list of must haves, nice to haves, and definitely don't wants.

I downsized from a very hard to heat and maintain listed 1847 5 bed railway station, to a three bed bungalow.  I know I was lucky to be 'chosen' by the seller, and do appreciate the location, double glazing, smaller bills and much easier maintenance, but it still feels like a caravan.   And I do miss going upstairs.  

missile

youth_leader said:

Do make a list of must haves, nice to haves, and definitely don't wants.

I downsized from a very hard to heat and maintain listed 1847 5 bed railway station, to a three bed bungalow.  I know I was lucky to be 'chosen' by the seller, and do appreciate the location, double glazing, smaller bills and much easier maintenance, but it still feels like a caravan.   And I do miss going upstairs.  

Thankyou, that made me laugh

blue.peter

PennyForThem_2 said:

 If I move it will be within a town to a flat or small house.

Do think carefully before moving to a flat. I lived in flats for many years, and wouldn't go back to one. They certainly have advantages, but neighbours can be a significant problem.

My experience is that most neighbours are fine, but there always seems to be one that's a problem. And the problem is often (but not always) noise. A lot of flat residents tend to be 20-somethings who are keen on late-night noise and/or parties. Several times, I've known large groups of residents gathered outside one door, trying to get the occupant to shut the noise off in the small hours. (On one occasion, the meter cupboard was outside the flat door and not locked. One person - not me - got so frutrated that they pened it and turned the electricity off. Even that didn't get any reaction from the resident that I saw, but it did get us peace for the rest of the night.)

Twice I've had people living in the flat below mine (I only lived in top-floor flats) who often came home late at night and immediately turned the stereo on. And they'd do this midweek as well as at weekends. Once, the flat below mine was rented out to a bunch of waiters at a local restaurant. They were so bad that they trashed the place. It was eventually sold at a ridiculously low price (which caused me problems when I wanted to sell mine), and was still being refurbished when I moved out of mine a year later.

Some flats are buy-to-lets, and they're the worst problem. The residents typically aren't invested in the place, and some simply don't care about their neighbours. Of course there are good tenants, but the minority - and there always seems to be a minority - spoil things for everyone else.

I guess that retirement homes limited to, say, the over-50s might not suffer from these problems, but I can't say that I'd find them an attractive prospect. Oh, and you'd need to be very careful of maintenance etc. charges and restrictions on selling such a place.

PennyForThem_2

NOT a retirement home - I know that they fulfill a need and many love them but I am introvert and non-social so the ethos would really not suit me.

That is really interesting comment about apartments from blue.peter.  However my son lives in a London flat and there is absolutely no noise from anywhere (he is 3rd floor with flats either side below and above - and yes, he is affcted by the cladding problem).  I understand he may be very lucky and I 'get' that living in inner city with students is not ideal for many reasons but that is true of small terraced houses too.  I know where studentland is where I live and true - would avoid it.

The advice to rent is interesting - except what would I do with stuff?  I am starting to get rid of it.  I have even thought about house clearance from a charity just to rid myself of stuff.  Am about to investigate wholesale charity donation of approx 3-4K of books.  Just need charity to collect and to appreciate maybe something valuable there.

blue.peter

PennyForThem_2 said:

 I know where studentland is where I live and true - would avoid it.

Not only students. There were no students in either of the blocks in which I lived, or nearby. No higher educational establishment in the town. It's not just students that can be a problem. People with jobs can be, too.

Your son has definitely been very lucky with his neighbours.

pollypenny

blue.peter said:

PennyForThem_2 said:

 I know where studentland is where I live and true - would avoid it.

Not only students. There were no students in either of the blocks in which I lived, or nearby. No higher educational establishment in the town. It's not just students that can be a problem. People with jobs can be, too.

Your son has definitely been very lucky with his neighbours.

Agree. We bought a flat for our first home.   Nightmare when someone moved in above and had no carpets.  The bloke was a barman, who'd get home late and start shouting.