Downsizing or upgrading existing home? Thoughts...

Pensions_matter_2

We have thought about this, but decided to stay put and make the ground floor work better for us. We have a good bus service very close by and the only downside is the garden which we would need a little help with eventually. However, when we factor in the costs of moving, the uncertainty around price differential, whether to sell first, and if not, the cost of renting and stress of waiting for the right property to turn up, it doesnt seem worth it unless we were looking for something considerably smaller. Its possible to end up no better off and indeed worse off. 

Albermarle

Pensions_matter_2 said:

We have thought about this, but decided to stay put and make the ground floor work better for us. We have a good bus service very close by and the only downside is the garden which we would need a little help with eventually. However, when we factor in the costs of moving, the uncertainty around price differential, whether to sell first, and if not, the cost of renting and stress of waiting for the right property to turn up, it doesnt seem worth it unless we were looking for something considerably smaller. Its possible to end up no better off and indeed worse off. 

You could make the garden more 'maintenance free'. Gravel is usually your friend here.
In any case having a  gardener a couple of hours a week is not a big expense.

Pensions_matter_2

Yes, good point - we need to consider some redesigning to make the garden less work. At least help will not be needed all year round. 

theoretica

My grandfather refused to consider voluntarily moving to somewhere easier - which meant that he needed to move in a rush to whatever was available when he could not cope, rather than staying several years longer in his own property.  So he moved to a place which had some great aspects to it, but was not what he would have chosen if he had had more time and energy to arrange something - and resented it heartily for years.  

louby40

Albermarle said:

We often look at houses online that come up for sale but they just aren't as nice as what we have now. 

That is a common problem with downsizing plans. As soon as you start looking your aspirations start to increase, or you try to fulfil a dream,  such as a 'nice little place by the sea'

Before you know it the money being released is much less than you originally thought.

So that's when your head needs to take control and not your heart. I live bang in the middle of the country and have no desire to live by the sea. We need to move (eventually) to release some equity, live in a smaller property with less stairs and hopefully lower costs, whilst still remaining close to my elderly parents and other family. If I could move half a mile away, I would. 

blue.peter

If my experience is anything to go by, you might find that moving house is easier said than done at the moment. There still aren't a lot of houses on the market. I've been trying to move for two years now. In that time, I've rejected almost all of the houses that reach me as alerts from Rightmove, and have only been to view two houses. One of those I rejected  after viewing. I wanted to buy the other, but was beaten to it. Whilst I admit that I'm very specific about what I want in a house, I am looking at a very large area - most of the M5 corridor.

Another person I know wanted to move, but couldn't find a house to buy. In the end, she and her husband gave up and are having major upgrading done on their present house. And she's finding that a bit of a nightmare - multiple contractors (couldn't find anyone willing and able to take on the whole lot), poor workmanship by one contractor, mess and so on. Her contractors are, apparently, good at clearing up the big stuff, but their finer dust spreads through the whole house.

(Upgrading/renovating this house wouldn't work for me. I'm in a semi and want detached, also finding that this town isn't really suitable for my post-retirement needs. I only came here because I'd been made redundant and needed a job at the time.)

MarzipanCrumble

Oh wow - thank you for all the comments, which have really reaffirmed where I am at - understanding why I am confused but now have a number of opinions which could solidify my thinking.  

I have been scrutinizing Rightmove and Zoopla for my area and all the houses I am attracted to have been massively upgraded and are huge!  The latter is contrary to what I should be looking for!!!!

I really am thinking upgrading but not in a massive, totally re-modelling way and when I cannot drive relying on taxi/uber - any experience of that?

Savvy_Sue

Only very limited experience of taxis. Both sets of parents used to use the ComCab scheme for shopping, it's subsidised and seemed to work quite well.

Then one of them needed a wheelchair. We used one company which was incredibly expensive. Then tried the ComCab scheme again. And one day it just didn't arrive! Kept getting updates: it was 10 minutes away, then they were trying to find one, and so on.

Now, we're away ATM, and there was a warning at the hotel that if you were planning to use a taxi, you should pre-book asap because taxis were in short supply. 

And we find at work that getting a taxi during school run times is very difficult.

So I think taxis may vary, place to place and day to day. 

I will say that most drivers were brilliant!

missile

mebu60 said:

 

Downsizing from a 3 litre V6 Jaguar to a Ford Focus saved more proportionally but was a far more difficult and painful decision than the house move. 

Nice one, made me laugh :-:smiley:

DT2001

Hopefully  you have some costings for upgrading to help you progress your plan.

My mother was widowed at 69 and decided to stay put as she had a good group of friends and was still actively playing sport. The only downside was a long distance from family. At 85 she decided to move to the SW from the SE to be close to two of her children. The move as far as she was concerned wasn’t too difficult as she handed over the process to her children! Clearing her 3 bed bungalow of 35 years of bits and bobs was good as there was much less to sort when she eventually went into a home. She went into a retirement flat which allowed her to realise £240k, reduced her outgoings, allowed her to socialise as little or as much as she wanted, she still had access to a garden that she didn’t need to maintain and in her last few years buy in extra care/pay for a nursing home without pressure to sell up.

She used transport for hospital appointments that was provided at cost - I think through an AgeUK type charity.
We have used Uber all over the world - one or two interesting experiences in India (but I think just a reflection of their cars roadworthiness generally) but generally very good. Only downside is not being able to book in advance.