Downsizing and retirement planning

2childmum2

My parents moved out of SE London to somewhere just over an hour's drive away.  Unfortunately every time they needed to make hospital visits the relevant hospital was some distance away. There were nearer hospitals but they didn't have the correct specialism, which they didn't realise when they moved there. The lady living opposite was having to travel an hour and a half drive away every 6 weeks to have injections for macular degeneration - she is 90 and had to find someone to give her a lift each time as there was no public transport.
My dad ruptured his Achilles tendon and physio was at a hospital 3/4 hour drive away. We had to drive over an hour to collect him and take him to hospital and then do it all in reverse.

They have now moved back to SE London where there are two hospitals which between them cover a full range of specialisms. I've discovered my mum has a list of health problems which should have been sorted a long time ago but she did nothing cos she couldn't get to the hospitals and didn't want to ask us to take her.

So there are benefits to living in more crowded places. I would love to move out of London but it will only be to towns/cities with decent hospitals and public transport to get there

Albermarle

ProDave said:

My thoughts on downsizing.

20 years ago we were living in a semi detached house in the SE of England, unlikely to ever afford much more than a semi, and in any event I found SE England too crowded, too expensive and (where we were) too far from the sea and mountains.

So we moved to the Highlands where we now have a detached house that we never could have afforded down south, a much lower population density, and the detached house cost less than our semi down south so money left over that we used for buy to let properties that have now been sold and we are retiring.

I can (just) see the attraction of staying somewhere crowded and expensive when there is plenty of well paid work available. But when you retire and no longer need to seek employment, just what keeps you in a very expensive and crowded place, when you could move somewhere much nicer, much cheaper and much less crowded?  That might by by the sea, amongst mountains or other nice scenery.  Whatever takes your fancy.  And moving somewhere cheaper in our case meant upsizing and releasing money.

Family ties is probably the most obvious reason. Plus friends/neighbour/support networks.
Or if you or a family member rely heavily on local social services/medical facilities, it can be tricky to move and replicate them easily in a new area. 

Plenty of reasons to move, and plenty not to move. Depends on personal situation and preferences.

sevenhills

My Father and a few other relatives have moved into rented flats later in life, probably in their last 10 years of life.

So I view that as a positive and something that could happen to me. So when I am 70+ I could have £150k to manage or give away.

I also have a 96 year old relative still living in a 3 bed semi, I did advice hime to move into a flat, but his family didnt support that.

I view good purpose built flats as a better place to live, than a 3 bed semi. Smaller rural locations will probably not have such social housing.

Albermarle

sevenhills said:

My Father and a few other relatives have moved into rented flats later in life, probably in their last 10 years of life.

So I view that as a positive and something that could happen to me. So when I am 70+ I could have £150k to manage or give away.

I also have a 96 year old relative still living in a 3 bed semi, I did advice hime to move into a flat, but his family didnt support that.

I view good purpose built flats as a better place to live, than a 3 bed semi. Smaller rural locations will probably not have such social housing.

It is a tricky one as if in a rental property, you might get turfed out by the landlord at some point. Probably less likely if it was a complex owned by a company.
Also flats are normally leasehold, which can bring its own headaches.

I read somewhere that older people are sometimes moving to flats in town centres that have been converted from empty shops and offices ( plenty of both around) . Being in the town centre was convenient for transport, shops, pubs etc. rather than being miles from anywhere. Although probably a bit noisy on weekend evenings.

MeteredOut

Albermarle said:

sevenhills said:

My Father and a few other relatives have moved into rented flats later in life, probably in their last 10 years of life.

So I view that as a positive and something that could happen to me. So when I am 70+ I could have £150k to manage or give away.

I also have a 96 year old relative still living in a 3 bed semi, I did advice hime to move into a flat, but his family didnt support that.

I view good purpose built flats as a better place to live, than a 3 bed semi. Smaller rural locations will probably not have such social housing.

I read somewhere that older people are sometimes moving to flats in town centres that have been converted from empty shops and offices ( plenty of both around) . Being in the town centre was convenient for transport, shops, pubs etc. rather than being miles from anywhere. Although probably a bit noisy on weekend evenings.

Not all older people are noisy at the weekend!

sevenhills

Albermarle said:

It is a tricky one as if in a rental property, you might get turfed out by the landlord at some point. Probably less likely if it was a complex owned by a company.
Also flats are normally leasehold, which can bring its own headaches.
I read somewhere that older people are sometimes moving to flats in town centres that have been converted from empty shops and offices ( plenty of both around) . Being in the town centre was convenient for transport, shops, pubs etc. rather than being miles from anywhere. Although probably a bit noisy on weekend evenings.

The flats that I am referring are Anchor, social housing for age 55 and over. There are a few blocks in my area, perhaps this type of accommodation is uncommon.

It would feel strange moving into an old persons accommodation at 55, but 65 might be ok.

https://www.anchor.org.uk/our-properties/properties-to-rent/what-could-my-new-home-be-like

bjorn_toby_wilde

We would like to downsize whilst staying in the same area (family and friends close by).  We’re rattling around in a 4 bed detached with a large garden. Great before the kids moved out, but it’s too big now. We don’t need the money from downsizing but would like less cleaning and gardening. Besides which we see most of our older neighbours really struggling and wishing they’d moved to somewhere smaller years ago.

Our problem is that there’s a real lack of the kind of property that we would want to move to. I think this is a bigger issue for many than the moving costs or stamp duty.

Pipthecat

Mum was looking to downsize the family home to a bungalow but could not find anything that she wanted.  Long story short she decided to stay in the house, make a few alterations to make it a bungalow that just happens to have a second story for guests.

Sarahspangles

If you want to invest money that you realise from selling a larger house into a pension, then you need to do that while you’re still working. Which may be problematic if you want to move areas and can’t work remotely. Unless you’re prepared to rent near work for a short while.

My parents owned their house for over half a century. I wish they had downsized, although I know I’m in the minority within the family. I think the optimum time for downsizing is only easy to spot with hindsight! There was a point where owning a large house and garden became a liability but by that time they would have found it very difficult to invest the time and energy and adjust to change.

I know they commented that they didn’t have people to stay as often as they would have expected. Once grandchildren were older, joint holidays would have been a good compromise.

Askfirst

Sarahspangles said:

If you want to invest money that you realise from selling a larger house into a pension, then you need to do that while you’re still working. 

Hmm, do you think that mean PAYE exclusively, or would running a business as a self-employed person count?