Selling my house to give money to my grandchildren

Albermarle

Downsizing to a smaller/cheaper property seems a much more sensible way to release some cash.

I have a friend who is 68 who was moving out of the marital home. Even though he could pay a years rent up front, it was nearly 6 months and endless viewings, before he found somewhere.

Schwarzwald

ghdman said:

Is this a wise move??

No.
renting and then getting potentially kicked out of your flat at age … 80 … needing to go flat hunting on a walking stick while your grandchildren are nowhere to be seen as too busy with their comfortable lifes, i couldnt imagine anything worse …

Jami74

I think there are rentals specifically for retired folk, not sure if they offer a better guarantee of security.

Lots of people talk of renting as though it's a good option, not having to pay to fix the roof or pay for a new boiler etc. As someone who has lived in rented accommodation for nearly twenty years I can say that it isn't a stress free, wonderful experience. 

Saying all that, the idea of retiring and spending the rest of my days on round-the-world cruises really appeals to me and I'd probably sell my property to fund that.

DullGreyGuy

propertyrental said:

Given that he says he can afford to rent for the remainder of his life, either he has considerable savings (hence IHT is a genuine consideration) or considerable pension income.

Where does he say he can afford it @propertyrental? 

They simply say they will rent for the rest of their life without any indication of how it will be funded or what thought they have given to affordability in the cases of high longevity, high inflation etc. 

EssexHebridean

DullGreyGuy said:

propertyrental said:

Given that he says he can afford to rent for the remainder of his life, either he has considerable savings (hence IHT is a genuine consideration) or considerable pension income.

Where does he say he can afford it @propertyrental? 

They simply say they will rent for the rest of their life without any indication of how it will be funded or what thought they have given to affordability in the cases of high longevity, high inflation etc. 

on the flip side, they haven’t said anything that indicates that the financial side isn’t taken account of either - the comments about expectations around government funding etc have all been made by others, jumping to conclusions! 

OP - you definitely need to look up the details around deprivation of assets - while you might have enough money in the bank to cover  rent and fund the lifestyle you want going forwards, care home fees might well be a whole different ball game. Obviously you will have some idea of your family history on life expectancy, but can you afford rent for another 30 years perhaps, without having to compromise on a comfortable lifestyle? 

If you still enjoy living in your current home, and are able to cope with its layout, then I’d certainly suggest that now is still far too young to think of making a wholesale change like you are considering. Remember this might end up not being “one house move now, while you are young enough to cope” but could end up becoming a move every few years - and as has already been mentioned, you may not be young enough to cope with it well for ever! 

I’m sure your grandchildren would be horrified to think of you making a plan like this just to enable leaving them money - and frankly if they weren’t then all the more reason not to leVe them a penny, I would say!