Do people really downsize to release money?

beeza650

Flugelhorn said:

we moved in our  early 60s large 5 bed to small 5 bed - costs a fraction to heat and the roof doesn't leak

Did it release much money though? Did you stay in the same area or move to a cheaper part of thr country?

beeza650

tiernsee said:

Yep we have downsized from a 4 bedroom detached house to a 2 bedroom detached house. We are near 60, retired, two children who do not live with us.
We wanted to move to Dorset for our retirement and be near the sea - the house is great for two of us and we are very happy with our decision. Rooms are all larger than at our previous house so despite decreasing the number of rooms doesnt seem we have lost much space and we make far more use of the other rooms now

That's how I imagine my later years, big rooms but just less of them. Nice garden just less of it, big garage but just a few select cars/motorbikes. Downsize to me is unlikely to be a retirement flat unless I need something like that for health reasons. Couple that with maybe moving to the sea and therfore a more expensive area I do wonder how much money would actually be freed. 
That was going to another question, is moving to the seaside as good as it seems?

oldernonethewiser

beeza650 said:

oldernonethewiser said:

My in-laws downsized years ago from a five bedroom farm house to a two bedroom flat.

Really depends on your needs & wants.

Same as my reply above really, what were their circumstances, how's it working out for them?

It worked out well as they moved from the countryside to a town.  Family had all grown and left home. Meant they could walk to many places rather than relying on the car.  They have moved twice since.

Albermarle

beeza650 said:

tiernsee said:

Yep we have downsized from a 4 bedroom detached house to a 2 bedroom detached house. We are near 60, retired, two children who do not live with us.
We wanted to move to Dorset for our retirement and be near the sea - the house is great for two of us and we are very happy with our decision. Rooms are all larger than at our previous house so despite decreasing the number of rooms doesnt seem we have lost much space and we make far more use of the other rooms now

That's how I imagine my later years, big rooms but just less of them. Nice garden just less of it, big garage but just a few select cars/motorbikes. Downsize to me is unlikely to be a retirement flat unless I need something like that for health reasons. Couple that with maybe moving to the sea and therfore a more expensive area I do wonder how much money would actually be freed. 
That was going to another question, is moving to the seaside as good as it seems?

This is often the issue. Downsizing often generates much less money than is initially thought.
Many with potentially a big budget, will start to aspire to move to a nicer area, somewhere with a sea view maybe. Especially as it is likely it will be their forever home and they are maybe they have more free time to enjoy it.
Personally if I were you I would try and build up a big war chest ( pension, savings etc) so you will have the freedom of whether to move house when you are older, or not.

UKSBD

We moved out of a 2 bed detached cottage in a lovely village to 4 bedroom house in similar village but kept the cottage with plans downsizing back to it once the kids have grown up and left home.

Trouble is, there is no sign of that happening.

Cairnpapple

Each set of my spouse's grandparents downsized to a bungalow. In at least one case I'm confident that it released money (5/6 bedroom Victorian in larger town to 2 bedroom bungalow in smaller town).

I already have intermittent mobility problems in my late 40s so spouse and I hope to downsize to a 2 bed/2 bath ground floor flat when we retire and don't need home offices. Currently in large 3 storey 4 bed house. It definitely won't save money though as I want to move into the city and be closer to friends and not car-dependent. Some friends of ours who are a generation older than us did a similar thing in the US and it made a big difference to their ability to have an active retirement once they started having difficulty with driving. 

Skiddaw1

Albermarle said:

beeza650 said:

tiernsee said:

Yep we have downsized from a 4 bedroom detached house to a 2 bedroom detached house. We are near 60, retired, two children who do not live with us.
We wanted to move to Dorset for our retirement and be near the sea - the house is great for two of us and we are very happy with our decision. Rooms are all larger than at our previous house so despite decreasing the number of rooms doesnt seem we have lost much space and we make far more use of the other rooms now

That's how I imagine my later years, big rooms but just less of them. Nice garden just less of it, big garage but just a few select cars/motorbikes. Downsize to me is unlikely to be a retirement flat unless I need something like that for health reasons. Couple that with maybe moving to the sea and therfore a more expensive area I do wonder how much money would actually be freed. 
That was going to another question, is moving to the seaside as good as it seems?

This is often the issue. Downsizing often generates much less money than is initially thought.
Many with potentially a big budget, will start to aspire to move to a nicer area, somewhere with a sea view maybe. Especially as it is likely it will be their forever home and they are maybe they have more free time to enjoy it.
Personally if I were you I would try and build up a big war chest ( pension, savings etc) so you will have the freedom of whether to move house when you are older, or not.

It really does depend on where you want to move to.

We effectively upsized- we moved from a 3 bedroom Victorian mid-terrace in the south to a 4 bedroom detached house in rural Cumbria. We also made a healthy profit from the sale. It's just the difference in house prices when you're properly away from London and commuter land. No regrets!

peterhjohnson

njkmr said:

 so we don't really want to come back home and have to start tidying up a big garden each time we return.

It might be cheaper to find a reliable gardener!

tooldle

Large four bed semi (Edwardian) to a modern (think 70’s) detached bungalow with three beds. We can see our old house from the new place. Released a big chunk of cash (60% ish) but, the new place was/is quite a project. We’ve subsequently retired. The new place is so much cheaper to run and as it is half the size of the old place, far easier to look after. 

Yankee24

we are downsizing from a 4 bed in the home countries to naive back into London.  2 bed, same price.  Not what we thought we would do, but found that after the nest was empty, London with money is a hoot.  The idea of a Labrador and golf for the next 25 years filled us with dread!   A pleasant change of direction