Do people really downsize to release money?

SiliconChip

My mum did after my dad died, from a 4 bed house with a lot of land that would have been impossible for her to cope with, to a 2 bed bungalow with a more manageable garden. The move released around £100K (which she gifted to my sister and me) but was a secondary consideration. Mobility issues are already making me think about downsizing, although I'm expecting to need to spend about as much as I make from selling my current house.

Keep_pedalling

We downsized earlier this year from 3 bed 1930s semi to 2 bed 6 year old bungalow. We also moved towns and after costs freed up £80k of cash, but this was not why we moved. We are in our 70s and are still fit and healthy but realise that could change so have no stares and walk in shower could be very useful as we get older. We are now also in the same city as our son and oldest grandchild. 

On a separate point you say partner so I assume not married or in a civil partnership. If that is the case you need to make sure you have wills and LPAs in place. You might also think about your marital status as in the event of an early death you are looking at an IHT liability that would not be the case for a married couple or civil partnerships. 

Newly_retired

beeza650 said:

Newly_retired said:

Yes, we downsized, from a 5 bedroomed house to a 3 bed plus potential to use a downstairs room as a bedroom.

At what age please? Kids? Grandkids? I'm thinking in my circumstances with my kids being young and my brother's even younger that by the time I don't need the space I'm going to be that irrational old person that doesn't like change.

We moved soon after retirement from the area we had been working in to the area where my children and grandchildren live. We chose a small market town with good rail and road connections , a bus stop close by. Train station a level ten minutes walk, local shops, health centre, library etc. Future proofing. Moving whilst still fit and able, but after children had all left home. Ten years on, even more glad we did this.

Financially we broke even, but this property in a better area has increased in value more than the old one.

Not all older people are irrational, you know. And late sixties isn’t old.

newsgroupmonkey_

Currently have a work colleague whose house is on the market for £1.1m. They're looking to move out of town into a 3 bed bungalow for £600k and immediately retire.

I have another colleague in a similar situation who is also looking to downsize at similar money to the above to be able to go mortgage free (and as one of the posts above, children are in the process of moving out).

GrannyKate

Late DH and I moved from 4 bedroom detached to 3 bedroom bungalow 25 years ago - prices about the same but husband already had some mobility issues.  We subsequently extended the bungalow to 4 bedrooms.  Now in my mid seventies and widowed I am moving to a 3 bedroom bungalow for two thirds of the value of this one.   Money is useful for ongoing expense, new car etc but main reasons are current bungalow is much too big to maintain, clean, heat etc.  I am also moving closer to family, buses, amenities etc.  The edge of town as opposed to a village which is nice enough but impractical as you get older. Not planning to move again and quite a bit of money will need to go on upgrading new bungalow. 

I know that if I don't do it now I never will.  Moving is hassle and so different when you are doing it on your own.  I have met many people  who regret not moving when they could have managed to do it and now feel unable to face the upheaval. 

horsewithnoname

got friends in their early 60s looking to downsize so they can give their kids some money for deposits or they’ll never be able to afford to buy homes. 

Albermarle

Newly_retired said:

beeza650 said:

Newly_retired said:

Yes, we downsized, from a 5 bedroomed house to a 3 bed plus potential to use a downstairs room as a bedroom.

At what age please? Kids? Grandkids? I'm thinking in my circumstances with my kids being young and my brother's even younger that by the time I don't need the space I'm going to be that irrational old person that doesn't like change.

We moved soon after retirement from the area we had been working in to the area where my children and grandchildren live. We chose a small market town with good rail and road connections , a bus stop close by. Train station a level ten minutes walk, local shops, health centre, library etc. Future proofing. Moving whilst still fit and able, but after children had all left home. Ten years on, even more glad we did this.

Financially we broke even, but this property in a better area has increased in value more than the old one.

Not all older people are irrational, you know. And late sixties isn’t old.

We ( mid Sixties) still live in the family home ( 4 bed semi) but even soonish when there will only be two of us, I will be reluctant to move as our location is already so convenient. Small town- 5 to 10 mins walk to train station, bus stops, Doctors, High st with two supermarkets, 2 pharmacies, many takeaways,coffee outlets,  mid price restaurants and even a  couple of pubs still. Two major hospitals within 5 miles. Close to Motorway network and not far to two major airports.
Although it is not the most exciting/pretty location and there is quite a lot of traffic/train/plane noise, it is so easy with everything just a few minutes level walk away, so I would be reluctant to downsize if it probably meant moving somewhere less convenient when I am older. 
I think the location is at least as important as moving to a more senior friendly property.

Cairnpapple

Albermarle said:

Newly_retired said:

beeza650 said:

Newly_retired said:

Yes, we downsized, from a 5 bedroomed house to a 3 bed plus potential to use a downstairs room as a bedroom.

At what age please? Kids? Grandkids? I'm thinking in my circumstances with my kids being young and my brother's even younger that by the time I don't need the space I'm going to be that irrational old person that doesn't like change.

We moved soon after retirement from the area we had been working in to the area where my children and grandchildren live. We chose a small market town with good rail and road connections , a bus stop close by. Train station a level ten minutes walk, local shops, health centre, library etc. Future proofing. Moving whilst still fit and able, but after children had all left home. Ten years on, even more glad we did this.

Financially we broke even, but this property in a better area has increased in value more than the old one.

Not all older people are irrational, you know. And late sixties isn’t old.

We ( mid Sixties) still live in the family home ( 4 bed semi) but even soonish when there will only be two of us, I will be reluctant to move as our location is already so convenient. Small town- 5 to 10 mins walk to train station, bus stops, Doctors, High st with two supermarkets, 2 pharmacies, many takeaways,coffee outlets,  mid price restaurants and even a  couple of pubs still. Two major hospitals within 5 miles. Close to Motorway network and not far to two major airports.
Although it is not the most exciting/pretty location and there is quite a lot of traffic/train/plane noise, it is so easy with everything just a few minutes level walk away, so I would be reluctant to downsize if it probably meant moving somewhere less convenient when I am older. 
I think the location is at least as important as moving to a more senior friendly property.

My parents (mid-late 70s) are staying in their conveniently-placed large Victorian 4-bed semi but they have converted a downstairs office to a wet room and intend to move their bed into the dining room eventually.

At the moment one of their children lives with them which may carry on indefinitely. They have also considered the possibility of having live-in carers staying upstairs eventually.   

With 6 kids between them, they do still like having a large space to host, and enough space for kids to move in temporarily if needed. For a while they had 3 40-something kids at home because 2 had moved in while postponed-by-covid building work was done on their respective flats. 

ReadingTim

beeza650 said:

I don't know of anyone who's downsized. All my relatives stayed right where they were until they died or went to a nursing home. Do people really downsize? 

I don't know of anyone who's been to the North Pole, but despite that, I still believe it exists.  Exactly the same thing with downsizing.  

jennifernil

We have considered downsizing, but have decided we would rather stay where we are as long as possible.

At 75 and 82, the ideal time to do so is most likely now past anyway!

We had this house built back in 1988, to our own design.  It is spacious, with large rooms, and incorporates a “granny flat” of 2 rooms plus bathroom and kitchen.    We have a large  lounge/dining room, sun room, dining kitchen, 4 double bedrooms, small workshop,  utility, 2 bathrooms and a cloakroom, a box room, lots of cupboard space, and an integral double garage.  We know exactly how it is put together, everything was chosen by us, and we know how it all works.   The living space and granny flat are upstairs, bedrooms, utility etc are downstairs as the house is on a sloping plot.

My Mum stayed with us till her death in 2001, and we have 2  children who were 18 and 3 at the time we moved in.      Son got his own place in 1993, we took over his bedroom as a study.  Daughter sort of moved out in 2003 when she started uni, but had moved into the granny flat and hung onto that space until she bought a decent size house in 2013.  She was encouraged to take much of her furniture with her, and some of our old stuff.

After Mum died we did have a long discussion about downsizing, but having a house that is exactly what you want makes it very difficult to move on.  Financially it did not really make a lot of sense as stamp duty on a nice bungalow would eat up a lot of any surplus, plus of course removal costs and legal fees.  We decided to stay and later to make this house as future proof as possible.

Having retired in 2007, we spent quite long periods touring abroad until 2018, then we took on helping to look after DD’s first son, there are 2 now and she works full time.    Now we were at home more, and DD had removed most of her stuff, we took over the  granny lounge as a sewing room/office space/second lounge, the granny kitchen as an extra storage and hobby area, and the bedroom and bathroom as a future area for us.      2 of our downstairs  bedrooms became a study for OH and a guest room !!!!!! reading room……we have a lot of books!   DD was allowed to keep her bunk beds and some stuff in the smallest bedroom.  

 Bunk beds are now with our other grandchildren temporarily, and that room is meantime a storage area for our caravan equipment.  Having a caravan is another reason to stay here……plenty of driveway space to store a caravan.  And another reason to stay are the solar panels on the roof which still have 12 years of FIT payments to come.

We have changed 2 of the bathrooms into shower rooms with easy to access shower areas, replaced boilers and upgraded heating controls,  updated some things in the kitchen, and  utility room, and generally spread out to fill the available space, something which is very easy to do!   We could  now pretty much  live on one level if necessary, and will get a stair lift if/when required.

The sloping garden is a drawback, it is terraced, but we have a gardener who comes in to do any heavy work, plus we have done away with our greenhouses and all grass.   We have a balcony at the front, a deck leading from the kitchen on the upper level at the back, and lots of paved areas.

We like where we live, it is convenient for both the city and the countryside, doctor and dentist not too far away, plenty of shops within a short drive, and the bus service has improved over the last 36 years.  We are also only a 15 minute drive from where our daughter lives.