Property Dilemma – What & Where?
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My thoughts - ignore stairs if you buy a property that will take a stair lift then they are no problem & as said earlier they are good for you to climb.
My problem with moving house much later in life is if it is just you & not you as a couple or with a child to help then it can be extremely stressful.
Move to somewhere that the facilities are in walking distance. You don't know how soon your eyesight will let you down. For instance I can still drive at night but know that on dark WET nights I will soon have to stop. This is going to be a problem for me as most places I go are over 10 miles away.
What you can do as a couple can be a lot more, one being the eyes & one the brain etc, but you need to consider how you would cope when you are only one! Ghastly thought I know but it needs to be considered.0 -
Agree about the stairs; my dad is 91 and still manages them although a stairlift would be an easy addition.My thoughts - ignore stairs if you buy a property that will take a stair lift then they are no problem & as said earlier they are good for you to climb.
Move to somewhere that the facilities are in walking distance. You don't know how soon your eyesight will let you down. For instance I can still drive at night but know that on dark WET nights I will soon have to stop. This is going to be a problem for me as most places I go are over 10 miles away.
What you can do as a couple can be a lot more, one being the eyes & one the brain etc, but you need to consider how you would cope when you are only one! Ghastly thought I know but it needs to be considered.
The problem is with moving within waking distance is that, based on my dad and my in-laws, inability to drive and inability to walk far happen about the same time. They now use family or taxis. Or maybe we should look for a nice flat mobility scooter-friendly location :eek:0 -
Thrugelmir wrote: »A couple have been featured on Grand Designs and been shortlisted for house of the year.
Just been catching up on some old Grand Designs. The one where a chap was trying to build a new 'lighthouse' in North Devon was pretty sobering. Knocked down a perfectly good but not visually pleasing house on a cliff to embark on a project that took years, cost millions, cost his marriage, is unfinished and uninhabitable.
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We live in a 1990s semi which we bought when it was new.
We stay in a large town which is moderately expensive. We considered downsizing but found prices very compressed, meaning it wasn’t worth it. Moving to a modern 2 bed flat would have lost us a huge amount of amenity and freed up very little cash.
We then began to look in a market town 50 miles away which is considerably cheaper. It is close to family who are getting older is good for walks and has a reasonable range of amenities. Modern property was still quite expensive so we’ve ended up buying a listed Georgian property. It’s a slightly eccentric building, previous owner was a builder who designed the interior to be practical rather than aesthetically pleasing and we’ve taken quite a liking to it. We spend all week at home and the weekends in the new property. We’ve had it about 18 months and have no regrets. The plan is to sell our house within the next two years at retirement and move to the new property.
It isn’t tremendously practical for old people, it has stairs, but then again the previous couple didn’t move from it, with one dying in it and the other going from it to a care home. At this point we’ve no idea of how it will pan out. The plan is to stay there all summer and travel extensively in the winter, so it may be more a base than anything else. All we know is it was cheap and we own it!0 -
DairyQueen wrote: »
We are early 60s and the kind of property we would like bears no resemblance to somewhere fit for an 80+-year-old. Ideally, we wouldn’t move again but that would mean foregoing our property dream.
We have lots of options, Town/village/rural? How many storeys? Character/Modern? Easy to maintain or hell with that? Close to facilities/shops/hospital/station? Availability of public transport?
Our hearts hanker for character, rural, neighbours at a distance, a large garden, a view over fields or water. We want the kind of property that will be a maintenance nightmare and car-essential. In summary, a home from which a future move will be almost certain. Or, should we bite the bullet and use our heads? New bungalow? walking distance to services?
We feel that we should learn from our parents' experience. OH’s widowed mum stayed in the long-term family home, struggled for a decade, suffered falls and, eventually, in her late 80s, moved into residential care. The loss of that home was devastating for her at that age and providing support in the preceding years had been very difficult for her family as she lived so far from her children/grandchildren.
My parents dithered for so long that they missed the window during which they could cope reasonably well with a house move. This window seems to close around age 80 for most people.
I would be interested in others’ views/experiences. For example:
Older retirees: are you now facing a major upheaval because your home has become unmanageable? Do you wish you had chosen differently at a younger age?
Those in their 50s/60s: what are your housing plans? Do you intend moving only when necessary or will you pre-empt future needs now?
We took early retirement 2/3 years ago and I am 59 now and my husband is 61. We are still fit and active. We mulled over the question of housing in much the same way you are and have decided to stay put in our detached 4 bed house and future proof it. Therefore we have spent a reasonable amount on it in the few years since retiring putting in a new kitchen as that is disruptive in later life and putting in things like eye level oven, smaller fridge freezer as it is now just the 2 of us. We have made the house as energy efficient as we can and we put in new bathrooms this year with a large shower cubicle rather than a bath.
We have stayed put for these reasons.
We love the location and our neighbours, friends, younger daughter and her family live about 5 minutes away. Our other daughter lives about 2 hours drive as does my mum, brother and sister (4 hours drive away) but they live near London and no way are we moving back there. They all visit or we visit them but my mum stays at our country club as they have disabled accommodation there and she would struggle with our stairs.
We have shops nearby and a bus route so easy to get places and Cornwall is beautiful so we love the area and cannot think of anywhere else we would like to live. Lots of things going on in the area and our local country club is just down the road.
Moving house is expensive as even if you move into a house which doesn't need anything doing to it most people want to make it their own. We have lived in ours for over 30 years so it is pretty much perfect for us.
It is built in 1980s so not huge rooms or gardens and we have made it as low maintenance as possible. We keep one bedroom free for our elder daughter to visit so that is our spare room and my husband has one bedroom as his hobby room, I have our study and the third bedroom is a joint room for my books, piano and the grandchildren's toys, beds and equipment who we look after one day a week. Thus all the rooms are used so no point in downsizing.
If for any reason one of us became disabled the house could have a stairlift put in so that would be an option but we would fight that for as long as possible unless no alternative. Having lived in a detached house for so long we would struggle with no garden or living in a flat with neighbours on top or below us and possible noise issues.
I think if you are unhappy with the area you live in or anticipate for health reasons that it will be unsuitable for you in later life then doing it now would be best as the closer you get to 80 the harder it will be to cope with moving. I personally would not go for something which needed a lot of work doing to it as that is not what we want to be doing in retirement.I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Debt free Wannabe, Budgeting and Banking and Savings and Investment boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.0 -
Just been catching up on some old Grand Designs. The one where a chap was trying to build a new 'lighthouse' in North Devon was pretty sobering. Knocked down a perfectly good but not visually pleasing house on a cliff to embark on a project that took years, cost millions, cost his marriage, is unfinished and uninhabitable.
Sometimes you have to be very careful what you wish for.
I saw that and it is horrendous. Still unfinished and looks awful. It is a blight on the landscape and the locals hate it. As you say he went bankrupt in the end I think and it cost him his marriage.I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Debt free Wannabe, Budgeting and Banking and Savings and Investment boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.0 -
We moved about 3 years ago, after spending nearly 5 years planning (3 years wondering which part of the country, 2 years looking for the house) starting when we were late 50's. We wanted:
- to be able to walk 5 mins from the door to gorgeous scenery (you need to keep active, and I would not do it if I had to take a car)
- Easy cycling distance of rural, hilly areas, with gorgeous scenery
- Easy walk to local shops, traffic free walk/cycle to local large towns
- Flat plot for house, with not too large a garden
- Somewhere children and grand children would want to visit, and not JUST to see us! (They have photos of the local area on their walls at their own properties)
- Good local entertainment, year round (not just summer)
- Good access to London and airports (We travel).
- House not bungalow: we both prefer to sleep upstairs with windows open. So wide staircase in case chairlift needed later.
- character house, which felt nice, with room for guests to stay overnight
- Finally, move to a new area early enough to make new friends. I have more here than I ever had at the previous place (I travelled a ,lot for work)
And it has worked out very nicely. Every time I walk 5 minutes down the road, I still cannot believe how lovely the scenery is, and how it changes with seasons!
B0 -
We moved about 3 years ago, after spending nearly 5 years planning (3 years wondering which part of the country, 2 years looking for the house) starting when we were late 50's. We wanted:
- to be able to walk 5 mins from the door to gorgeous scenery (you need to keep active, and I would not do it if I had to take a car)
- Easy cycling distance of rural, hilly areas, with gorgeous scenery
- Easy walk to local shops, traffic free walk/cycle to local large towns
- Flat plot for house, with not too large a garden
- Somewhere children and grand children would want to visit, and not JUST to see us! (They have photos of the local area on their walls at their own properties)
- Good local entertainment, year round (not just summer)
- Good access to London and airports (We travel).
- House not bungalow: we both prefer to sleep upstairs with windows open. So wide staircase in case chairlift needed later.
- character house, which felt nice, with room for guests to stay overnight
- Finally, move to a new area early enough to make new friends. I have more here than I ever had at the previous place (I travelled a ,lot for work)
And it has worked out very nicely. Every time I walk 5 minutes down the road, I still cannot believe how lovely the scenery is, and how it changes with seasons!
B
Where is this nirvana?!Plan for tomorrow, enjoy today!0
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