You hear quite a bit about how the legal system over here is very different to France and Germany (?) and how this affects families and young people but I think there will be a group of older people for whom renting could work so that they take out the capital and live on it - but they need to know they could stay there.

You certainly could get modifications done Anya - it depended on income but my mother had a wet room put in to replace the bath. She paid for a bit of tiling which they didn't consider essential but that was all. I said I was surprised and they told me that if she stayed in the bungalow for four years they were then saving in a big way. This was eight or nine years ago so well worth while I just wonder if she would get it done now

We're hoping the council will fit a stair lift (we own, with a mortgage) as my husband is epileptic, and has great trouble with stairs before and after a seizure.

We are thinking of down sizing but it does not bother me. I worked with the elderly before I retired and many having their homes taken away to fund care fees. We are moving into hopefully age related homes. I do live abroad so we have lots of sun so the smaller place does not bother me.

We have a large house and have been looking for some time to downsize. I would like a spacious bungalow, but most of them are at the same price as my house. The idea is to sell our house and have some money left over. The house eats up a lot of money and we have taken a small equity release to help with that.

The only solution, as I see it, is to move further out where property prices are more affordable, but that takes us further away from our immediate family. All they are building in this area are luxury flates at ridiculous prices or large family homes.

We seem to be the invisible generation!

As far as I'm concerned, my house is mine, paid for by my and my late husband's hard work and sacrifice, and I'll decide whether I stay or move. I feel absolutely no obligation to make way for anyone else. What a cheek!

We lived in our family home for almost thirty years. It was very spacious with a big garden and swimming pool so needed a lot of maintenance which DH used to relish doing.

When two of our four children moved to the US, and we retired from running a busy restaurant, we sold both house and restaurant and moved to what we thought was a step down in size. However, it was a typical Maltese farmhouse over three hundred years old, and although we didn't have such a lot of outdoor space, the inside was a lot of work. Very dusty from the stone walls, and a lot of stairs. When DH became ill, I felt sorry for him having to be carried up and down the stairs which could not have had a stair lift as there were too many different levels.

When DH died it was just DD3 and myself left and the house felt too big for us, so we have recently sold it and this time we are really downsizing!

I bought a brand new maisonette, three bedrooms, big open plan kitchen/living, two bathrooms, a small terrace at the front and a big one at the back, plus a garage underneath. It is not yet quite ready to move into, but I think it is going to suit us very well and will be a lot more practical than trying to cope with a big place, lovely as it was.

People have asked me am I sad to leave the old one but really I am not. It is a relief to pass it on to a very nice family from South Africa who I hope will enjoy it as much as we did.

Your memories are with you no matter where you live, it's just a question of adapting to circumstances. In my case, very unwelcome circumstances, but life goes on.

Aside from the often huge service charges, purpose built retirement flats can be an absolute b*gger to sell, which can be a real headache if you later need to, for care home fees.
I looked at several such flats with my mother, quite a long time ago now - they all seemed very small and poky, and I was glad she decided to stay in her small but perfectly manageable house until she had to go into a care home at 89, because of dementia.

Re bungalows, BTW, my parents moved into one in their mid-ish 60s, not because they particularly wanted a bungalow, but because it was all they could find in the area they had chosen.
However, after only a couple of years they decide that they didn't like the area after all, and moved again, to a house. They said they really noticed how their fitness had decreased through not having stairs - having been used to the bungalow they found them tiring at first.
However, many years later my mother was still well able to manage stairs at 89, before she moved into the care home. I know she was lucky in not having mobility problems, though.

Agree with wits end about stairs ( tried to type your name properly, w end but it got corrected to wizened, which I'm sure is inaccurate). Am downsizing for several reasons but have chosen a house over a bungalow in order to have a proper stairs workout!
Really interested in this thread and would love to hear from others who have downsiZed . I am absolutely terrified of my decision but living alone in a huge four bedroomed house that I can't maintain since dh died and my kids are grown up.
Moving to a two bedroomed house that's a kind of mini version of this one (that's my comfort) and not far away, but have SO much stuff to get rid of and so many decisions to make that really I just want to put my head under the duvet and for it all to go away.
Any encouraging noises would be greatly appreciated!

Can I say thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread. It has been really useful and helped me sort out what I will move to when I do. Perhaps more negatives but that helps to limit the properties to look at. For me - certainly not a leased retirement flat and, like Witzend and claireseptember I will include houses in what I look at as long as I am sure a stairlift can be fitted if needed later. I would really like not to move again!

If I downsize t'would be a rabbit hutch!!

I had a touch of house envy when we visited some new friends- spacious entrance hall ,wide staircase, downstairs cloakroom in which you could swing a large cat,pleasant morning room and flat garden. Which describes what my house is not. DH pointed out that our house( forty years here)is about the size most people downsize to. Added to which I'm convinced the house hates me. So he will not move.

I so agree that when retired people do not want a really small house especially if there are two of you. You spend so much more time in the house you need more space to have a bit of variety. I think ideally I would like three bedrooms - one could be quite small but fitted out for storage of all the things you would normally put in the loft - saving the scramble up strange stairs from time to time! I would also like two rooms at least down stairs so that one could be a study/workroom type of place but with the possibility of being used as a bedroom on a temporary or permanent basis if someone was ill/disabled in some way. Also to have a bathroom with a walk in shower for the same reason and big enough to accommodate a seat. The kitchen would need to be large enough - and a garage or shed would be necessary for Mr Welsh! A garden nicely sized without too much work would complete it all.
The location would be great if it was within walking distance of a good bus route or a small shopping centre with maybe a doctor's surgery - do you think pigs are likely to start flying soon?

Sorry to be negative. I need the

I think I feel the same obieone
which is what we did today.

DH reminds me that our (now deceased) lovely neighbours downsized to a house the same as ours many years ago (although we have added a couple of bits to ours, both of which I could not do without - a utility room and a conservatory).
We have family coming to stay at the weekend, how would we manage in a 2 bedroomed bungalow?

Perhaps in a year or two if I can persuade DH.

rubylady I wouldn't mind a bungalow with a loft conversion - in fact I would quite like one because upstairs could be kept for family or other guests when they visit, just requiring a quick dust before they arrive!
And a good sort out when they have left ready for the next lot.

We down sized to a three bed roomed house with a cosy sitting room, large dining room and beautiful kitchen. Although the house is quite old it has been completely refurbished. It's large enough for us to 'avoid each other' but has really cut down on the house work. As our DSs live locally we only need one spare room and an office.

I feel we have right sized.

If there was something suitable I could be tempted - however, I have just had a look online at what may be suitable - and they seem to be sold before or as soon as they hit the market.

We are not hogging our larger homes - there is just nothing available which we could move to.
I believe John Prescott discouraged the building of bungalows when he was DPM - very short-sighted.

JalimaI agree it is difficult to find a suitable property, everything we looked at seemed too small, in comparison. Gradually we were creeping up to the same size again!
We sold first, so that took our previous house out of the comparison picture!

We did have to compromise on the downstairs loo (DH is working on where to put one) and we have a larger garden, but the location and style of house suits us perfectly.
Keep looking, it's out there.

A dearth of bungalows around here unfortunately.

Revisiting this thread 3 months on having had our house of 30 years up for sale with no takers we have spent hours and hours driving round areas trying to find somewhere we want to move to. We have no family ties here at all any more. Whilst we've not looked at property for sale (no point until we've sold) we've looked at so many new builds we've lost count but have come to the conclusion we will stay in the area we know, won't buy somewhere that has no shops for miles and also no community around it. The time obviously isn't right for us to go yet - I'm sure something just right will present itself when it is but it definitely won't be downsizing - rightsizing is the way to go

We love our bungalow.
It's round the corner from a bus stop for when we can't drive.
Big, private, but mostly lawned garden so not too much work, just sit on the mower.
Leylandii hedge all round is the nightmare.
BUT we have a mortgage that comes to an end in 2years and we are not sure how to pay it.
We bought a buy to let with the intention of selling that to pay off the debt, however 7 years ago my daughter moved in (for about 6months!) and is still there with her DH and ourDGS. They don't earn much , both on living wage, they were both on zero hours till recently so can't get a mortgage, other properties are much more expensive , well they would be - mum and dad don't own them.
Do we evict them? We have been warning them for years that it couldn't last forever but neither of them is the type ' to make things happen' so here we are. We have offered to give them a big deposit but although I contacted an advisor and gave them the forms to fill in 2 months ago they haven't got round to it yet!
DD husband left her for 18 months when she was 7 months pregnant and we don't have the best relationship with him (we try) she's a little sensitive about it.
We can't ask them to leave can we? I don't want to live in a tiny retirement bungalow at the moment.
We have talked to the mortgage provider about extending the mortgage for a few years bit they won't discuss it until 3 months before the due date. That's helpful isn't it?
Sorry about this epistle but I feel better for seeing it written down.