Tips on downsizing to a more expensive area, please!

We downsized for a different reason (my husband wanted to become a student again). We previously lived in a modern detached property with plenty of space and more than one bathroom.
Since moving we've rented a very new flat (first floor, block of six) for a year and now live in a small end of terrace in a cul-de-sac.
Couple of points:
If you can buy somewhere built recently - last 20 years or newer if possible, it will be much better insulated and have far less maintenance costs and worries than if you buy, say, a 50 year old bungalow. Getting people to do maintenance in a new place can be challenging. Falling for houses that look cute is a trap and should be avoided at all costs! You don't spend time staring at the outside of the place you live in.
In the flat we literally never had to turn on our heating. It also felt safe as it had an outside security door. We had a balcony and I volunteered to help the gardeners in a local NT property, do deal with garden deprivation.
Living in a small town is fantastic as all services are on hand and you could manage without a car very easily should you be unable to drive. Doctor, dentist, butcher, baker etc all close and you get to know the people who work in the shops.
Important point: unless you have been very disciplined over the years you will have to throw/give away lots of stuff. And I mean lots. I had an enormous cull. I remember thinking that I was glad I was not trying to do this when older and maybe alone. And I still ended up with more stuff than I could fit in here and more stuff went to Oxfam. It's a major advantage of moving house - getting rid of stuff. Painful, time consuming and vital.
Downside?
I do sometimes miss having my own bathroom! Oh and I need to be tidier these days.

Another thought, most of the bungalows I have seen on websites are in need of quite a lot of work. Understandably because probably to occupants were elderly and couldn't do the updating.

This is an interesting thread, lots of useful experience and advice. I'm trying to persuade OH we ought to make a move before circumstances force it - now while we are both healthy, he's still working etc. - but he's so reluctant. We both agree that staying put isn't what we want in the long term but he's thinking it can wait until he retires in 8 years time. I think it will be too late then. Or maybe I'm just fed up with where we live now and want the excitement of a fresh start...

Good luck Cassandra264, hope you manage to find the ideal place and make the move soon.

Somebody may have said this already, so I apologise if this is the case. Even in the "more expensive" areas, bargains can sometimes be had by looking on the fringe of the "coffee shop/artisan baker/organic veggie " areas. Sometimes these areas are easier to spot than others , but who would ever have thought that Balham ("Gateway to the South") would become a yuppie enclave or even, going back a few decades, that Battersea would be the new Chelsea? From what I have seen, bungalows are quite an expensive option precisely for the reasons you would like one, so unless you are looking at an area with a preponderance of them, you may find it hard.
Is it breaching anonymity to give a vague idea of the approximate areas you are looking at? Good luck anyway!

We downsized 15 years ago when we were in our mid 60's (me)/mid 70's(DH). We went from 4 double bedrooms, loft, garage (1 bathroom!) to 2 bedrooms (1 en-suite), no loft, no garage. We really had to look hard to find what would suit us and ended up in a ground floor apartment with a verandah at the front for pots, etc and a small manageable back garden. Son and daughter were asked to come and take what they wanted (and stuff from the loft which was their's anyway. I must say they didn't take much. We are so glad we did this under our own steam and could make our own choices. So many of our friends are now under pressure from their families to move and are not really physically able to make the move themselves. I would advise to go for it but take plenty of time and thought over it.

Cassandra Believe me when I say that it is wise to put everything in place whilst you are able because your life can change in the blink of an eye. Doing this means you can buy a property which has the location, as in the space and views and proximity to essential services, but you will still have the energy to get the upgrades such as walk-in shower, kitchen units with pull outs rather than cupboards, making the garden easy to care for and all the 101 other individual things which each of us may consider essential for our own future well-being.
This we have done in the last 18 months or so and are in the process of completing and it has taken all of our will power and energy which is considerably less than it was. Now we are busy making friends and finding activities in our new area which we might not have been able to do if we had left it any later.

It also costs far more than you think anyway so downsizing to a dearer area will be a very real challenge. There will always be issues in any house which will need to be addressed and many of those do not become apparent until you are living in the property. For example in ours the hot water system produced the water alright but if we tried to have a shower in our ensuite it was like being spat on and we had to have a very expensive pressurised tank installed. Clearly it can never have been satisfactory from the time it was built and the survey does not show things like that. So beware and have a contingency fund!

Do not underestimate the task of downsizing from a B&B either, it is quite a business! Less is definitely more! Best to get rid of the multiplicity of household items before you move rather than pay someone to move them and then feel as if you are living in a warehouse whilst you struggle to sort it all out. Treat it like a military operation, believe me it is. If you have never been in this position you will not even begin to understand even though you think you can!
Sell whatever you can as you will need the money. Keep the best of everything you have got, use and enjoy it, because your DC will probably not want anything that you like when you are no longer there and will get rid anyway.
Hope that you find a property that you will really enjoy - and that you won't find too cramped after having a B&B! We managed to find a lovely spacious home and are loving our retirement particularly the joy of not having 6 bathrooms to clean!

I do appreciate all your comments and suggestions. MOnica, I do agree that many people are able to manage their own lives well into their 80's if they retain good health. We have several neighbours in this situation. However, these (as well as being in good health) also have close family members within easy travelling distance.This makes a difference even when help required is minimal.Unfortunately, neither of these things is true for us.It now feels like the house and garden are not right for us as they were in early retirement.And it is a real nuisance (especially in winter when our country roads can sometimes be treacherous) now having to spend four hours driving on a regular basis to and from the only hospital outpatients which can deal with my partner's chronic condition. So I found your thoughts on the matter really useful, pauline42. Also, the idea of buying a smaller house and making it accessible sounded like a good idea, Nonnie and Charleygirl. I do worry about noise in a flat - which I know has happened to some of my acquaintances - plus, if you have bought the property, and other owners around and above you fail to maintain theirs, you can end up with expensive structural problems like damp, for example. Cher53, you made some very good points and I will take them all on board.
Thank you all for being so kind and helpful.

I do appreciate all your comments and suggestions. MOnica, I do agree that many people are able to manage their own lives well into their 80's if they retain good health. We have several neighbours in this situation. However, these (as well as being in good health) also have close family members within easy travelling distance.This makes a difference even when help required is minimal.Unfortunately, neither of these things is true for us.It now feels like the house and garden are not right for us as they were in early retirement.And it is a real nuisance (especially in winter when our country roads can sometimes be treacherous) now having to spend four hours driving on a regular basis to and from the only hospital outpatients which can deal with my partner's chronic condition. So I found your thoughts on the matter really useful, pauline42. Also, the idea of buying a smaller house and making it accessible sounded like a good idea, Nonnie and Charleygirl. I do worry about noise in a flat - which I know has happened to some of my acquaintances - plus, if you have bought the property, and other owners around and above you fail to maintain theirs, you can end up with expensive structural problems like damp, for example. Cher53, you made some very good points and I will take them all on board.
Thank you all for being so kind and helpful.

I do appreciate all your comments and suggestions. MOnica, I do agree that many people are able to manage their own lives well into their 80's if they retain good health. We have several neighbours in this situation. However, these (as well as being in good health) also have close family members within easy travelling distance.This makes a difference even when help required is minimal.Unfortunately, neither of these things is true for us.It now feels like the house and garden are not right for us as they were in early retirement.And it is a real nuisance (especially in winter when our country roads can sometimes be treacherous) now having to spend four hours driving on a regular basis to and from the only hospital outpatients which can deal with my partner's chronic condition. So I found your thoughts on the matter really useful, pauline42. Also, the idea of buying a smaller house and making it accessible sounded like a good idea, Nonnie and Charleygirl. I do worry about noise in a flat - which I know has happened to some of my acquaintances - plus, if you have bought the property, and other owners around and above you fail to maintain theirs, you can end up with expensive structural problems like damp, for example. Cher53, you made some very good points and I will take them all on board.
Thank you all for being so kind and helpful.

I do appreciate all your comments and suggestions. MOnica, I do agree that many people are able to manage their own lives well into their 80's if they retain good health. We have several neighbours in this situation. However, these (as well as being in good health) also have close family members within easy travelling distance.This makes a difference even when help required is minimal.Unfortunately, neither of these things is true for us.It now feels like the house and garden are not right for us as they were in early retirement.And it is a real nuisance (especially in winter when our country roads can sometimes be treacherous) now having to spend four hours driving on a regular basis to and from the only hospital outpatients which can deal with my partner's chronic condition. So I found your thoughts on the matter really useful, pauline42. Also, the idea of buying a smaller house and making it accessible sounded like a good idea, Nonnie and Charleygirl. I do worry about noise in a flat - which I know has happened to some of my acquaintances - plus, if you have bought the property, and other owners around and above you fail to maintain theirs, you can end up with expensive structural problems like damp, for example. Cher53, you made some very good points and I will take them all on board.
Thank you all for being so kind and helpful.

pauline, while agreeing with you in principle, I think you are being unduly pessimistic. Many people now are living well into their 80s - and later still in good health, still more than able to manage their own lives. Several members of my family have handled house moves on their own in their mid to late 80s.

We retired to a large village house nearly 20 years ago, we are now in our early 70s and still have no difficulty managing house and garden. We are not in denial about the effects of aging and have openly discussed matters with our children and planned for most eventualities. But we could not see the point in cramping and cribbing how we lived for the first 10 or 20 years of our retirement, when we would be at our most active, on the possibility that we might need to live more constrained lives from, if our respective families are to be our guide, our mid 80s.

A friend of mine has rented a bungalow in a retirement complex rather than buying- there are a number of these around that might be worth looking at both for sale and for rent.

Although it may not be the solution for everyone, my aunt did an informal equity release with her daughter i.e. gave her some of the money which she would get when aunt died. Her daughter lent aunt a few thousand which was enough to make life more comfortable and for her and uncle do a few things they wanted and needed to do such as replace bath with shower, get kitchen better fitted, garden paved etc. This was then repaid from the estate when aunt died.

I think many of us can leave it too late to move! We all procrastinate believing that things will remain the same, and we too will remain the same person that we are today, but we should be brutally honest with ourselves and face the fact that our needs, our physical abilities and our dependence for help from outside services or family members will only increase and not diminish as we move further into our old age years. A lovely big home with a big garden in a quiet setting at the end of a country road can be a wonderful place to raise a family, but so lonely and frustrating too as we look out and watch the garden become neglected because it gets too much to cope with, and no one comes visiting as regularly as we hope for because they are living their own busy lives.

Once we began the thought process of planning our move, we decided not to make the plan of wants and needs based on what we can and can't do now - because the reason we were making this move is to have a lifestyle in our later life that gives us a satisfying and healthy old age - not a life of physical and mental challenges that would add worry and stress to our days.

We knew that contact with the "outside world" would definitely help with feelings of isolation and loneliness that sadly affects so many when we get old - so being able to walk to a bus stop, and being able to walk to a grocery store meant we would have the ability to stay independent and stay in touch with daily life around us for as long as possible. And walking is good for us too and we know getting out each day will keep us out of the doctors office for longer!

Slowly, over the years and as my physical health has deteriorated, I have made renovations to my home. I am lucky, I have a straight staircase so the stair lift was a lot cheaper than for a staircase with a turn. I had the bath removed and a shower fitted. My front path was difficult to access so that was raised. It was difficult to access the front door step so that was altered. All carpets were removed and laminate laid as appropriate. The two loos are higher than usual so if I have a hip replaced, no problem.

When I can no longer drive, the insurance, petrol etc. saving will help towards mini cabs.

I think buying a house and making it more accessible may be the way forward. Service charges can be eye watering and keep going up. That is something of which you have no control.

I also personally think that living in a flat would be extremely difficult if you have had access to a garden, however small all of your life.

I live in London but it is so quiet that it is like living in the country, especially during the day.

We did it the other way so no direct experience but have you thought about renting for 6 months to see how it all feels? It is such a big decision and so easy to make a mistake.

If you buy a flat you will probably have to pay regular leasehold and service charges. I think I read somewhere that the retirement properties have very expensive standing charges and you lose a lot of money when you leave so please read all you can before going that route.

Bungalows tend to be more expensive than houses so have you considered buying a house and making it accessible? When we discussed that we will have to leave our house at some point in the future when it gets too much for us a friend suggested that paying for help would be cheaper than moving. He could well be right.

Good luck whatever you do.

One thing also to consider if downsizing to a flat, can you cope with noise? My friend has had experience of older people who have come to live in her block and they are forever complaining about the noise neighbours make, because they have been used to their own house. I am not talking about outrageous noise either, it's just the people are not used to living in a flat.

The other thing - check out the neighbours, go either side, chap the door and ask how long they have lived there etc. Most folk wouldn't mind and it means you can suss out who will be next door and sometimes you get great information about the area this way. Another hint, before you buy. Visit the area at night-time, see who hangs about in the street or what the area is like by night. Just so you don't end up with a place where yobbos hang around.

Strange thing is I have two family members who have decided to move(retiring and downsizing) away from their grown-up children and I mean one is moving hundreds of miles away to retire and the other is moving away miles to another area, yet their grown-up children do not drive. I think they are all crackers.

We live quite near our daughter and her family, but not so near we are living in each others pockets. I am a great believer in married/living together couples having and needing their own space.I would really miss my wee grandchild if we moved away. We did talk about downsizing, but we still need a room so family can come to stay and our grandchild.

As it is, I am within walking distance of shops,cinema,Health Centre, hospital,library,local park, about 10 mins walk from a bus stop and about 15 mins walk from the Bus Station. As I have got older I have found being near the doctor and hospital very valuable. The only things I miss are I'm miles away from a theatre and a train station but can still bus to these venues if needs be.

I also know a couple who downsized and totally regretted it, they have a larger family than we do and now really miss the lack of room when they all visit. Plus, they moved to a village and one of them had to stop driving. They moved to the worse place possible for being unable to drive.If you do not drive - make sure you are near a bus route.The day will come when you can no longer drive. Train travel in this country is extortionate. The other thing to consider and I apologise if this does not come across well, where you move to would you want to continue living there alone, if God Forbid anything happens to your other half? Consider mobility issues for the future. Stairlifts can be bought or hired. There are an awful lot of things to consider when downsizing. We decided against it as we felt we still need the extra space and to be honest moving house where we are is downright expensive.

As for Equity Release, BE VERY WARY. I have known two folk who have done this and one of them lost a helluva lot of money. To be honest I would have to be desperate or very low on funds to even consider this method. I think you have to research it and the biggest problem seems to be finding a company to handle it for you that will not rip you off.

Thank you all for your encouraging responses which I really appreciate. It is a huge decision to make - or feels like it! but being of around the same age now as Falconbird when she moved, I feel like her I should sort this while I can still cope with all the organisation involved.

I don't think a terraced house would be right for us as a first choice as stairs are beginning to be a problem (though I haven't discounted stairlifts). Retirement properties might be possible..will look into this.
I can very much see the sense of a flat -and have lived in cities - but, after years of growing all our own fruit and veg., to be somewhere with no outside space at all might be one compromise too far for my partner! Perhaps if we could find one on the ground floor?

I did find your suggestions in particular very helpful, rosesarered - will make a note of them all as and when we are in a position to do some property shortlisting!

Thank you all so much once again.

We did the same as you are thinking of doing Cassandra and are very pleased that we did.Tips: buy a bungalow that already has a conservatory built ( we had to have one added at great cost.)Buy in an area that has a really good bus service, if a village make sure that there are a couple of shops you could walk to if needed, clubs/pubs/ church whatever you want, it's handy if you can walk there.Don't be tempted by too large a garden, gardening services are costly when you can't do it all yourself.Don't take on a house that needs any more than redecoration, check the boiler and central heating are not years out of date, ditto the windows, and get all double glazed alread in situ.Also check the drive, new ones are very expensive.Good luck!?

I think one of these flats in the new high rise city buildings would be a fun alternative way to live. If you were high enough you would be above traffic fumes, and you would have a small balcony to sit out and watch the busy world go by. And Sainsburys and Marks and Spencer's would be your corner shops. You could walk everywhere. No bus fares. Good modern insulation so low fuel bills. Easily accessible parks, libraries etc. You would never have to be bored.

I think that's a very sensible idea to move closer to loved ones and better facilities. I moved when my DH passed away and sold a 3 bedroom Victorian terrace house and bought a modest flat for myself and one for my son who is in ill health.

It was a huge upheaval and I was 66 at the time and wouldn't like to have left it much longer because it was mentally and physically exhausting but quite exhilarating at the same time knowing I could still cope with Estate Agents, Solicitors, etc.,

If you move to a city or town area you should be fine for services, social, hospital, transport etc., I take your point about living costs in the new area but I'm sure you could work something out and you may have access to cheaper supermarkets.,

I wish you the very best of luck in your new venture.

Have you thought about a flat? There are some very attractive deals on new builds and it lightens the work load still further. Are retirement properties an option?

From what you say about the loss of B&B income and moving to a more expensive area, plus the costs of moving home, maybe you should aim for less than a bungalow and look for a small terraced house.

That might release some money to make up the losses.