Why bungalows for sale are so neglected?

A very sobering post Caravansera. Not an unusual state of affairs at all, regrettably.

Not to enter the house !

FarNorth

Of course, some of us would want to get in there, have the place cleared - and start a good old spring clean. We'd be breaking the law, though, to do anything before probate was granted.

Is that really true?
That it would be illegal to wash dishes or throw out perishable food, at the very least?
All that must, by law, sit there possibly for years if an old person is in care?

Then I must have broken the law when my mum passed away ! We continued to visit the house and started to sort through her personal belongings, my daughter wfh there as it was far quieter than our house and I’m pretty sure none of that was illegal. I was both an executor, along with the solicitor, and sole beneficiary. At no point did the solicitor tell us to enter or spend time in the house

We’ve been looking at bungalows in the Norfolk area. Good few non estate new builds (hooray) and many more in lovely condition, so think you’ve just been “unlucky” Lots of properties of all types are in awful condition

I was told is was illegal to enter my relative’s home due to another claim via a heir hunter. It fell into disrepair which wasn’t helped by squatter, moreover, the council was threatening to take it over. Fortunately, after 8 years things were sorted and from being the worst home in the street became the best one. The state of the home is sometimes out of the hands of the relatives.

My DH worked in a similar field to yours and we accept that we've spent slightly more on renovations than we could get back immediately. But renovating thoroughly, including new K and Bs, plaster, woodwork and decoration, means that maintenance will be very simple for some years. A classic kitchen won't need to be replaced and could be repainted if necessary.
Reducing maintenance as you get older is very important - simple tasks like climbing ladders to do painting work is no recommended for the over-eighties!

I was thinking about the views expressed in the opening post, in the context of another thread about equity release and what happens when borrowers have taken lifetime mortgages and live to very old age.

Over the last 20-25 years, house prices nationally have risen by an average of 6% p.a. A property worth £200,000 25 years ago could be worth £800,000 today.

What if that person had taken equity release 25 years ago? Equity release companies were pushing very hard for new business, just as they do no.

Let’s say the owner was aged 70 then. They could have borrowed up to 27% of the value of the house. Let’s say they borrowed £50,000. They could have spent it on anything but let’s say they did spend some of it on maintaining the house.

Any maintenance or improvements made to the property 25 years ago are likely to be worn and outdated by now, fixtures and fittings, ready for the skip, but the debt on a lifetime mortgage is still accruing. Let’s say the compound interest rate set for life was 8.5% (when the base rate was 5.5%). The loan of £50,000 has now turned into a debt of £400,000.

Yes, it still leaves equity of £400,000 before selling costs but it’s still half of the value of the house going to the lender.

Let’s say the owner hasn’t died but at 95 has gone into care and could live to 100. Family need to set aside at least £250,000 - £300,000 for anticipated care fees. (The proposed cap on care costs has been postponed for two years and could easily be postponed again.)

All of a sudden there’s not a great deal of money left. There’s little margin to reduce the sale price substantally and potentially little (or no) inheritance so where would the money to spruce up a property for sale come from?

When someone dies or goes into care, the usual terms of an equity release agreement require the loan to be repaid in twelve months. If it isn’t, there are additional penalties. In the example I have given, interest is now accruing at £30,000 a year - on a £50,000 loan.

One could argue that the executors or family would want to sell the propery quickly to stop debt accruing but there may be a minimum sum they need to raise to meet ongoing costs or to satisfy other debts of an estate.

This is a stupid post, surprised it attracted some attention!

I must have missed them ones when I got mine lol it’s not just bungalow that can be bad my son and his wife have a neighbor who is 89. Her garden was a jungle she lives in one room so rest of house gets ignored. My son has done her garden. They do bits for her and she has a family who rarely visit her. My son has told one of her sons to get his butt into gear and help her like he says she’s not his family he can’t be there for her all the time they have busy work life’s and children to look after. My daughter inlaw said whoever gets her house will have work cut out. She really needs to be in care home but family won’t because it will be used to pay for her care

I think it's true to say than many buyers will renovate completely, often moving walls and changing the use of rooms so there is absolutely no point in putting in new kitchens and bathrooms.
We live in a flat and our type of property has exactly the same type of buyer in this area as there are no bungalows locally.
Virtually every buyer over the past few years has completely gutted their property so any money spent prior to sale would be wasted. Our local estate agents advise sellers to clean thoroughly but do no more work.
Ours was a probate sale and the seller had painted it white and put down beige carpet everywhere which we removed during our building work. Fortunately they'd left the kitchen and bathroom which we eventually replaced.
Anyone with enough money (usually cash for older buyers) to buy a nice bungalow is likely to do the same as we did.

My childhood dentist in the 50s was an ex-army dentist and an absolute sadist. I inherited my father’s teeth (not literally!) and have had so many fillings over the years I have no idea how they have survived but have had only one tooth extracted (a molar so not visible). My current dentist said that I should go into my box with all my remaining teeth (such a nice turn of phrase). So I hope to avoid implants and dentures barring accidents, as did my father despite the numerous fillings.

Elegran

I don't think anyone else is very keen on dentures either, but when my generation was younger, dentistry wasn't as advanced as it is today. If (more likely when) teeth were past mending, the gaps were filled by first a partial denture, then as more were lost, by a full one.

If the alternative is either paying a vast amount for implants or gumming your way through the rest of life, then needs must when the devil drives.

😁
DH has an implant, a whole set would require a second mortgage.

Elegran

Typical cost of hydraulic lift = £23,000 - £28,000.
Typical cost of stairlift = £2,000 - £7,000.

I'm not sure where a lift would go but it would be cheaper than moving.
Moving has its advantages, of course, but I was chatting to someone today who is going through the process and it is so stressful.

Callistemon21 They come with a seatbelt, and you are sternly instructed to always use it.

I don't think anyone else is very keen on dentures either, but when my generation was younger, dentistry wasn't as advanced as it is today. If (more likely when) teeth were past mending, the gaps were filled by first a partial denture, then as more were lost, by a full one.

If the alternative is either paying a vast amount for implants or gumming your way through the rest of life, then needs must when the devil drives.

Typical cost of hydraulic lift = £23,000 - £28,000.
Typical cost of stairlift = £2,000 - £7,000.

I've not got a head for heights and the thought of a stair lift going sideways up or down the stairs makes me feel anxious.

Lifts sound like a good idea.

Elegran

Have you considered that wonderful invention, the stairlift? You would have to admit to yourselves that you needed its help climbing the Everest that a flight of stairs has become, but you have already accepted that you need a home on one floor.

It means that you can consider homes with bedrooms upstairs (or with a livingroom upstairs and bedrooms on the ground floor - no need to stick to conventional layouts. A straight staircase with space at top and bottom for the seat to "park" out of the way is best, possibly after going round a corner. Do some research before buying, different firms have different schemes for maintenance, buying them back when no longer needed and so on.

rather than a stairlift what about hydraulic lifts. My DH's aunt has had one for a few years and swears by it. It has enabled her to stay in her own home and she is 94.

Getting old doesn’t have to involve stairlifts or dentures.

They are ugly elegran, and I absolutely would not have one in my home. I realise that others have them. That is their choice. Mine is that hell will freeze over first. I hate dentures too.

Dinahmo

RusBun

Casdon

RusBun

This is what you can get for half a million in my area for example: www.onthemarket.com/details/13326505/

I thought you were going to show us a shoebox on a busy road RusBun, but that’s a decent bungalow on a quiet street with potential and a lovely garden. I don’t really see what it is that you couldn’t face about doing something like that up, it could be done in stages? The USP must be the toilet seat though, I’ve never seen anything quite like that before.

Interestingly, this one just come back on the market. Survey must have picked something nasty.

house prices are falling - maybe the vendors haven't realised that yet.

Over the summer I have watched prices of those unliveable bungalows tumbling down and still not selling. Those in good order and ready to move into have been selling like hot cakes in the first week!

Elegran

What is it about stairlifts that gives people such a horror of them? Is it something about the things themselves - is it ugliness? They are not elegant furnishings, but they are functional enough and quite neat.

Is it the thought of why they are needed, the reminder that we could all become old and decrepit and need them? If so it is need that horrifes, not the object itself. Is there the same horror at the mere thought of a walking stick, or glasses or dentures or a hearing aid? How about a crutch for a broken leg?

Well pointed out! Accepting getting old is not easy but inevitable.

Germanshepherdsmum

Isn’t it difficult in a flat though? And you have two flights of stairs to contend with.

Fortunately, there are communal facilities in the garden. It is not ideal, but the heaviest load is going down, not up. And it is only in good weather, which is rare. Plus I don't need a stairlift yet.

OP lives in a second floor flat Fleur, hence my question. Hanging washing out on balconies is usually verboten, for good reason.

NotSpaghetti

Would you consider leasehold "retirement properties"?
Think there will be some of those.

Not thank you. We have lived in our block with elderly neighbours for the last 10 years, and we know what it's like. Different to our mentality for sure. We want to get away from them.