Views on Selling Up and Moving?

Connie16

You probably know all the costs involved in moving house but in case you don't I hope you won't mind me giving you a breakdown.
I'm in the process of moving myself so I'm familiar with current costs in my area, Oxfordshire.

Stamp duty on £350,000 £7,500

Legal fees for selling+buying. £4,000

Removal costs can be £5,000 upwards

Estate agent varies according to % charged.
I shall have to pay almost £7,000

There are a few additional charges which crop up too.

Best wishes for your eventual move.

PS to I based stamp duty on your sale not my own.
You would pay less to the estate agent because you are selling for less than me.

Connie16

I’m very grateful for all your helpful replies as they’ve led me to really focus on matters to me, as well as sending me down various new rabbit holes to research.

In a nutshell, I have come to the realisation that renting is not for me because I couldn’t live with the uncertainty of having to move out at some point. It would be a constant worry. I realise now that I want the security of a home of my own that no-one can take away from me.

Also, I’ve become interested in the suggestions made about retirement flats. To be honest, that’s not an option I’ve considered before because I took fright when I saw how much the service charges can be – one development locally by a well-known provider has a service charge on a one bedroom flat of over £10,000 per year which isn’t something I could manage. But I’ve found that there are other providers, some in the area I’m interested in that are more reasonable (the area is St Albans - not a nosy question at all Eloethan!). One bedroom retirement flats in a good area there seem to be in the region of £350,000, so roughly equivalent to what I would sell my house for. I also like the idea of not having to worry about the upkeep/repair costs of a property, and the maintenance of a garden I might not be able to manage any more. And, as pointed out, it’s an option as the resale value isn’t really a concern for me given my situation.

So that’s now becoming my area of focus – and any tips on purchasing/living in a retirement property, pitfalls etc, would be helpful (if I haven’t already bored you all to death!).

I'm glad you've come to the decision not to rent, I don't think that would be a good move in the current market.

I absolutely do think, given your circumstances, single without children, a retirement property might be a good option. Firstly, there are a glut of them, so it's a buyers market and you could negotiate an attractive price and find one that would suit you, maybe a garden flat. The disturbances I mentioned up thread, given the age of the residents certainly wouldn't be something that you would feel you need to worry about. There are discrepancies in the management charges, for example newly built ones such as a brand new McCarthy and Stone flat are massively over priced, second hand ones drop like a stone, they're not really great investment wise and those also tend to implement higher management charges. Again there will be discrepancies as far as those are concerned, but I think for £10,000 per annum I would be expecting a lot, such as extensive gardens, swimmng pool gym, some even have coffee shop/restaurant/hairdresser, for all of that you will of course pay top dollar, but if you can afford it and want to live out the rest of your retirement in relative luxury, well why not, it's your money. However, I would point out that you could get a nice, not brand new retirement flat without all those amenities and pay less for it than £350,000 even going near London. I have a little knowledge, after my father died my mother wanted such a flat after selling their house and lived in one until she died back in 2008, it really suited her needs and it was facing the sea! It took a while to sell, as I say, I don't think they're good investments particularly if you buy one brand new.

No you're not boring at all Connie and good luck with your future plans.

In regard to buying a retirement property absolutely don’t buy new! It’s easy to get carried away by a beautiful show flat but new flats really do come at a premium compared to resales.

Most retirement resales want to sell quickly because they need to settle a will or the owner has had to move into a nursing facility and they don’t want to go on paying the monthly charges.

So they are much lower priced than new and are often open to offers well under the asking price. Rightmove shows you how long they have been on the market.

I don’t know St Albans well but there seem to be several properties on Rightmove under K300, around the town centre. Bear that in mind as the outskirts can look appealing but easy access to facilities gets so important as we get older.

Monthly charges are always going to be higher in flats that have a lift and big communal facilities because of maintenance. We have a one near us that even has a swimming pool!
The costs of the apartments “manager” are not always worth it either. Some are only there 4 days a week in workng hours. Not much use if you need them really.

But in our town there are also a number of small bungalows and maisonettes where the service charge is for keeping up the outside of the properties and grounds and the emergency line in each property. And they are easily comparable to the costs of keeping up your own property.

Lastly re the noise issue. Noise insulation has improved enormously along with heat insulation. Anything built after 1990 should be fine.

You can see I’ve looked into retirement properties in some depth in my area and I’m pretty certain that’s where I’ll be when this house and garden become more than I want to manage.

Very interested in your plans. Keep us updated🙂

St Albans is very nice. I hope you find something to suit you in that area Connie 16.

Make sure you read the conditions very carefully and get independent legal advice. I don't know that much about retirement properties (though my Mum was at one time considering one - got cold feet in the end, which is a shame because she became isolated in her village as she got older and there were few amenities). Is there, for instance, a cap on how much monthly charges can be increased? I think it is worth spending time researching everything thoroughly.

Since you have no one to inherit your property, have you consider equity release?

You can then use the money to take many trips down memory lane to Herts and London and treat yourself to a world cruise and holidays.

Not sure about retirement flats, the yearly maintenance will be a great concern to me.

I’ve seen advertisements for retirement flats with the option of rental. Could be worth researching.

My opinion for what it's worth is DO NOT RENT if you can help it. Extortionate rents in my are 40 miles from London.
I have a family member that has no option but to rent. £1700 a month rent..they are 25-30 miles from London. 3 times a landlord has wanted their house back for various reasons..1st one doing a small amount if decorating relet for another £250 a month.
If your thinking a flat there will ve service charges on top of rent.

We downsized and bought a 2 bed flat in the same town. Been here 18 yrs now.
Very lucky our service charge barely higher than when we moved in.

Think long and hard before renting..

We downsized four years ago into a flat in greater London and are very happy. We'd previously lived in London before moving to a city in the west country for a few years.
We're very happy in our flat which we own. It has large gardens which are well-maintained and we have a decent sized balcony with a nice view, room for a big table and plenty of pots.
The one point I would raise is Management Charges which have gone up a lot since we have been here. However these do cover everything including all outside maintenance, heating and hot water, decorating, parking and security. You may be able to find a flat with lower charges but this could be because it covers less of the running costs. Beware of flats with very low charges because you are likely to be presented with large bills to cover outgoings such as exterior decoration.
We also have a small rental flat which we rent to an elderly man and we have no intention of ending his tenancy, though I know that this is a very real risk for many as the government seem to be trying to force private landlords to sell up.
Personally I would not want to buy a retirement flat, I prefer a mixture of neighbours and (as our flat is share of freehold), people living here have a little more control over the level of charges.

In your situation with no heirs I would definitely look at equity release (taking expert advice first). It might mean that you are% unable to afford residential care in the future but in my experience even if paying you get the same care as others who are state-funded.

Good luck to you.

I was coming on to say that you need to be aware that there are less and less rental properties coming up in popular areas. I would be very concerned about the insecurity of the landlord deciding to sell up and being unable find an alternative home, particularly as you became older. However, I see you have decided against doing this now and are looking at retirement flats.
I do think this could be a good option for you. The main negative is that (I have heard) they lose value and are more difficult to sell in the future. However, if you have a nice home somewhere you want to be now and not concerned about money being available for descendents later, that is not a problem for you.
I see you've now said it's St Albans you're interested in. I lived there for 13 years. It's a very unique place and I really love it. Are you good at building new friendships because you do need to bear in mind you will be leaving the links you currently have behind. You don't want to find yourself isolated in your new home. I would suspect though that retirement flats have a sense of community and there are numerous leisure opportunities in St Albans of all sorts. Remember that any where you are going on by memory, will have changed. St Albans will undoubtedly be busier than you think with some unpleasant aspects. However, that seems to be the way of everywhere now and, in my view, still a wonderful place. I hope it works out for you whatever you decide to do.

1. why do you want to be closer to London? Which part? if you are a theatre-goer for example then North (St Albans or even Peterborough is 45 min), or South Bank into Waterloo - after all Brighton is just an hour. Shopping then perhaps West - even Swindon is just an hour to Paddington. (Southend to Liverpool St is under and hour too).
2. How big is your home? Could you split it and sell off part? Could you handle the hassle? How would you feel about such close neighbours?
3. Moving any distance means change of support structure like doctors, libraries, hospitals, chemists, U3A, not to mention friends - have you spoken to them?
4. If you want to spend your equity you could just do an equity release, but this, like moving, does require some research.

.

So much uncertainty with renting.
The owner could decide to sell at any time.

Far better to own and be the master of your own destiny (as far as one is able).

Maybe look for a nice retirement village for the over 55's that is in a location you like (note the annual Charges though)?
.

Flats, rented or bought iften have extortionate service charges attached. That would put me off. If you definitely want to move why not search around for other areas you never know what you may like. As to what do do about disposal of property, why not form a Trust for a charity you admire.

I'm 70 in January and looking to move. I'm using Chat Gpt to help me. IMHO it's brilliant

Have you thought of buying or renting in a retirement community in perhaps Hertfordshire so you would have a ready made place to get to know people and have GP plus Shop /Restaurant and Leisure facilities close at hand?

I did this 3 years ago! Sold my old 3 bedroomed house and moved into a rented flat. I did not move far (I was already living in London) but I am so glad I did this. The maintenance on the old house was crippling and all my money was tied up in it. I now have money in the bank and no maintenance problems. I was very lucky in that the perfect flat came along at the right time so I would just suggest that you make a list of what you want (mine included a balcony and a spare bedroom) and take your time finding the right property.

Whatever you do, please think very carefully about any of the sheltered or assisted places. My mother paid for hers and then was forking out £60 per week in service charges. These do include external maintenance, emergency pull, house insurance and gardening, but it does increase.

£60 a week for keeping the property in good order, doing the garden, house insurance and someone on call for problems.

That sounds cheap to me. I pay £50 a month just to get the grass cut!

I was born and bred in St Albans and still live here, it is a lovely place to live. We are not over run with retirement homes as such, I can’t help you with any info on that unfortunately. But I know there are some lovely developments close to all amenities ie centre, train station. If I come across any on my travels I’ll drop you a DM. Good luck

My advice being - don't under any circumstances whatsoever rent if there is any alternative. For you there is - ie you own a house.

So maybe you could sell that house - but you would need to buy another place of your own instead.

Rentals are insecure!!!!!! Add there's a lot of bad landlords/ladies around. Add that you can't do what you please to it. Even public sector housing isn't as secure as it was - when I had a public sector place years back (ie 1970's - 1980s) I had total security of knowing I could rent it as long as I pleased. Thinking of a younger friend of mine now - she's got to see if they will renew her tenancy a year at a time these days and has to ask their permission to do anything much to it.

Private sector will be a sight worse.

Already there are reports of people getting chucked out of private rented housing - and illegal immigrants taking their place (because the Government will pay more for them).

I have no-one to leave my (owned by me) house to - as my erstwhile brother and his family turned out to be just as grabby as I'd long known they would be. It does give me some satisfaction to know they obviously want to inherit my house (for their adult children) when I die - and they arent going to get it and I've told them so.

But I'll just leave my house to charity instead come the time. I'm not going to concern myself beyond that - I'll just be too busy in Heaven celebrating the fact I've seen the back of Earth and all its problems to be concerned about having left my house behind me.

SporeRB

Since you have no one to inherit your property, have you consider equity release?

You can then use the money to take many trips down memory lane to Herts and London and treat yourself to a world cruise and holidays.

Not sure about retirement flats, the yearly maintenance will be a great concern to me.

There is still sex discrimination on equity release schemes - even nowadays!!!!!

I had a quick check years back and found that they would pay a man of the exact same age as me in the exact same home as me a higher amount of equity release money than they would me!!!!

The justification/excuse for that being "Oh well - the actuarial tables say the average man doesn't live as long as the average woman. We wouldnt really/honest injun be paying a man more than you - it's just that his money would be compressed into an assumed shorter life".

B*llocks! is all I can say to that. It's long past time the actuarial tables didn't have a male side and a female side - and men and women were amalgamated. I guess the reason this discrimination still applies though is that they figure some men would scream at having their money reduced - so that women could have all our money. They think women will "put up and shut up" and those of us that would be screaming that some of our money was being stolen off us by sex discrimination will just make up our minds that we'll never enter one of those schemes - so no-one can do that to us and kick us for being women.

CariadAgain Heaven - rather presumptuous of you

You have already explained the reasoning, and that is great. I always think people can look through rose coloured glasses at an area , without a real knowledge of the good and bad points. So, my go to idea, whether you know the area or not, is to go for 2 weeks or even a month, going to a b/b or possibly rented flat. Then you really find out all those little bits you wish you had known about before you bought. Is what appears to be a peaceful road actually a rat run in the morning rush hour etc. What matters to you in every day life? Are you a great reader with a lovely library close by where you are now. Where is the library in relation to the new area. How far to the swimming pool or gym etc etc. I really do think it is worth the money and effort to do this. You gain a much better idea of the reality, find out that either you cant wait to move there , or realize that it is quite different than you thought and are relived to return to your present home!! As we get older, we have made patterns of things in life, go dancing or playing bridge etc etc. The way we make our groups of peoples with similar interest , or enjoy sharing something, I think, are more important than what the looks of something. Do you have friends or acquaintances who have recently moved? What were their best and worst things about the moves, and do they feel pleased that they have moved or wished they had never left. But in the end it has to be down to you, you are the one going to move , and need to live with your choice. I am from yorkshire but my fathers promotion meant that we lived in Letchworth and then I lived down in Mill Hill, and have actually moved 19 times as an adult and 7 times as a child! After living abroad and all over the place I am very happily retired in Yorkshire, and whilst I enjoy visiting cities for specific things such as paintings and music etc etc , the life I live now gives me a far better choice than being in london. So take a very serious look at the area you think you want to go to and really do your homework, but then go for it. As far as we know we only have 1 life, make the most of it!

Cariadagain
I had a quick check years back and found that they would pay a man of the exact same age as me in the exact same home as me a higher amount of equity release money than they would me!!!!

This difference would have been based on actuarially calculations that shows that the man you were speaking of had a shorter life expectancy than you so the company making the equity release were likely to get the capital and accrued interest back from this man several, possibly, many years, before they would have got the money from you.

If you had compared your quote with that of other women, you would have possibly found the same thing, that the amount some other woman was lent could be more than you were lent - or less, even if you were next door neighbours in identical houses. All depending on your age and calculations of your respective life expectancies.