Downsizing

A decent bungalow tends to cost more than a largish house, at least in our area (Worcestershire). They are in short supply and are snapped up.

There was one nearer a town and it had been "done up", it wasn't particularly large and was marketed for £750k whereas our quite large house and garden would probably sell for £595k.

Yes, two loos! Very important that.Go for a bungalow if you can find one there are lots of two bedroom ones and choose a small garden not a large one.You can always add a conservatory if you need a second sitting room.Check where the bus stops/routes are to take you into town and check the general area.Good luck🍀

We put our house on the market in April and were sold STC and had agreed to buy a new place in early May. Since then we’re waiting for a long chain to pull together, one party further down the chain is still looking as though they could pull out. It’s very stressful, so be prepared.

Downsizing means different things to different people. We will still have 4 bedrooms, but the rooms and garden are much smaller than we have now. The person buying ours is downsizing from a very large house advertised at twice the asking price of ours.

We’re moving to be closer to family, and to be within walking distance of the facilities in a small market town for when we no longer want to drive. The new place is future proof, it’s not as nice as our current home but it is much more practical long term. It’s a long way from our current home, so we will miss our friends here and will need to be proactive in joining things to make new friends

We’ve moved a lot in our lifetime for work, so we’re used to it, but it definitely gets harder as you get older

All of the above, plus at least 2 toilets, preferably 2 bathrooms !

We are in the process of downsizing. We move into our downsizer in 2 weeks time. We have moved from a large 4 bedroomed house with a large garden in a village well served by public transport, but where supermarkets, trains, doctors, dentists etc were all 5 miles away to a 3 bedroomed house with a small garden and off street parking close to the centre of a small town.

Bungalows tend to be mainly in the suburbs, and personally I prefer to sleep upstairs. if you buy a house, make sure the stairs could take a stairlift, if required.

The things that governed our decision was firstly to be somewhere where as much as possible of our future likely needs could be met without getting into a car and secondly somewhere more convenient for our children. They lived 100 & 200 miles away, but linked by the same motorway.

We also checked the town out for the presence of activities we could get involved in that we would enjoy. There is no point moving somewhere new, wanting to build a social life and finding there is nothing going on that interests you. We excluded several locations because of this.

Depending on your age, rural could be a bad choice. As fancythat said, future proofing is important. Look at places with easy access to public transport, shops, doctors etc. I moved relatively close to my DD and Dsil and do two days a week childcare but that's not necessarily what you want to do. We discussed it before my grandsons appeared on the scene. Communication is key as is expectations.
Like you, I was rattling about in a 4 bedroom house and decided to downsize to a bungalow. I'm glad I did. I took three to four months to clear my house if unwanted stuff. The dump and charity shops saw a lot of me!
I would suggest you spend time deciding where you want to live and research house prices and amenities there before you make any decisions

Location.
Family
Future prooofing

I would consider all those. In that order.