Seeking advice - Looking to sell a 1 bed flat in a retirement home (Gerrards Cross)

It is a lot to cough up ( would you actually HAVE to charge that?) but it’s stiil cheaper than a nice care home .

I have some expereince of this. People often well into their 80's buy off plan or brand new and then either pass away or have to move into a care home over the next few years. It wont help the OP but NEVER buy brand new. NEVER! Parent rented and loved it there but then had to move into a care home. To be honest although she had owned her own home she couldnt have cared less whether she was renting or buying at her age. Renting has the SC included.

Many at parent's complex brought very late in life and got caught up with the brand new vibe but often the second hand market offers much much cheaper prices (if you really need to buy!) and people dont stay in them for years and years and some are very lightly used.

I know Gerrards Cross. They will be appealing to people who want to stay in the area hence the £££ as Gerrards X is very pricy housing wise and people selling their old house will have £100,000's to spend.

@TaupeZebra Yes, its an M&S property , but I think they are misleading Executors on property values.

Like other posters I think the property was absolutely the right thing for my relative and I don’t expect anything from the sale .. BUT she was misled to a massive degree and we now have an incredible stress facing years of trying to sell the property through no fault of our own. It’s not something we signed up to. We believed we would be able to sell at say a £50k loss … but its now looking like a £150k loss after several years of struggle and stress and it may well eat i to her savings.

I think one of the issues is that if you inherit one of these properties but can’t sell it quickly, the service charges and Council Tax still need to be paid. This is supposed to come out of the estate but people have had issues with being pressured to pay it. Which understandably causes a lot of stress.

I don’t expect to inherit anything from my mum, her money is hers to spend. I would like to see her happy. I would be worried though about being liable for service charge bills that I couldn’t afford to pay.

The M&S flats in our town have not tanked in value - they are selling now for what they originally sold for when built in 2019. The last couple of two bed flats have sold for around £500,000; you could get a 3 bed house for that round here. So I think it depends on the catchment area. We are a naice se town with plenty of people with good pensions downsizing from family homes worth £800,000 plus.

There's a development near me with a one bed advertised at £260k,however looking at recently sold prices, the last one to be sold went for £135k,a significant drop, entirely agree the whole issue of retirement homes should be looked at seriously as the McCarthy&Stone model just seems to be about making as much money as possible for McCarthy& Stone.

@TaupeZebra the service charge is astronomical. The M&S rental price includes this, hence the hefty price.

Given there are new properties in the same development I think you will have to cut your losses. It’s the cost of paying the service charge vs amount you get for the flat.

Putting it on the market just before Christmas is not ideal. If you can I would suggest waiting until the new year then putting it on at offers over £225k or £249k. Stamp duty increases at £250,001 so that might be the threshold. Put it on right move but also with specialist sheltered housing estate agents.

My mum downsized into a new M&S development when the family home was financially unviable for her after my father had passed away.

It was the best thing she ever did.

My parents were some of the ‘lucky’ ones who had purchased a nice family house in a nice area on one low to average salary in the late 1960’s. Fast forward to 2003 they were asset rich and cash poor. Both only had state pensions. They could afford to do very little - lived in cold house needing repair, no holidays, no nice lunches out etc. As they got older I did my best to support them both financially and in looking after the house/ garden, I paid for a couple of holidays for them etc but when my father passed, I was working and my own children came along I had to put them first and suggested my mum downsized. She was also very lonely and each winter struggled with a bad chest.

My siblings (I was the youngest) were horrified. Had I not heard what a bad investment they were? Etc etc. All 3 of them were comfortably off but none helped mum out with either their time or their money, but they were all eagerly awaiting their inheritance.

So with my full support she bought a new build M&S 1 bed apartment and had 8 very happy years there. The apartment was cheap to heat and the communal areas spotlessly clean with well maintained gardens. She was on the social committee, always celebrating new ‘M&S friends’ birthdays etc in the communal areas, had regular planned day trips out. The local farmer and fish trucks would visit regularly etc. Her life was simpler with no house to look after, busier with her social life and she was so much happier.

Most importantly, for the first time in her life she had money in the bank (from downsizing) and so had 2 or 3 overseas holidays with her hobby friends and could lunch out weekly without thinking about it. She was so much happier and less lonely. So yes she was spending the family inheritance but my view was it was her money to spend.

When she died, we sold the property easily, albeit for the same price that she had paid for it. Yes she had paid a monthly service charge and yes had she stayed in the family home we would have received more of an inheritance as the value of that would have appreciated, but ultimately my lovely Mum had 8 happier years in her old age than if she had not moved into a M&S property.

Years later, 2 of my 3 siblings still feel ‘cheated’ out of a chunk of their inheritance and we barely speak. They really were happy to see Mum struggle as long as she kept their inheritance nest egg warm and growing in value!
1 sibling accepted, seeing the significant improvement in mums health and happiness that moving to M&S was a good idea after all!

So OP if you have recently inherited the property, I would sell for a reduced price and just remember how lucky you are to have inherited something and remember that the person you have inherited from may have had a happier life living there!

Gosh, the £13k pa service charge is a kicker - a lot to come out of a pension each month.

The business model for these sounds great - for M&S. Less so for those who bought them/have inherited and looking to sell.

Living in one for 5, 10, 15 years - the facilities and activities and social set up is great - but it's a lot of money (presumably from downsized equity) handed over.

OP, keep an eye on what the auction property sells for. If you are racking up service/maintenance costs to be deducted from eventual sales price then reducing hard to get interest and property sold is the main thing.

I hope your relative was happy there and I don't think there is a price to put on somewhere that meets the needs - social, physical and mental - of an ageing community - better the money was spent in meeting those needs than held in bricks & mortar while the person had a miserable existence. But I do question whether M&S has the balance right.

MIL is in one (M&S) - has been for about 9-10yrs now - LOVES it, there will be nothing much left to inherit once she does die, but worth every penny to the family for the communal life she has there and the lovely staff who look out for them.

She's always off on coach trips with someone from the complex, and a few of her old friends have joined her in there recently. She has family members round for Sunday lunch in the dining room and coffee upstairs in her flat after. She can host a little dinner party in her own flat if she wants to - but these days it's likely to be a nice takeaway as the kitchen is quite small.

Some residents have carers coming in a few times a day, so she knows she won't have to leave in the future just because she needs care.

Her own little dog died, as you can bring a dog in with you, but not replace it when it dies she dog sits for other residents.

She says it's the best decision she made. I think all the talk about resale value is a bit grabby TBH. Was the parent happy there? that's all that really matters, surely?

Don’t believe any figures M&S give you .. their valuation of the flat was £150k when recent sales had all, been below £50k and an RCIS valuation was £20k. They wouldn’t even talk to me about why their valuation was so high and claimed to have no idea how long properties take to sell.

Its such a shame, they are great for those that can afford them, but the ongoing maintenance for beneficiaries is a deterrent. Such a pity as if only people realised that the £150k discount offsets quite a few years of ongoing maintenance. The price ‘correction’ is far more than the risk of not selling. M&S really need to do something, but why would they when they have guaranteed income for life !

Love the look of the flat and complex! Will show it to my parents to see what they think. They’d need to sell their house but they’ve already had EA round for valuation who’ve said it will go quickly because it’s an ideal family home near good schools, off-street parking, solid build, gorgeous garden etc. This would be ideal downsize for them!

Not a great comparison but here's a link to a not dissimilar 'luxury complex' retirement flat (though it's 2 bedrooms) in a similar upmarket area.

House Price History.

It sold for £269k in 2018, and sold this year for £200k.

I've just had a look on Rightmove and Savills have a 1 bed retirement flat in the same block for auction, starting price £45,000.

Maybe auction might be something to consider if you want to sell it quickly?

Sell now whilst the price is good even if you have to reduce by £50k . I currently need to sell one purchased for £170k , now expected to go for £20k and no buyers to be seen . It looks as if the first few resales go for £20-£50k below asking and after a few years they tank. Gerrards cross is prime territory though so you may be lucky.

My DB & I inherited my Dads flat when he died. Not McCarthy & Stone and the fees are much lower than yours. Our lease was on the short side too. We tried to sell without success and now rent it out. We have also extended the lease and bought a share of the freehold, so when we eventually try to sell it will be more attractive to buyers. Fortunately we have a lovely tenant, who is no trouble.
Flats in this area (not retirement) usually sell quickly, it is very frustrating

@TaupeZebra 'The last one sold in March this year for 340k and the developer is asking for 400k for a new one. Insane'.

Was that the price sold by the developer when new, or re-sale? Unfortunately re-sale values of retirement flats are usually far below the initial sold price that came with all the glossy brochure sales chat when new.

To add, they are late 70s.

Any chance you can link to the development OP? Without being too outing, my parents live fairly close to GX and are looking to downsize and the equity they’d be left with would cover that service charge for many years, eye-watering though it is! They love GX as a place.