To STILL not want to downsize?

[toconclude]

Live in Victorian smallish semi - technically 4 bed but three bedrooms are singles and DH uses one as a study and always has. Downstairs bathroom which we've managed with so far.
Ongoing options are: convert one bed to bathroom so one on each floor - then as we get older would improve safety (currently average age late 60s)
Or downsize to smaller bungalow. In our town that means almost inevitably spending more money as land is pricey, and getting rid of DHs bulky Edwardian heirloom furniture
Also would lose my lovely neighbours of many years and my lovely garden.
Have already given both kids significant lump sum towards buying their own house.
A reaction to a comment in another thread about selfish boomers "hoarding" family houses.
Don't feel like a hoarder but maybe we are😳🤷

I have a friend who is an loss adjuster and honestly like the effort and time and expense they go to to not pay out with blow your mind.
I wouldn’t be hopeless I just move into another house and then get it fixed 🤷‍♀️
Obviously car insurance is the law so you don’t get a choice as to whether to pay for that or not but I’ve had my car stolen written off and they didn’t pay out on that, despite loss adjuster friend actually writing out the claim 🤦‍♀️ kind of puts me off any insurance that’s voluntary.

@HollowTalk

But if eventually you're just living on the ground floor, it's a waste, isn't it? What would you do with upstairs? I agree you don't have to think of that right now as you're still relatively young, but what's the point in four spare rooms upstairs being empty?

The point is that they’re attached to the rooms the do need to be used and they can’t be detached and loaned out to someone else. If there are some bedrooms that no one’s sleeping in for a few years then so be it. If it doesn’t matter to the person that owns them that they’re empty, then it doesn’t matter.

@Nothappyatwork

I’ve never felt the need and with never had a fire or anything that’s made me regret that decision. But given its buttons it’s almost a case of why not.

If anything happened to your house which caused damage to the house next door then how would you pay for the damage?

@bellac11By bank transfer

I wouldn't consider a couple with adult kids who stay when they visit to be hoarding a house that has one spare bedroom and an office which is what you'll have when you convert the bathroom... That's more about people with spare rooms they never even use and good options to move to staying in houses while they gradually get more run down. There are very few people like that!

It’s pretty easy to sit behind a keyboard and type “selfish boomers” or some such shit. In reality if you are 60s, you aren’t even boomers and even if you were, you have the right to live in the home you’ve paid for.

[quote Nothappyatwork]@bellac11By bank transfer[/quote]
Clearly you're very wealthy then, if you could afford to rebuild your house and the one next door. And yet you won't fork out £10 a month for buildings insurance.

@Nothappyatwork

I have a friend who is an loss adjuster and honestly like the effort and time and expense they go to to not pay out with blow your mind. I wouldn’t be hopeless I just move into another house and then get it fixed 🤷‍♀️ Obviously car insurance is the law so you don’t get a choice as to whether to pay for that or not but I’ve had my car stolen written off and they didn’t pay out on that, despite loss adjuster friend actually writing out the claim 🤦‍♀️ kind of puts me off any insurance that’s voluntary.

@Nothappyatwork you must be wealthy! If my house burned down I couldn’t just move j to another one and fix it up!

I still owe part of a mortgage on my home - and it is semi detached so I would need to repair next door too. Hundreds of thousands. I assume you don’t have contents insurance either? All my clothes and furniture and electronics would need to be replaced. Thousands - and whatever next door lost. Yes house fires are rare - but they happen. Even a kitchen fire can run into tens of thousands. I could take that hit just about - but couldn’t cope with much more. And could leave my neighbours high and dry

Well its a waste, if your house blew up due to a gas leak or somesuch, and damaged the houses around you, plus public infrastructure like street lamps, water pipes, cars on the road as well,, that could run into millions dependent on where you live, if each house either side

Perhaps you could afford that, but if so you can certainly afford a couple of hundred a year on buildings insurance. Plus you say your house is small anyway.

@gogohm

To future proof your house, could you live entirely downstairs or fit a stairlift if required? How expensive is it to heat? Are the doorways wide enough for a walking frame/wheelchair, are there steps into the house or out to the garden? Could you cope with looking after the house alone? Can you afford household help? (not care)

These are the points I've discussed with my parents, they are slightly older. Dp's mum became suddenly disabled following a stroke in her early 70's making more aware, you have to consider plan a, b, c etc.

do you have experience of stairlifts....they do have drawbacks...the new throughfloor type look more of an option.

@Georgeskitchen

I didn't realise this was a thing, boomers being responsible for the housing crisis!! Cheeky f*ers!!

It’s the couples who stay in their large 4/5 bedroom detached houses, but then object to planning applications for families needing more space that gets me! (Or that’s what it’s like round here).

Where are all the these bungalows to move to? In the small market town I live in (and all the surrounding villages), the thousands of new homes that are being built are all family homes. I am not aware of a single bungalow. I would be hard pushed to downsize even if I wanted to.

A reaction to a comment in another thread about selfish boomers "hoarding" family houses.

I never heard of such a thing... I'm a boomer. ha...
You stay... sounds like a lovely plan to me!

That is a very specific complaint @Lagarthatheviking!

There is a planning process and people are fully entitled to object to neighbouring extensions. Lots of people object - and ‘staying’ or living in your own home when you don’t have small children doesn’t make you less entitled to an opinion.

People seem to assume families only involve people with small children and they are entitled to have large homes.

I experienced this from an estate agent when I bought my home. Single female buying a four bed in an excellent school catchment area! Ridiculous. State agent offered to show me smaller, cheaper houses in another area! Silly bitch.

There are very few one bedroom bungalows, which is what most couples reaching empty nest stage/retirement would ideally opt for. Do what you want to do OP. You’re not responsible for the housing crisis, which affects low income families the most, and it would be doubtful those families who are in social housing, trying to get on the property ladder, would be in the financial position of affording your large home. What’s needed is new build, cheap homes to help those who find it difficult to buy.

If you’re happy, stay. You’re in your 60s fgs not 90s. Enjoy your home, make it work if things change. I’m never shuffling off to a bungalow due to age. My DGM lives to 90 and was fit as a fiddle until she got cancer. I hate this view of winding down. I’m 51 so still a spring chicken and don’t plan to start thinking old. I believe attitude keeps you young.

My parents (mis 80s) are still alive and in the large family home they've lived in for 50 plus years. They have no intention of going through the stress of moving house to gratify some entitled stranger who is eyeing up their home.

How dramatic. People shouldn’t downsize if they don’t want to, but if your parents ever did, the person they sell it to won’t be grabby or entitled, they’ll just be buying a house.

*My parents (mis 80s) are still alive and in the large family home they've lived in for 50 plus years. They have no intention of going through the stress of moving house to gratify some entitled stranger who is eyeing up their home.
*
Who's asking them to??

@lollpoprainbow I think there was a thread that said those that don’t downsize are put of order and are hogging larger properties.

@Oldh

Where are all the these bungalows to move to? In the small market town I live in (and all the surrounding villages), the thousands of new homes that are being built are all family homes. I am not aware of a single bungalow. I would be hard pushed to downsize even if I wanted to.

I’d agree with this. DH and I still have quite a few grandparents between us, all in their 80s/90s so it’s a topic that has come up quite a bit. One set of DH’s grandparents recently moved to a bungalow as his grandma can no longer manage stairs. Admittedly they are a bit particular but it took them absolutely ages to find things that were suitable. DH’s other grandparents recently sold their bungalow to move to a more town centre location and it went at the asking price within 24 hours to a couple a bit younger who were looking to downsize. Apparently they’d been looking for a while and struggling to find something.

@Benjispruce5

If you’re happy, stay. You’re in your 60s fgs not 90s. Enjoy your home, make it work if things change. I’m never shuffling off to a bungalow due to age. My DGM lives to 90 and was fit as a fiddle until she got cancer. I hate this view of winding down. I’m 51 so still a spring chicken and don’t plan to start thinking old. I believe attitude keeps you young.

yup. The reason that I want a bungalow is that I finally trashed my knees falling into a clay swamp while dog walking. doing stairs multiple times a day is not a good idea and odd days I can't do stirs dqwonwards at all. The knees were wonky in the first place through lifting people while working in the NHS before the days of manual handling regs and LOLER. I am not shuffling off anywhere! My other reason for wanting a bungalow is that apart from the bathroom(s) and the kitchen, any room can be anything so much more design flexibility.

We have just downsized from a rural 4 br 3 recep with big garden to a smaller urban 3-br detached with tiny garden as we were looking to the future when our house would be too large for us to manage and the rural setting would be difficult as we got older and maybe had to give up driving.
It's gone ok so far, the most difficult bit of the actual move was getting rid of lots of stuff - furniture, clothes, books etc that we no longer have room for.
But if the OP's situation would be improved just by putting in an upstairs bathroom then there's no reason for them to move at all that I can see. (I do miss our lovely big garden, and can understand anyone not wanting to give up theirs).
In addition, selling up and buying a new place is an almighty hassle, and unfortunately ours did not go smoothly at all.

@Benjispruce5 I thinks it's been misconstrued, I imagine it was referring to people in council/HA properties with bigger homes then they need. No one was asking people with their lovely 'Large' homes to downsize !!

@lollipoprainbow

*My parents (mis 80s) are still alive and in the large family home they've lived in for 50 plus years. They have no intention of going through the stress of moving house to gratify some entitled stranger who is eyeing up their home. * Who's asking them to??

read back through the thread. people who won't move out of their houses and sell them to the younger generation at affordable prices should be taxed out of their own homes!

[quote lollipoprainbow]@Benjispruce5 I thinks it's been misconstrued, I imagine it was referring to people in council/HA properties with bigger homes then they need. No one was asking people with their lovely 'Large' homes to downsize !! [/quote]
oh no....it was nothing about renting, it was all about home owners and selling.