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😳🤷

We’re not paying enough taxes on assets, not nearly enough. Pay more tax on assets and less on earned income. It’s a MUCH more progressive means of taxation.

We’re not paying enough taxes on assets, not nearly enough. Pay more tax on assets and less on earned income. It’s a MUCH more progressive means of taxation.

100% I think they may have to do this soon though as earned income can't really be taxed anymore.

If most of your investment is tied up in assets- say you have a large house, you would need to have a large amount of ready cash to pay an annual tax on it. Many people don’t have that because they have big mortgages or are retired, so the people would sell up and downsize. Owning a larger home would no longer be viable which would put even more pressure on small/medium sized homes. Where I live there is massive competition for these already as there’s such a shortage. Is it really viable long term? It might raise money in the short to medium term, but it’s still tax that needs to come out of income.

People have paid tax on the income they used to buy the house though

Stamp duty does stop people moving. We're late 50s, still in the family home. We're obviously not ready for retirement accomodation, but an interim move to a smaller house would cost us a fortune in stamp duty. It's way cheaper for us to stay where we are for the next 10-15 years.

earned income can't really be taxed anymore

I think you’ll find it can - the basic rate was 33% in 1979.

Basic rate of 30-odd % is the norm in Scandinavia, hence better public services there. I think we do need to buy more down-sizing friendly properties. New properties have such pokey rooms and such lame storage it’s no wonder people don’t want to downsize.

Build!

@Zazdar

I wouldn’t get upset about any hoarding comments. You won’t be hoarding it forever.

Oh, nice. Firstly, she is not 'hoarding' a house, she is living in her own home with her husband. Secondly, you're going to die one day, too, and no-one knows the hour of their death.

I really "should" downsize but I don't want to. Once I had my "in -laws" living with us as well as the children so I have a rambling old house that accommodated all of us comfortably. In laws are now passed on and children long gone so there are 2 of us in a 7 bedroom house.

One of the empty bedrooms has become an ironing/dressing room. One is now my craft studio ( OK actually 2 of them are now my craft studios - I've overflowed!). DP has adopted a 3rd as "his" space.

Once you have space then you do get used to it. I've been looking at bungalows for my parents who can no longer manage their large 4 bed but it's a depressing experience. I have yet to find one I'd want to live in myself.

I think you’ll find it can - the basic rate was 33% in 1979.

I wasn't talking from an historical perspective as a comparison though.
I don't believe with the cost of living crisis, wage stagnation, high house prices & skilled job shortages income tax can go higher then it is with the new levy & band freezes.

@MadMadMadamMim

Agree with those saying the word 'boomer' is so insulting.

I'm mid 50s, so actually miss out on being a 'boomer' by a couple of years or so - but frankly people can fuck off to the far side of fuck if they think I owe them my home after all my years of work.

The idea that old people who won't fuck off and die or crawl off to somewhere smaller and let others have their home once they are deemed as old and useless is the MOST selfish and entitled attitude I've ever come across.

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.

@MadMadMadamMim

👏👏👏

Bloody well said! And bloody well true!
You have said everything I would have wanted to say, only better.

Secondly, you're going to die one day, too, and no-one knows the hour of their death.

You don’t say. That’s my evening ruined.

The young have been shafted financially. They see older people living in a million pound houses who paid a fraction of what they are now worth. Usually these are people with regular jobs - nurses, teachers etc.

Meanwhile they are in their 20s and 30s, doing similar jobs, and sharing a flat with no prospect of ever buying a home (unless they are lucky enough to inherit or be gifted money). Its no wonder they're jealous. A little empathy would go a long way.

But - as the saying goes - don't hate the player, hate the game. The problem and solution lies with the government and the bankers. Remember this at the next election.

@mjf981

The young have been shafted financially. They see older people living in a million pound houses who paid a fraction of what they are now worth. Usually these are people with regular jobs - nurses, teachers etc.

Meanwhile they are in their 20s and 30s, doing similar jobs, and sharing a flat with no prospect of ever buying a home (unless they are lucky enough to inherit or be gifted money). Its no wonder they're jealous. A little empathy would go a long way.

But - as the saying goes - don't hate the player, hate the game. The problem and solution lies with the government and the bankers. Remember this at the next election.

We obviously live in very different areas. No one I know lives in a million pound house. Most of the 20-30 somethings I know CAN afford to buy - they are not 'sharing flats with no prospect of ever buying'.

These type of comments feels massively London centred, or in the leafy and pricey South - and it might be worth considering that for the majority of the UK that isn't the case. No one 'young' has been shafted financially here.

I'm from Scunthorpe. This is what looks to be a pretty decent family home up for sale. 4 bed, 3 bath. £260,000. That should be within reach of many families. Underneath I've posted a 2 bed starter home. Under £100,000.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118579817#/?channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/109026740#/?channel=RES_BUY

I think you should stay put. My kids have left home and I can finally afford my dream house. I don't give a rats fart that it's bigger. I'm making space for the grandkids sleepovers now and u refuse to feel guilty about it. If you downsize your are just taking up a smaller, xheaper property that a first time buyer might be able to afford so the logic is twisted.

@Fairisleflora

There is a housing shortage in this country. I live in a place where my street is filled with elderly couples in big houses, with 2-3 unused bedrooms each, and yet they are the vilest sort of whining nimbys when developers want to build houses for others to live in. The elderly hoarding housing stock is much less of a problem than 2nd homes and properties bought for investment and left vacant, but let’s do what they do in many European countries and have council tax as 1% of a house’s value a year. That might bring minds into focus sonewhat. If you want to live in a big place, be prepared to cough up and help society out.

why? I coughed up all my working life, as did my late husband.

The young have been shafted financially

Every generation gets shafted financially in some way. Young people in the 70s were paying a third of their salary in income tax and the mortgage rate in 1979 was 11%. Added to which the annual inflation rate was almost 20%.

My social circle includes nurses, teachers, etc and none of us live in million pound houses. The closest is a friend who lives on the outskirts of London who paid £89k for their house in 1996 and it’s now worth around £700k.

We only have an upstairs bathroom, when husband got his new knees we installed a stair lift, great things if you have room. Ours was touch and go as the stairs bend at we only had literally a few centimetres clearance.

MadMadMadamMim is right.

I live in a cheap area, comparatively. My first flat came up for sale again recently. I bought it on my own in the late seventies. A buyer here now in the same career and at the same age could still buy this flat on their own.

I'm now surrounded by very spacious Victorian terraced houses with four or more bedrooms and two to three reception rooms. They are mostly owned now by couples in their forties with children. Lecturers, doctors, scientists, teachers buy these houses, which go for under £400,000.

Friends and I who are who are single, and boomers, live in two- or at most three-bedroom houses or flats. We're not all rattling about in large family homes.

I agree there is a lot of generalisation I. This thread.

I am early forties - I am single and own a bigger house than my parents. My friends are teachers, scientists, doctors and lawyers. Our parents are I. Their late sixties and early seventies.

All my friends have homes the same size or larger than our parents - and no parents have downsized.

I think some of those commenting are very focused on the London market - it’s not the same outside London. Home ownership is achievable for lots of people I. Their twenties

Your house isn’t so big that you should need to downsize. Your bathroom plan sounds good. Main thing is being able to live downstairs and you already have a bathroom there so that works. Would you extend downstairs to get more room for a separate bedroom?

Both our parents left moving too late. My in laws were in their 80s FIL not mobile at all, and their mental faculties starting to fail. They found it stressful moving to a flat, struggled to get to grips with how things like the hot water system, the oven and the heating worked. We had to handle all the selling and buying process, and regularly pop in to set their heating, go to tenant's meetings. If they had moved a couple of years earlier that would have been able to familiarise themselves with all of this. My parents lived in a large Victorian terrace, 4 beds. Dad wanted to move to a bungalow, mum refused as she had a lot of friends. 20 years after retiring when dad died, the house had a leaking roof, central heating was iffy, it needed a rewire, all local friends had either moved or died, mum was immobile needing stair lift and aids to help her stand, so mum was left in a house she couldn't maintain, couldn't afford to fix up, was cold and totally unsuitable, but still didn't want to move. My sister sorted out a sheltered flat for her to move to, we all (5 of us) helped her move and auctioned off the house. Again, she had no idea how to use the new kitchen appliances and hdd no desire to bother so lived on ding meals for the rest of her life. So I think the trick is to downsize while you still have your faculties to enable you to settle into your last home. Difficult to know when that is as these ailments creep up on you.

Every generation gets shafted financially in some way. Young people in the 70s were paying a third of their salary in income tax and the mortgage rate in 1979 was 11%. Added to which the annual inflation rate was almost 20%.

My DM often says how hard the early 70s were for a newly married couple. Houses were put on the market in the morning and disappeared by lunchtime, or would cost several thousand more by the next day. My Dad had to buy their first one without her even seeing it. He lost his job in the late 70s recession and they had to get free milk. My Gran lost the value of all her savings due to hyper inflation. I agree that every generation has their complaints. It's easy to forget though.

I don't see the problem with staying in your much loved home for as long as it suits you. My Mum is 76 and is still living alone in our family home after my Dad passed away over a decade ago. It's a big 3 bed detached with huge gardens and she has no plans to move until she has to. If anything the house is probably in a better state of repair now than when my Dad was alive as he used to begrudge spending money on modernising it. My brother sometimes makes comments about his 'inheritance' but he's a selfish a-hole at times so I tell Mum not to take any notice!