All old people should sell up family homes for families.

[benigogo]

Not really an AIBU, more a hypothetical question really. This view comes up a lot on MN, and I'm interested in the detail of what people actually imagine when they say it. What type of property should they be giving up? What type of property should they be moving to? How old is old? What about younger people who under occupy a property? For example 2 friend couples, have recently downsized. Both from a 4 bed detached, one to a 4 bed semi, and the other to a 3 bed semi. Their homes were bought, one by a young professional couple, and the other by a couple in their seventies, themselves downsizing. If you hold this view what do you visualise?

I think I held this view, until MIL started to look at downsizing.
Downsizing from their 3 bed semi- house in a more modern condition £400k.
To go to a 2 bedroom bungalow, same sort of condition, £385k.

Not worth the stress if they're moving for anything other than their own want at that point is there?

Absolutely horrible suggestion.

My parents worked extremely hard to get their house and pay their mortgage especially with interest rates in double digits.

It's their home, comfort and security. They love where it is, know all the neighbours, feel save etc.

There isn't any incentive that would convince them to move.

The only reason I am not able to make a decision yet is the most residents in the neighborhood are elderly people

have you looked at the actual demographics for the voting ward? You may have visited at a time most families with working age parents were at work or it was an untypical example. https://www.ons.gov.uk/datasets/TS007/editions/2021/versions/2#get-data

Stamp duty!

Goodness, please don’t buy a home where you or your children might have to see shudder old people. Far nicer to live in the inner city where your children can find nice used needles on the street to play with. Safer all round than risking an elderly lady saying hello to them. Problem solved 🤣

Even the views opposing elderly selling their homes seem insensitive on here 'we can't make them'!

I mean I've worked all my life in high paying jobs to afford my home. I came from a really poor background and I'm bloody damned if at 64 or whatever someone thinks 'oh you don't deserve that now, move over' I look after my girls, I provide them with cash as and when but no one is going to tell me at a certain age what I can and cannot do with my hard earned money!

Are you for real?

@NarcNarc I am from a different country and English is not my first language but I can still understand the sarcasm here. Our issue is not seeing and greeted by elderly people every day. We have a little one and we don't plan to have another child. As we are not native here that means he doesn't have any cousins here. So my concern is will he get to play and mingle with kids from his age group in the neighborhood. Also, we come from a culture where living with grandparents is quite common. P.S. Before judging someone quickly, how about we take a pause and breathe.

Thank you so much for the suggestion. I wasn't aware of this. I will have a look at it.

@Cosyblankets Our issue is not seeing and greeted by elderly people every day. We have a little one and we don't plan to have another child in the future. As we are not native here that means he doesn't have any cousins here. So my concern is will he get to play and mingle with kids from his age group in the neighborhood. Also, we come from a culture where living with grandparents is quite common. P.S. Before judging someone quickly, how about we take a pause and breathe.

Hey, it turns out you’re also good at sarcasm 🤣 If intergenerational living is so important to you why are you not practicing it? I am. There are three generations under our roof and it’s great. Why don’t you try it?

How about you word your post better?
You've replied to a post about how the elderly should sell up.
How about you think how it comes across

I meet a lot of people around 30 who want to buy somewhere with two spare rooms, even if they don’t intend to have kids. I don’t think elderly people downsizing would therefore do anything to solve under occupation.

I also don’t think people should move out of an established home unless they have to - for people with age-related medical conditions, the familiarity of a certain home can be really beneficial. Only if their care needs become too great does moving make sense.

Perhaps the real solution (other than building more homes!) is to encourage people to share. Intergenerational living isn’t really a thing other than in specific ethnic groups, but if more families lived together, houses would be better utilised.

That said… I don’t want to live with my own family! So, I think we circle back to just build more homes.

@troublemeltslikelemondrops whilst intergenerational living may be a good idea, it would likely cost the State a fortune in our case. If mother and I were to live together one of us would inevitably end up in Holloway !

I think people should be free to chose to live where they want.

The flip side of this is I also think that the government should not be subsidising people to live in houses that are too big for them. So fuel subsidides, CT subsidies, they should disappear.

if you own your own home, no

In the other hand, my brother has a four bedroom council house - all adult children have left home. Mad that council should continue a large house that could home a family. He was fast enough to keep producing children and insisting on a larger house.

Yes, I was about to post a quote saying that probably I posted on someone's post or something. I joined this platform yesterday and yet to understand the interface. Sorry about that.

Fair enough

What is "old"?

And does this "Sell" apply to those that worked their backsides off to own, keep up reairs of their own home and not be a burden on social housing? Or, does it apply to those living in council homes, ie they give up and move out to who knows where?

Thank you

@NarcNarc Well it's easier to say when you're living with your extended family or have relatives near by. Families like us who have no relatives at all in this country and have only one child, we have to consider these things more. Anyway, I realized that by mistake I posted on someone else's thread. So let's not carry on this conversation any further. Have a nice weekend. :)

ZOMBIE THREAD.

**

Oh and you. Have an absolutely spiffing weekend 🤣

@Mummyford We're yet to decide between two different locations. Of course we're looking at properties near the catchment areas but it would be nice if he can play with children living in the neighborhood. As he is still too young, it would be ideal if he finds children next door instead of finding someone at around 10-15 minutes walking distance. Thank you for your input though. But I realized that by mistake I posted on someone else's thread. So let's not continue this conversation any further. Have a nice weekend. :)

Hey everyone, I joined this platform yesterday and yet to understand the interface of the app. So by mistake I posted on someone else's thread. So please ignore the post that says will it be ideal to buy a property for a young family with only child in the neighborhood predominantly living by elderly people. I apologize for the inconvenience this post might have been causing. Have a good weekend everyone. 🤘

I'm a widowed pensioner, still living in the five bedroom family home. Why is it an injustice to want to remain here? It is a bungalow in the countryside, away from any bus route or good school and with a large garden. One bedroom is used as an office, another an exercise room, another a hobby/sewing room. This leaves me with one guest bedroom. I'm not "knocking around" in my house. I can afford the high heating and maintenance costs, and have both a cleaner and a gardener. They are all part of the cost of owning this house.

I don't think it's selfish to want to live in a bungalow that suits my current and future physical needs and current hobbies . TBH, this house will be difficult to sell as there's no gas in the area, the garden might be too much for most people and you will need your own transport to go to the supermarket, doctor etc. The nearest state school doesn't have the best reputation either.

The argument that people in my position should sell up fails to consider whether:
A. A family with school age children would find the house suitable - it's not all about the number of bedrooms.
B. The sale price will cover the cost of buying a smaller property in an area with more amenities.

Last year, new neighbours moved into a similar sized property. They're in their 80's and keen gardeners.