Moved to a Bungalow early!

[WinterVibes]

We are a couple late 40's early 50s. We've taken the plunge and moved to a lovely bungalow in a quaint village with beautiful views. We are still close to a lovely vibrant market town and have 2 lovely country pubs within a 2 minute walk.
Bungalows seem so sought after and hard to come by (and mostly overpriced due to this fact, especially in good area's). We decided to take the plunge now, rather than wait until we are a lot older. I've witnessed so many older family members struggling to afford one but now have health/mobility issues etc. and would be much better off on one level. My elderly Mum is terrible on her feet and I really wish her and my Dad had moved to a bungalow years ago, but she feels too old to uproot now which I understand, plus the area's she would prefer are out of her reach price wise now.

This will be our forever home and we've done quite a lot of renovating to put our own stamp on it, its all open plan living and kitchen with a lovely log burner so even heating will be cost effective as only one main room - I feel like we are ahead of the game now rather than having to face the transition when we are old and it's much harder for us. It's great for us now, but equally I could happily see us here when we are old and frail - if we are lucky enough to reach old age 🙏

Do you think we are bonkers?
Over-Planning?
Has anyone else done this to be ahead of things and future proof?
Bungalow chat a-hoy 👵🧓😂

We keep considering it but where we are there are very few bungalows and those that come to the market are because someone has died or gone into residential care and need thousands spending. Does the price reflect this, no! We sort of know we will have to take the plunge at some point but at 60 we feel too young yet but we know most people leave it too late. Google ‘bungalow legs’ it’s a real thing and it’s what is putting us off right now. My new plan is to move at 68 when we’ve both got old age pensions on top of private pensions and get a mortgage plus savings to buy and renovate a bungalow before selling our house. I can’t face the level of refurb required whilst also living in it. Selling our house would mean we have enough to pay off the mortgage and replace the savings plus a bit more

Around here in my cities bungalows are few and far between and for that reason they are VERY expensive. If they have a large garden then they are put on the market at some ridiculous price with the intention to sell to a developer who'll put a block of flats on it. Awful. Not all retired elderly people want to live in a flat. Many WANT bungalows, but there just aren't enough of them around here, and no-one is building new ones.

I would do the same as you, OP.

Not quite a bungalow but a dormer bungalow so it's quite bottom heavy. The downstairs is about the size of the bungalow that my parents downsized to in their early 50s before realising that it was too small for them, so moving to something big and impractical, instead!

I hope you are very happy in your bungalow, it sounds fab! But you do need to continue using ,steps somehow. My mother moved to a bungalow when she was just over 50 and despite being healthy and not overweight she really couldn't handle steps anywhere beyond the age of 80. It's really limited her ability to travel anywhere, even go up one step onto a bus or train. She's now 92 so has lived with those limitations for years.

I was 30 and DH 34 when we moved into our bungalow. Still there 40 years later.

Weren't looking for one but it was in the location and had the accommodation/outside space we were looking for at the time.

A PP mentioned that moving into one too early was bad for you but we have both always done alot of exercise so have never found it a problem.

Very mundane/paranoid question but how do you feel secure in a bungalow on hot summer nights? Do you just leave your windows open and hope nobody climbs through them? This genuinely interests me!

I moved to a dormer too in July and I am 46. I didn't buy it because it was a bungalow but because it ticked nearly every one of my long list wants. Detached, south facing garden with lounge over looking it, off road parking, quiet neighbourhood. I hope never to move from here, it is a 1960s build and still has some of its original features like parquet flooring. Love it!

More bungalows should be built then oldies can release their family-sized houses.

I haven’t lived in a home with stairs since I left my parents house 40 years ago.

There are more types of homes than bungalows and house with stairs y’know!!

We bought a bungalow last year. I'm 40, although we needed it because I have a joint condition and stairs are fuckers and I hate them. I'm much healthier since we moved and have hardly needed my crutches.

There are a couple of upstairs rooms, so I still occasionally have to use the stairs.

Most houses are bungalows in NZ (we just call them houses...) so I grew up in one.

I have a toddler in a 3 storey townhouse. I would kill for a bungalow!

You are eminently sensible.

I agree most bungalows are on good sized plots and detached but they tend to be, in my area anyway 1960’s or 1970’s build, not particularly large and need (for me at any rate) to be completely remodelled and/or extended to provide the type of living accommodation that I want, these bungalows are often priced the same as family houses so they are often an expensive option to purchase and then remodel on top. I think if I was to move to a bungalow I would chose one from the 1930’s as hopefully they would have some character, bay windows, picture rails, fireplaces etc.

Congratulations on your forever home. I'm sure you'll reap the rewards

I'm trying my best to keep active!

Slightly confused. Doesn’t this rather negate the accessibility point?

Sounds very sensible. Areas doesn't need an apostrophe by the way.

They tried that here. Barely any of the oldies moved out of their family homes. They only ever come up on the market if someone dies and usually in a very dated state needing lots of work.

Young families bought the new bungalows and they took ages to sell because they're only 2 bed. Some have been extended since or are having loft conversions.

I think you get to a certain age and buying / selling in a chain seems too stressful. Which it is! I don't blame them...

Tricky and awkward too!

I'd not given a huge amount of thought to this, but after reading your post and others, I'm going to make a concerted effort to do lots of uphill walks.

As long as you're happy that's all that matters. I'm late 30's and prefer the segregation of upstairs and downstairs in a 2 storey house but it's definitely a sensible move considering the amount of baby boomers who'll be looking to get a bungalow in the not too distant future.

Our family home is a bungalow. My 78 year old Mum has lived there 40 years. She regularly does 10000+ steps a day.

No stairs certainly hasn't affected her 🙂

We wanted to do this at the same stage partly so my mum could still visit and partly to future proof ourselves. However, we couldn't find one at the time we were looking, so settled for the house we are in.

We will move to a different location when I retire so in some respects it doesn't matter, but it does mean we will be moving again. We will definitely go for a bungalow or ground floor flat then, but preferably a bungalow.

I won't lie - this is the only thing that bothers me! We only have top openers in the bedroom, so unless the burglar was tiny he'd struggle a bit 😂
We have installed full width bifolds at the back and have them open all evening during summer which cools things down a bit. Tbh it's not too bad heatwise, as obviously heat rises, the bungalow seems much cooler at night. Our bedroom upstairs in our last home was 🥵🥵🥵 we also have a very good security system.

We did this 2 years ago. Best thing we ever did! Downsized, freed up cash, retired early and now live very happily in our 3 bed bungalow. I’m mid 50s DH early 60s. Lots of elderly neighbours it it’s so quiet & friendly and suits us (and my arthritic knees) perfectly. Still lead v busy lives but love the peace and ease of living we now have ❤️

@WinterVibes does your village have shops, regular buses? a vibrant community? and if it does have these facilities now are they likely to still have them in 20 or 30 years time if you are intending to stay there until you die? I think if you are preparing for old age you need to consider the location just as much as the property.

We live in the country and our bedroom windows back onto the garden which has very fence. Sleep with them open all summer.

generally I find bedrooms aren’t as hot as sleeping upstairs because heat rises and bungalow on one level