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 👵🧓😂

Fascinated by this thread! I’m Australian and “bungalows” are perfectly common here, probably the most common form of housing. Such that bungalow isn’t really a word, they’re just “houses”. No one has any worries about “bungalow legs” or sleeping downstairs, or belief that single storey houses are only for the elderly and infirm. It’s so interesting how your experience and the attitudes around you shape your beliefs. Thanks OP, and all the best in your bungalow.

Not in a bungalow, I wish ! But did downsize to a v small gaff with views , it’s a a big step op , but so worth it , Enjoy !

I like the idea of them but couldn't find any of a decent size. They all seemed to have dormer extensions which defeats the point really, why buy somewhere where the bedrooms are awkward with sloping ceilings rather than a normal house?

I'd happily have a one storey house if it was the same size as my two storey one though.

I'm fucked then, moved to a ground floor apartment age 23 and still here

Another one in Australia which, given the prevalence of single-storey houses, or houses as they are called, should surely be a rich source of data for bungalow legs. I'm not doubting they're a thing, but wonder how Aussies have managed so long.

I'd love a single-storey house, but they're either in shocking condition, and in my very late 60s I'm not interested in years and $$$$ of renos, or done up to the nines and cost more than my house.

Go for the bungalow, @WinterVibes

We moved to a bungalow last year at ages 36 and 41, with our then 15 month old and have since welcomed another child. We bought it for the amazing garden and the views. We’re in a tiny village with an average age of 70 but we love it and it’s so quiet….until my kids are out in the garden in the summer 🙈

The only downside for us so far is that our nearly 3 year old is terrible at going up and down stairs as he does it so rarely! (Grandparents also live in a bungalow).

My 4 year old DS is desperate for us to move into a bungalow and keeps saying he wishes our house was flat 😂

I love a good bungalow and would move to one in a heartbeat but alas there are no bungalows to be had in our area

Joking aside, don't underestimate the ability of a 14 year old "ratboy" in search of a fix (or with a scary mate in search of a fix) to find their way in.

My PILs did this - moved to bungalow when they were both perfectly fine and had 20+ years to live. They did it up how they liked it, all good.

I think you should do whatever you want to do, but I do find the British preoccupation with “bungalows” as a solution for senior housing a bit ridiculous in a country that is supposedly worried about both the housing crisis and the green belt - they are horribly space-inefficient. One-level-living can be providing in a much more space efficient way by building well-built, properly insulated flats with a shared garden, balconies and good lifts. That’s what happens in other countries.

Living on one floor is not going to make you obese or unfit - it’s about how much exercise you get in your day to day life. Where I live, a high % of people live in flats and we all walk and use public transit a lot and have little obesity, so living on one level is clearly fine as long as you are get plenty of exercise in other ways.

Having said that, Oz is probably a good example of a country where most people don’t get enough exercise either inside OR outside their houses - they are even more obese than the British, in spite of the sporty image.

We bought our bungalow when we were 27 and 29. We didn't go looking for a bungalow but we liked it and it had great potential. It's been fab with littlies. Our eldest was 6 months and now he's coming up to 6 and our eldest is 5 tomorrow. Big plot and easy to build outwards. 2 driveways too.
The only gripe is from the children who are desperate for stairs like their friends have 😂

(Last post, I swear) I do think the British are a bit preoccupied with “having stairs” in their houses.

When my kids were small and I took them back to the grandparents’ UK house in the summer, I was constantly getting comments about what a novelty stairs must be for them and how it must be terribly difficult for them to develop proper motor skills without stairs etc. etc….

We use public transport so we use lots and lots of stairs all the time, and even as babies they encountered plenty of indoor stairs at things like indoor play centers in our city. So I found it quite funny!

Seems odd, as it is completely the reverse here. People start off in flat for few years, trade up to a bungalow to have family and wait until they have all flown the nest, then leave to an over 50’s village or flat (used to be ground floor flats but now anything built in the last 25/30 years would have at least one lift so removes restriction of ground floor). It’s the house and yard maintenance that’s the killer with bungalows. Our kids are still with us while saving for affordable mortgages (deposit is the easy bit, affording repayments on high loans required for insane property market is entirely another), but we ended up choosing to move and take them with us rather than wait, as 30 odd years of house and yard maintenance required for a bungalow had worn more than thin. Meant getting a much larger apartment than we would have otherwise obviously but it’s rare we are all home at the same time anyway so no dealbreaker. Much, much better lifestyle as we can now spend our time out doing things we enjoy rather than slaving around the home, and our apartment, like most built in last 25 odd years has communal garden/vege plots for those who like this sort of stuff.

I bought a bungalow when I was about 30. Not to future proof, but just because it was in the location I wanted and I loved it. I wouldn't want to move again and I'm so pleased I bought it. Enjoy your lovely bungalow. The only thing which bothers me slightly is that the bedroom windows face the road and I don't feel safe leaving them open at night in the summer. The benefits far outweigh this though

Hey I moved in to my HA bungalow in my 30s, it will be my forever home.

Where did you get this information? You know there are countries where the majority of homes are on one level, and the people remain perfectly mobile .

And to offset 'bungalow legs' there's plenty of people whose mobility has been affected, in the short or long term, by falling down stairs. I had a horrible accident on stairs in a private home and the injury has been very long lasting, may well be permanent.

My parents moved to their bungalow when they were mid/late 30's! I was 15.

I didnt like it as the lack of an upstairs meant less privacy, not great when you are teen but I wasnt there many years afterwards. They were mortgage free by 60 and now have a home perfect for their needs as my father in particular has some quite serious health issues.

The smaller (2 bed instead of 3) bungalow next door very recently sold for 5 times what my parents paid for theirs. So although they possibly could have afforded to move when they got older, it would have meant another mortgage in their 60's and wiping out their savings.

I wouldnt worry about looking old or whatever.....its your home, you love it, thats all that matters. Could be a flat, a bungalow or a converted bus.....it your forever home so who the hell cares what anyone else thinks?

I don't think the "bungalow legs" is literally caused by "not having stairs in your house," because if that were the case, we'd see the same issues in people who live in flats in more urban areas, and we don't - if anything the opposite is probably the case. I think it's probably more about the kind of areas that bungalow estates tend to be and the kind of people who gravitate towards them at an earlier age.

Bungalows tend to be very much about big plots of land - a house basically spread over one floor takes up more space, and in the UK they usually have big gardens as well that sort of go around the house. That results in very low-population-density and sprawl-y estates, which makes them less walkable and less likely to sustain interesting shops and services that are worth walking to. Bungalows also sell themselves on being more private (due to the extra space around them and the fact that a row of trees or hedge is all you need to more-or-less completely stop your house being visible to neighbors). I think most people who gravitate towards bungalow estates at an early age tend to be on the homebody side who like things private and quiet and away from other people and tend to go out and "do things" a lot less. All of this is likely to add up to less physical exercise and also less mental stimulation, and becoming "old" at an earlier age.

Obviously, this won't be true of every bungalow or every bungalow owner; for a start, some bungalows are not on bungalow estates with loads of others but are tacked onto an area with "normal" houses and flats and denser housing, with shops and services and things to do a stroll away. It sounds like the OP's situation is more like this and that she is keen on getting out with her dogs and walking up and down hills and so on, so I doubt the above issues would be true for her.

In some countries like Oz and NZ, bungalows are more normative and therefore not indicative of any sort of personality traits. On the other hand, Australia's somewhat extreme level of suburban sprawl probably explains in part why most Australians are physically unfit, in spite of the sporty mindset that prevails there.

By the way, in the last few years NZ has been taking steps to deal with its severe shortage of housing; one of the big things they have been doing is turning bungalows into two- or multi-story housing units. These photos, for example, taken from the same estates, show the kind of rebuilding conversions that have been going on. So bungalows may not be the norm in NZ much longer, and it's clear they are not great if you are a country which desperately needs new housing BUT does not want to concrete over all that lovely countryside.

Yep we have a bungalow. Big windows and rooms, decorated scandi style, good sized plot, next to a park, lots of young families living in the other bungalows, short walk to town, well placed for countryside dog walking. Unlikely to move again.

Where I live a bungalow is a particular style of house - what you call bungalows in the UK are just houses to us. When I see the inside of some UK houses, with half the rooms upstairs and narrow staircases, I'm so pleased I don't live there.

Enjoy your bungalow, and of course you aren't bonkers.

I'm nearly 60 and would never move into a bungalow. Stairs are good for you.

My EX MIL 83 libes in a house with steep stairs and is very for. Walks every day.

My aunt on the other bags has a bungalow and is slowly going into a decline and now using a walker. Forcing your self up stairs helps keep you mobile in my opinion.

My immobile parents live in a 4 bed house while their super fit DD (me) lives in a 4 bed bungalow. When house hunting they sought out a house as they weren’t ‘old enough’ for a bungalow … said aged 70

Seriously???? People seem to manage here and one storey houses are the default in most places. I'm sure there are plenty of people who suffer from injuries sustained from falling down the stairs.