Family house in retirement?

[Moononthehill28]

We have been living in ties axxomiduforna while. OH about to retire and I am no longer working. We have one pension to live on.
We are considering two houses, one a ‘family’ home in a city, with high council tax . It can be improved and prices hold their value well. The other is a lovely rural property but it’s too small really and doesn’t have scope to extend without losing limited storage.
Both are around the same price. Are we crazy to consider a house with high council tax and higher heating bills for the sake of space and living in a city? Both have their advantages. We have an adult son living with us at present.
The city house is in a good area and will hold its value well. I’m not sure the rural property will increase in value.
I feel everyone in our situation downsizes and I wonder if we’re being stupid.

Tied accommodation

My mother considered buying somewhere more rural. We sat down with the pros and cons for her, yours may we’ll be different but sharing just in case they are helpful:
In the suburbs she is close to public transport, hospitals, doctors, shops, she can get food delivered (she likes Chinese food on a Friday once a month). We were nearby to help out. There are lots of clubs and activities going on.

In the rural property she could get cut off by weather or lack of transport (she doesn’t drive). All the amenities are miles away and she needs lots of regular prescriptions and check ups. No pavements for a walk out and she didn’t have the agility to ramble. It wasn’t as quiet and clear of pollution as she expected once you took into account crop spraying and working farm sounds etc.

It was probably a rather one sided look at things but that was very much looking at it from my mother’s perspective so it wasn’t meant to be balanced.

How much bigger is the city house? Is a large city house vs. small rural the only set of choices... why not a small city house available?

I love countryside but for visiting not for living in.

We rented to see if we liked being more rural. We didn’t! In the city we walk more (this was the biggest shock) and it’s easier living as everything is on the doorstep. The country place was hard work to be honest.

How about buying the city place, doing the improvements, and, if you’re still not sure, renting it out and trying out a place in the countryside? As you say, the city place will increase in value so in a few years time you’ll have more to spend if you do decide to sell.

Meant to say also, you can move from the city to the countryside more easily than the other way around. If we’d sold rather than rented we would never have been able to move back to the city, at least not in the great area we’re in. The property goes up in value too quickly even in this climate.

I’ve been looking for three years!! This is the first house we’ve found that has what we’re looking for on the right budget. It is the right size, not too big, not too small, with lots of storage but the council tax is £100 more a month than the rural one. We currently live ina rural area and whilst I love the peace and quiet, the lack of buses and culture is a minus, particularly during the winter.

I think you need to do a proper pros & cons list of everything ..... you seem to be concentrating on the council tax as something that would make a difference. But how much is £100 to you? It sounds a lot on paper ..... but if you've got a disposable income of £1000, then it's not much; but it's a fortune, if you've only got £120 left.
If transport links alone aren't brilliant, you could easily spend the £100 on taxis .... or maybe you wouldn't.
I know you've been looking for 3 years, but would there genuinely not be another property out there which suited better? Even if it meant renting initially.... which isn't a bad idea, if you're considering a new area and / or lifestyle.

You started by saying not downsizing feels like wrong choice, which is why I still wonder how big each property is, exactly.

I'm not sure why it's offensive to bring this up, so sorry if it offends. It just seems like common sense planning.

At some point when older (in the retirement yrs) most of us become quite disabled. Being disabled in rural place usually means being a lot more limited than in town/city place. So if you go for rural place, you might feel forced out of your home later due to the increasing frailty/disability. If you want to delay/avoid that upset, then city/town location might prevent it.

City/town location might reduce transport costs a lot & considerably make up for the £100 difference in council tax.

I’ve done a pros and cons list and the city house wins really. It’s four bedrooms but three are on the small size.

Sounds like you've come to a good decision on criteria that make sense to you.

I hope the next phase (offer etc.) all goes well!