Am I Being Stupid aka Is this a pipe dream?

[Diversion]

We have discussed downsizing and moving to another part of the country (UK) for quite a few years. We own our own home and would probably have about £100k profit on our home if we sold to buy the property which we have seen and love (no mortgage). We would both be looking to retire to move here (mid 50's) and don't have huge amounts of savings, no debts. We live quite frugally anyway and want a quiet life walking, growing vegetables and fruit, raising poultry, walking the dog etc with the possibility of having some kind of air bnb think bell tent, shepherds hut etc on our property to bring in a small income. We will obviously have state pension when the time comes and small private pensions.The property needs some work, new windows, new kitchen (tiny) and new bathroom which my SO could fit as he is a trades person. We think that if we are going to do this we need to move within the next two years. would you go for it or would you continue working and retire and remain where we currently live?

Go for it

If you've seen a place and the sums work now then do it.
It is never going to be cheaper than now. You are never going to be more employable for a new part time position if you need one than now. Your new place is never going to be significantly cheaper to buy than now.

it sounds like a high risk strategy. if you both retire at 55, spend the extra £100K on fixing up the house, then do you really have enough to live on? what if you need a new car, or private medical care or something? State pensions are tiny & you'll have very little flexibility. what about inflation / fuel costs?

I think you should do your calculations VERY carefully. If you did move, would you (or partner) have the option to get work if you needed to? would an airbnb really work & produce any income? there is a fair bit of work in setting it up / marketing it / maintaining it etc.

So it is not impossible, but I don't think anyone here can advise on the detail of your income & spending. It is probably time to draw up a big spreadsheet.

I think you need to do some number crunching, unless you already have. What would your outgoings be in this new life (incl occasional big bills like new boiler, inflation etc). Will your air bnb income cover those outgoings or would you be dipping into the 100k? If you’d be using up the £100k, will it last till pension age and will your pensions then be enough to live on?

You may find some FIRE forums helpful.

How much do you spend over the year now?

Mid 50s is 10 or more years till pension

100k/10 years is 10k a year not even 1k a month with nothing for home improvements or replacing walking boots or invest in camping facilities

What jobs could you get

I’m not sure, I think mid-fifties sounds young these days and any house that needs a bit of work always actually needs more than you think. However your idea of moderate savings may be way high than what I am thinking. Could you move and work part-time to subsidise this?

You may need to think of other sources of income to supplement this. Babysitting, gardening, house sitting, pet sitting for example. Your SO could probably set himself up as a handyman is he has those skills. There will be ways to make extra money. What are your skills?

It does sound lovely but everything always costs so much more than we think!

I think it sounds great. Go for it!

@Diversion

We have discussed downsizing and moving to another part of the country (UK) for quite a few years. We own our own home and would probably have about £100k profit on our home if we sold to buy the property which we have seen and love (no mortgage). We would both be looking to retire to move here (mid 50's) and don't have huge amounts of savings, no debts. We live quite frugally anyway and want a quiet life walking, growing vegetables and fruit, raising poultry, walking the dog etc with the possibility of having some kind of air bnb think bell tent, shepherds hut etc on our property to bring in a small income. We will obviously have state pension when the time comes and small private pensions.The property needs some work, new windows, new kitchen (tiny) and new bathroom which my SO could fit as he is a trades person. We think that if we are going to do this we need to move within the next two years. would you go for it or would you continue working and retire and remain where we currently live?

What you have put here could almost exactly mirror where we were 5 years ago. We both took our small pensions and stopped working at 55, we now live on about a grand a month, so fairly frugal, but zero debt. There are tons of jobs in our line of work ( HGV, health care) should we need to, but we certainly don't want to.

We play with our grand kids, we walk our dogs, we stay up far too late drinking far to much wine talking rubbish. I recently spent 2 hours playing hide and seek with our 4 year old grand son, and there are only 3 places to hide.

These last 5 years have been the best years of our life, excluding when the kids were young. Possibly.

It's not a pipe dream.

Your council tax, energy, water and broadband will be around £500 per month. That's half your monthly budget without food, transport, clothes, repairs and no home improvements. I think after renovation you would have 3/4 years max before you need income, with everything going smoothly.

Just read again, sorry, what do local air bnb's charge, have you looked at their availability to get a sense of demand?

Planning permission might be needed for AirB&B - some areas are quite fussy. Building regs ditto re sanitation/water supplies for tent/shepherds hut. Rules for water and sanitation are strict - meeting them can cost thousands. For instance, if in Scotland, you need to have demonstrably 'pure' water, and have to pay for the local council to check this annually. Also insurance - what if one of your tent visitors trips over a bump in the ground and breaks a leg?

It sounds lovely and I genuinely wish you well, but, as others have said:

Be careful of council tax, water, gas/calor gas/oil/wood and electricity. Council tax is often quite high in rural areas; fuel costs have shot up and are not likely to decrease.
Budget for a new boiler or some other heating arrangement at some point. Also - depending on where you are - also on quite a bit of annual maintainance. Maybe your DP can do this now, but in - for eg - 20 years time, will they be able to climb on a roof to replace slates blown off in a gale?
Transport - costs of car/replacement car; rural petrol often v. expensive
Growing your own is not always cheap - initial cost an d annual wear-and-tear for greenhouse/polytunnel? building/fencing raised beds? compost/fertiliser? shed to store garden tools? All sorts of bits (eg tree cages or fruit cages to keep off deer/rabbits etc etc)
Ditto chickens - they are wonderful but you need a solid bomb-proof henhouse (otherwise heartache from foxes/pinemartens etc etc) and perhaps a run (definitely a run if you want to keep chickens off your veg seedlings).

It's a wonderful idea but it needs a considerable capital investment. And, as I said, Air B&B (especially in a tent) might not be allowed. This discussion document is from Scotland, but Scotland is not alone in having concerns:
class="underline">16ConsultationonShortTermLets.pdf

Thanks everyone for your input, it is always good to have other people's points of view. Currently number crunching!

@Summersdreaming

Your council tax, energy, water and broadband will be around £500 per month. That's half your monthly budget without food, transport, clothes, repairs and no home improvements. I think after renovation you would have 3/4 years max before you need income, with everything going smoothly.

Our total for the basics, water, power, council tax, broadband is 250 a month, it depends on your lifestyle. I am budgeting another 50 for the power increases.

When we lived in Scotland it was even less, council tax was cheaper for the same type of property and included your water, no prescription charges either. We cut our own wood for fuel too, no gas in the village.

If needed there are plenty of part time jobs, ten quid an hour isn't so bad if you keep below the threshold where you start paying income tax.

Go for it! But definitely do your sums as others have said. And also be aware that getting hold of trades who are even prepared to come and quote can be a nightmare (especially in rural areas) so it might take a lot longer to get work done than you’d expect. So you’d have to be prepared to live in a building site unless your SO can do everything (if he can then definitely go for it!). As others have said in addition to the building work you’ll need an income. And on the holiday accommodation then just be aware that it might not be permitted and is unlikely to go down well with the new neighbours. A bnb might be slightly easier in the short term. But if you can work your way through this then do it, it could be wonderful!

Is there any part time work either of you could take on? You say your husband is in trades, he could potentially work two/theee days a week to pay for living costs while you get air bnb set up. Depending on your job/skills you could also do a few days a week.

@Tynesider007 that's interesting, I'm in the NW in a cheap area so I thought my figures would be low end of normal. £150 council tax, currently £150 ish energy but expecting £250 from April, water £45, broadband £30. I'm impressed with £250 all in.

@Summersdreaming

Your council tax, energy, water and broadband will be around £500 per month. That's half your monthly budget without food, transport, clothes, repairs and no home improvements. I think after renovation you would have 3/4 years max before you need income, with everything going smoothly.

Why will it be that much on a small house? Mine is under £300pm inc mobile phone. Even with the current price hikes.

OP - if you're mid fifties you can already draw from your private pensions. How "small" are they?

Is the £100k surplus that you intend to live on?

Do what you will regret least!

If you do move, consider how either of you would manage if the other were to die early - sorry so be morbid but it’s a possibility for all of us. Will you have the finances and the support network in this situation? Not that this should stop you - plenty move/emigrate - but just to have some contingency for this esp as you have time to factor all this in.

If its your until you die home you need to think very long term about when you are both in poor health.
Is your property suitable for wheelchair usage or what is the conversion cost to adapt it.
Can you get to a shop or hospital without driving.
That will likely make the initial cost of the properties higher than ones in remote rural communities. But worth it as a long term investment.
Small holding is a romantic ideal but animals need daily access to feed and water so like having multiple pets it lock you into being there.
That being said you could consider working parttime as you set up and need cash to invest in the propety.
Unskilled/ local jobs may not pay well but they would help you get out and meet and greet the locals.

Dont underestimate the costs and work involved in growing your own fruit and vegetables where this is going to be what you need to eat. You will have to manage gluts and the 'hungry season' (late spring).

Many fruit plants will take a few years before they become productive. They are also a significant expense.

[quote Summersdreaming]@Tynesider007 that's interesting, I'm in the NW in a cheap area so I thought my figures would be low end of normal. £150 council tax, currently £150 ish energy but expecting £250 from April, water £45, broadband £30. I'm impressed with £250 all in.[/quote]
Water 17, ( just went down from 21, we got a rebate last year) energy gas and electric combined is 50, but I am ready to increase that to 100, council tax is 129 , North Tyneside band 2, Internet 22, I pay 5 a month for a sim only lebara mobile deal and 8 quid a month for the Readly magazine subscription, my main luxury as I love reading.

I also pay for the petrol and anything unexpected, my wife takes care of the house and car insurance and the TV licence and the food shop. She pays a tenner for her phone as she rings people to talk, something I rarely do.

We bake our own bread and brew our wine ( from kits), but I don't consider this a chore, it's a joy. Going to the pub drinking is a rare treat, once or twice a year now, used to be once or twice a day. We still eat out about once a month.

2 " free" months coming up for the council tax, much of which I will spend on wine kits.

I know our energy usage is much lower than many but it always has been, we don't sit in the dark in the freezing cold but we don't put the heating on below 18C in the house and we don't put the TV on until 6pm as day time TV drains the life out of you. Much of our day is spent outside with the dogs and listening to the radio, or the wireless as I now call it because I am old.😉

We could always get jobs should we need to, once our state pensions kick in we will be ( or at least feel) rich, just a shame my wife can't get hers at 60.

We started out down this road after reading a book by Tom Hodgkinson, " How to be Free", he has a number of similar books out, he also produces the " Idler" magazine, 8 quid a pop but I get it on my Readly subscription. My wife knits loads and gets her patterns from Readly, I can't recommend it highly enough. Plus an endless supply of misery porn ( Take a Break, Pick me up etc.), my secret shame.

I have just added those sums up and I get 231, less than I thought. There are only the 2 of us, not have any of our (adult) children living here helps, they seem to burn through everything.
My 2 pensions are around 600 a month, hers is about 400.

do it lifes too short.

If you do move, consider how either of you would manage if the other were to die early - sorry so be morbid but it’s a possibility for all of us.
This, especially as he is a SO and not a DH (inheritance implications). You need to set things up properly regarding ownership of various assets and income streams.

I’d go for it! Your partner could do the odd handyman job if necessary. You could do some shifts in a cafe or pub (also a good way of meeting people) if the costs mount up.