Last summer, I put my house on the market & sold it, with a view to buying a bungalow to accommodate my elderly parents who have significant health issues (mum has had 3 mini stroke & a triple heart bypass & now has muscle wastage on the right side of her body) & dad had a heart attack at the end of January which resulted in him having 3 stents. I'm not in good condition myself, arthritis, lupus etc.
The sale ended up falling through as the bungalow we were buying needed to go through probate & a family member was a sitting tenant. A total nightmare scenario.
It fell through the same week my dad had his heart attack. I told my EA we needed a break & wasn't ready to remarket the house.
The EA rang me last week & asked if we were ready & I agreed. So we've got an open day booked for next weekend, all day Saturday!
But I'm having serious second thoughts about moving at all.
I live in a new build, 4 bed detached. Up until the energy crisis, my fuel bills were £60 p/m in the summer & about £80 p/m in the winter. It's going up to about £130 p/m. I know this is very cheap as a lot of people are paying £300/£400 to heat their homes. And it'll be going up again in October.
I've no mortgage but all 3 of us have pensions we're surviving on. I've been medically retired due to aforementioned illnesses. I'm also a full time carer for my mum.
The bungalows we're looking at are obviously old, 1920's and aren't going to be as insulated as this house. The fuel bills are going to be very high.
And I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to squeeze a 4 bed house into a 3 bed bungalow.
The reason we were moving originally was because my mum struggled with mobility & fell down the stairs. We now have a stair lift which is a game changer.
My parents aren't getting any younger (both in their v early 70s) so the bungalow seemed a good idea in the long term, but we'd struggle with fuel bills of £400 p/m.
Sorry post is long 🥺