Do downsizers ever downsize?

[NewbieOnHolidays]

We’ve seen so many detached family houses with husband and wife in their 50-60s (kids grew up and left), so now just 2 people living on 200+ sq.m. They all say they want to downsize, put house on the market at an astronomical price and fail to get offers anywhere close to asking and then just take it off the market. So once again a house came up, after 3 weeks they managed to get about 10 people who wanted to view, did an open day, we put an offer below asking, were now told there were 5 offers with 3 above asking, so they rejected our offer. We’ve been in this boat so many times and it always end up same way: we compete against non existent buyers who are very keen, offer way above asking, then we see the house keeps staying on the market or just disappears without sstc. Same street couple of months ago after 3 rounds of best an final competing against “many interested couples” and upping our offer every time we just got fed up and walked away, in few weeks sellers took it off the market. Do downsizers ever downsize?

Where I live two bedroom bungalows sell for as much as four bed detached houses, such is the demand for them. I think the reason they're so in demand is all the reasons people have listed here which makes them perfect homes for downsizers: big mature gardens, often on quiet roads, with generous sized rooms, decent storage, and parking for a couple of cars. There's just not enough suitable housing stock available for people that want to downsize but keep some of the creature comforts of their current homes. There's a reason why bungalows are under offer in a matter of days but McCarthy Stone type retirement apartments are languishing on the market for months- the type of housing being built for downsizers/retirees doesn't actually suit their needs or wants.

Same around me, but you can see why developers don't want to build them. They're the least cost-effective use of the land possible.

The other complication is that a lot of retirement flats have poor resell value and are actually hard to sell asa restricted over 60 market- and hogh services charges that have to be continued to be paid even if the owner dies/goes into care/goes to live with family etc -new flat developments often have a lot of young people and many older people get panicky about hearing noise or a lack of personal outside space (sometimes none at all)

Some of them probably are selling but Rightmove isn't accurate.

Our house is still on Rightmove but we moved in nearly 4 months ago. Don't know why the agents haven't taken it off. I suspect there's so little on the market they keep stuff on so people call up and they can get them on a mailing list/ try to sell them something else.

They don’t need to move, they would like to move. It’s not worth the hassle of a move if they aren’t properly incentivized financially. So they go on the market periodically and try their luck. It’s quite rational behavior from an economic perspective.

do they ever downsize?

Yes, we have. We had two medium size houses ( one was abroad, one in UK ) ; when the driving etc was getting a bit much we sold them both and bought just one. It has a smaller garden than the summer house, but bigger than the winter snug. The overall sq métrage is almost exactly half what we had before.

We gave away half our stuff : furniture, China, glass, lights, rugs, a mower, a power washer. What we kept that was surplus ( because we couldn’t be absolutely certain what would fit or go well in the new house) is on its way to charity warehouses and jumble sales. I have already paid for friends to stay in a local B&Q as we can’t put them up. Tbh, it’s a lot less hassle anyway.

So we have a bedroom each ( health reasons) a box room and two receptions. I don’t intend to downsize further unless one of us becomes really ill. I think I would rather die than live in a flat with the noise of other residents, the last time I did it literally nearly killed me I was so ill with stress.

I know that the OP wants a bigger house, and it is annoying for her to see two people living in a house she thinks is larger than they need. All I would like to comment is that we had several people wanting to buy the summer house as it was extremely well situated. We deliberately chose to go with the family who were polite and pleasant to us, and admired what we had done with the house.

Bb&B, I wouldn’t ask my friends to stay in a DIY warehouse, interesting though it is if you like tools. I swear auto correct goes on after you have pressed post

See I view it the other way - that older people are entitled for wanting to live in large family homes that they don’t need. It’s this kind of thing that leads to village primary schools closing down because there aren’t any kids left in the village. The birth rate is declining and has been below replacement rate since 1973 btw.

But the birth rate isn’t declining because older people are staying in bigger houses. What correlation are you trying to make here?

*See I view it the other way - that older people are entitled for wanting to live in large family homes that they don’t need. It’s this kind of thing that leads to village primary schools closing down because there aren’t any kids left in the village. The birth rate is declining and has been below replacement rate since 1973 btw+

The majority don’t live in villages they live in towns or cities. Village schools are usually closed due to cost cutting.

Not sure how it’s entitled to want to keep something you’ve paid for🙄

@WomanStanleyWoman2 i think the correlation trying to be made, is, that as village location, larger house are being occupied by older persons, then no new families with school age children can move in. Then new children going to the local school to keep it going.
This happened (near me) to several schools in villages in the early 1980s. Nothing to do with birth rate, but everything to do with the turnover of housing from older people to younger families.

This happened (near me) to several schools in villages in the early 1980s

This must have happened when Thstcher was in power. In sn era of severe education cuts. Are you sure it was down to housing?

Yes. They needed a certain number of children in each year to be viable. Had those numbers been there the schools could have stayed open or even amalgamated so at least one school stayed. Couldn’t do it as all the houses had families that had children that either grown up and left or were in secondary school in the next town. There literally wasn’t a single child under 12, toddler or baby in any of the surrounding villages. By the mid eighties, no one had children under 16. Then finally people either died or wanted to relocate en mass, new influx of families but too late for schools obviously. It’s a cycle that probably seen in other locations big and small.

Yes exactly @Alphabet1spaghetti2 , it happened near me as well. Houses built in the 70s/80s, still mostly occupied by the people who bought them new to raise their then-young families, not enough kids in the area any more as not enough movement in housing stock so the school shut. It’s not great for communities for the population to be so static.

@WomanStanleyWoman2 i wasn’t making any correlation with the birth rate, I was just refuting the pp’s suggestion that problems with the housing market are because people are having more children than replacement rate. They aren’t and haven’t for decades.

@Chaoslatte ive also seen something similar happen within one street - built in the late 80s as retirement bungalows. Everyone who moved in was 55-60 years old, thirty years later, no one had moved, but suddenly in the space of 3 years, all 70 bungalows had sold as the previous occupants either died or moved into care homes. The cycle started again as all the new people are of 60-65 years old. (Not a retirement community a la McCarthy and stone, just a normal residential street in a city center).

The government could do it to encourage people to move out of family sized homes that they don’t need. It would be for the benefit of families that need a home big enough to comfortably accommodate their children. In the same way some council tenants are offered help with moving costs as an incentive to leave a bigger property.

What about the people that didn’t buy their house thirty years ago, and only bought it ten years ago?

People might well be left with enough to move and pay the stamp duty, but not necessarily enough to make it worth it. For me it won’t be worth it unless it raises enough to provide both my dc with a decent deposit for their own house while still leaving me with somewhere I want to live.

This idea that people have made huge profits on their homes is a nonsense. No profit or benefit to it exists when every other property has gone up in price too.

I downsized reluctantly from our beautiful five bed house to a three bed bungalow. My husband died while my daughter was still at Uni, my son had already moved in with his girlfriend.

I would have loved for my daughter to be able to come 'home', especially for Christmas, but I didn't have enough money to maintain and run the house.

I didn't get much for my house as it needed renovation, and now have to spend every penny of the small equity I got on new floors here at the bungalow, they are all rotten. I was hoping to use this money to get me through to my pension next April.

This idea that people have made huge profits on their homes is a nonsense.

I think many many have , the idea that it needs enough for a deposit and a chunk of money left over shows that. There won't be any other time when house prices have gone
so high compared to earnings or such massive profits.

In theory, me and DH could downsize. We are in a 5 bed home. He is 49, I am 52, the children have grown up and moved out, but there are many reasons why we wouldn't!

A) We like the space! We don't want to be huddled up in a tiny house.

B) We feel far too young to do the "old age downsize thing"

C) Our house is right on the seafront - don't want to give up the lovely views

D) If we downsized and put the money we gained in to a Bank account, there is NO way that the money would increase as much as the value of this property would increase, so it would not be a good financial decision. Better to live in the investment and enjoy the extra space to boot.

This came up on my weekly summary from Rightmove. It ticks all the boxes apart from location. I'd be moving from the back of beyond to even further.

Interstingly this what my aunt does

My IL's couldn't sell their family home for YEARS! It was 4 bes, 3 bath, 4 reception, study and massive high ceilings, huge rooms, double fronted Victorian house. It was sold to developers in the end. They moved into a 3 bed bungalow albeit almost the same price as bungalows are expensive lol 😆
We on the other hand bought a 3 bed bungalow and converted it into a 5 bed 4 bath chalet bungalow and love it lol 😆
Can you buy smaller and renovate?

This thread has been quite helpful to me. Rather than feeling resentful for someone else having something that I want, I just need to pay them enough for it to be worthwhile to them to sell to me, regardless of what I think it should be worth, or whether I think I would put it to better use than they would.

Obvious really! Thanks 😁

We bought from downsizers. We had nothing to sell, they had bought their next place in cash. No chain but took 8 months to complete.

Because:
They were very elderly and had lived here 45 years.
She was unwell, early stage dementia. Was very anxious about the move.
They wanted good condition market value. Even the estate agent said they had unrealistic price ideas.
Plus other stuff.

We were patient, very polite, understanding. Got a relationship with the husband, the daughter and estate agent. Probably paid a bit too much. But worth it.

Moving is stressful. I am determined to be out of here by 60, but I love it and can see me thinking we can manage a few more years. Until we suddenly can't and find that moving is really hard.

OP I get that you're frustrated. But these people are saying goodbye to a huge chapter in their lives. It's hard. They don't have to sell.

My DD has fallen foul of her Father not wanting to downsize. Sadly last year he was unexpectedly taken ill and died within a few months. Unexpectedly as he was a very fit healthy man who had not been ill since he had tonsillitis aged 8.
I left him when we divorced almost 30 years ago and since then he has been hoarding stuff and has done very little maintenance on his house. So our DD now has to deal with sorting out a dilapidated large 3 bed house with a huge garden , a garage, summerhouse and several sheds all crammed with stuff. At least it will be much less of a headache when I go now that I live in a tiny one bedroom bungalow.

tidler ... how old are you if you see '60' as the age to downsize? I am mid 60s, still working (p/t), with a DS at Uni ... I don't consider myself anywhere near the age to 'downsize' .. as I said earlier in the thread, my DPs didn't downsize until they reached 80 .. fortunately they were in good health and able to manage the process.

@Ragwort You may be lucky and stay fit until 80. I'm 64 and youngest DC is 24.It feels like a good time to move because since 61 my health has gone south and I want to do it while I can.