Thinking of downsizing and have lots of questions!

[MinnieGirl]

Hubby and I are considering downsizing. We currently live in a Victorian terraced house, but it needs a lot of work now. We’ve been here 28 years, and put in new windows, bathroom and kitchen when we moved in so they all need re-doing. And so it’s a case of stay and upgrade..which we would struggle to cope with! Or move. We are thinking about a ground floor flat. We are in our sixties and have some mobility issues.

So… I would be interested to hear from anyone who’s done a similar move. Particularly the pros and cons of flat living..
Also, do estate agents show people round your house these days? I’m so out of the loop here!

Any other useful suggestions would be most appreciated.

We downsized last year, but not to a flat, to a smaller detached house. I imagine if you are in a terrace, you’ll be used to noise from neighbours, which will probably be the case in a flat.

I prefer agents to do the viewings, but make sure that the agent(s) who do them can explain things in the house and how things work. They need to be able to answer questions and if they’re good, they’ll do that.

Hello, yes, estate agents do still show people round. Or you could choose to do it yourself depending on the agent.

Definitely worth you thinking about the pros and cons of moving to a flat. Some of the downsides are: noise from neighbours above, particularly if older / conversion; leasehold vs share of freehold and lack of control over service charges; shared entrances; lack of outside space. Personally I would consider a bungalow over a flat.

Sounds good, future proofing!
Are there no bungalows near you?
Most estate agents show people around. You might want to check which ones will do this late afternoon/ early evening for people who work.

We are in the middle of downsizing. We showed our buyers around as it was weekend and evening.
I’d start decluttering asap. Moving to a bungalow from a large detached.

Think I’d be worried about upstairs neighbours in a flat. You have to disclose if there are any disputes with neighbours in the paperwork for solicitors.
Even if they are OK now no future guarantees if they sell etc. You will want peace and quiet in retirement. Maybe think about outside space too.
Check about any maintenance payments as these can increase sharply.

We downsized a few years ago, due to my MS, living in a large house was becoming very difficult. We bought a detached bungalow as we were used to living in a detached house. Best thing we ever did tbh.

New build, purpose built flats are pretty good for insulation and sound proofing these days. My son has lived in two flats within small blocks (3 floors, maybe 8-12 flats per block), and has never heard any of his neighbours, neither to the sides nor above. They've had proper brick/block walls between flats and between the flat and corridor and heavy/solid doors to the corridor.

I think it's the houses converted into flats that are usually problematic for noise as they often share floor boards/rafters, stud walls between flats, etc.

We do get noise from neighbours, but it doesn’t really bother us…and it’s not the pounding music at 3am type of noise! That is one thing that puts me off a flat…that and no outside space.

I would love a bungalow but locally they are either right out of our price range or need a lot of work. One of the reasons we are looking at flats is to avoid outside maintainance

I’ve been decluttering for a while as I felt this was on the horizon….
Good luck with your move! That’s quite a change!

We’ve seen a flat in a similar set up. Just three floors and the block is purpose built. And….allocated parking which we don’t have now.

The noise of upper flats is nothing like a terrace!
At least make sure the other flats are owners. Not because renters are inherently bad, but because most landlords are terrible in the UK.
Have a good home insurance policy (eg upstairs leak or flooding your flat)

I honestly just wouldn't move into a flat. I'd rather a tiny house, detached.

Sounds like it worked out beautifully for you

Noise is one of the concerns….
Thats good advice re the insurance policy, thank you

My Nan moved into a terraced bungalow after selling her (much larger) detached bungalow. It has a small garden and 2 bedrooms. It's bloody lovely!

It was part of a new build estate.

Could something like that work?

Do you need to be very near where you live now,do you still work. We downsized,3 bed semi to 2 bed bungalow..we wanted a big garden that's why we went for a bungalow
.we were in Surrey, moved to east Sussex.. about 35 miles, but property is so much cheaper..as we bought in a cheaper area,it covered stamp duty and legal fees.. you can get flats with a private garden, beware maintenance charges though. I have a friend who is now thinking of selling her ground floor flat because the maintenance charges are astronomical now.

Worst thing about goats is your neighbours and the freeholder. If they employ a managing agent then them. Carefully look at service charges. I own a flat and getting the managing agents to do anything is like blood from a stone.

What about those 1930s maisonettes?, they're normally in a block of 4 only and have gardens, front and back and also parking. Low service charges. The ground floor would suit.

The best tip I can give you, is too start decluttering now, we had so much stuff after nearly 20years in our house. It takes a long time, be ruthless, we haven’t missed anything we gave away or dumped (we moved in lockdown so charity shops weren’t an option)

We downsized last year from a terraced house which needed lots of work. We were going to move to a flat and looked at some nice flats and conversions, some of which were more private than our terrace where we had noisy neighbours. Some retirement flats might also have suited but we ended up buying a tiny detached house. Absolutely love it here. The only downside has been lack of storage space and problems putting up visiting friends and family. The agents showed prospective buyers around and were lovely. Probably our last move but it was pretty painless!

Both of us are retired, and we don’t want a big garden. Would be very happy with a small balcony. Bungalows are out of our price range, and we don’t want to buy another house. We could really stay where we are but are just keen to look around.

Have a look around then, nothing to stop you, but we found EA weren't keen on showing us property until ours was on the market..Do you need to plan for guests,kids to come and stay?.I know this is MN where everyone seems to be obsessed with every child having their own bedroom.. my friend,late 60s, health issues,2 bedroom ground floor flat purpose built block in a town,near us. She's been there 8 years, this year her maintenance charges are almost £10k, the company who arranges the maintenance costs a staggering £250k PA, which is obviously paid for by the whole block,they have regular tenants meetings, which appears to turn into bun fights.

Thank you all so much for your input! Two things really making us reconsider are lack of outdoor space and the service charge… we are mortgage free and have been for a while, so don’t really want to have to pay out each month.
The flat we were looking at has a shorter lease than we would want so that’s put us off.

Is your current house large enough that you could focus on sorting out the downstairs and not using and sort of blocking off the upstairs?

Don't forget that if you're buying a flat you'll have to factor in the ground rent charges (£50 to £350 a year approx) and service charges (who knows.... But they ain't ever coming down)..and how it's heated (communal supply?)
That might impact on you with your outgoings/budgeting of course..... Just something to bear in mind. And also - check the length of the lease outstanding too - make sure it's over 80 years. Also - does the freeholder insure the building - who's responsible for what etc etc.

visit any possible purchase at different times of day - what appears a sleepy village can be like a giant car park by 6pm

Can you pay someone to help you renovate? Assuming that your house is your biggest asset, if it’s in a nice area, renovation and selling it nicely done (doesn’t need to be top end but clean, basic, new kitchens, bathrooms, windows etc) is in your interests.

we are selling our Victorian terrace this year and moving elsewhere. Cost £20000 to replace all the windows with max spec PVC sash but made it look much much nicer. Moving out and getting the floors stripped and sanded, windows replaced and everything deep cleaned at least would probably substantially increase the value especially if you are in the south east.