Has anyone bought a large house to retire in

[Alicecatto]

Most people downsize when get to be about 60. We are thinking of upsizing because DH received a nice inheritance, and we never did get to have that dream home. We had a fixer upper which we fixed up. It is a perfectly nice detached house on a 1/2 acre. But, we have the opportunity to buy an amazing house on 8 acres… a small holding really, which we dreamt of for years. Our friends are telling us we should stay put or downsize, invest all the inheritance, and that way we would have no money worries, could pay for a luxe care home later etc.

The thing is we have done all the saving/pensions/investment stuff already, we travelled a lot by camping and caravanning earlier, so did most of what we wanted to do, we don’t have kids to leave our estate to (it would go to charity)…. I’m not quite seeing the allure of a small bungalow with a lot of money in the bank.

Did anyone here upsize in retirement?

My parents did similar and are now fit as fleas in their 70s, I reckon because they spend so much time outdoors in the garden.

I'm not always convinced downsizing to a bungalow before you need to is the best idea - keeping active and positive about the future is surely healthier?

@Alicecatto I hope you enjoy your lovely new home! Sounds like bliss.

Yes the escape to the country retirees even if they'd initially talked of downsizing are always complaining the dining or bedrooms aren't big enough, usually around hosting the family for Christmas😫 FGS just rent a massive holiday let for those few days!

My parents did. They bought a very beautiful house with swimming pool, tennis court and big garden. It's made it very easy for the extended family to get together regularly. My mum absolutely loved gardening and it kept her insanely fit. It worked brilliantly until very recently - so for about 25 years. My parents are now mid 80s and one parent has had to move to a care home and the other has mobility issues. They are now selling up.

Yes, I think this is the case with the current owners who are downsizing to a smaller home, as it is too much for them as they are both 80. I’m figuring we’ll get a couple decades. I’m 57 and DH is 60.

Well, I don’t have a telly, but yes, I would find that a wee bit irritating for sure.

Thank you!

This is exactly what we'd love to do, we just can't afford it.
Go for it, I hope it works out !!

We moved just before Covid when we had both just turned 50, so are not retired yet, but are hoping it won’t be too long. Upsized to a big detached (old) 5 bedroom house with two acres of garden and paddock. I don’t plan to move again if we can possibly avoid it!

I'm looking forward to spending more time outdoors in retirement as I already enjoy gardening and growing veg; the weekends where I spend all my time mowing and strimming and DH is chopping and stacking wood are the ones where we feel healthiest! We really appreciated the extra space in lockdowns but also could look ahead to how we could enjoy the place in retirement; we do love it so much.

I’ve already earmarked one of the sitting rooms (now in use for WFH) which could be a downstairs bedroom if needed, and how to convert the bootroom into a downstairs bathroom. We could easily make an arrangement for live-in care if necessary but obviously have to just accept that if things change and living there gets impossible we will have to sell up and at least it would be for good reason.

My parents did this, although they were lucky enough to retire at 60ish. They sold our old family home which was a large bungalow, and bought a three-storey house with a large garden. Six bedrooms, three reception rooms, huge garage, basement gym, etc. Everyone thought they were kind of crazy at the time (including my mum, it has to be said 😅).

They’ve been there ten years now and they love it.

In the intervening years, both my brother/SIL and me/DH have lived there for extended periods (at different times) while saving for our own places, and we had plenty of space which was brilliant. Then grandkids came along and they have their own rooms when they come to stay, plenty of room to store toys and spare clothes for them. The stairs and the garden keep them fit and healthy. They also have their own “offices” where they can potter on their computers during the day without disturbing each other.

DH and I live in a bungalow around the corner from them and have joke about swapping houses with them once they can no longer manage the stairs 😊

That’s a wonderful story…it just sounds ideal for them and the family. I bet the grandkids just love having their own rooms! The place we made the offer on has a great cellar for my husband to work on his electronics…when he saw it, he said bagsying this!

Mainly I want a decent place for friends to come and visit…a really good guest bedroom, and a proper dining room for holiday meals and gatherings. And then the house has a lot of historic features, but it isn’t listed, so that’s the best of both worlds. And of course the sense of space outside and views. I need to stop wittering on about it! :-)

It sounds wonderful, I really hope you get it.

It does sound fabulous, proper hobby space and entertaining space is the dream (we live in a 3 bed terrace ATM). I wouldn’t want so much land, maybe a 1/4 acre plus an allotment would work for me, but we have got good views at present and that would be important too. However I also want to be in walking distance of a town centre, I wouldn’t want to have to drive everywhere and that’s where it starts getting expensive.

We didn’t consider upsizing as live in a 6 bed house but did think about buying another 6 bed home that was larger / more living space and garden space - we could have easily afforded it - and would have still been mortgage free and still lived comfortably BUT we decided against it just in case it became ‘too big’ for us to manage in future years.

We have sold subject to contract and due to complete first week of January - we was originally due to complete on the 23rd December but all in the chain opted against this given the proximity to Christmas.

The property we are buying is a 1970s bungalow - currently a 3 bed - but we will be extending and creating a large kitchen/diner (currently a galley kitchen) that will become a fourth bedroom, also plan to extend into the loft too! Complete gut out required - the property has not really been renovated since it was built - same kitchen and bathroom in place, storage heaters, single glazed windows that have rotted! We’ve already got the builder lined up who will start work relatively as soon as we complete - won’t be moving in straight away which is good!

I wouldn’t do it. If one of you gets ill or disabled you might become very isolated quite quickly. It will all be fine as you are but as soon as one, or both you, can’t drive you will find life difficult unless you have good transport links and also the ability to socialise locally. Of course, that may not happen but ageing does increase the risks. You could sell up and move in that event but it will be very stressful if you’ve had an adverse life event and you risk losing any connections you’ve made locally. Sorry for the depressing point of view but I’ve seen it all go wrong.

Why not if that suits you. We did the opposite and massively downsized at 50, but due to my disability rather than age. I really thought our house would have been forever, but sometimes life changes v unexpectedly, but if it feels right for now and it will make you happy, enjoy. It doesn’t have to be forever, you can move again when you want too.

Well, if you have the money to employ people as a fallback just in case it gets too much, then fine go ahead. My neighbours run a 140 acre farm and they are in their 80's. Admittedly they've reduced the work down in recent years to as little as they can but they are still up all night lambing in March and April. Not what I would want for my retirement.

I would do this in a heartbeat, OP. I really don't understand why there is an automatic assumption that people should want to downsize when they retire. We live in a five bedroom house in south London and are just starting to consider if we want to move. My husband retired four years ago and I'm gradually reducing my hours; if we move out a few miles we can buy an equivalent or better house for much less and have a nice lump sum to supplement our pensions. We're thinking about practicalities and don't want to be too isolated, but if we do move, we certainly won't be looking at smaller houses - with each property we've bought over the years, we've always thought the bigger the better.

Wishing you'd had the 'nice 'inheritance 15 years earlier tho🤔

I've done the opposite...built large extension on current family home with plan to downsize in retirement. That will leave us entirely debt free with extra (in today's money/prices) £250k to go into the retirement pot.

Same. Needed space after living in nice but cramped terrace.