Retiring and selling house - mad idea?

[JustPhoningIn]

Coming up to early retirement in the next few years. Own my house outright - no mortgage - and live alone. Kids are grown up and settled in jobs.

I would like to spend the first few years of retirement travelling around the UK and EU while my health is still ok. In my head I have visions of setting off in my car and spending a week or so in one area before moving on to the next place. Or perhaps spending a month or so in different towns in the UK to decide if I would like to settle there long term.

Leaving the house unoccupied for months on end seems like a stupid idea particularly over the winter. So I had thought about selling up, sticking the money in an investment account and using part of the returns to fund my travels.

Does anyone want to persuade me that this would be a stupid idea? I'm not thinking of doing it forever and I would probably buy again at some point but maybe that would be in 2 years or 5 years?

The obvious risk with buy again is that you don't know what's going to happen to the housing market.

Would letting your house be an option?

I would be more comfortable if it was rented, more secure

How will having no permanent address affect things like healthcare, banking, general life admin stuff?

Seems like a lot of hassle and risk if you're out of the country half the year. Plus would almost certainly want to sell it to move to a different part of the country. Don't feel emotionally attached to the house.

Can use a family member's address.

I think this is a great idea but you should keep an eye on the property market and also keep enough money to buy a house in a good area wherever that is. Personally I don’t see house prices ever going up exponentially as we’ve seen over the last couple of decades.

I think it sounds very exciting and wish we had been brave enough to do something like this!

My 2c worth. Have a look around at where you may like to end up living. Somewhere with good transport links, a hospital not far away, walk to shops easily etc. Can you downsize to buy a small, cheaper house there? This will free up some cash and keep you with a base. In Australia, older women are the fastest growing cohort in the homelessness space. Don’t be one of those.

How do you propose to travel? A small caravan or a campervan may be an expense upfront but pay for itself in cheaper accommodation and still have a value when you are more prepared to settle down.

Adding further, what you are proposing to do is called being a Grey Nomad here in Australia. It’s a big industry. If you join a couple of websites, you will get loads of information about what all to think about and plan for.

What if you became ill and had to cut short your travelling? No way would I sell
my house too risky

I would do it, because the housing market is so weak at the moment and it's most unlikely that prices will rise much in the next year or so, they are more likely to go down. Letting your home would be a pain and you wouldn't be as free to make an offer on a new home when you're ready. It's a great idea. If not for my cats, I would have done the same. Good luck.

There are two risks

1. House prices go up. Not looking hugely likely imminently so probably not horrendously risky but ultimately an unknown.

1. Stock markets go down. If you were talking about 10+ years I wouldn't be too worried, but there's a lot of circular money going on with the big AI firms. I have money invested and it makes me nervous. Would I be prepared to get my future housing security on it?

So then your next option is to put it into high interest accounts or something else low risk. But that increases the risk of falling foul of 1.

Yes, sell whilst you’ve got a chance of releasing money. As long as you’ve enough put away for emergency deposit to lease somewhere if you had to come back unexpectedly. I have a few former colleagues who did this with no regrets, so I say go for it. I’m looking forward to the day I’m in a similar position to do this, so you sound in the perfect position now to just take off and see where life takes you- that’s v.exciting. Good luck and have fun OP.

I would never be brave enough to do this, I have a morbid fear of being homeless, it was a major incentive to pay my mortgage off asap. What about selling the house, but buying a small flat to come back to if it turns out you don't actually like it, or you fall ill or one of your children needs you for something?

Thanks - I hadn't heard of that before. Will have a look. It's a shame I'm not going to be Grey Nomading in Australia!

I've been seriously ill several times during my life so far so maybe that changes my outlook? I would rather regret doing something than not doing it for fear of the unknown.

Yes, I think you are right that this is probably the biggest risk of a drop in the markets without a drop in the housing market. I would try and minimise it by putting the money in a mix of levels of risk and there is some wiggle room to move to a cheaper area if the shit hit the fan.

Would you be downsizing quite a bit when you rebuy, if not it may be difficult to buy something similar but if you are it sounds like a good idea

I know someone (not well though) who did this. She was an estate agent previously so well aware of any market issues later. She spends as much time as she is able to in Greece and when she comes back she stays with a friend who she used to co-own a house with. She doesn't own it now but the friend likes having her to stay. Wouldn't work for me but she seems happy.