Downsizing in less than 10 years

killer007

My wife and I are nearing our mid fifthies and while we are both in good health we are looking to get our ducks in a row in order to downsize when the kids are finished college. At the moment we live 30 mins from the nearest town and 1.5 hrs from the nearest hospital. Public transport is non-existent. Our house comes with an airbnb business attached to it and we have 6 acres of land , mainly scrub ( it is in a building zone though ). Going by our recent sales in the area I would value the property at 750k. We are looking at moving to Cork City suburbs. What in your opion , do we need to do now in order to plan for our move? Hanyone else taken this path and what advice would you have.

RichardAnd

Do you have the funds to purchase an apartment in the city without selling? If so, then my advice would be to get a small apartment and not sell your existing property. Six acres is a good bit of land that should be kept in your family and passed down to you kids. The 750k that you get from selling it will just depreciate in value if it's not reinvested.

Peregrinus

What are your objectives here? By "downsizing", do you just mean moving to a smaller house in a location that you think will be better suited to the next stage of your life, or are you looking to liberate some capital?

Claw Hammer

The first thing to do is work out exactly what you want, apartment, bungalow standard house etc. Will you need a garden, parking? What facilities do you require nearby such as a hospital supermarket, convenience shop etc. Go to viewings and walks the nearby streets. You may be able to eliminate some options very quickly. When you have worked out what you want and where you want it you then have to decide how to do it financially. is it possible to buy now and rent out the property so that it is available to you when you want. Will you be selling to buy?

wildwillow

Could you sell the house and business and keep most of the six acres? Gives you the money to relocate but the option to realise the value in the land if it is zoned.

Apart from that, decide where you want to live and move sooner rather than later. Check out the area at night and weekends and spend lots of time there. Spend money on the house so it’s warm and easily maintained.

By moving now you can be part of the community and have supports if and when one or both of you has health issues.

If you have always lived in a detached house, you might want to consider the same again as semidetached living can take getting used to. Also don’t have a very comfortable guest room!

Good luck with the new phase in life.

SharkMX

Good to be thinking about that now. Over the last few years the amount of relatives I have who ive seen only using the downstairs of their 2 story houses is crazy.

If I had the choice I would buy a bungalow, even in my 30s. They seem to make such a difference in later years for people.

One couple got a chair lift. That was great until he could no longer walk up the stairs himself. Now one of them would have to help the other into the chair, walk up and help them out of the chair. Now neither can get into the chair or out of it. So noone at the top to help.

Bungalows all the way for me. Unless you can get a lift in your house if you ever need it.

herbalplants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121627363#Comment_121627363

Bungalows sell for a premium because of it. It is even harder to even see many for sale in Dublin anyway

killer007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121617194#Comment_121617194

The plan would be to move to a smaller house that's easier to run and manage. also we would like to release some equity so that we can pass it onto our kids. I know that they will never live in this area.

Cinderella2000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121644569#Comment_121644569

Love to see people future planning 🙌

1. Id get very good financial planning advice- you both may well have a contact for this already. Just to check out is it the best option to sell your *presumed* biggest asset. You're young, there's realistically another 30-40yrs of life to live and money that's needed.

2. Avoid apartments at all costs- even if it is ground floor. neighbours in close proximity, shared access/management fees/ parking can be troublesome etc etc. Won't patronise but given the home you're selling, apartment is not matching your plans I don't think.

3. Bungalow within a town/edge of town is best option in my opinion. Easy access to whole house, easily modified for wet room/wheelchairs. Easy parking, secure and continues to give privacy but the proximity to services you may require

4. Give serious thought to where the support network is. If one of you, God forbid, needed alot of support to stay living at home, is there someone apart from your other half that would be available, even if only in the case of emergency. Older adults generally become extremely reliant on neighbours friends their children, own siblings and community. Sooner you move the better on that side.

If you love to travel, is there a location that would maintain your independence in getting to airports/ferry etc, well into your presumed healthy 70s/80s or would the route change with new address, likely be a bigger challenge than now & a stress to navigate meaning you're retired, away every 6 weeks and now depending on taxis or lifts from your support network. If you're very independent minded people this will drive you crazy.

5. Consider address's that you can get a weekly shop delivered to & the day centre buses collect within- this is usually available online but a quick call to reception will tell you localities covered by the bus *currently*. May never want or need it but it is a valuable resource

6. Do you need to change GP and pharmacy? Finding a new GP will undoubtedly be a headache, particularly if not done now while you're a private patient. Pensioners with medical cards undoubtedly have a harder time changing GP for obvious reasons.

7. Recretion: how easy is it to get to church/live music/classes/ swimming pools- whatever ye are into

8. Space for visitors- are you the type of family to do Sunday lunch with all the kids/grandkids? Will there be parking/room for a table to take them all? Guest room? Is it important? Would you like the option of your own siblings or potential grandchildren being able to stay?

It's a huge move, I'd consult the adult kids on their thoughts on what they think would suit. They will through up topics you won't think of.

3DataModem

This is a great post @Cinderella2000 and gave me and others some food for thought.

User567363

This is such a depressing Janurary post,

Will ye all get ripped, ye are such quitters

Setup/join a gym, walk 10 to 15 thousands steps a day, a 50yo thinking about a stair lift, do you even lift bro?

I know a guy who is 88 who would laugh at this, i see him out walking every day

I know people in their 80s that are self employed working in sales or construction

I know a 75yo who runs marathons

SharkMX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121657755#Comment_121657755

When my uncle was 65 he was doing triathlons all over the world and still hauling big lintels and blocks around building sites.

He was never going to retire. He was swimming 5kms twice a week in the local pool. I never met a man as fit as him. Always training for the next event.

He is 68 now can can hardly walk from the Kitchen to the front door. His bedroom is now his living room. Sh!t happens.

User567363

Sorry to hear about your uncle, hope he recovers,

unless you have a medical issue.....ye get ripped, stairs are good exercise

Peregrinus

See, the thing is, User, as you get older you'll get more and more medical conditions. The fact that you don't have them now doesn't mean that you won't have them in the future.

You can improve the odds by watching your diet, moderating your alcohol intake, never smoking, taking plenty of regular exercise, establishing good sleeping habits, avoiding excessive stress, choosing parents who both lived into their 90s with minimal physical or mental decline, and making sure you are a woman. Entering a convent is also good. But even if you take all these steps, there is a non-trivial chance that you will have a signicant degree of poor health in later life.

Nobody is saying everyone is doomed to severe senile dcay. But you should certainly make your plans for later life based on acceptance that there is material chance that either you or your spouse or possibly both will face non-trivial medical issues that limit your lifestyle.

3DataModem

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121657755#Comment_121657755

The ones you see are the ones who are ALIVE. That's confirmation bias. Every 100 year old is fit as a fiddle, because the rest all died.

User567363

Okay, op can sell his house,

its such a pity to give all that money to auctioneers and soliciters

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121660927#Comment_121660927

The same argument could have been deployed to discourage him from buying his house in the first place.

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121658252#Comment_121658252

Everyone has anecdotes. My grandad is active at 96. Granny played golf until she was in her mid 80s.

Look at the statistics. Average wage in Ireland is mid 80s, and by the time most of us get there the illnesses plaguing people now will be lessened. People should plan for the future based on statistics and their families medical history.

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121663268#Comment_121663268

The statistics are that life expectancy is much greater than it used to be, certainly. The OP and his wife are in their mid-50s. A 55-year old man has a life epxectancy of about 27 years; a 55-year old women of 30 years.

(And that's median life expectancy. There's an even chance for each of them of living longer than that.)

This is great. But on a societal level thisa doesn't mean, if you think about it, that there will in the future be less of the diseases and medical conditions that are typical of older age. There will be more of them.

The improvement in life expectancy is due to a number of factors, but they include lower rates, and more effective treatment, of cardiovascular disease, more effective treatment of cancer, etc. What this means is that a lot of people who, in the past, would have died of heart attacks, stroke, cancer, etc now survive to develop other conditions. So we'll have more people in the community who suffer from the frailty associated with older age; experience mobility impairment; have a degree of cognitive decline; develop osteoarthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes. The prevalence of all these conditions is rising, not falling. They don't kill you as effectively as heart attack, stroke or lung cancer. But they do signficantly compromise your lifestyle.

It's not all doom and gloom. Nobody is fated to suffer from any or all of these conditions. You may continue hang-gliding and ski-jumping into your 90s and then be killed in a freak accident, slipping while executing a particularly vigorous Cossack dance at your great-granddaughter's wedding. But, with rising life expectancy, the chances that you will suffer from one or more of these are higher than they were for your parents and grandparents. So, if you're making plans for your future living arrangements, it's rational and sensible to accept the possiblity that this could befall you, and to choose living arrangements which will be resilient, should this happen.

If, for example, you make life choices that are only viable, or only meet your needs and wishes, so long as you continue to drive, or so long as you are able to climb stairs, or whatever, there is a non-trivial chance that at some point you will be forced into different arrangements at short notice, and at a time not of your choosing. This is more likely to happen to you than to your grandmother, not less. This may be a risk you're happy with, which is fine. But don't make those choices while denying that the risk exists, or by trying to convince yourself that risks of this kind are lower for your generation than for past generations. They are not.

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121663287#Comment_121663287

That is a fantastic post and very true.

Rates of cognitive disease are rising slowly, but this is related to more people living long enough to develop them.

As a doctor said to me once, the reason hospitals are busier today than 30 years ago despite the advancements and funding is that the types of cases they're dealing with now are more complex.

I would counter that I was replying to a poster using an example of someone suffering at late 60s.

Someone in late 60s is likely another 1/4 of their life left to live.

_H80_GHT

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121663287#Comment_121663287

What an excellent post.

SharkMX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121659194#Comment_121659194

He wont be getting any better. Old age has just caught up with him along with the random things that go wrong with an old body. His wife is the same age and fit as a fiddle though. But her life is now limited too with caring for him.

Mumser

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121644727#Comment_121644727

Just to say a quick thank you @Cinderella2000 . I’ve saved off these points to share with others and consider ourselves!