Downsizing to a bungalow

S

Sunnygirl69

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Some of the kids starting to leave the nest. We love the estate we live in, works for us on many levels. The plan was always that we would downsize at some point, ideally to a bungalow.
We have a large 4 bedroom 2 storey house. So a bungalow has come up for sale down the road. Approx half the size of our current home. If we were to buy it, there are renovations we would like to make including converting the attic, perhaps knock a wall downstairs & new kitchen.
Here's the thing if there was, say 100k difference between purchase price of bungalow & sale price of our house, would there actually be any profit as such left between fees, stamp duty, renovations etc?
Would we be crazy to leave our beautiful big home to try to turn bungalow into smaller version of it?
Always said we'd like to do last move this side of 60.
Thoughts please
 
one assumes you are downsizing as you dont need the space, why are you then already contemplating an attic conversion??

i dont think 100k will go that far if you want a new kitchen, walls knocked and an attic converted.
 
Blackrock1 said:
one assumes you are downsizing as you dont need the space, why are you then already contemplating an attic conversion??

i dont think 100k will go that far if you want a new kitchen, walls knocked and an attic converted.
Click to expand...
Correct we don't need as much space as we have but as I mentioned, bungalow would be approx half the size. Which would be substantial downsize. That's why I would like to convert attic & knock 1 existing bedroom into kitchen.
 
Hi, we are about to start renovating an old bungalow.
The original house is ~80sqm, we are adding a very small side extension and converting the attic to add 2 bedrooms.
We will be changing the layout of the original house and bringing it up to standard, adding insulation, new windows/doors etc.

All in, we are allowing €300k for the work, we are still waiting for quotes, but hoping we have enough.
The house has a large garden, so some of the budget is going on that too.
The kitchen + utility alone is costing 30k (this does not include appliances!)

Buying the house was super stressful. I would not be able to go through this again and I'm in my early 40's.
Do not underestimate the financial and emotional costs of such a move.

If you love where you are, it can be adapted to suit your needs if and when they change.

If you are a bit bored and want a project, why not get some upgrades to your existing house? There are loads of grants available, check out the SEAI website.
 
We're in our mid to late 50's and I feel we have 1 more project left in us, perhaps me more so than the hubby
Yes we could start a project here but that would still leave us with 2 empty bedrooms & stairs.
 
Not to mention remaining in current house means higher energy & upkeep costs in a home that we feel is too large for our needs.
 
I would only consider downsizing if it meant a large financial dividend and tbh it sounds like this will cost you money....I would say pump some of that money into your current home to improve efficiency and plan for living there with less people....eg could one room be taken over for a hobby that was only ever given a basket before? A home gym? Your kids are moving out but probably will be back given current market and economy....do you want to keep space for them?
 
I get what your saying bout financial dividend & that's how we always thought it would be. Bungalow would give us downsize from 4 to 3 bedrooms, from 2 large downstairs reception rooms to 1 & from very large kitchen/diner to smaller sized kitchen. One of kids buying her 1st home so don't imagine she'll be back.
 
In current housing crisis, why on earth do government not offer some kind of incentive for ppl to leave large family homes & downsize to something more matching their needs. And I stress only if folk want to. I see my own mother, still living independently at 81, who does all her living/sleeping downstairs but with 3 wasted bedrooms upstairs.
Government policy on housing makes no sense at so many levels.
 
Interesting dilemma.

I note your reluctance to move into an apartment. I'm doing just that.

So, My thoughts are:

Loved the 3bed house I bought all them years ago, in a lovely estate in Dublin on a large enough plot. Large enough to build out and up again.

Kids doing well for themselves and live abroad. We actually only seem to live in the extended part of the house, and since they don't have plans for coming back to Dublin, its up for sale.

Do we want to move, not really tbh, but it makes no sense to stay put in such a large property, as in house and garden maintenance etc.

I'm turning 60, and for us, the lock up a leave "Apt" approach looks to be the way to go for us. Were getting a silly price for the house. Have a lovely Dublin Apt, bought in 2012 mortgage free, and so I'm looking to do some traveling and then.... look up Lepers posts.

Kids grow up fast, If I hadn't extended and paid extra for the garden plot them years ago, probably would be staying put, and let the properties.

Might hate the Apt living, but, life's short, going to give it ago. If it doesn't work out Plan B will be to off load Apt and buy a little 2/3 bed, with a little garden.
 
Once kiddies had left home, we downsized from big 4 bed house, 3 living rooms, big back garden etc. in Dublin to 3 bed small bungalow in Wexford, in our mid 50’s. Early retirement meant no commute either. It’s the best thing we ever did, house about half the size of our Dublin house, no stairs. (Hubby’s arthritic knees cured almost immediately). Kiddies abroad and in Ireland mean very few long visits, so when overnights required, blowup mattresses used. Energy bills and all other costs associated with maintaining/upgrading house dramatically reduced. Quality of life great. Would recommend a real downsize, enough space for the two of you and kiddies etc. can muck in when they want to come and stay. Good luck with the process.
 
You'll regret it.

Forget that you have a couple of bedrooms free. How much of the current ground floor space do you use? If you currently use all ground floor rooms, then there's little point in moving.

There's only two of us and we have a large rural house, 4 beds, 2 reception and office room. We use it all. We will downsize at some point, but it will also involve moving to a different place. If we were staying in our locality there's no chance of moving.

I'd turn one spare bedroom into a boudoir/walk-in dressing room as your own private space, another as a guest room and the final one as a "he's snoring too much - I want to sleep" room.
 
Any suggestions?

Currently any "profit" from the sale of your home is entirely tax free. So nothing can be done there.

If a smaller house needs upgrading, there are grants for that too especially energy upgrades.

Possibly planning criteria / incentive to encourage builders to build some 55+ age houses. - There was an application near Kildare town but it was roundly rejected because it was 1.5km from the town and council said "such developments should be more central". Obviously people aged 55+ and in Kildare are incapable of walking 20min. The actual internal layout was superb.
 
I'm well acquainted with Lepers posts, love them
 
Great to hear such a positive post on the trading down process.
 
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