Housing
Is downsizing a good move?
Mairead Robinson draws on her own experience to detail how ‘downsizing’ can work for you. So you get to a stage in your life when you have an ‘empty nest’ and you find that not only have your children moved away, but they have suddenly become the parents and you the child! It amazed me when my daughter first suggested I sold our large house and bought somewhere nearer to public transport and made provisions for when I was less mobile and independent! Indeed I was quite taken aback at the notion that I might be an ‘old lady’ although she insisted that it was opportune to move while I was still active and mobile and able to forge a new life for myself. And so after mulling around the idea for a year, I decided to put the house on the market. Now my house was very large, nearly 3,000 sq. ft. and included three bathrooms and six bedrooms, plus over an acre of a garden and was full of character and charm, however it was in a very rural location, situated just off the Ring of Kerry. So it was not going to be for everybody, but it was going to be perfect for a family who wanted to relocate from city living to a beautiful place and avail of a scenic quality of life together with most mod cons including super fast broadband. So that is what happened – a young family from Dublin came to view it and appreciated all we had done with the renovation of the Old Schoolhouse thirty years ago, and saw the potential to bring it forward for the next thirty years. And that left me with the quandary of what to buy, where to move to, and how to secure my finances for the future. 48 Senior Times l September - October 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie
Like most of us when we become grandparents, I liked the idea of being closer to the little ones, but while they can be scattered in various locations between different families, we also want to maintain our independence and quality of life. So I wanted a smaller house, close to public transport and services - having lived in a more rural location previously and I also wanted to be closer to both my children and their families. For myself I wanted to have a warm cosy house together with a small garden that was both light-filled and modern. House prices are an ever changing nightmare, and it seemed to me that during the year that my house was on the market, prices locally were going down (they blamed Brexit), while prices closer to the city were on the rise (housing and rental crisis). But the whole idea of downsizing is to release equity, so it was important to find the right house in the right area and at the right price.
