Should older people give up their family homes?
Discussion
98elise said:
You don't get everything done though. When I owned a studio flat we were always getting additional bills for unforseen costs.
The management company did a survey of work they felt was needed in the future and it was over £1m for 100 flats. They wanted to up the maintenance to cover that scale of work over a few years!
Look at what's happening with cladding in the wake of Grenfell.
If you own your own home you get to decide what's done.
Fires The management company did a survey of work they felt was needed in the future and it was over £1m for 100 flats. They wanted to up the maintenance to cover that scale of work over a few years!
Look at what's happening with cladding in the wake of Grenfell.
If you own your own home you get to decide what's done.
In a house worst case you have to hang and drop from first floor to the ground.
Flats… once over 16 meters it’s not survivable to “jump”.
Bungalow no issue at all
Welshbeef said:
Fires
In a house worst case you have to hang and drop from first floor to the ground.
Flats… once over 16 meters it’s not survivable to “jump”.
Bungalow no issue at all
Many concerns with bungalows seems to be the sleeping on the ground floor - where any intruder is more likely to be. More safety upstairs?In a house worst case you have to hang and drop from first floor to the ground.
Flats… once over 16 meters it’s not survivable to “jump”.
Bungalow no issue at all
98elise said:
soxboy said:
Sheepshanks said:
soxboy said:
My FIL won’t downsize as he can’t/ won’t get his head round the idea of having to pay a service charge and ground rent if he gets a flat.
It’s not that he doesn’t understand the need for such costs, but that he’s had probably 25 years of no mortgage so going to come as a culture shock to start paying out monthly again.
To be fair, he'll likely be paying council tax monthly, and probably utility bills too.It’s not that he doesn’t understand the need for such costs, but that he’s had probably 25 years of no mortgage so going to come as a culture shock to start paying out monthly again.
If the charge was reasonable, it's pretty easy to offset it against what maintenance of his own place would be - plus there shouldn't be any worries about looking after the fabric. It's the uncertain nature of future charges that is unsettling.
It’s probably more a psychological thing, however for his generation I’m sure there’s plenty of others who think the same.
The management company did a survey of work they felt was needed in the future and it was over £1m for 100 flats. They wanted to up the maintenance to cover that scale of work over a few years!
Look at what's happening with cladding in the wake of Grenfell.
If you own your own home you get to decide what's done.
When I had a flat, I think the standing charge seemed to cover a weekly cleaner / gardeners in communal areas and the insurances.
Plus the salaries of the management company...
Any actual works that needed doing seem to cost extra through requests for one off contributions.
stupidbutkeen said:
To be fair, I am only 49, Lived in same house now for 21 years,morgage free next month on a 3 bed house and no kids. The thought of moving into a flat having no morgage on it but still feel like im paying a morgage every month for less/no garden, less space , more noise and the possiblity of being totally surounded by possible (must be nice) anti socal people fills me with dread.
Oh and thats without thinking about parking for my motorbikes nor does it include the future were I would need to charge a car etc.
Completely valid but at 49 you're not yet comparing a nice flat, in a nice area with a warden care prison camp full of a dry old tOh and thats without thinking about parking for my motorbikes nor does it include the future were I would need to charge a car etc.
ts with clipboards and a rampant desire to oppress their fellow inmates, or the lower cost option of sitting all day in a vinyl chair being shouted at by an angry foreigner while the management knowingly wheel in disease riddled punters to cough all over you. 
A small box surrounded by rowdy people still living will always win out over a small box surrounded by people focussed on dying and frothing about the things they all f
ked up that are somehow their children's fault. 
The important thing for everyone on this thread is to look at how many Boomers are financially screwed despite their enormous economic advantages and to think twice over spending money today that will be vital after 55 when no employer will offer them a viable job and they have 30 years outstanding to self finance and to rescue themselves from having to make grim housing decisions. Yay!
Biggy Stardust said:
Vasco said:
Many concerns with bungalows seems to be the sleeping on the ground floor - where any intruder is more likely to be. More safety upstairs?
Are stairs a huge deterrent for intruders?So a forward-thinking bovine intruder would certainly consider a bungalow fair game. So the risk is indeed real I'm afraid.
Edited by The spinner of plates on Thursday 18th November 10:07
Vasco said:
Welshbeef said:
Fires
In a house worst case you have to hang and drop from first floor to the ground.
Flats… once over 16 meters it’s not survivable to “jump”.
Bungalow no issue at all
Many concerns with bungalows seems to be the sleeping on the ground floor - where any intruder is more likely to be. More safety upstairs?In a house worst case you have to hang and drop from first floor to the ground.
Flats… once over 16 meters it’s not survivable to “jump”.
Bungalow no issue at all
Leave car keys & wallet in a obvious place so they can take that and off ski.
Intruders do not want to be caught they want to be in and out quickly with a fair haul.
More safety upstairs? Who knows if you as the owner are blocking the stairs with whatever weapon (baseball bat hammer slinky saw timbre or just yourself….
You never want to have conflict or contact with them. Stuff whatever it is is just stuff (even sentimental stuff). Let them take the lot who cares? These scum wouldn’t worry about assaulting a wannabe Rambo - stabbing and beating you to intensive care (or worse).
Or they come back at another time fully tooled up….. for “disrespecting them”.
Biggy Stardust said:
Vasco said:
Many concerns with bungalows seems to be the sleeping on the ground floor - where any intruder is more likely to be. More safety upstairs?
Are stairs a huge deterrent for intruders?I guess there's a suggestion that a burglar might be happy with what can be readily found downstairs, where nobody is likely to be at 3am, and wouldn't want any added risks of also going upstairs, where people will be.
Sounds logical to me - don't burglars look for 'quick in, quick out'?
DonkeyApple said:
It could just be that old blokes will literally complain about absolutely everything because they have fk all else to do?
Frightened of a bungalow but can't get enough of static caravans.
In my experience it's the women, not the men, but valid point about caravans. Perhaps they should make double deck caravans.......k all else to do? Frightened of a bungalow but can't get enough of static caravans.
I have lived in bungalows since 2001, I have never had cows in my bedroom. They have got as far as the front garden, but never made it into the house 
Really why do people worry about intruders, if they want to get in they will however many floors you have. And intruders are a very rare occurrence, i don't know anyone who has been broken into whilst they are at home. Some things are worth worrying about others are not.
People don't like bungalows as they think they are for old people, and if you buy one you will become old. They are great to live in as you tend to get a bigger plot and all they neighbours are old so its quiet.
Really why do people worry about intruders, if they want to get in they will however many floors you have. And intruders are a very rare occurrence, i don't know anyone who has been broken into whilst they are at home. Some things are worth worrying about others are not.
People don't like bungalows as they think they are for old people, and if you buy one you will become old. They are great to live in as you tend to get a bigger plot and all they neighbours are old so its quiet.
DanL said:
I thought the problem with sleeping downstairs isn’t just with an intruder per se, but rather that leaving your bedroom window open on a summer’s night means your house is less secure, and an intruder is likely to enter via the room you’re sleeping in? 
Our first house was a bungalow and I must admit I felt quite 'exposed'. Leaving a window open at night was an issue - it didn't have small top windows either, so only the large window could be opened.I can't even remember what it was now, but we wanted to put something out of sight while we were away and the only place was the bathroom.
Didn't bother my wife - she'd been brought up in a bungalow and then moved to an upside down house so she'd always slept on the ground floor.
ARHarh said:
I have lived in bungalows since 2001, I have never had cows in my bedroom. They have got as far as the front garden, but never made it into the house
Really why do people worry about intruders, if they want to get in they will however many floors you have. And intruders are a very rare occurrence, i don't know anyone who has been broken into whilst they are at home. Some things are worth worrying about others are not.
People don't like bungalows as they think they are for old people, and if you buy one you will become old. They are great to live in as you tend to get a bigger plot and all they neighbours are old so its quiet.
I love a bungalow.Really why do people worry about intruders, if they want to get in they will however many floors you have. And intruders are a very rare occurrence, i don't know anyone who has been broken into whilst they are at home. Some things are worth worrying about others are not.
People don't like bungalows as they think they are for old people, and if you buy one you will become old. They are great to live in as you tend to get a bigger plot and all they neighbours are old so its quiet.
The stigma I think is changing slightly, they can make great homes.
2 doors down in my folks row of bungalows is an absolute moron who has music pumping from 9am....
Vasco said:
Is 9am too early ??
I’ve started mowing plenty of times in middle summer well before 9am. So do others on my street - no issue. That said no one has thumping music - Ken Bruce quiz master you can hear summer with the bi folds open now everyone here works from home. (Does make it far too easy for a tipple of booze while chatting to the neighbours)
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