Retirement properties
Discussion
Long time lurker, first time poster…
Just wondering if anyone could could give some words of advise, I’m sure I’m not the only one in this situation.
Has anyone had any experience recently selling retirement flats? We’ve currently got two in the family from deceased relatives, one passed 3 years ago the other a year ago.
The first one is a 75% shared ownership assisted living apartment in a retirement complex. It has been advertised for 3 years now with next to no interest, even with price reductions down from £100k to £80k - feels like a race to the bottom even though it is now the cheapest in the area.
The second is a leasehold, paid £240k with McCarthy stone several years ago - it is now advertised with them for £207.5k as per their advice although virtually identical properties in the same complex are up for £200k. I’ve tried suggested it is lowered to that or less to make it competitive but other family members seem happy to leave them to it.
Just after abit of advice really, the value first property is being slowed eroded away by service charges and given it hasn’t sold in the first three years I see little chance of it doing so now. I’m worried the second will go the same way given the estate agents, solicitors and other family members don’t seem to worried about it selling. In my eyes it money say there slowly being eroded away buy fees.
Has anyone any experience of sending these to auction or perhaps if the tenancy agreements allow, renting them out?
Just wondering if anyone could could give some words of advise, I’m sure I’m not the only one in this situation.
Has anyone had any experience recently selling retirement flats? We’ve currently got two in the family from deceased relatives, one passed 3 years ago the other a year ago.
The first one is a 75% shared ownership assisted living apartment in a retirement complex. It has been advertised for 3 years now with next to no interest, even with price reductions down from £100k to £80k - feels like a race to the bottom even though it is now the cheapest in the area.
The second is a leasehold, paid £240k with McCarthy stone several years ago - it is now advertised with them for £207.5k as per their advice although virtually identical properties in the same complex are up for £200k. I’ve tried suggested it is lowered to that or less to make it competitive but other family members seem happy to leave them to it.
Just after abit of advice really, the value first property is being slowed eroded away by service charges and given it hasn’t sold in the first three years I see little chance of it doing so now. I’m worried the second will go the same way given the estate agents, solicitors and other family members don’t seem to worried about it selling. In my eyes it money say there slowly being eroded away buy fees.
Has anyone any experience of sending these to auction or perhaps if the tenancy agreements allow, renting them out?
My only advice is to sell them. Read the contract to see if you can use an outside agent. As you say they are charging service charges and they have a conflict of interest, clearly. If other family members aren't fussed then suggest they might like to pick up the tab for the ongoing fees or looking at the total estate, assign that property to them as part of their 'portion'. It will focus their attention. You will need to speak to local agents or google who specialises in retired living after sales. 3 years on the market is just crazy. Get rid . Good luck
Not the UK but when my Grandmother moved into a retirement village the unit cost something like 500k and the contract was a depreciation schedule per year with a 7 days buy out guarantee. Then and now the 500k property was resold for 700 and we got 450k back. That was the deal at the time.
Not the UK but when my Grandmother moved into a retirement village the unit cost something like 500k and the contract was a depreciation schedule per year with a 7 days buy out guarantee. Then and now the 500k property was resold for 700 and we got 450k back. That was the deal at the time.
Newbie2021 said:
Has anyone had any experience recently selling retirement flats?
Just completed on a sale of my mother’s flat a few weeks ago after she moved into a care home at the start of COVID.It was an ‘over 55s’ development of flats without the usual things you get with retirement properties like an on site manager, communal lounge, etc. so effectively just normal flats except you had to be over 55 to live there, and that meant the service charge was quite sensible (it was also a self managed development, so no freeholder seeking to profit from the service charge).
Put on the market autumn 2020 with no interest for six months. Reduced the price slightly (the original price wasn’t high) and changed agents. Got some interest after a few months and got an offer £10k under asking price in the summer (when every other sort of property was flying off the shelves at silly prices) and eventually completed a few weeks ago without any hassle.
The issues seemed to be that the people normally buying these properties are
- scared of COVID so don’t want to move from a self contained house to any sort of communal living.
- have moved directly from their home to a care home because of the two year COVID period (an awful lot of retirement homes are lived in for less than five years)
- are dead, from COVID or something else.
So the market for them is dramatically reduced and anyone interested can be very picky.
Now we have my mother in law’s flat to sell as she has now moved into a care home, and that is going to be a nightmare. It is a traditional retirement flat with all the additional facilities and the high service charge to go with it. It also isn’t in the best decorative condition as the COVID lockdowns took their toll whilst we couldn’t visit.
There are several identical flats for sale in the same (large) development, with prices for the identical properties ranging from £240k down to £80k, and the £80k flat isn’t selling.
But whatever it sells for is irrelevant, even if it is £5, as the proceeds are bound to end up paying the care home fees, so a higher sale price just means longer before the local authority is on the hook for paying.
Burwood said:
My only advice is to sell them. Read the contract to see if you can use an outside agent. As you say they are charging service charges and they have a conflict of interest, clearly. If other family members aren't fussed then suggest they might like to pick up the tab for the ongoing fees or looking at the total estate, assign that property to them as part of their 'portion'. It will focus their attention. You will need to speak to local agents or google who specialises in retired living after sales. 3 years on the market is just crazy. Get rid . Good luck
Not the UK but when my Grandmother moved into a retirement village the unit cost something like 500k and the contract was a depreciation schedule per year with a 7 days buy out guarantee. Then and now the 500k property was resold for 700 and we got 450k back. That was the deal at the time.
That. Drop the price down until it goes, why people refuse to drop the price and let the service charges etc eat their lunch baffles me.Not the UK but when my Grandmother moved into a retirement village the unit cost something like 500k and the contract was a depreciation schedule per year with a 7 days buy out guarantee. Then and now the 500k property was resold for 700 and we got 450k back. That was the deal at the time.
Newbie2021 said:
Long time lurker, first time poster…
Just wondering if anyone could could give some words of advise, I’m sure I’m not the only one in this situation.
Has anyone had any experience recently selling retirement flats? We’ve currently got two in the family from deceased relatives, one passed 3 years ago the other a year ago.
The first one is a 75% shared ownership assisted living apartment in a retirement complex. It has been advertised for 3 years now with next to no interest, even with price reductions down from £100k to £80k - feels like a race to the bottom even though it is now the cheapest in the area.
The second is a leasehold, paid £240k with McCarthy stone several years ago - it is now advertised with them for £207.5k as per their advice although virtually identical properties in the same complex are up for £200k. I’ve tried suggested it is lowered to that or less to make it competitive but other family members seem happy to leave them to it.
Just after abit of advice really, the value first property is being slowed eroded away by service charges and given it hasn’t sold in the first three years I see little chance of it doing so now. I’m worried the second will go the same way given the estate agents, solicitors and other family members don’t seem to worried about it selling. In my eyes it money say there slowly being eroded away buy fees.
Has anyone any experience of sending these to auction or perhaps if the tenancy agreements allow, renting them out?
Auctions and letting are frequently banned by the T&Cs associated with these places - certainly they are with McCarthy & Stone. We ended up selling ours after it sitting on the market for 18 months. M&S encouraged us to stick with the (high) asking price which was based on what we’d paid for the place three years previously and happily took the £800/month “maintenance charge” from us for doing absolutely f all while it sat there on the market. Eventually we persuaded all the beneficiaries to accept a £50k hit and it sold in a month. M&S developments are generally nice to live in but are widely accepted to perform dreadfully on the resale market - certainly compared with ‘normal’ open-market flats of similar quality.Just wondering if anyone could could give some words of advise, I’m sure I’m not the only one in this situation.
Has anyone had any experience recently selling retirement flats? We’ve currently got two in the family from deceased relatives, one passed 3 years ago the other a year ago.
The first one is a 75% shared ownership assisted living apartment in a retirement complex. It has been advertised for 3 years now with next to no interest, even with price reductions down from £100k to £80k - feels like a race to the bottom even though it is now the cheapest in the area.
The second is a leasehold, paid £240k with McCarthy stone several years ago - it is now advertised with them for £207.5k as per their advice although virtually identical properties in the same complex are up for £200k. I’ve tried suggested it is lowered to that or less to make it competitive but other family members seem happy to leave them to it.
Just after abit of advice really, the value first property is being slowed eroded away by service charges and given it hasn’t sold in the first three years I see little chance of it doing so now. I’m worried the second will go the same way given the estate agents, solicitors and other family members don’t seem to worried about it selling. In my eyes it money say there slowly being eroded away buy fees.
Has anyone any experience of sending these to auction or perhaps if the tenancy agreements allow, renting them out?
These won’t go at all well in an auction as auctions are not geared towards the target market. Older buyers tend to like to take their time over choosing properties and don’t like the pressured timescales an auction involves.
Just stick it on with a local agent at a slashed price, enough to make it more attractive than the shiny new ones.
Just stick it on with a local agent at a slashed price, enough to make it more attractive than the shiny new ones.
Unfortunately albeit being a Daily Fail article M&S have got 'form'.
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-1...
And given that Australian lot getting involved i can only see it going one way
https://www.mccarthyandstone.co.uk/media-centre/na...
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-1...
And given that Australian lot getting involved i can only see it going one way
https://www.mccarthyandstone.co.uk/media-centre/na...
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