At 70, I’m trapped in my £850,000 family house – I can’t sell it
Around 2.9 million people over 55 in the UK plan to downsize. The stalling property market and rising mortgage rates, driven by uncertainty in the Middle East, are causing repercussions for homeowners keen to move into smaller homes. Evans, 70, lives near Chippenham and has been trying to sell her four-bedroom house since November 2024.
“You don’t need all this space.” I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard that from people who come to visit my four-bedroom home. They’re right. I don’t need a big house, not since the kids left home over a decade ago. And certainly not since my husband Peter died in 2023. The upstairs rooms stay cold in winter because what’s the point in heating them, when it’s just me? And the garden, which was Peter’s pride and joy, is now a jumble of weeds.
I need somewhere smaller, easier, that doesn’t ask so much of me. But, try as I might, I can’t find a buyer.
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My gorgeous home in a pretty Wiltshire village used to be my sanctuary, but at the moment it feels like a prison. Since November 2024, I have had more than 20 house viewings, but of the four offers I’ve had, every single one has fallen through. I reluctantly dropped the price from £860,000 to £750,000 six months ago because I was desperate, and since then, the only viewer who expressed interest in making an offer has been unable to sell their own home.
Moving will be a huge wrench. This was the place where I held my husband’s hand while he took his final breath. It’s the family home we moved to in 1992 and raised our girls in, who are now in their thirties and have children of their own. But it’s time to move on, not least because I am paying thousands of pounds just to keep the lights on, and I need to free up equity to contribute to the care of my 90-year-old mother, who has dementia.
Having worked in a busy office for 40 years while raising a family, I’m desperate to slow down and enjoy life. Instead, this situation is making me depressed.
I want to stay in the same area – it has easy transport links to my daughters, who live further north, and I can still be close to my mother. I’ve already set my sights on several smaller homes. I am not after a bungalow; I know there seems to be a shortage of those, and I can still manage the stairs. I’d love a little two-bedroom, something I can put bunk beds in so I can have the grandkids over to stay. A small paved garden that I can have barbecues in. Nothing fancy. But it’s all just daydreams until I sell my house.
I’m aware the clock is ticking. My mother sold her own home to pay for residential care, but it’s not enough and I don’t have any siblings to help out. I’d also like to use some of the money from the house sale to help my daughters out financially. The eldest and her husband scrimped and saved to buy their first property, and the youngest says she’ll never be able to afford to buy, so I want to help.
‘My gorgeous home in a pretty Wiltshire village used to be my sanctuary, but at the moment it feels like a prison,’ says Maureen
I’ve been here for all the viewings and watched eyes light up, as families walk through the rooms planning where they’d put their belongings, and whisper about the changes they’d make to the décor when they think I can’t hear. I have so much of my life tied to this place that I know it will be hard to leave, but my family are grown, and it’s time for another family to make this place their own.
When I received the first offer on the house in January 2025, I started getting rid of all my possessions. I filled a skip, hired a van and took several trips to the local dump with old furniture that wasn’t worth selling. I cleared whole rooms, with more ruthlessness than professional organiser Marie Kondo. But it was all for nothing. The sale fell through. Then the next buyers backed out of the sale with no explanation. The third weren’t able to secure enough capital.
Everyone who comes through the door seems to fall in love with the place, but estate agents tell me people aren’t able to get the mortgages for big homes like mine, and the situation in the Middle East isn’t helping matters. I have friends whose fixed-term deals are ending, and they are now facing thousands of additional pounds a year in mortgage payments that they just hadn’t budgeted for. My house is full of character, and within commuting distance of London but the market just isn’t there.
I’ve said my tearful goodbyes to this home so many times now. Every time I have had an offer, I think, “this will be the one”, only to have the hope snatched away from me.
I’ve now moved on to a second estate agent, who has told me it’s a beautiful house, perfect for a growing family, but they just can’t seem to find the interest. The agent mentioned that Labour’s VAT on school fees has affected people’s ability to move up the property ladder. When they’ve got to find tens of thousands more to put their children through school, it means shelving plans to move.
Life is on hold while I play this waiting game. I’m missing out on making precious memories with my grandchildren and being able to support my elderly mother more. As my children and I know all too well from losing their father, you never know what’s around the corner.
If I don’t find a buyer by the summer, I am considering getting a lodger to help pay some of the bills and to keep me company. I am mortgage-free, but I am on a state pension. The council tax alone is almost £4,000 a year and despite cutting my heating to a bare minimum, I am still paying £150 a month on my energy bills. I can’t live here for ever, but maybe getting a lodger would let me take time away from home to spend with my family up north without worrying about money.
People have asked me why I don’t just drop the price again, but I refuse to give my home away cheaply just because of the ridiculous economic climate we’re in, with a Government that fails to support hard-working people. They incentivise first-time buyers, but what about the people who want to move their families into bigger homes? And the ones like me who are desperate to downsize? Where is our help?
