Moving house has been listed among the three worst moments in life, along with divorce and losing your job. Upsizing, on the other hand, no problem at all.
You just push all the clutter you don’t want to think about into the back of a cupboard and leave it there for the next 40 years.
Then with luck Stacey Solomon will come along, lay it all out in a warehouse and count your vases. When I downsized a few years ago, a professional declutterer hired by my anxious children opened a cupboard and said: “Esther, why have you got 250 vases?” To which I replied, “You can never have enough vases”.
Between us we got it down to six, but they started breeding again in my new flat, and I suppose I’ve got around 20 vases now.
Actually, in pursuit of journalistic accuracy I’ve just counted them, and I have 52. Which is handy, one for each week. I just hope I never have to downsize again.
To make sure it sells and you can release your capital, you’ll have to consider “staging” your old home.
I know you love it the way it is, but just watch the makeover, auction, house doctor programmes on television and you will see that everything these days has to be monochrome and minimalist.
When I sold our family house the estate agent told me not to bother “staging” it, a new owner would pull it to pieces anyway, so don’t waste time trying to second guess them.
But I think you must invest in a little primping and polishing, just to show you haven’t let it rot for years.
So I sorted out the shower room, and the cloakroom, gave it a lick of paint and made sure the lovely views over Hampstead Heath were neatly framed. And it sold. To very nice new owners who pulled out everything I’d done and changed it entirely.
So my estate agent was right, but would it have sold if I hadn’t made an effort to stage it? Who knows.
So, Michael Gove, I agree that our young people must be looked after properly, but so must the old.
First-time buyers are important, but so are last-time buyers. Instead of blaming us, helping us to downsize and stay comfortable and safe would save the NHS a fortune, and free up our old family homes for new families to enjoy.
And, would anyone like a vase?
Esther Rantzen is a brand ambassador for Churchill Retirement Living and was a spokesman for Chill, the Campaign for Housing in Later Life.
