What's the worst that could happen?!

carolt

BettiePage wrote: »

Phew! Lucky escape.

The vendors obviously didn't see yesterdays news about stamp duty threshold being raised to £175k, lol.

I think the vendors saw your mother coming. :rolleyes:

lynzpower

sliding_doors wrote: »

Is this the first person to say anything good about the investment (or is he being sarcastic?!)

Either way, Im happy to report that my mum's offer of £200k was rejected (they want 210k). Fortunately, she has taken the opportunity to back out of this one without losing too much face!

Unfortunately, she is going to continue looking for studio flats for my brother (not sure where though - some of the above suggestions may come in handy). So my next task is to persuade her to wait a bit and meanwhile put the cash in a savings account.

I have to say that without all the above advice, I think she may have offered £205k, so thanks to everyone :T

this is great news :T even if it is only for a short while

Castleman

Probably a bit too late to be of help here, but to the OP - I was shown a 1bed flat 18months ago (ie peak time!) that was about 100m away from the one your mother was looking at, for £800 a month. It was rather nice and pretty similar to the studio you were talking about.

That was at the peak time for property - so I'd be surprised if the rent for a studio next door would be close to that now. Sounds like you've had a lucky escape!

My advice is that no area will be immune (apart from a couple of roads full of clever millionnaires and footballers!), so really persuade her to wait.
A studio flat is just a stupid idea in my opinion, unless you have a second home and the studio is for nights away/close to the office etc etc. If it's an investment, work out what people are going to most want (ie don't get sympathetic about your bro's needs) and invest there (2 bed flat maybe?).

Good luck!

dopester

I have no real depth of London regional knowledge, but was cheering all the good info given on this thread, for the logic against making the purchase.

OP - more and more properties in the £200,000 range will now be feeling the effect of other aggressive sellers cutting their price because of the heavy- magnetic-field type pull to the £175,000 mark, where now there will be no stamp duty.

It will be hard for the seller to keep wanting £200,000 or more, when this new stamp duty variable will drag down prices around this mark.

I shiver at the thought of your mother's main residence being security for the purchase, given how deep and long-lasting I believe this crash will be.

sliding_doors

Latest update: my mum's offer of £200k was accepted! Fortunately I'm pretty sure that after all the advice she will not be accepting it.

(Just got to hope that she doesn't read too much into the US bailing out Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae)

lynzpower

OMG :eek:

Heres hoping she walks away!!!

tintaja

When i met my OH, he lived in a studio flat. When I moved in with him, the place felt too small, we moved out as soon as we could and rented a one bed flat. Five years later, we moved into a two bed flat, as OH occasionally worked from home and needed 'office space'. Two years ago, when our daughter was born we converted the loft, so we now have a three bed flat. We are outgrowing is slowly now, especially as now I work from home and we would like a second child.

I do not know about your brother's relationship status or plans, but if your mum puts your brother into her landlord venture plans, I think she will have to take a long term view in regards to this matter. He might move out if the place feels too cramped, but then your mother will be burdened with finding new tenants, finding letting agents and their fees, wear and tear, periods when the place stays empty - in other words, all the not so nice aspects of BTL which put many people off such an investment in a first place. If she lives far from Wimbledon Village, the flat management aspect will be even harder.

I think if your brother is a pivotal figure in her plans, he needs to choose where he wants to live, taking everything into consideration. This may ensure he stays there for longer because it will tick more boxes, and thus will provide your mother with more of a breathing space in terms of letting and managing the property.
If your mum wants a flat as an investment, she needs to plan it as if is did not concern your brother, and find the best way to manage her property as if she was doing it by herself. just so there aren't any nasty surprises later.

Edit: did your mum told EA about her plans to rent the studio to your brother? This would explain the ridiculous quote of 1000 p/m. Just wondering - was the EA telling your mother what she wanted to hear, safe in the knowledge that the pressure to try and let it for this price would not be on him/her?