Flat vs House

BobProperty

Out of where you have said Sale is top in my view. Check proximity to metro line when looking, closeness of shops and the local area. Sale has some fantastic property (at matching fantastic prices) but there are some small parts you may wish to avoid.

dander

Isn't Manchester where there have been most problems with over-supply of flats. Where the buy-to-let investors are getting massive discounts, but finding it really hard to get tennants because there are too many similar properties on the market?

Don't want to spread any false rumours, so shout me down if I'm talking rubbish. But I would have thought one should be very careful before buying a new-build flat if there's an over-supply problem - could end up with something very hard to shift.

BobProperty

dander wrote:

Isn't Manchester where there have been most problems with over-supply of flats. Where the buy-to-let investors are getting massive discounts, but finding it really hard to get tennants because there are too many similar properties on the market?

Don't want to spread any false rumours, so shout me down if I'm talking rubbish. But I would have thought one should be very careful before buying a new-build flat if there's an over-supply problem - could end up with something very hard to shift.

You can find this in most large cities. Manchester does have a problem with it in the city centre IMHO but others will tell you different. (the fact that they recently bought a flat in the town centre or sell them for a living may influence their opinons ). There are other areas where I would be wary of buying new without finding out how many others were sold and whether to investors or Owner Occupiers. The Wythenshawe developments you mention being some. I have never liked town centre living, I think pied-a-terre's for the very wealthy are fine but to think that a mixed community will somehow move to within 500m of Piccadilly (Manchester) in their 1000's is fantasy. When there is a downturn in the housing market this will be the first area to be hit.

Valencia

I think real 'city living' has had its day. The speed at which they go up in the city surely means the market will be saturated very soon.

I like Sale because it is a nice community and you can easily commute to Manchester, but price wise because of the good schools, it too isn't cheap, but if I find one I really like, I'll try to stretch myself, because I think it will be a good investment.

Concerning places like Wythenshawe, the apartments that have been built there are not 'in' the estates, but more on the outskirts of it. They are all gated so they are very secure and several have been bought up. Whether it is for rent purpose or is owner occupied I don't know.

How can you really tell if an area is going to be a good investment and can you always rely on past stereotypes if an area is changing? (e.g. Hulme, Wythenshawe etc)

Spendless

Hi

When me and my hubby met, we both owned a property, bought around the same time. I had a 2bed MTH he had a 2bed 1st floor flat.(there was another floor above him)- 6 flats in total, 2 on each level.

He suffered less from noise, (cos the other owners were elderly/living partly abroad or working long hours) than I did thanks to the loud music loving **** next door:rolleyes: .
I had a garden to myself, he had a shared garden. His place had rules in lease like no pets, no hanging washing outside , which I'd have found hard to cope with.
Carrying bags of shopping up one flight of stairs and returning to car for next lot was not fun- there was no lift. It's been even worse if we'd been on 2nd floor, and I'm glad we weren't there when DS came along, cos carrying baby and/or a pushchair wouldn't have appealed either.
He also paid a service charge.

Mr Spendless preferred it as he also felt it more secure than a house, being on the 1st floor, and he was out a lot of the time. He also had an allocated parking spot, unlike myself, who had to grab what was available.

My nan has a first floor flat-ex council. She only has one downstairs neighbour, as the properties are all link detached (just linked by the former coal shed). She has her own garden, but no parking space (not that she needs it). Some on the street do have back access to park a car/build a garage, but have smaller gardens.

BobProperty

Valencia wrote:

...How can you really tell if an area is going to be a good investment and can you always rely on past stereotypes if an area is changing? (e.g. Hulme, Wythenshawe etc)

If I knew that I'd be a multi-millionaire . I think to some extent that the "lesser popular" areas becoming "more popular" is a reversible process. When the market is high, like it has been recently, buyers can't afford the top areas like Didsbury, Heaton Moor, Bramhall so accept the adjacent areas like Withington, Heaton Mersey/Chapel/Norris as an affordable compromise. This ripple effect continues down the market such that places like Hulme became worthwhile to build new developments in. (helped with outside money to boost the area). I have been around long enough to remember prices going up and down again (late 80's early 90's) and I have always held the opinion that the areas where the ripple had the furthest to travel to, were the first to feel the reverse effect. To be snooty about it, even in the worst times, house sellers in places like Didsbury, Bramhall and Heaton Moor might have had to reduce their prices to sell, but you don't see very many repossed, empty or boarded up properties in those areas even during a recession.

basill

Often you can run into problems with a lease. My experience is with a fairly small block, I`m out of there now but to get control of expenses or buy the freehold for the block can be near impossible. It only takes a couple of residents to be uncooperative, absent landlords, uninterested, skint or plain daft to make it very difficult to do anything.
If they havent formed a management company and bought the freehold of flats already I would suggest you take a close look at the residents assoc for any flat you are interested in and make your own mind up as to how efficient they are. Especially if the lease is getting short.


B

Valencia

Thanks for all your comments.

I saw two flats this evening which were really nice, so I going to go for second viewings at the weekend. In the meantime I'm going to request a copy of the lease, just to check it out and see what it entails.

I have been thinking though, a flat does encur more expensive. For example the places I saw the service charge is between £50 and £60. Add that to your monthly payments and it adds up.

Horasio

Valencia wrote:

I pulled out last week. Along with the £2000 rewire cost, back end of last week I found out that they had the neighbours from hell, and this wasn't mentioned to me at all.

Was supposed to be moving in next week!

Thank heavens you found this out now :eek:

galileo

Flats are potentially far more problematic. There can be problems if other leaseholders stop paying their service charges. Also there are problems if the Managing Agents do not perform their duties expeditiously or at all.

Then there is the problem of le\ses running down and then freeholders holding you to ransom on lease extensions. These are worst case scenarios, but not possible ones with freehold.