1 bedroom or 2?!

simba12089

I'm a first time buyer in London and not sure if I should be looking for a 2 bedroom flat or a more spacious 1 bedroom flat in a better location? I'm thinking the 2 bedroom flat would give me the opportunity to rent out the second room (although not essential), or obviously use it as a useful study/office. I'm sure if I ever decide to rent out the whole property then the rent would be higher on a 2 bedroom flat than a 1 bedroom, even when the properties are valued exactly the same.

Basically if you can afford to get 2 bedrooms is it always best to do so - or is location sometimes an even bigger consideration, despite only having 1 bedroom?!?!

Any opinions gladly received!

wigginsmum

Personally I'd go for as many bedrooms as you can afford! But no point doing this if you can only afford a really manky area.

Debt_Free_Chick

I think you need to decide what you want this property for. If it's a home, then go for what you want.

If it's a rental, then you need to go with what lets easily in that particular area. If the area is young families or rather couples looking to start a family, then 2 beds is a minimum.

If it's single, young people then 1 bed is probably fine - in some areas it's "de rigeur" e.g. Docklands

simba12089

Thanks for the feedback. Although a first time buyer I'm fortunate to have saved up a considerable deposit, so can afford up to 250k max. Looking for somewhere North of the river.

simba12089

It'll be home for me - I'm 29 male, no kids/family. Although I'm thinking of travelling abroad next year, so will rent it out if I do. Hence wondering whether the extra room will make a big difference to the rental income.

waterbaby

A different strategy is to go for the 1 bed and (assuming it is cheaper than the 2 bed) make overpayments so that you are paying the same each month as you would have done on the 2 bed.

That way, you are making more progress with your mortgage as less of your payments are interest. Am I making sense, I'm not sure.

For example, we live in a 2 bed house with a £100k mortgage. We can afford to get a 3 bed for maybe £170k, but that would mean paying interest on the additional £70k, of around £300 per month initially. Far better for us to stay in the 2 bed and use that £300 as an overpayment. Effectively, we are making progress with our mortgage for the 3 bed, while only paying interest for the 2 bed.

I'm still not sure if that's clear?

Gorgeous_George

If the market crashes and house prices tumble to 40-50% present values, I think it would be more difficult to sell a 1-bedroom flat than a 2-bedroom flat in a buyers' market.

The important bit, for me at least, is the amount of useable floor space. Generally, walls can be moved and rooms created quite easily so a 1-bedroom property that could be converted to 2-bedrooms may be just as attractive as a 2-bedroom property.

With 2 bedrooms or more, one of the rooms could be a dining area. My bungalow has 3 bedrooms and a dining room that has a bed settee - really useful when people visit.



GG

wigginsmum

Gorgeous_George wrote:

If the market crashes and house prices tumble to 40-50% present values, I think it would be more difficult to sell a 1-bedroom flat than a 2-bedroom flat in a buyers' market.

I don't think I'd necessarily agree with that; even with the crash in the early Nineties I remember 1-beds being snapped up FTBs on proportionally lower income. I think there's always a market for 1-beds.

trippy

I would go with a 2-bed as you'll have more options. When it comes to renting out, you'll find more people who would prefer to share the rent of a 2-bed in a less ideal area than fork out all the rent in a salubrious location.

That said, I'm sure the experts would tell you the location is the most important thing in buying a house/flat so it would depend on the difference in the locations you're talking about.

claz

mpove up north £250 will buy you a 3 bedroomed house!!! where we live

in fact just but a fairly run down bugalow with huge garden and 3 bedrooms for £135,000

we considered maoving coz of partners job however, we realised the further down south we go the less we cann afford, its a big risk i know but it could be worth thinking about

if thats not your thing my motto is you always need a junk room especially like me and you have loads of junk!!!

one major thing when buying look where to pu your vaccum cleaner!!!!! a flat we lived in didn't have anyway so the spare room was a god send