How did you 'move up' the property ladder?

Chrismojam

I am still living in my first house (6.5 years).....my house before was a 1 bedroom housing association place....small house....big garden (work that one out!) and a shared driveway.....

This one is a 3 bed terrace (ok 2.5, cos you'd be hard pressed to call the box room anything but that!!), yard and no parking......which generally doesn't bother me because neither of us drive at the mo.....but neighbours (who have 2 cars...(not next door - over the road neighbours......actually next door must feel the same because their next door also have 2 cars and use their space...).always park outside my house.....which is a nuisance when I have visitors.....who end up parking half a mile away!!ok not really that far...)

Well, I want to move up......house with a garden and preferably a driveway or a front garden - you can always change it can't you?

What would you do - go for the area or the size house? ...because generally..the size house I want/could do with.....in an area that would be deemed as really nice is going to be out of my price range.....but one in a not so fantastic area would be within range..probably not as pricey.....and the area would be ok...

Now my boss always says go for the maximum you can afford...you will always find a way to pay for it (??)....whereas I am a much more cautious soul and prefer a bit more financial stability should things go pearshaped!

What did you do?

samspam

In the words of Sarah Beeny


"buy the worst house on the best street" LOL

Chrismojam

samspam wrote:

In the words of Sarah Beeny


"buy the worst house on the best street" LOL

Now that's were I'm going wrong!!!!!!!!!! I'm looking at houses on the web and thinking what a dump..........but the area might be great!!...and looking at others thinking...'I want that one'....in an Andyesque stylee......but the area might be crap!!

However, some people are doer uppers....I...I fear.....am.........NOT ONE OF THEM!! I want something I can move into and live with for a while..........given that the one I am living in has needed doing up since we moved in.............we've done bits.........but nothings finished.:o

seven-day-weekend

We didn't move up the property ladder. We still have our first house that we bought in 1976. (3 bed mid-terrace in the 'outer' innner-city).

We've moved sideways though.

1. A RTB Council prefab that my husband and his mother bought between them (she was the tenant), he inherited it when she died.

2. A BTL apartment on a popular development.

3. Sold prefab and bought small house in Spain with the proceeds. This is where we live at present.

4. Sold BTL and now have cash in the bank.

We had paid for our first home by 1994 and that is how we were able to afford a mortgage on the BTL.

It's not compulsory to move UP the ladder.

Chrismojam

seven-day-weekend wrote:

We didn't move up the property ladder. We still have our first house that we bought in 1976. (3 bed mid-terrace in the 'outer' innner-city)...

Yeah, I know it's not compulsory to move up.....but if/when we have kids I want the garden for them to play in.....(not a yard!) and a house 'big enough' to service our needs....I know it's one of those white picket fence things but....I loved our garden when I was a kid.........it was only a council house but it was big enough for blossom trees (which I am going to have in my new house/garden!!!) and plenty of sunflowers and other stuff which I chose to plant! and I could 'camp out' if I wanted to....

I could probably move sideways and have the garden and the driveway......but obviously I want the area as well.......or at least a different house...style??? (end terrace at the mo..........never again.......) it's not bad really when I think of what it could be like...........but when other people kids started hanging around (teenagers...drinking/smoking and acting arsey.......) it really gets to us.............I'm sure if we had kids of our own it wouldn't be half as bad........but we are just not used to it..............and I'm old fashioned...........I never acted that way when I was that age!! So I get more wound up than most!)

Nikki

Bought a 3 bed 1950's prefab on a council estate in 1995 because I was 8mths pregnant and we need somewhere to live(council wouldn't house us). We bought it because it was pretty big(1100sqft)and we wouldn't have to move if we had more kids. The area went down hill over the years, the schools in the area were getting pretty bad so we decide we had to move. We moved to a village not far from the council estate(but far enough). We bought a 3 bed 1950's brick house in Nov '05 not much smaller than our last house. It's in need of a lot of work but liveable. We had a 43k mortgage, we now have a 132k mortgage and we only just managed to afford a property in this village. luckily we had a fair bit of equity in our last house. For a better quality of life for us and the kids, going to the max was definately worth it.

PabloNeruda

Buy a flat in Leyton, East London, like I did in for £47k, wait for London to win the 2012 Olympics, then sell it for £160,000. Then pee it all up a wall and end up on MSE, like I did.

Chrismojam

Nikki wrote:

................going to the max was definately worth it.

Yes I see what you mean................I think this is probably what my boss is on about..........

But i'm trying to think ahead..........really I would love to be in a position where it was not necessary for us both to work (full time anyway....if/and when we have kids).......however I don't want to be stuck in a position mortgage wise which means I have to....which if I went to the max would mean this.......

bobsa1

What we did was move lots of times in the first few years we were together, borrowing the max we could, before we had children.

We then moved sideways, smaller house nicer area when we had the children very small then moved to a real doer upper to get the area and size (house had not been lived in for 10 yrs, it rained in the lounge)

We are now hoping to move sideways ish to another doer upper in an even better area and keep the same mortgage.

We've now owned property for 18yrs so have suffered and gained with the propety markets ups and downs but now have £100k mortgage and £450K house

samspam

Chrismojam wrote:

Now that's were I'm going wrong!!!!!!!!!! I'm looking at houses on the web and thinking what a dump..........but the area might be great!!...and looking at others thinking...'I want that one'....in an Andyesque stylee......but the area might be crap!!

However, some people are doer uppers....I...I fear.....am.........NOT ONE OF THEM!! I want something I can move into and live with for a while..........given that the one I am living in has needed doing up since we moved in.............we've done bits.........but nothings finished.:o

Then you need to compromise on something.

Write a list of wants and needs. i.e, do you NEED a garage or just want one?

Pick a location you like.

Find as property that ticks the 'needs' boxes and aspire to meet the 'wants' boxes on your next move.

If you don't like doing property up, go for a new build. You can take a gamble by buying a new house in a not so nice area as eventually regeneration areas become more upmarket the more development goes on.

Or you can do what I did (Martin would have a fit about this and is probably not adviseable) Double your current mortgage to buy a house you would never need to move from in the best area you can afford, have a rise in blood pressure every time your mortgage payments leave your bank account but console yourself with the knowledge that you are saving yourself thousands in stamp duty and moving costs by not having to move for the next 10/15 years!

Chrismojam

samspam wrote:

...Or you can do what I did (Martin would have a fit about this and is probably not adviseable) Double your current mortgage to buy a house you would never need to move from in the best area you can afford, have a rise in blood pressure every time your mortgage payments leave your bank account but console yourself with the knowledge that you are saving yourself thousands in stamp duty and moving costs by not having to move for the next 10/15 years!

This is probably what my boss is on about.....which I can kind of see the sense in (i.e. not having to move again....for a while......)....but the money things holds me back every time.....

Most are my wants at the mo......don't need the garden or the car parking space....but thinking ahead... I will..