Newbie on board, advice sought :-)

kentishdoris

It's not all about property prices, and I go back to my question as to how long you're likely to stay there.

I'm just selling a place I've been in for 4 years - I've lost quite a bit of money. I'm not grumbling, I have no regrets buying as I have had the security of knowing I own my place and could do anything I wanted with it and no-one could chuck me out. It would definitely have saved me money to rent though.

These are very approx costs to give you an idea:

Cost of flat: 103000
Mortgage booking fees: 1500 (second fixed rate booked at end of first)
Solicitors fees, HIP etc for purcase and sale: 2500
Home improvements: 8000 (I put in a new kitchen and the heating went mad and had to be sorted!)
Ground rent and maintenance: 4000
Estate agent fee for sale: 2000

We're selling for just a bit less than we paid but are not anywhere near negative equity. When you compare what we've paid in mortgage payments to rental costs I think would have saved about £8k over that time if we'd just rented.

As I say I've got no regrets but worth considering if you think you might want to move on somewhere bigger and better within 5 years.

Alan2020

princeofpounds wrote: »

but maybe I will return to it later.

Thanks again much appreciated

Alan2020

kentishdoris wrote: »

These are very approx costs to give you an idea:

Cost of flat: 103000
Mortgage booking fees: 1500 (second fixed rate booked at end of first)
Solicitors fees, HIP etc for purcase and sale: 2500
Home improvements: 8000 (I put in a new kitchen and the heating went mad and had to be sorted!)
Ground rent and maintenance: 4000
Estate agent fee for sale: 2000

I think would have saved about £8k over that time if we'd just rented.

want to move on somewhere bigger and better within 5 years.

Wow thanks for this, gives me an insight into ownership, The two bedroom place i looked at has a small 2nd room, but there is possibility of loft conversion, not sure of the permissions required. As you say not sure how long I would want to stay, hard to tell!

Thanks All for the useful and helpful advice

jozbo

I'd add that if you're buying now it should be for as long term as possible. We were looking at 2 bed flats in a reasonably central area but decided it's better to find a cheaper place, further out but with good transport links. Something that can be improved, extended and has more space than we need now (without children). Getting a flat now for 3-5 years and the possibility of losing the nearby job, finding a partner, having kids etc could mean a lot of money down the drain and unecessary moving stress.

Riq

You are complaining about a 30min drive? :undecided


Get the proper house.

Alan2020

Thanks once again for al the good advice, been an eye opener for me :-)

I will try to keep it to proper houses, with freehold. Is it a good idea to buy a poor condition house and do it up? Where best to search for such properties?

I was not sure of 30mins drive, as it is 1 hour per day and if I work 250 days, its 250 hours per year, seems a lot, not sure of what others have as a typical OK time to spend on commuting. Where I live now is a 10minute walk into work! and my previous places, been a 15 mins drive.

Thanks all

Riq

If we are totalling up hours...

There are approx 8,760 hours in a year, you'll be asleep for say 8 hours so that's 5,840 remaining.

250 hours isn't much.

I used to have a 4 hour round commute. Now that, is bad. Currently it's an hour at most in total per day and I think that's pretty good. I can run the distance from work to home in 45mins though, which I did on Tuesday!

Alan2020

Ha ha Riq, thanks for the scientific approach on this, you are swaying me around on this :-D By the way what about repossessed and auctioned properties, worth having a look?

22225

i think 30 mins drive is fine. it takes me an hour to get to work. not many people have the luxury of a short walk to work - you are v. lucky!!! xx

Alan2020

Thanks 22225, yes I think so as well he he :-)