What would you do with £65k in London?

RoBro_2

Hi all,

In December this year my OH and I will hopefully have £65k which we would like to use as a deposit for a house/flat (Note that I have not yet considered surveying, conveyancing, solicitors fees, etc and these will also have to come out of this sum).

It has been a long, hard slog to save this, and we would like to make the most of what we have to buy as central as we can (zones 2/3, or near a decent tube line in), while still getting a decent amount of space (ideally 2 bedrooms and a garden/balcony). It would be nice if the place had investment/buy-to-let potential too, but that's more box-ticking...really we are looking for a home. Looking at the property websites, getting all of this is likely to be a big ask!

I am worried we are being very narrow-minded with our searches, and so have a simple question for you all: In our position as first-time buyers, what would you do with the above constraints (£65k saved, 2+ bedrooms, zones 2/3 or good transport)? Would it be worth doing a deal with the devil to get a £90k savings pot?

Thanks for your advice guys!

googler

Without knowing what a mortgage lender will lend to you, we can't know what you can spend in total, and any advice will be severely limited.....

RoBro_2

googler wrote: »

Without knowing what a mortgage lender will lend to you, we can't know what you can spend in total, and any advice will be severely limited.....

I had an informal chat with Nationwide last week, and plugging our details into their calculators they said they would lend us up to £340k, which seems like a ridiculously high amount. We were thinking of borrowing £190k, to give us a property limit of £250k...though we could go up to £300k (borrowing £240k) if we thought it was really worth it. Our combined monthly income after tax is about £3.5k.

[Deleted User]

All depends on the location in London... also, don't forget you might want to keep money back from your deposit for decoration/furniture

RoBro_2

ringo_24601 wrote: »

All depends on the location in London... also, don't forget you might want to keep money back from your deposit for decoration/furniture

Absolutely! Which location would you choose ringo?

BitterAndTwisted

I'd be looking for a nice two-bedroomed garden flat in Walthamstow, preferably in one of the two conservation areas.

RoBro_2

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I'd be looking for a nice two-bedroomed garden flat in Walthamstow, preferably in one of the two conservation areas.

Thanks B&T

I hadn't thought of Walthamstow, but will add it to our list of places to explore.

GDB2222

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-36421721.html?premiumA=true

JodyBPM

RoBro wrote: »

I had an informal chat with Nationwide last week, and plugging our details into their calculators they said they would lend us up to £340k, which seems like a ridiculously high amount. We were thinking of borrowing £190k, to give us a property limit of £250k...though we could go up to £300k (borrowing £240k) if we thought it was really worth it. Our combined monthly income after tax is about £3.5k.

I think that you are right to not borrow *even close* to the offered £340K on a monthly take home of £3.5K - that's not a particularly high salary between two in London! I'd try to stick to under the £250K mark (total spend inc deposit) for both affordability and stamp duty reasons. (Our take home pay is more than that between 1 full timer and one 2-day a week worker, and I'm not prepared to borrow more than £150K - granted I'm very conservative, plus we have children, so more expenses, but even so, the idea of borrowing £340K on a combined income of (I'm guessing) £50-£60K is madness, and I'm surprised any bank is prepared to entertain the idea!)

I can't really comment much on what you can buy in London for around £250K, apart from to say that I suspect you will be limited in choice for that budget. Certainly any of the nicer areas will be likely to be outside of your budget. Have you considered moving to suburbia? Seriously, depending on you ages and your future plans, a three bed semi half an hour on a mainline train may well be a better bet long term than a small flat in London.

secreticicle

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I'd be looking for a nice two-bedroomed garden flat in Walthamstow, preferably in one of the two conservation areas.

Aiming to do the same thing. Moving from Crouch End to get a 2 bedroom house in Walthamstow.

Great transport links, lots of bricks for your £££. Amenities not amazing, but you have to compromise.
Check out the areas around 'The Village' and 'Coppermill Lane'.

Re: N2, East Finchley is great, just a little more suburban - depends what you're after.

[Deleted User]

RoBro wrote: »

Absolutely! Which location would you choose ringo?

All depends on where in London you need to get to work...

I've tried living in zone 2 (Golders Green).. far too busy for my liking. I'm up near St Albans/Watford now (but can commute to Euston in 35 mins)