Value for money

Glastoun

Just gauging the water - is a £200k nice three bedroom flat in a nice area good value for money, for a couple with joint income of £60k? Could get just as nice a flat (or even house) in a less nice but not terrible area for maybe £20-30k less, which means we could retire a few years earlier, but we'll be living there for a long time so don't want to feel we'll have compromised our decision based on money. But also don't want to pay silly money to try to compete with people who have more money than sense.

I've purposely not said what part of the country it's in, to keep things interesting.

And is a 4% 10 year fixed mortgage a good idea, or should it be 2% fixed for 2 years and see what happens after that?

TeamLowe

where i live you can get a 3 bed semi detached in a nice area for 130-150k, so to me a flat for 200k is terrible value!

does it have outside space? i personally wouldn't buy anywhere without private outside space. we've lived in a flat and in a house with no garden (space to park out front with lawns and the houses were back to back).
so i'd compromise on area to get a house with a garden

[Deleted User]

Considering a 3 bed nice house in my area will set you back £300k+ then yes, I'd consider it good value

2% fixed for 2 years sounds great..

Glastoun

It's a Glasgow tenement, so probably shared gardens but huge rooms and high ceilings, not a pokey newbuild flat.

For people that bought a property in the past (I guess everyone who bought a property bought it in the past....) when was it and what multiple of your income was it?

The flat above would be more than 3x our joint income - it's easily affordable, but that doesn't make it a good decision...

RockPaperScissors

We have a joint income of around 40k and have bought at 175k. We were very surprised at being able to afford this sort of figure on our wages but things seem to be going well (touch wood) - though it hasn't even been a month yet

Moonraker71

If I could get a nice three bedroom flat in a nice area for £200k where I live I would die of happiness.

aliby21

Depends what is making the area 'nice' and 'not so nice' and what is important to you. I've lived 20 years very happily just outside the 'nice' area of town (having rented in the nice area for a while first). The nice area is all dinner party set, professionals who have moved to the city, overpriced trendy cafes, bistro pubs, overpriced delicatessens. The 'not quite so nice' area has people local to the city and who have real jobs, with a decent pub and a co-op, and I prefer this. but it depends on what would suit you. For a lot of people, 20k extra for that ambience is clearly worth it.

Glastoun

I fear that school catchment areas are having a big influence. There are good schools around, but one outstanding one that people seem to need their children to go to, which means there's a premium added to properties in that area. I'm not convinced that we need to pay an extra £50k over the life of a mortgage to achieve this, but will see what happens.