One Bedroom / Two Children

19lottie82

chocdonuty wrote: »

after all many people live in caravans/narrowboats ect quite happily, sometimes small and simple is just great !

Yes and a lot of the time it's a nightmare and ends up with kids and parents tearing their hair out!

Someone has correctly pointed out that a lot of posters have this romantic notion about the three of them living in a 1 bed flat, but based on my experience it isn't / wouldn't be like this at all.

If this situation arose in social housing it would be classed as severe overcrowding. There's a reason for this.

chocdonuty wrote: »

the money saved could help buy a bigger property somewhere further down the line when its more affordable, good luck!

this can't be taken as a given. as I pointed out earlier, what if the property enters negative equity, and the OP is stuck in a 1 bed flat with 2 squabbling tweens? Not a nice thought, is it?

The idea could be workable at the moment, but I don't think it's great for a long term plan. Buying a property is a huge commitment.

katiechoc_2

chocdonuty wrote: »

Not sure why people seem so horrified at the thought of a smaller property, after all many people live in caravans/narrowboats ect quite happily, sometimes small and simple is just great

Its not so much the smaller property as much as number of bedrooms. A small 2bed with 2 small rooms IMO would be much better than a bigger 1 bed. Our old flat had pretty big rooms for a 1bed, but it still wasn't the same as having our own bedroom. Also having your own outside space, from someone who didn't have any for 7years, is AMAZING. Being able to hang washing out (another issue in a 1 bed, where do the airers go?) or have a sit on the grass with a cold drink in the summer...Not to mention letting the kiddos run off some energy.

OP could you manage a small 2bed? - let the girls share the master room and you have the smaller? We use a single for our room, a double fits in with just enough space around the edge, Ikea do lots of clever storage systems to stop it looking too cluttered.

peachyprice

katiechoc wrote: »

Its not so much the smaller property as much as number of bedrooms. A small 2bed with 2 small rooms IMO would be much better than a bigger 1 bed. Our old flat had pretty big rooms for a 1bed, but it still wasn't the same as having our own bedroom. Also having your own outside space, from someone who didn't have any for 7years, is AMAZING. Being able to hang washing out (another issue in a 1 bed, where do the airers go?) or have a sit on the grass with a cold drink in the summer...Not to mention letting the kiddos run off some energy.

.

You can get 1 bedroon ground floor flats with a garden, you know.

katiechoc_2

peachyprice wrote: »

You can get 1 bedroon ground floor flats with a garden, you know.

Ha yes I guess you're right We were in a 1 bed first floor so that's stuck in my mind.

pollyanna24

Thanks for everyone's replies. Certainly has given me a lot to think about.

My brother doesn't want to sell for about another year, so I should have even more equity in my house by then as we overpay by quite a lot.

I'm not on the breadline, but rent in my area for a 2 bed is probably in the region of £900, and at the moment my mortgage is £480, so that's probably a factor in me not wanting to rent.

With a deposit of (at least) £85,000 I was hoping that any flat I'd buy wouldn't go into negative equity, but who knows what might happen in the future?!

At the moment, and yes I appreciate my children are small, they go to bed and I sit in my bedroom next door as the 3 year old likes me close. I'm trying to get her out of this and hopefully it is just a phase, but I'll see. Basically I stay in my room even after they fall asleep, one because I'm lazy and have usually started watching telly in there and two, half the time my brother and his fiancee are downstairs and it really doesn't bother me staying in my own room.

I've got time to think about it, and just wanted to see people's opinions.

I have looked at 1beds on the internet and may go and have look at some soon, just to get a feel for what I can get. I have seen some with gardens as well.

It's not an ideal solution, but it is a solution if I can't afford a 2bed. There is also the problem of my job. It takes an hour and a half to get there as it is, so another reason why I wouldn't want to move further out at the present time.

Person_one

pollyanna24 wrote: »

Thanks for everyone's replies. Certainly has given me a lot to think about.

My brother doesn't want to sell for about another year, so I should have even more equity in my house by then as we overpay by quite a lot.

I'm not on the breadline, but rent in my area for a 2 bed is probably in the region of £900, and at the moment my mortgage is £480, so that's probably a factor in me not wanting to rent.

With a deposit of (at least) £85,000 I was hoping that any flat I'd buy wouldn't go into negative equity, but who knows what might happen in the future?!

At the moment, and yes I appreciate my children are small, they go to bed and I sit in my bedroom next door as the 3 year old likes me close. I'm trying to get her out of this and hopefully it is just a phase, but I'll see. Basically I stay in my room even after they fall asleep, one because I'm lazy and have usually started watching telly in there and two, half the time my brother and his fiancee are downstairs and it really doesn't bother me staying in my own room.

I've got time to think about it, and just wanted to see people's opinions.

I have looked at 1beds on the internet and may go and have look at some soon, just to get a feel for what I can get. I have seen some with gardens as well.

It's not an ideal solution, but it is a solution if I can't afford a 2bed. There is also the problem of my job. It takes an hour and a half to get there as it is, so another reason why I wouldn't want to move further out at the present time.

With the time you've got, if I were you I'd be looking for another job in a more affordable area where you can settle into a decent sized property for the foreseeable future. One school move in the infants won't do any harm, not compared to the benefits of having a comfortable home.

Spendless

Personally I think you'd dislike it. You've been used to a 3 bedroomed place for some years and they are geared to holding the belongings of 3 -5 people, unlike a 1 bed place that at most is geared to 1-2 people. It's a different scenario if you've been in a 1 bed place in the first place and your circs have changed than to downsize in the way you are thinking.

Living in the North admittedly I don't know a great deal about where to live to commute to London, but aren't there any affordable places with the same 1.5 hour commute you already have. From the way you spoke before I really thought your workplace was on the doorstep of where you lived.

Changing the girls schools at the age they are,with an eye on what would be a good suitable secondary school nearby seems to be a more preferable change to me rather than the compromise on space with growing kids.

pollyanna24

Thanks again.

I suppose a lot of it is down to the old saying "location, location, location."

I've lived here for years, my parents are quite close and I've made friends here etc. etc.

I've been in my job for over 10 years and I really think I would struggle to find one that pays as well as the one I'm in, plus my boss is pretty flexible with my working hours (a bit of give and take - I do a lot of overtime when I haven't got the girls which suits him as well), so I think I'm going to stay there until my boss retires and closes up shop!

I always figured that when that happens (maybe another 10 years or so), then I could look to moving further out when the necessity to be close to London wasn't so important and I can get more for my money.

duchy

If it takes you an hour and a half to commute to work wouldn't the obvious be to move to the area you work (or somewhere with a shorter commute) and save on childcare costs which would be substantial not to mention better family quality of life ?

Moving schools now rather than when they are secondary school age and will have built their own social network and be a lot more resistant to change will probably be overall better. (You'd be uprooting either the younger half way through juniors or the eldest after starting senior school anyway- both of which are harder ages to adjust.

Assuming you work in central London you could move to somewhere like Medway -which still has grammar schools and a forty minute commute to central London by train (or longer but cheaper by commuter coach). A two bedroom terrace would with the amount of equity you have come with a smaller mortgage than you have now......and still close enough for frequent day trips to London if you wanted but with a garden .

I think especially in winter a one bedroom could drive you crazy especially as the girls get a bit older.

A friend of mine did this about twelve years ago. She and her husband were stuck due to a variety of circumstances in a one bedroom with three children and she was pregnant. They were about to buy a wreck of an ex council estate house near Sutton as it was all they could afford. I showed her a couple of links to houses down here -as she said at the time she could have four bedrooms instead of three and a house already renovated instead of a wreck - for less money. It worked for them .......maybe a similar re-evaluation of areas might work for you too ?

Family ties are important and friends but I really think a one bedroom flat is a step too far -especially with an existing long commute. I too assumed work was close and that locked you into the area. Your day to day comfort and the girl's stabiliity is surely a bigger priority ?

EDIT I just skimmed some of your old posts and do note your Mum minds the kids and you are north of London so Medway probably sounds like the moon LOL.

pollyanna24

Thanks again everyone.

Yeah, I kinda omitted to mention (not on purpose, just forgot about it while posting!) that my mum looks after my children at my house while I'm at work. So I guess that's another factor why I need to stay close by.

I have spoken to friends and family about it, and although most think it's not ideal, they do think it's a possible solution.

One of my friends works for a letting agent and knows the area really well and she says some of the 1bed flats in the area are quite large and has said she will come with me and steer me away from certain streets if need be! She also says a 2bed may be possible, but depends on the time I'm looking. And there are a few one bedroom houses and bungalows in my area which is quite interesting. Never knew about 1 bed houses!