FTB - house or flat? Opinions please!

Fudgefund

Hi MSE


I'm posting this question on here because I could do with some candid advice. I've been flipping this question over and over in my mind and with friends for weeks and I'm still no closer to a decision.


The situation is this; about a month ago I was given 2 month's notice on my rental flat I share with my boyfriend as my landlord wants to sell. I spent a long time getting debt free and had just started saving for a deposit, so this was a blow. My Mum then out of the blue offered to give me £25,000 for a deposit, and my boyfriend's parents offered £5000 for legal fees etc.


The flat we're in (which we've been happy in) is going on the market for around £130,000, so we would need to borrow £105,000 if we were to buy it. Because of the shock of being given notice to vacate I feel as though the move is a bit rushed, although there are advantages in buying direct from our landlord, and he has said we can just buy the existing furniture from him, cut out agents fees etc.


I am 31, so it's possible I will want to start a family in the next few years, and a lot of people have told me to buy a house to grow into, and to stretch ourselves to £160,000ish, have a higher mortgage and buy somewhere to stay for at least 10 years.


If you're still with me, the question is this:


Is it a bad idea to buy the flat we're in (2 bed, so room for small feet for a few years if it happened), and look to sell in 5 years time having comfortably overpaid the mortgage? Am I a bit too old for this?


Or should we buy a three bed semi in a less desirable (but by no means bad) area and slowly furnish/do up whilst paying out approximately 25% of our income on our mortgage (much less room for overpaying). To do this we would need to rent for another 6 months whilst finding somewhere and I am also concerned of the consequences if there was a rates hike.


Any thoughts gratefully received.

car0line123

You are less in control of costs with a flat than with a house I think.

Services charges, maintenance etc... can go up steeply and there is nothing you can really do about it if it is justified. I have seen a few flat owners being suddenly ask to pay thousands because the management company decided to redo the roof or something similar.

Personally, I would be tempted to go for the house. When you factor the moving/ legal fees/ stamp duties etc.. added to the stress of the process when you are in a chain, it does not make for an easy life.

Before anything, have you looked at other flats in your area? Is your current flat the best you can get, or is it just the easy option because you are already in it?

Could you live with a baby/toddler in your flat if you have to? Depending on stairs, layout, what is fine is some places is a nightmare in others.

Sorry I can't help more, it was just some of my thoughts!

penguine

I would recommend going for a house if you have the option. With a leasehold flat you may be hit with large service charges, or the freeholder may go AWOL and repairs don't even get done (this happened to us). You might not have problems, but I would always recommend a freehold property where you have more control.

Also, with a house you have the option to add value by extending, which is much less likely to be the case with a flat.

We were living in a flat when our daughter was born (and in fact didn't move into a house until she was 8) but we were lucky in that we had very large rooms and a storage cupboard on the ground floor with enough space for her buggy. Still, in retrospect I think we should have stretched to buy a house when we were both working full-time and didn't have childcare costs to be taken into account.

Old_Git

you mention buying a 3 bed semi ,but how much would a 2 bed house cost.Houses will always have more privacy .

SuzieSue

I would always go for a house. Yes, buying the flat you are currently renting is the easy option, but I think you will regret it especially if you will need to sell in 5 years' time with all the financial and emotional costs of buying and selling at the same time.

RobMoney

While you may have a good option here, you'll still need to go over the usual property buying procedure so may not save that much to be worth doing. Especially check the leasehold length, as it could be something which degrades the flat value dramatically depending on how long it is.

Personally though, if I was in your situation, I'd use the opportunity to jump into a house if you can afford to do so. You're only delaying things and will have to move in a few years time if a baby comes around anyway (also don't delay that forever!). I live in a rented flat now with a baby and have pretty much stopped looking at flats to buy as it isn't worth the hassle for us in my opinion.

Red-Squirrel_2

There are advantages and disadvantages to both. I bought a flat first because I didn't feel I had the income and resources to cope with the potential maintenance costs if anything went badly wrong in a house (roof, drains, flood etc.) and with a flat you don't have to worry so much about the actual fabric of the building, you just pay your service charge.

However, some management companies are better than others, and you don't have much control over how they work. There is always the danger of increases in service charges or a big one off bill (although there should be a sinking fund to preclude that in a decent sized building if the management are any good).

I've been lucky, in that I bought in possibly the only building in the country where service charges have actually gone down a fair bit in the last 5 years! My management company are good, the flats have gone up in value (city centre flats often appreciate more quickly than houses in the suburbs, at least round here) and my wages have gone up so between that and the equity thats built up I'm in a good position to buy a house sometime in the next 12 months without any of the worries I'd have had if I'd have bought it 5 years ago.

I agree with the poster above though who said don't just buy this flat because its easy. If you decided that buying a flat is the right decision, buy the best one you can find that's right for your circumstances and budget. If that happens to be the one you already live in, great!

hcb42

I would go for the house. Although I would probably look at alternative areas..location location location

LeoTLion

Personally, I would go for a house over a flat every time.

More potential for future development, (loft conversion, extension, conservatory) if you need more space and appeals to a larger section of buyers when the time comes to sell.

Factor in service charges, leases and greater potential for problems with bad neighbours and, in my mind at least, it's something of a no brainer.

Remember you are parting with a lot of money, whatever you choose, so my advice would be take your time and get it right, even if that means finding somewhere else to rent for another 6 months.

SailorSam

Always choose the house if it's financially possible.
You're talking about babies, so i house even with a small garden gives you somewhere safe for kids to play. And when the time comes to move again you'll find selling a house much easier than a flat.

CathA

House every time, especially if you have children. Also, if you move now before you have children, it's so much easier!!! And, although you may think that your flat is probably ok if you have a baby, what if you have twins or triplets? I only wanted two children, had my first daughter then fell for twins, and you can't send one back!! Good luck with whatever you decide.