House or flat?

happyandcontented

I would say it depends on the flat. The details of a couple given here sound great; private garden, huge rooms etc, but from looking around with one of my kids recently, they are not the norm. New build apartments are poky, odd shapes and minimalist. In our area a new apt in a good location is going for only slightly less than a terrace, or in some cases, a semi.

So for my money there was no contest. In the end my offspring bought a 3 bed semi with a nice garden in a better location (cul de sac as opposed to main oad position) for just four thousand more than one of the apartments. It came about after a cheeky offer of £15,000 under asking which they accepted readily.

My advice would be to look at houses above budget and negotiate, if you don't ask you don't get.

1886

I lived in two different flats whilst renting and I would never, ever buy one. I appreciate that there are some nice one's out there but for us noise was always an issue.

I think there's far too many flats out there that were'nt originally designed to be flats so are'nt sound proofed very well. We lived on the top floor of a Victorian terraced property and had constant noise problems with the whole building. I could hear every word of the phone conversation the woman below us was having. She in turn used to complain about us walking around. Our flat had cheap, tacky laminate flooring which I believe it should'nt have had.

If you have cats that go outside then you need to look for a ground floor flat really. Also, if you're considering having children anytime soon will a flat be big enough for you?

J_i_m

For me, my choice between flat and house is not going to be motivated by my personal preference. The deciding factor will be my budget and what I can afford. And my budget almost certainly says flat.

sniggings

J_i_m wrote: »

For me, my choice between flat and house is not going to be motivated by my personal preference. The deciding factor will be my budget and what I can afford. And my budget almost certainly says flat.

so if you could afford a house it's stalemate then

benjus

1886 wrote: »

I lived in two different flats whilst renting and I would never, ever buy one. I appreciate that there are some nice one's out there but for us noise was always an issue.

There are good flats and bad flats, just as there are good and bad houses.

1886 wrote: »

I think there's far too many flats out there that were'nt originally designed to be flats so are'nt sound proofed very well.

This is true, but a properly done conversion to fairly recent building standards, with consideration for soundproofing, will not have these problems.

1886 wrote: »

Our flat had cheap, tacky laminate flooring which I believe it should'nt have had.

Lots of houses have cheap tacky laminate as well. You may well be right that it shouldn't have been there, as lots of leases prohibit the use of hard flooring in upper floor flats.

1886 wrote: »

If you have cats that go outside then you need to look for a ground floor flat really. Also, if you're considering having children anytime soon will a flat be big enough for you?

Flats are often bigger than houses with the same number of bedrooms. You can't really generalise on this point.

velocity_girl

I wouldn't say I really have a preference per se though I anticipate living in flats for the foreseeable future. For me, the area I live in is much more important and houses simply don't really exist in my area except at half a million pounds +. So, flat it is. Really depends on your priorities.